Ubuntu
ubiquity package

  1. Bug #315646
  2. Comment #1

Comment 1 for bug 315646

Revision history for this message
Loye Young (loyeyoung) wrote : Re: OEM config should offer support to show EULAs

I myself am a lawyer and agree that EULAs need to be better integrated into the entire ecosystem. I am highly skeptical that, if the issue were squarely presented, Texas and US Federal courts would enforce a license buried in the bowels of an operating system for which the user had no opportunity to review or consent before using the software.

I am strongly convinced, however,that oem-config is the WRONG place to do it because only the user who happened to be turning on the machine the first time would have agreed to the *End User* License Agreement.

In addition, placing EULA in oem-config would violate the Free Software Definition and would violate the GPL because it would force a user to agree to one license as a condition to using other software.

"The Right Way"

The better practice is to run the EULA script by the x-session-manager. The login manager (gdm, xdm, etc.) calls x-session-manager when the user logs in. X-session-manager, in turn, runs the scripts in /etc/X11/Xsession.d, which handle all sorts of preparations for the user session. This is how, for example, new users get their directories and get the default .gconf files, etc.

The EULA script in /etc/X11/Xsession.d/ should fire off a window asking for consent to the EULAs. If the user did not consent to the licenses required for the system and the desktop to run at all, the login would exit and return the system to the login manager. With respect to other EULAs , the EULA script would add the user to a group with permissions to use the software. If the user did NOT agree, the user would not be added to that group, which would allow the user to proceed to use other software.

IYCC is interested in developing a "EULA" package that "Does The Right Thing". If anyone would like to participate, please advise.

By the way, we have debtagged every package in our default installation with the type of license that covers the package. We use the debtags to create a booklet with a copy of each license and a list of the packages covered by such package. The booklet ships with our product as an additional users manual. We will soon be making the debtags available for others. If you need them sooner, please advise.

Happy Trails,

Loye Young
Isaac & Young Computer Company
Laredo, Texas
http://archive.iycc.net