About distribution of modified copy of Debian OS

[Borja Sanchez]

Dear Debian Project Team,

My name is Borja Sanchez, writting from Spain. I am currently planning to run a paid course where I will distribute a modified version of Debian, rebranded and renamed. This software will be offered at no extra cost as part of the course materials.

In addition to this, I wish to inform you that I am also considering charging a fee for this customized software in the future, separate from the course fees.

The custom OS version will be built from the latest Debian stable version, by running a live-build process to build a ISO image with custom packages, scripts, assests pre-installed. 

With these points in mind, I have two key questions:

1. I would like to confirm that these proposed actions comply with the GPL's guidelines and Debian's policies.

2. I am interested to know if there are any other considerations, requirements, or permissions I should be aware of before proceeding with this plan.

Your expert advice and guidance on this matter would be greatly appreciated. I value your work and aim to respect the open-source principles that Debian upholds.

Thank you for your time. I look forward to your response.

Best regards,
Borja Sanchez

[Daniel Hakimi]

As long as you comply with the GPL, this is perfectly acceptable. Note that this includes making source code available and allowing licensees to redistribute your OS freely, so charging for your version might not be the most effective way go make money—I could just throw up an iso torrent for free—but it could work.

RedHat, for example, charges for RHEL (packaged with support). CentOS was a famous fork that originally only changed trademarkable features (names and logos) and charged one vent per copy. This didn't stop RedHat from becoming a profitable venture, of course.

[Andrew M.A. Cater]

On Fri, May 19, 2023 at 06:33:35PM +0200, Borja Sanchez wrote:
> Dear Debian Project Team,
>
> My name is Borja Sanchez, writting from Spain. I am currently planning to
> run a paid course where I will distribute a modified version of Debian,
> rebranded and renamed. This software will be offered at no extra cost as
> part of the course materials.
>
> In addition to this, I wish to inform you that I am also considering
> charging a fee for this customized software in the future, separate from
> the course fees.
>
> The custom OS version will be built from the latest Debian stable version,
> by running a live-build process to build a ISO image with custom packages,
> scripts, assests pre-installed.
>
> With these points in mind, I have two key questions:
>
> 1. I would like to confirm that these proposed actions comply with the
> GPL's guidelines and Debian's policies.
>
>
> 2. I am interested to know if there are any other considerations,
> requirements, or permissions I should be aware of before proceeding with
> this plan.
>

As someone else has suggested, this is not going to make large amounts
of money for the software. You will be responsible for all branding
checking, security support and so on.

If you do this, *please* change the reportbug scripts, the popularity
contest script, set up your own bug tracking instance and generally
be prepared to handle all queries from your users because Debian will
not be able to help them since we won't know how your distribution differs.
You may find it easier to use unmodified Debian and just supply
a small amount of software hosted and supported by you in addition.
Depending on the nature of the course, this might even be simplest by
hosting your own website.

Also please check the Debian wiki for details of how to set up
derivatives.

With every good wish, as ever,

Andy Cater

[Borja Sanchez]

Thanks Daniel for the quick and helpfull response.

The business focus will be the course, and the image is only a way of having all the students begin the lessons from the same starting point.

Thanks again for your help,

sincerelly,

Borja