Distributing Flash Player

[dandart]

I know a few distributions have done this but I would like to prepackage Adobe Flash Player together with my custom Linux distribution. Adobe's web site was confusing, so I have simple questions:

* Am I allowed to do this?
* Would it therefore be illegal to download in the USA and I would have to provide a link for the user to download themselves?
* Do I need to seek Adobe's permission?
* When will Flash Player become GPL (I hear it's a rumour)?

Cheers
Dan

[oz]

* Am I allowed to do this?
* Would it therefore be illegal to download in the USA and I would have to provide a link for the user to download themselves?
* Do I need to seek Adobe's permission?
* When will Flash Player become GPL (I hear it's a rumour)?

Cheers
Dan

Sorry, but nobody here is authorized to give you permission to include Flash Player with your distribution.

You really need to talk directly to the Adobe folks, or consult with a lawyer if you want to be sure.

If you should talk to Adobe, be absolutely certain to keep copies of whatever they send you.

[dandart]

Cheers

I thought someone could clear that up for me, whether they say it's OK.
Oh well I thought wrong.
Thanks for advice.

[oz]

Simply put, you can do anything the license says you can do, and you can't do anything that it says you can't.

However, it's often the courts that decide what a license truly says, and means. For that reason, I'd recommend talking directly to Adobe, or to a lawyer.

Hope it all works out for you... best of luck with your project.

[i92guboj]

As far as I know you can redistribute the installer unmodified. Which means you can't distribute the product after unpacking it. Be sure to read the FAQ and the License:

Adobe - Player Licensing : Player Distribution FAQ
Adobe Runtimes / Reader Distribution Agreement

In any case, Adobe's word is the best guarantee, so, as ozar said, write to them, and save any response from them just in case.


If the redistribution of the installer is allowed, you could always ship the installer on your cd, and then use a script to unpack it and copy the relevant files into the right locations at boot time. In term of distribution, that would acknowledge their license. But I am by no means an expert on legal issue, so don't put so much trust on my words.