I’ve been seeking help for days without any answers. I want to sell laptops with Silverblue and need to make four changes:
pre-install two GNOME extensions
install LibreOffice and steam-devices
prioritize Flathub over Fedora flatpaks
add a codec installation prompt via a first-run script.
Lack of clear guidance makes me consider switching to Ubuntu and Snaps, as many users expect gaming and video thumbnail support. While Fedora Remix might be an option, Silverblue’s immutable design complicates things.
This is my last attempt for help before I start selling, and it could have a significant impact.
If I were you, I would look into the Universal Blue project. They remix Fedora Atomic systems into all kinds of things, and they have ways you can create your own image. You could even do Silverblue with the exact things you want.
I attempted that and was unsuccessful in creating it. Additionally, they come with codecs included by default, which is illegal for OEMs to distribute.
I’m asking a very simple question, yet it seems that no one has the answer or the contact information to help me. This is quite sad.
What motivated you to choose silverblue in the first place? Is there another type of fedora that you could base on instead?
Would you like an invite to their discord community where theres likely a bunch of people who could probably help you with ublue
their images are based on fedora ones though, meaning they are the ones that added the codecs, and because they are open source, you could probably start with building one of their images yourself (to make sure your environment is set up okay) and then build your own images from the same base but with the codecs removed.
Within the bootc community, i think theres a project called HeliumOS that miiiight be similar enough to what you are trying to do. Although given that youre installing steam stuff, Bazzite (from the universal blue project) may also be a good starting point, and im sure you could work with them to either a) have them officially make an OEM version that swaps preinstalled codecs with a user prompt (theyd probably love to work with a device vendor) or b) help you build and maintain your own fork that does this
Do any of those sound like paths that would be best suited for what you are trying to do?
So the problem is that you try to learn how to make custom distro instantly? Read leqrn and practise there is lots of guides, trial and errors and then comes licensing issues are all software licensing accepted to use commercial use?
Fedora Licensing for Commerce
Based on the provided search results, here’s a summary of the key points:
Allowed Licenses: Fedora only allows software packages with licenses that have been determined to be compatible with the project’s goals and principles. The project maintains a list of allowed licenses, which includes licenses like GPL, LGPL, and MIT.
Commercial Use: Fedora’s licensing guidelines do not explicitly prohibit commercial use. However, the project’s focus is on free and open-source software, and licenses that restrict commercial use or require royalties are not allowed.
Firmware Exceptions: Fedora has specific guidelines for firmware licenses. Firmware that disallows modification must have a License tag set to “Redistributable, no modification permitted”. Firmware packages must be named with a suffix indicating the driver or hardware component they support.
Review Process: If a package contains a license that is not on the Fedora list or has an “or later version” clause, it must undergo a review process to determine its compatibility with Fedora’s licensing guidelines.
Packaging Guidelines: When packaging software, use the correct Short License Identifier from the Fedora Licensing page. Be cautious when using licenses with “or later version” clauses and ensure that you select the correct identifier.
In summary, Fedora’s licensing guidelines prioritize free and open-source software, and commercial use is not explicitly prohibited. However, licenses that restrict commercial use or require royalties are not allowed. Commercial entities can use Fedora-based distributions, but they must comply with the project’s licensing guidelines and ensure that all software components meet the allowed license criteria.
Actually, ive seen some interesting progress with the bootc initiative (TL;DR theyre using standard OCI container infra for distributing and managing system images, several Fedora projects are currently using them and theres a bootc-initiative tag on this discussion forum too. From what ive heard, bootc helps make customizing a base distro super easy and allows tons of reuse of work and standardized tooling between several different projects
I think the first issue here was your choice of topic: “about to give up”—give up what? I’ve updated that to be more informative. You should hopefully get more responses now.
Do note that creating a Linux distribution is not exactly a trivial undertaking, neither is modifying it—you do need to figure out how things work and what needs to be done. This may involve people providing you with answers/advice, but it’ll also include you learning how the distribution is created so that you know what needs to be modified.
I don’t want to create my own distribution just to preinstall three apps and tweak one setting. Ublue images reliance on Github could cause issues and a month ago forced all users to repair the OS with the terminal.
As one person with limited time, I prefer Silverblue because standard Fedora often breaks, as I’ve seen with family and friends. Silverblue nearly meets my needs, but I need to apply this simple tweaks.
I shouldn’t have to build an entire OS for three simple applications. That’s all I need.
If youre already running a first boot script for codecs and dont want to mess with the base system images, why not have that script also install the other tweaks as well?
I’m okay with that but nobody is confirming that I’m allowed to do that, everybody gave me different responeses, some said I’m not allowed to even provide a simple script or prompt that ask the customer to install things if desired on the first boot
Copyright, trademark, added apps licencing all these need to be done and make sure and as there was response that changing base fedora to your is agains trademark and you cant use fedora names etc on it
because most people arent lawyers and they dont want to mislead you probably.
I think in another thread you posted someone recommended reaching out to the Fedora Council (at least for the legal side of things). I know many council members have access to the Red Hat legal team so they can always pass it along if needed
So you gave up after discourse wouldnt let you post?
The fedora council has a matrix channel. Maybe wait a day or so in case Matthew or someone gets the ping on the other thread, and then reach out to them and see what the options are
Do you really think I’m not putting in the effort? I’m just one person facing numerous challenges while navigating a mountain of bureaucracy, investing small amounts over several months to resell a couple of laptops with Fedora.
Now, with this frustrating law and a lack of clear answers, it feels like no one has the information I need. You mentioned certain expectations, but I’m not the one setting the rules for Fedora, nor am I the one providing clear guidance or documentation for modifying Silverblue.
Do you really believe I’m not working hard when I’ve spent countless hours searching for answers?
