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I installed my system with this file:

ubuntu-14.04.3-desktop-amd64.iso

md5:

md5sum ubuntu-14.04.3-desktop-amd64.iso

cab6dd5ee6d649ed1b24e807c877c0ae

I just want to make sure that this file is distributed free of charge, and is not a pirated copy. This might be a dummy question, but I am not familiar with the new system yet.

Lion Brown
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    There is no such thing as a pirated copy: Ubuntu is free, both as in beer, and as in liberty. – psusi Nov 16 '15 at 02:46
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    That is incorrect: if you distribute Ubuntu without obeying the license terms, that is a breach of copyright and hence piracy. Thankfully the license terms are permissive enough to allow wholesale copying and redistribution under the same license by anyone regardless of purpose. You'd have to do something like falsely claim you authored Ubuntu, or modify code without distributing the source, or try to distribute it under a different license, to break the license. – thomasrutter Nov 16 '15 at 02:50
  • @psusi beer is barley free – mchid Nov 16 '15 at 03:34
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    Possible duplicate of Under what license is Ubuntu? Can it be legally modified and distributed? – muru Nov 16 '15 at 11:40
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    Related: This older post asked on "How can I check the integrity of a downloaded Ubuntu CD?", in which the answers cover the part of question "make sure [downloaded copy of Ubuntu] is not a pirated copy [and indeed official release]". –  Nov 16 '15 at 12:57
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    The expression "free as in beer" means that I can give you a beer for free, but that is not the same thing as free as in freedom. Specifically the freedom to examine, modify, and redistribute. There is plenty of software that can be downloaded and used without having to pay for it, but they do not give you these freedoms with it. – psusi Nov 16 '15 at 23:12
  • sony got sued a few years back for violating gpl or gnu – mchid Nov 18 '15 at 01:15

2 Answers2

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Ubuntu is a free software. It is perfectly legal to redistribute it or/and modify it. You can this question for more info: Under what license is Ubuntu? Can it be legally modified and distributed?

So when you see Ubuntu, even modified one, it is probably legal.Such popular distros as Linux Mint,Elementary OS,etc. would not exist if Ubuntu licensing didn't allow modifying and distributing it freely.

Community
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Muzaffar
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Yes, according to here, this file is the official version.

source

Ubuntu Hashes

mchid
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  • Just being pedantic: md5 is not a good hash algorithm. Someone could have changed the image in a way it will still have the same md5sum. That chance is very low but just to be sure, compare the sha256sum instead 756a42474bc437f614caa09dbbc0808038d1a586d172894c113bb1c22b75d580 *ubuntu-14.04.3-desktop-amd64.iso – Germar Nov 16 '15 at 03:23
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    @Germar Yes, according to http://releases.ubuntu.com/14.04/SHA256SUMS that shasum checks out. Again, the shasums and hashsums are all published on the following page: http://releases.ubuntu.com/14.04/ – mchid Nov 16 '15 at 03:33