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Ubuntu is coming under open source licence. Whether if one wish to make some change in kernel or any other change (let it be the gui appearence) and publish it as their own linux distro is legal?

Prasanth
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2 Answers2

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There are plenty examples out there so yes (here is a list of 3rd party operating systems based on Ubuntu). But you are not allowed to use ...

  • the name Ubuntu or use any name that looks like Ubuntu.
  • the Ubuntu and Canonical pictures/images/logos.
  • you also may not give the impression your release is in any way related to Ubuntu or Canonical. "This release is based on Ubuntu 14.04" is the closest you probably can get to using a reference to Ubuntu.

So creating your own release is more than just a change in a setting in a kernel you will need to do.

Rinzwind
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Ubuntu may be open source, but it also takes into account a lot of different projects and contributors. Making a change to it for your own personal use is typically not a problem at all; for example, I have mine set with a GDM visual manager instead of the default LightDM, and I have tweaked the startup code to make sure certain firewall scripts run every time I boot my computer. (There's other little tweaks I've made, too.)

That said, changing things and then redistributing it as your own Linux distro is a different thing altogether. Or even changing things and then redistributing it as Ubuntu. Rinzwind's response is true for redistributing as your own Linux distro. If you go to http://www.ubuntu.com/legal they have a whole bunch of the legal terms and policies stuff, including a section about contributing to the project. If what you are doing falls more in line with contributing to the Ubuntu project than making a whole new distro, then I would look into what it takes to be an official contributor.

Colonel Trogdor
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