Re: closed-list membership transition

[Solar Designer <solar () openwall com>]

On Mon, Sep 19, 2011 at 10:03:05AM +0200, Ludwig Nussel wrote:
> Solar Designer wrote:
> > [...]
> > I think that Chrome OS qualifies.  As far as I can see, it's generally
> > available now: http://getchrome.eu/download.php
>
> That's something different. Apparently just some guy who used SUSE
> Studio to create a live CD based on openSUSE. Anyone could do that
> with a few mouse clicks.

Oops.  Thank you for this crucial correction.

That's weird naming, apparently based on inclusion of the Chrome web
browser only.

OK, I read up some more on Chrome OS and Chromium OS.

Per the Chromium OS FAQ:

http://www.chromium.org/chromium-os/chromium-os-faq

it appears that Chrome OS is only available with a Chromebook purchase,
but those may be purchased from multiple OEMs.  I think this latter fact
qualifies Chrome OS for the closed list since it's similar to how
multiple hardware product vendors redistribute the distros of MontaVista
Software and Wind River, who we accepted (thereby setting a precedent).

"Multiple" is the keyword here.  (We might have difficulty making a
determination in case a distro is only used by a very low and fixed
number of hardware vendors, though - like just two.)

Also, Chromium OS is generally available, albeit not in a form suitable
for end-users (there's a public git repository, but no images ready to
boot/install).  Arguably, this makes Chromium OS eligible too, and I
guess the security team behind Chrome OS and Chromium OS is the same.

Any other comments?

Alexander