- Penguin Liberation Front
The Penguin Liberation Front (PLF) is a project to provide packages of so-called "endangered software" -
free software which may not be legally distributable in some countries - forLinux users and developers. This software cannot be included inLinux distribution s for various reasons, such as:*
Software patent s, prohibiting the use ofabstract algorithm s regardless of implementation
* Otherintellectual property laws, such asDMCA in theUnited States , and EUCD in theEuropean Union
* Security laws, such as strong cryptography prohibition in many countriesMuch free software is affected by these issues, and is therefore illegal in some parts of the world. This makes use of these packages difficult even for those in countries where no such laws are broken, since these packages are generally not carried in standard package repositories.
The PLF focused on
Mandriva Linux and usedurpmi for distribution. An effort to provide packages for Ubuntu was started, but later shut down due to lack of time to maintain it. A free packages repository for Ubuntu similar to PLF is instead maintained by theMedibuntu project.External links
* [http://plf.zarb.org/ PLF Homepage]
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