[Bug 833945] Re: Allow to install system wide license keys

[Michael Nelson]

On Thu, Aug 25, 2011 at 9:47 PM, Sebastian Heinlein
<833945 at bugs.launchpad.net> wrote:
> Or a more basic question: Why don't you ship licenses in packages? It is
> just a static file.

Yep - I'd be keen to hear the discussion around that too. I was last
night thinking about a similar point from the other direction: Don't
we also want to allow people to install a publically available deb,
and then purchase a license key to unlock functionality?

Thanks for summarising the current situation Sebastian. And just to be
clear for other readers, what's currently required on the server is a
relative path for the license key - relative to the installed binary
executable (ie. if the app is in /opt/mypkg/runme.bin, then the
license key path specifies any path within /opt/mypkg/ - that was done
with bug 833053).

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https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/833945

Title:
  Allow to install system wide license keys

Status in Online service used by software center:
  New
Status in “aptdaemon” package in Ubuntu:
  In Progress

Bug description:
  There is the need to allow sharing software license key by all users
  on the system. So they need to be dropped to an accessible location on
  the system. This bug tracks the discussion and progress of this
  effort.

  From a security point of view we allow a desktop user to "randomly"
  drop files on the system. So we should try to define the dropping area
  and the content of the file as tight as possible.

  Open issues:
  * Can we assume that we can patch or force the shipped software in /opt to use a common place defined by our policy (problem with proprietary software)?
  * If the above question is yes: Can we store the licenses in a central repository e.g. /var/licenses/pkgname.key? Or should we store them in the corresponding /opt/pkgname dir?
  * If the first question is no: Can we still assume that the key has to be stored in the /opt/pkgname dir? E.g. Does a "special" customer insist on uppercase naming which is not allowed as a package name /opt/AcrobatReader?
  * Can we sign the key by Launchpad to make sure to only drop a file which can be sure of to be license key? The signature check needs to be done by aptdaemon
  * We need a trusted way to transfer the location of the key to aptdaemon - current solution would be to store the key path in a package control field (XB-LicenseKeyPath). But we could also append this information to a signed license key, see question above.

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