Bonum Certa Men Certa

Guest Post: Adventures in Novell's Moonlight

I installed the 64-bit version of the Moonlight plugin for Firefox, and tested it on the following listed test site:



http://www.mason-zimbler.com/festivegreetings/

I was subsequently greeted by a dialogue box entitled "Moonlight Codecs Installer":



Would you like to install the required add-on to play the content of this page?

This page requires the Microsoft Media Pack to be installed to play multimedia content.

If you choose, the software will be automatically downloaded and installed from Microsoft's web site.

[] Do not ask me to install this add-on again

[Cancel] [Install Codecs]


Clicking on "Install Codecs" results in this the following message being displayed:






End User License Agreement

Before the required software can be installed, you must first agree to the End User License Agreement below.

MICROSOFT PRE-RELEASE SOFTWARE LICENSE TERMS

MICROSOFT MEDIA PACK 1.0

ONLY FOR USE WITH NOVELL'S MOONLIGHT 1.0 RUNNING IN AN INTERNET BROWSER

These license terms are an agreement between Microsoft Corporation (or based on where you live, one of its affiliates) and you. Please read them. They apply to the software named above, which includes the media on which you received it, if any. The terms also apply to any Microsoft

- Updates (including but not limited to bug fixes, patches, updates, upgrades, enhancements, new versions, and successors to the software, collectively called "Updates"), - supplements, - Internet-based services, and - support services

for this software, unless other terms accompany those items. If so, those terms apply.

By using the software, you accept these terms. If you do not accept them, do not use the software.

If you comply with these license terms, you have the rights below.

1. INSTALLATION AND USE RIGHTS. You may install and use any number of copies of the software only with the software identified above running in an Internet browser on a personal computer.

2. TERM. The term of this agreement is until the commercial release of Novell’s Moonlight 1.0 but in no event later than June 1, 2009.

3. PRE-RELEASE SOFTWARE. This software is a pre-release version. It may not work the way a final version of the software will. We may change it for the final, commercial version. We also may not release a commercial version.

4. FEEDBACK. If you give feedback about the software to Microsoft, you give to Microsoft, without charge, the right to use, share and commercialize your feedback in any way and for any purpose. You also give to third parties, without charge, any patent rights needed for their products, technologies and services to use or interface with any specific parts of a Microsoft software or service that includes the feedback. You will not give feedback that is subject to a license that requires Microsoft to license its software or documentation to third parties because we include your feedback in them. These rights survive this agreement.

5. SCOPE OF LICENSE. The software is licensed, not sold. This agreement only gives you some rights to use the software. Microsoft reserves all other rights. Unless applicable law gives you more rights despite this limitation, you may use the software only as expressly permitted in this agreement. In doing so, you must comply with any technical limitations in the software that only allow you to use it in certain ways. You also may not - work around any technical limitations in the software; - reverse engineer, decompile or disassemble the software, except and only to the extent that applicable law expressly permits, despite this limitation; - publish the software for others to copy; - rent, lease or lend the software; or - transfer the software or this agreement to any third party.

6. NOTICE ABOUT VC-1 VISUAL STANDARDS. This software may include VC-1 visual decoding technology. MPEG LA, L.L.C. requires this notice:

THIS PRODUCT IS LICENSED UNDER THE VC-1 PATENT PORTFOLIO LICENSES FOR THE PERSONAL AND NON-COMMERCIAL USE OF A CONSUMER TO (A) ENCODE VIDEO IN COMPLIANCE WITH THE VC-1 STANDARD ("VC-1 VIDEO") OR (B) DECODE VC-1 VIDEO THAT WAS ENCODED BY A CONSUMER ENGAGED IN A PERSONAL AND NON-COMMERCIAL ACTIVITY AND/OR WAS OBTAINED FROM A VIDEO PROVIDER LICENSED TO PROVIDE VC-1 VIDEO. NO LICENSE IS GRANTED OR SHALL BE IMPLIED FOR ANY OTHER USE.

If you have questions about the VC-1 visual standard, please contact MPEG LA, L.L.C., 250 Steele Street, Suite 300, Denver Colorado 80206; http://www.mpegla.com

7. EXPORT RESTRICTIONS. The software is subject to United States export laws and regulations. You must comply with all domestic and international export laws and regulations that apply to the software. These laws include restrictions on destinations, end users and end use. For additional information, see www.microsoft.com/exporting

8. SUPPORT SERVICES. Because this software is "as is," we may not provide support services for it.

9. ENTIRE AGREEMENT. This agreement, and the terms for supplements, Updates, Internet-based services and support services that you use, are the entire agreement for the software and support services.

10. APPLICABLE LAW.

a. United States. If you acquired the software in the United States, Washington state law governs the interpretation of this agreement and applies to claims for breach of it, regardless of conflict of laws principles. The laws of the state where you live govern all other claims, including claims under state consumer protection laws, unfair competition laws, and in tort.

b. Outside the United States. If you acquired the software in any other country, the laws of that country apply.

11. LEGAL EFFECT. This agreement describes certain legal rights. You may have other rights under the laws of your country. You may also have rights with respect to the party from whom you acquired the software. This agreement does not change your rights under the laws of your country if the laws of your country do not permit it to do so.

12. DISCLAIMER OF WARRANTY. The software is licensed "as-is." You bear the risk of using it. Microsoft gives no express warranties, guarantees or conditions. You may have additional consumer rights under your local laws which this agreement cannot change. To the extent permitted under your local laws, Microsoft excludes the implied warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose and non-infringement.

13. LIMITATION ON AND EXCLUSION OF REMEDIES AND DAMAGES. You can recover from Microsoft and its suppliers only direct damages up to U.S. $5.00. You cannot recover any other damages, including consequential, lost profits, special, indirect or incidental damages.

This limitation applies to

- anything related to the software, services, content (including code) on third party Internet sites, or third party programs; and - claims for breach of contract, breach of warranty, guarantee or condition, strict liability, negligence, or other tort to the extent permitted by applicable law.

It also applies even if Microsoft knew or should have known about the possibility of the damages. The above limitation or exclusion may not apply to you because your country may not allow the exclusion or limitation of incidental, consequential or other damages.





I don't agree with this EULA, therefore I can't install this software.

To resolve this problem, I downloaded the sources for Moonlight:

svn co svn://anonsvn.mono-project.com/source/trunk/moon





The license for this software is as follows (from moon/LICENSE):

* Moonlight source code (src/, plugin/)

Unless explicitly stated, this code is licensed under the terms of the GNU LGPL 2 license only (no "later versions").



Why isn't Moonlight licensed under GPLv3?

In addition to the GNU LGPL, this code is available for relicensing for non-LGPL use, contact Novell for details (mono@novell.com).

We consider non-LGPL use instances where you use this on an embedded system where the end user is not able to upgrade the Moonlight installation or distribution that is part of your product (Section 6 and 7), you would have to obtain a commercial license from Novell (consider software burned into a ROM, systems where end users would not be able to upgrade, an embedded console, a game console that imposes limitations on the distribution and access to the code, a phone platform that prevents end users from upgrading Moonlight).


This seems to preclude distributing Moonlight on a LiveCD or other immutable medium, which seems like a rather odd restriction.

I then tried to build Moonlight by following the instructions given in the link you provided:

Download and install the moon tarball or moon SVN module from SVN:

* configure like this: ./configure * Build and install, run: make && make install * To install the plugin in your home: make test-plugin





moon]$ ./configure bash: ./configure: No such file or directory



I notice you now use an autogen script, so I assume the above information is now out of date. Perhaps you could update that page to reflect this change.

After manually resolving difficulties with missing build dependencies (expat-devel, firefox-devel), I then proceeded with the build, but encountered this error:

"application.cpp:18:37: mono/metadata/appdomain.h: No such file or directory"





And the build failed.

So I installed the following to meet this missing dependency (including sub-dependants):




mono-core, mono-devel, mono-data, mono-winforms, mono-web



And tried again, but encountered yet another error:




checking for MONO... configure: error: Package requirements (mono >= 2.2) were not met:

Requested 'mono >= 2.2' but version of Mono is 1.2.5.1



After checking "./configure --help" for clues, I discovered that I needed to disable managed code to remove this dependency, so I tried again with the "--with-managed=no" flag set, but I still received exactly the same error.




application.cpp:18:37: error: mono/metadata/appdomain.h: No such file or directory



Even though this file does exist:




/usr/include/mono-1.0/mono/metadata/appdomain.h



At this point, I'm basically stuck.

So the question is, how do I, or anyone else who wishes to only use Free Software, view the contents of that Web page?

Also, when can I expect to see a prebuilt package of Moonlight, built against Free Software codecs rather than Microsoft's proprietary software, in my distro's repo?

Comments

Recent Techrights' Posts

GNU/Linux at 4% "Market Share" (Even According to Steam Survey)
Another milestone
Ahead of Mass Layoffs Microsoft Tries to Rebrand or Redefine XBox (Because the XBox is Tentatively Dead)
2026 will be the last year of XBox in all likelihood
Richard Stallman (RMS) Announces His Georgia Talk 2.5 Weeks in Advance
A lot earlier than usual
 
Gemini Links 06/01/2026: Collective Responsibility, Pico2DVI, and TV Detox
Links for the day
Microsoft Loves Freedom, Democracy... and Linux? No, Microsoft Laying Off Because "Microsoft Loves Linux" Was Failed Posturing, Its Former Staff Moves to GNU/Linux
"What are the running totals for IBM and Microsoft layoffs?"
Mozilla's Assisted Suicide, Assisted by GNOME
Firefox is meant to get better all the time, but instead it gets worse
Links 06/01/2026: Neglect of the Elderly, Abandonment of International Laws
Links for the day
Links 06/01/2026: More Reports Point to Mass Layoffs at Microsoft (Later This Month), Greenland/Denmark Cautions the Dictator Who Illegally Invaded Venezuela
Links for the day
Internet Policy/Net Reality: You Must Never Ever Rely on Google (no "S.E.O." Either)
Stack Overflow is dying
Dr. Andy Farnell on Technology That Harms People (and Lack of Regulation Which is Needed to Address This Problem)
Dr. Farnell's article is long but well worth reading
GNU/Linux Rising to 5% in Cameroon and It's Hardly the Exception
"AI" is just a smokescreen as losses pile up
Rumours: Microsoft to Lay Off 12,500-25,000 Workers Soon (Tentatively Wednesday, 15 Days From Now)
"Layoffs are coming third full week of Jan. Likely 21st but these things can move around a bit based on last minute developments."
EPO People Power - Part XXVI - European Media Has Become Part of the Problem
it is as clear as daylight that Cocainegate is real
IBM 2026 "Organizational Change/s" Means Layoffs Resume Soon, Some Claim "Forever Layoffs."
It's about "narrative control"
Microsoft Layoffs in January 2026
Get ready
Google Still Boosting Slopfarms
Slopfarms will probably all perish as soon as Google News quits sending them visitors
Links 06/01/2026: Cryptocurrency Scam Emails and Greenland's Fear of Getting 'Venezuelad'
Links for the day
Links 06/01/2026: DIY Projects and Inertial Music
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Monday, January 05, 2026
IRC logs for Monday, January 05, 2026
To The Register MS, ARM Means Microsoft Windows (Follow the Money)
the Free software community can campaign and run sites (like the one below), but it cannot afford to bribe so-called 'news' sites like Microsoft and its OEMs do
IBM's CEO Makes No Sense
"IBM CEO Aravind Krishna on what’s really driving tech layoffs"
Links 05/01/2026: Tensions in Korea, Ukrainians See "Double Standard" in a US Russia-Style Invasion
Links for the day
Gemini Links 05/01/2026: Farewell to CBS Reality, Being On-Call, Digital Ad Spendings
Links for the day
Remember That Nobel Prizes Are All Named After the Inventor of Explosives (Even a "Nobel Prize for Peace")
These rewards are only as valuable as the reputation they earn for themselves
Baidu and Yandex Have Overtaken Microsoft in Asia
how about all the Bing layoffs?
Googlebombing for Bill Epsteingate
Maybe the slopfarms too can help him cover up
Of Course GNU/Linux Has Reached All-Time High in Africa in 2026
Africa will, on average, gravitate towards Free software or whatever costs less
From GNU/Linux Boosting to Slop-Boosting Career
It is sad to see someone who devoted many years of his life producing GNU/Linux stories stooping down to this "AI" boot-licking
IBM Buys, Then Disposes/Sacks, the Staff (That It Paid For)
Any money gained is spent buying some more companies to add/join up their revenue, even if the debt surges and there's little integration going on (misfits absorbed)
Time for Microsoft to Rebrand to Fit the Vapourware (Ponzi Scheme)
something between Meta and Alphabet
Links 05/01/2026: Slop Ruining Children's Minds, "Complicity of the Press in US Violence"
Links for the day
Microsoft's Windows Falls Below 20% in the UK
After a lot of years of advocacy and hard work
The Real GNU Anniversary (Not Manifesto or Announcement) is Today
the development, not the manifesto
GNU/Linux Usage Said to Have Doubled in Oceania
it's hard to discount or dismiss Oceania as a bunch of "coconut islands"
There's No Such Thing as "AI Godfather", Stop Repeating This Pure Nonsense!
Infantile or corruptible media that plays along with slop or uses slop will perish
Gemini Links 05/01/2026: "Poverty and Hunger", "Entrepreneurial Family", "Abandoning Obsidian for Logseq"
Links for the day
Links 05/01/2026: A Shrinking Canadian Economy, Brigitte Bardot's Environmentalism Recalled, Unredacted Epstein Files
Links for the day
Microsoft Allegedly Uses Performance Improvement Plans (PIPs) to Hide the Massive Scale of Company-Wide Layoffs
Just like IBM; they meanwhile talk a bunch of nonsense about "AI" to distract from their commercial calamity
Battles Are Won in the Court of Public Opinion
Many "systems" rely on the mere perception or appearance of legitimacy
No, Writing Isn't in Decline, Some of the Large and Centralised Platforms Are
Slop isn't really competition, just a passing fad and pure noise
GNU/Linux Share in Mongolia More Than Doubles
they probably lack any genuine excitement for "hey hi PCs"
Whistleblowing is About Understanding Boundaries and Risks
The bottom line is, people typically find out the truth at the end
EPO People Power - Part XXV - While EPO Managers Snort Cocaine the Staff Compiles 'Insurance Files' to Expose EPO Corruption
In this increasingly authoritarian world we need more whistleblowers
"The European Patent Reform" That Represents a Gross Violation of Laws, Constitutions, and Conventions (in Order to Make the Rich Even Richer, Mostly Outside Europe)
How far and how long will EPO corruption go?
The Reputation Issue Is Not Our Fault
Trying to squash words (and people) merely diverts more attention to them
GNU/Linux Distribution "Ultimate Edition" Fixes Its Web Site (Apparently Compromised Months Ago)
they dealt with the issue before media shame and a catastrophe of trust
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Sunday, January 04, 2026
IRC logs for Sunday, January 04, 2026
Gemini Links 04/01/2026: 64-bit Addressing and 39th Chaos Communication Congress
Links for the day
Windows Was Always the Punchline
What did we count to calculate taxes?
GNU/Linux Surges to About 4% in Peru This Year
one of the poorest counties in America
This Year Our Adoption of IRC Turns 18
We have used IRC for this site since 2008
The Doors Are Closing, Windows Closing Too
Microsoft wants more vendor lock-in, but at risk that this desire will simply alienate and drive away many users
The FSF's Program Manager, Dr. Miriam Sabrina Bastian, Left in October to Lead Climate School
We are not sure why Miriam Bastian decided to leave the Free Software Foundation (FSF)
Outline of Slop, LLMs, IBM, and Things to Come
This coming week and weekend will be very productive irrespective of how much "news" gets published by other sites
Links 04/01/2026: War Without Borders, "Large Hadron Collider Being Shut Down"
Links for the day
Links 04/01/2026: US Imperialism in Greenland and Venezuela, "Climate Protesters Face Greater Risk of Crackdown Amid Rising Authoritarianism"
Links for the day
2026 Should be the Year We All Stop Saying "AI" and Call Things What They Really Are
Don't give anyone the satisfaction of this misguided belief there's any intelligence there
Ponzi Schemes Are Useful (to Corrupt CEOs)
Pathetic, corruptible so-called 'media' is bagging bribes to perpetuate the lies about "AI" (slop)
GNU/Linux at All-Time High in Algeria
In 2026 it hit a new all-time high
Online Mobbing (and Worse) Disguised as 'Free Speech'
People who say they believe in "free speech" have been trying hard to silence RMS and squash the FSF
A 'Cancer That Attaches Itself' to Bulgaria?
"Cancer" is what Microsoft called GNU/Linux
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Saturday, January 03, 2026
IRC logs for Saturday, January 03, 2026
Body-Shaming Using Fakes
a lot of the people who casually claim "defamation" are themselves defaming loads of people every day
GNU/Linux "Market Share" in Switzerland More Than Doubled Last Year, Based on statCounter
GNU/Linux continues its considerable growth
EPO People Power - Part XXIV - Today or Tomorrow You Should Write to National Representatives (Delegates) at the EPO in Your Country
Keep up the pressure!
Red Hat and IBM Layoffs, Staff Kept Quiet About it, WARN Act Skirted/WARN Notices Avoided
What a terrible company to be in
XBox Layoffs Imminent, More Appalling Sales Figures Published
Expect many layoffs in the gaming division