Root Access

8:14 PM

imgur.com/gallery/0Q0aR6O

Fox

@djsmiley2k We had a fibre router upgrade happen here last week, I sent out a notification email to staff to let them know it would be happening since all access to the local fileshare would be down during the upgrade. I completely forgot we have someone working from Perth, which is like 7 hours behind us. So they basically got to work then couldn't do anything at all. lolz

djsmiley2k

but did you tell your collegue you definately told that guy it would happen?

Michael Frank

Funny you mention that.. because the lead network guy asked me if I had sent out the notification like 15 minutes before we started. I said yes, the quickly slammed out a notification to staff.

22

Q: Can I sue a restaurant for serving me meat in vegetarian dish?

I am a vegetarian for religious reasons. I was at Chipotle on Saturday and ordered a sofritas rice bowl which is "vegan approved". To my surprise, I found a chunk of chicken in my bowl when I was halfway through eating it. Made me feel sick to the stomach realizing that I may have eaten chicken a...

djsmiley2k

LOL

DavidPostill

8:32 PM

71

Q: Revisit the Hackintosh policy

This answer from 2010 is oft-cited as reason for questions about "Hackintoshes" (fancy word for "Running macOS on non-Apple hardware") not being allowed. The reasoning is that we don't want "a reputation for encouraging something that may or may not be illegal". That's a horrible guideline, and ...

discussion scope

djsmiley2k

8:43 PM

@MichaelFrank lol

user226528

I believe jailbreaking became legal in U.S., right? So, Hackintosh would be legal.

user226528

Or... would it?

user226528

Now, I know "jailbreaking" is a term of iOS, but that law I am talking about authorizes the similar sorts like "rooting" (which is for Android) and the Windows Phone kind, which doesn't have a word yet.

DavidPostill

@FleetCommand It doesn't matter whether it is legal or not. We have chosen not to allow them. And this answer sums up nicely why.

37

A: Revisit the Hackintosh policy

I say that there should be no "ban" on Hackintosh questions solely based on legal grounds, and in fact, there shouldn't be a ban on them at all. BUT... Due to the very nature of how a Hackintosh works, there tend to be two types of questions about Hackintoshes: A category of questions where i...

And this:

16

A: Revisit the Hackintosh policy

In a practical sense, we don't really support pirated software anywhere. Yes, Hackintoshes are a specific and very visible example, but its no different from someone using "Windows 10 pirate edition". Its entirely consistent, and every situation where something similar happens, we probably end up...

user226528

@DavidPostill Well, seeing as I neither have a Mac or a Hack, I am only interested in the legality question and not much else (including whether SU lifts the ban.)

DavidPostill

8:53 PM

@FleetCommand Well we've deliberately chosen not to emphasise the legal position. Such a question should probably be asked on law.stackexchange.com not Super User ;)

user226528

The thing I really want to know is whether bypassing the hardware check counts as a breach of DMCA.

DavidPostill

@FleetCommand That is off-topic on SU. We are not lawyers and we don't play them on TV either.

user226528

Please don't tell something like that to a judge. Apparently, they think the law is for everyone, not just lawyers.

user226528

Also, everything you see on telly is probably wrong. Law included.

user226528

Speaking of things that are NOT off-topic, I believe ffmpeg has made SU its primary forum.

DavidPostill

8:59 PM

@FleetCommand So?

@FleetCommand Obeying the law is for everyone. Saying you are a lawyer if you are not one will get you into big trouble with a judge.

@FleetCommand We are not here to tell you if a particular act is legal or not in a particular location. That is what lawyers are for and you should go ask one.

user226528

I noticed you've been saying a lot of things that are obviously correct today. Trying to have a day in which you and I completely agree? 😉

DavidPostill

@FleetCommand Exactly. Please ask a real lawyer not some random SU user.

Michael Frank

> FFmpeg offers no official forum. However, we collect links to FFmpeg-related forums found in the world wide web.

user226528

Someone once asked me which one I preferred dating: A lawyer or a ... "escort"? I found the question creepy and said "any of them would be a much better choice than dating you".

Michael Frank

One of those happens to be SU.

user226528

9:07 PM

@MichaelFrank Also, they don't have an official binary release guy either. Zeranoe is completely unofficial.

user226528

AFK

bertieb

@FleetCommand there's still the mailing list (ffmpeg-user)

@DavidPostill allq's answer there actually says there's no outright ban

But that the number of good, solvable questions is probably low

But there are still user[s] custom VTC-ing questions with a link to the earlier Q

DavidPostill

9:24 PM

@bertieb The earlier question (and answers) is still valid.

I've changed my standard text to include both questions ...

bertieb

@DavidPostill The highest-upvoted answer there implies (well, suggests that there should be) there is no ban

The accepted answer is different and is shown higher than that answer, of course

But the consensus seems to have changed

DavidPostill

@bertieb <shrug>

bertieb

9:40 PM

Err

Perhaps I misunderstand how meta works, policy-wise

(I am not being deliberately obtuse here, or trying to make a point)

I went to VTC a hackintosh Q as off-topic, checked the meta QA often linked, and found conflicting advice

Given the wording of this comment, I figured that they aren't off topic, as the consensus has changed

But we have chosen not to allow them?

Bob

@bertieb hackintosh is a special case... iirc it was decided by tptb, not community consensus

bertieb

@Bob I could understand that if there was some documentation of that

But the comment suggests otherwise: "there is no applicable SE-wide policy, so this is a community decision."

Bob

@bertieb BinaryMisfit used to be Diago (sp?) who was one of the earlier mods

@bertieb hm. interesting.

bertieb

There was a follow-up QA

17

Q: Are Hackintosh questions off topic because of community consensus or just moderation policy?

I was having a discussion with @Gilles lately, whether to allow questions about OS X being virtualized. In essence, the Apple license forbids virtualizing certain products, but the majority of votes went for his answer, based on which we should allow these questions. Now, the question we always ...

discussion off-topic

But there's no real answer there

So yeah

Seems like they were banned (but by community consensus, Diago/BM's diomond status notwithstanding), and consensus has marched on

Ramhound

10:13 PM

Jail breaking is a specific exception to the law

However, OSX Terms of Usage also apply, Federal Government cannot write a law that superceeds what Apple license applies to, in other words even if forced it would be unsupported but currently it’s disallowed due to TOS which is enforceable

Many companies were taken to court over Havkintosh

they were selling pre-built systems. None of them exist today.

You have to also “hack” VMWare to run OSX on non-Apple hardware not a good combination for stable support (hacked hypervisor) and hacked OS

Reference question: superuser.com/questions/1306207/…

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