Red Hat cutting back RHEL source availability

#1

Post by 0xdeafbeef » Wed, Jun 21, 2023, 4:00 PM UTC

Red Hat cutting back RHEL source availability
lwn.net

Re: Red Hat cutting back RHEL source availability

#2

Post by HideousKojima » Wed, Jun 21, 2023, 4:33 PM UTC

It only takes a single customer with a RHEL subscription to republish the source, so this is really just a middle finger out of spite to Centos competitors.

Re: Red Hat cutting back RHEL source availability

#3

Post by a2tech » Wed, Jun 21, 2023, 4:34 PM UTC

I don’t understand what game IBM is playing with Red Hat. I was under the impression they were profitable prior to the acquisition so I’m not sure why they’re squeezing so hard and ruining the great brand and good will Red Hat had built up.

Re: Red Hat cutting back RHEL source availability

#4

Post by BossingAround » Wed, Jun 21, 2023, 4:34 PM UTC

I don't get what's the big deal--essentially the only thing being lost is a pointer to commit that marks the difference between RHEL X.Y and X.Y+1..?

Re: Red Hat cutting back RHEL source availability

#5

Post by adql » Wed, Jun 21, 2023, 4:37 PM UTC

And the IBMization of Red Hat continues

Re: Red Hat cutting back RHEL source availability

#6

Post by chasil » Wed, Jun 21, 2023, 4:37 PM UTC

If Red Hat chooses not to perform their duties under the GPL, then any holder of copyright can require Red Hat to remove the owner's source packages from the commercial distribution.

Red Hat could minimally perform this duty by providing the source only to those who download the binary releases. As there are several avenues for free downloads (developer, 16 free licenses for small business, etc.), the source will be available by that route.

Re: Red Hat cutting back RHEL source availability

#7

Post by adql » Wed, Jun 21, 2023, 4:37 PM UTC

a2tech wrote: post #3

I don’t understand what game IBM is playing with Red Hat. I was under the impression they were profitable prior to the acquisition so I’m not sure why they’re squeezing so hard and ruining the great brand and good will Red Hat had built up.

The same game they play with their main customers, make sure they will have more and more problems leaving.

Re: Red Hat cutting back RHEL source availability

#8

Post by BossingAround » Wed, Jun 21, 2023, 4:38 PM UTC

chasil wrote: post #6

If Red Hat chooses not to perform their duties under the GPL, then any holder of copyright can require Red Hat to remove the owner's source packages from the commercial distribution. Red Hat could minimally perform this duty by providing the source only to those who download the binary releases. As there are several avenues for free downloads (developer, 16 free licenses for small business, etc.), the source will be…

CentOS Stream source code is available.

Re: Red Hat cutting back RHEL source availability

#9

Post by chasil » Wed, Jun 21, 2023, 4:40 PM UTC

BossingAround wrote: post #8

chasil wrote: post #6

If Red Hat chooses not to perform their duties under the GPL, then any holder of copyright can require Red Hat to remove the owner's source packages from the commercial distribution. Red Hat could minimally perform this duty by providing the source only to those who download the binary releases. As there are several avenues for free downloads (developer, 16 free licenses for small business, etc.), the source will be…

CentOS Stream source code is available.

CentOS stream is not RHEL, and that is what will be needed by Rocky, Alma, and Oracle.

I don't think it will be much more difficult to obtain.

Re: Red Hat cutting back RHEL source availability

#10

Post by MattSteelblade » Wed, Jun 21, 2023, 4:40 PM UTC

Will this prevent o̶f̶f̶i̶c̶i̶a̶l̶ legal derivatives of RHEL?