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A response to the git.centos.org changes

redhat.com

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Re: A response to the git.centos.org changes

#61
post #14

>Red Hat uses and will always use an open source development model Yes, I do not mean to sound harsh but I do not know how say this in a nice way. To me, this means we will still happily take work from our volunteers, but we will restrict other people from using this work so we can get more $. But thank you volunteers for keeping our payroll low and helping out our stockholders. I really think this is another small s…

[flagged]

Re: A response to the git.centos.org changes

#62
post #2

> Simply rebuilding code, without adding value or changing it in any way, represents a real threat to open source companies everywhere. This is a real threat to open source, and one that has the potential to revert open source back into a hobbyist- and hackers-only activity. So... completely tone deaf.

They gotta eat, how do you propose to feed them? I'm pretty sure if all paid Redhat developers stopped contributing it would be a massive blow to the Linux ecosystem that would not readily be replaced by volunteers. They employ people who work on every fundamental pillar of kernel space and userspace. Even if the fired devs wanted to continue contributing, it would probably be reduced hours compared to what they cont…

All very logical sounding arguments, but remember that RedHat has been extremely successful for like 30 years with that open source model. These changes came after the acquisition by IBM, meaning that it's likely some clueless MBAs trying to make the line go up in the short term so they can get their promotion, rather than any kind of wise leadership decision. The only reason Rocky and Alma (the evil villains stealing RH's hard work) exist is because IBM killed CentOS, effectively pulling a bait-and-switch on a huge community.

What makes this extra worrying is the important role RH plays in the linux ecosystem. When they get fully IBM'd, what will happen to Gnome, Systemd, Flatpak, etc?

Re: A response to the git.centos.org changes

#63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not even a user of rhel but the difference is: security patches. Enterprise uses rhel because they fix or triage nearly every vuln, every time. If you work for a company with extremely stringent security requirements, or sell to government entities, rhel and its derivatives (CentOS/Amazon Linux 2, etc) are basically the only way you can clear their requirements. Debian (and by extension, Ubuntu) chooses to not fi…

I work for a eu government with extremely high security requirements (in the national identity / IDP / health space). We actually _CANNOT_ use redhat for compliance reasons. (We're using ubuntu LTS as it goes)

Why? What compliance reasons make Ubuntu LTS work and RHEL not work?

Re: A response to the git.centos.org changes

#64
The claim here that their sources are available seems like it probably has a lot of asterisks to it? Or is this kerfuffle really over nothing?

McGrath seems to be fessing up to removing access to binaries, and has his hard-truth he wants to try to deal, but but it seems like the story goes significantly deeper or the anger/frustration wouldn't be anywhere near as high. It's not clear to me from a quick browse of the repo what backports/security fixes are/aren't available.

Re: A response to the git.centos.org changes

#65
So, do I understand it correctly that if Redhat packages a piece of software written and maintained by someone else for their RHEL, they would share their RHEL revenues with them and pay for their work? Let's say the folks at AMD work so hard to provide a tool to make linux run better on AMD CPUs, now Redhat will not profit off of it by selling to their enterprise customers using AMD systems? The author of this memo just drank a lot of Kool-aid to believe in what he is writing. But, that doesn't make it right.

Re: A response to the git.centos.org changes

#66
post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I know why they use RHEL - support is apparently good and not every corpo wants to keep some linux experts on payroll to fix the rare issues that need a bit more expertise. And they keep old versiond of Red Hat updated for longer so you old crusty enterprise garbage can stay garbage few years longer and claim "but OS is updated" in audit. I have no idea who in their right mind would use derivative, it has zero benefi…

Funny; our RHEL systems were a nightmare for compliance actually. Most of the tools the auditor/pentester type people use only search for, (completely fake example) libfoo 1.x.2 having a security hole, and redhat's libfoo 1.x.2-wibble13 even though it has a backported fix, is flagged as vulnerable. For each one of these packages, it's a crazy process to prove that the CVE they reported isn't actually there, and it de…

t.b.h. all this tells me is that your pentesters are bad.

Re: A response to the git.centos.org changes

#67

Sounds like they think of Rocky as the enemy, 'under no obligation' to make it easier, 'rebuilding code' is a 'threat'... I have a project in RHEL that they 'rebuild' but I don't see that as a 'threat'. They want to be a little bit more careful with dogma that makes sense to their management, will get them patted on the head there, but is just nonsense seen from other perspectives - like my perspective contributing t…

I suspect Oracle Linux is the bigger "threat". Oracle uses this distribution all over, perhaps RedHat thinks those are licenses they deserve.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oracle_Linux

Re: A response to the git.centos.org changes

#68
post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I know why they use RHEL - support is apparently good and not every corpo wants to keep some linux experts on payroll to fix the rare issues that need a bit more expertise. And they keep old versiond of Red Hat updated for longer so you old crusty enterprise garbage can stay garbage few years longer and claim "but OS is updated" in audit. I have no idea who in their right mind would use derivative, it has zero benefi…

Funny; our RHEL systems were a nightmare for compliance actually. Most of the tools the auditor/pentester type people use only search for, (completely fake example) libfoo 1.x.2 having a security hole, and redhat's libfoo 1.x.2-wibble13 even though it has a backported fix, is flagged as vulnerable. For each one of these packages, it's a crazy process to prove that the CVE they reported isn't actually there, and it de…

Perhaps auditing tools should do something better than just comparing version numbers as released by upstream?

Maybe Ubuntu LTS does less security backports than RHEL, but that doesn't make it better per se (saying this as an Ubuntu user).

Re: A response to the git.centos.org changes

#69
post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I work for a eu government with extremely high security requirements (in the national identity / IDP / health space). We actually _CANNOT_ use redhat for compliance reasons. (We're using ubuntu LTS as it goes)

Why? What compliance reasons make Ubuntu LTS work and RHEL not work?

Stupid auditors/pentesters really. Explained a bit in another comment, but essentially we had to explain the concept of backporting cve fixes to the same 'version' of random libs to the auditors and to get certified we would have to demonstrate, with actual source, that each of ~200 or so cve's were fixed in various system parts (individually).

In the end, we just went with ubuntu for those nodes, and they all passed the certification. Shrug.

Since then, we don't even need the OS to be certified, since we are using confidential computing, and we stuck with ubuntu for our k8s nodes etc -- but we are forbidden from using rhel anywhere by our legal / compliance people now.

Re: A response to the git.centos.org changes

#70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Funny; our RHEL systems were a nightmare for compliance actually. Most of the tools the auditor/pentester type people use only search for, (completely fake example) libfoo 1.x.2 having a security hole, and redhat's libfoo 1.x.2-wibble13 even though it has a backported fix, is flagged as vulnerable. For each one of these packages, it's a crazy process to prove that the CVE they reported isn't actually there, and it de…

t.b.h. all this tells me is that your pentesters are bad.

Bingo. We don't get to choose them, though, and they hold the strings on the certifications that our business needs. Sometimes it's easier to bend.
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