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Red Hat cutting back RHEL source availability (lwn.net)
submitted 3 years ago by to c/technology@beehaw.org
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[–] 1 point 3 years ago (4 children)

Maybe, but if the license contract terms prohibit redistribution RedHat could just terminate the agreement. They couldn’t stop you from doing it the first time, but you’d be blocked off on that account.

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  • [–] 9 points 3 years ago (2 children)

    Isn't that against GPL? You as a user are allowed to do whatever with the software — modify it, redistribute it etc.

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  • [–] 3 points 3 years ago

    I’m definitely not a lawyer, so grain of salt. By the GPL you are allowed to re-distribute the source, but Redhat can also refuse to do further business with you and terminate the account. By not distributing the GPL licensed code unless you are a customer (and under a no-distribution contract), they can just choose not to distribute the software to you and thus not have to give you source.

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  • [–] 5 points 3 years ago

    license contract terms prohibit redistribution

    Not a problem, Redhat does not own (all of) the software they are redistributing. They would have to legally relicense the software they are redistributing themselves, which would be a massive, if not impossible, undertaking in many cases.

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