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Thoughts on RHEL going closed source ? (mander.xyz)
submitted 3 years ago* (last edited 3 years ago) by to c/linux@lemmy.ml
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I’m curious about what you think on how it will affect the Linux community and distros (especially RHEL based distros like Fedora or Rocky).

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[–] 2 points 3 years ago (2 children)

It doesn't seem likely that would be allowed, as it would arguably constitute a restriction on distribution, which the GPL explicitly forbids.

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  • [–] 1 point 3 years ago (1 child)

    There's no restriction on distribution. You're free to distribute the GPL software you got from Red Hat.

    They're under no obligation to ship you other, different software in the future. You're only entitled to get the source for the binaries they distributed to you. If they never give you the next version, you have no right to its source.

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  • [–] 1 point 3 years ago

    This is something for the courts to resolve, but it seems to me that there's a good argument to say that threats of future punishment (explicit or implied) would constitute a "further restriction" under the GPL.

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