this post was submitted on 26 Jun 2023
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Linux is a family of open source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991 by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged in a Linux distribution (or distro for short).
Distributions include the Linux kernel and supporting system software and libraries, many of which are provided by the GNU Project. Many Linux distributions use the word "Linux" in their name, but the Free Software Foundation uses the name GNU/Linux to emphasize the importance of GNU software, causing some controversy.
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I honestly don't get this take at all. Especially for Oracle Linux. Oracle does write / package much newer kernels and some other features. Why is it OK for Red Hat to package up the Linux kernel and other GPL software and sell support, but not for someone else to do so with Red Hat as the base? It's just the base is in a slightly different location, RHEL instead of CentOS Stream. Is Amazon OK for doing (now) Fedora -> Amazon Linux? Should Red Hat need to pay Linus for the kernel? Is Amazon doing "enough" modification that they're not "freeloading" but Oracle isn't? What's the threshold, and does it have any relation to the GPL?
But even if they didn't - you do know there are consultants out there for just about any software providing support. Heck, reading this one way, you would be against users of a distro supporting themselves. This doesn't make any sense to me at all.
IMO the value of RHEL is in the packaging, testing guarantee (you know everything they offer has been thoroughly tested), and the enterprise support. IANAL but those things seem to be solely the result of their own work, and shouldn't be subject to the licenses of the software they redistribute. If not legally, then at least morally. They could allow you to freely download and redistribute the raw source code that they pull from public git repos, but that wouldn't make a difference because you can already get the exact same thing elsewhere.
The majority of RHEL clones don't offer enterprise support (usually it's a separate company that offers it and the clone doesn't receive that money, but either way it won't be close the level of quality that a vertically-integrated mega-corp can provide), so they're not taking business away from RH. If anything, it's actually on-boarding new customers to RHEL. The clones getting the packaging and the majority of the testing guarantee is also not egregious, because they're not backed by a big enough corporation to do those things themselves, and they aren't making enough money to afford it either.
None of those things are true for Oracle: they offer paid support that is similar in quality to RH, and thus will take away business; they definitely have the resources to thoroughly test and package everything themselves and they likely make enough money from their support to afford it while still making a profit.
But here's the thing. You're saying that it's wrong to base development or support on RHEL because of
IANAL either, but you don't get to ignore software licenses legally just because you don't like what they say. This is well settled law.
I do also find the idea that we should worry about legal competition to protect one specific business a bit concerning. If Red Hat can't offer better support then that's on them. This same argument seems to me like it would be against right to repair, independent car repair shops and more.