CIQ, Oracle, and SUSE Form Alliance to Thwart Near-Closing of the RHEL Source

Aug 14, 2023

With Red Hat/IBM making it harder for developers and teams to access the source for Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL), some organizations are joining forces to pave a new path forward.

CIQ, Oracle, and SUSE have come together to create the Open Enterprise Linux Association (OpenELA). Because those organizations have business models that depend upon maintaining compatibility with RHEL, they created OpenELA to share resources and work communally on a solution that will provide downstream compatibility.

This new organization describes itself as a "community repository for enterprise Linux sources." What's at the heart of the Open Enterprise Linux Association is that the source will be available with no subscriptions, passwords, or barriers. In fact, the group goes so far as to say, "Freeloaders welcome."

The stated mission for OpenELA is to support continued access to source code that provides RHEL binary compatibility. To do this, OpenELA will offer open and free enterprise-grade Linux source code required to build systems compatible with RHEL 8 and RHEL 9.

And OpenELA does not mince words when they say, "From Enterprise Linux downstream derivatives, to organizations that depend on Enterprise Linux, to vendors and individuals who just love being part of something amazing, YOU ARE INVITED!"

It's clear that this effort is for everyone who depends on RHEL but either needs help to afford the licensing for Red Hat's distribution or has soured on RHEL because they placed the source behind a paywall.

Currently, OpenELA is just getting off the ground. For more information, you can email them or join the OpenELA Team on Slack.
 
 

 
 

Related content

  • OpenELA Releases Enterprise Linux Source Code

    With Red Hat restricting the source for RHEL, it was only a matter of time before those who depended on that source struck out on their own.

  • Welcome

    Last month I used this space to talk about IBM/Red Hat's plan to restrict access to Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) source code. This eerie announcement, which seemed quite contrary to the ideals of free software, sent shock waves through the community.

  • News

    In the news: KSMBD Finally Reaches a Stable State; Nitrux 3.0.0; Linux From Scratch 12.0; Linux Kernel 6.5; UbuntuDDE 23.04; Star Labs Reveals a New Surface-Like Linux Tablet; SUSE Going Private (Again); Devuan GNU+Linux; CIQ, Oracle, and SUSE Form Alliance to Thwart Near-Closing of the RHEL Source; and Rolling Release Rhino Linux.

  • AlmaLinux

    Recent policy changes at Red Hat have upturned the RHEL clone community. AlmaLinux charts a new path by shifting to binary compatibility and away from being a downstream RHEL build.

  • SUSE Goes for the Fork After Red Hat's RHEL Announcement

    In a bid to protect the publicly-available Red Hat Enterprise Linux, SUSE will maintain a RHEL-compatible distribution.

comments powered by Disqus