Oracle "offers" to ease the burden of RHEL development and takes a swipe at IBM.

posted by Arindam Giri on Jul 11, 2023,
updated Jul 17, 2023

Oracle, who maintains an RHEL Clone as "Oracle Linux", has responded to Red Hat's decision to restrict public access to its source code by promoting openness, collaboration, and compatibility. Oracle offers to maintain binary compatibility with RHEL while extending support to independent software vendors (ISVs) and ensuring a seamless transition to Oracle Linux. This blog post takes a subtle dig at IBM, who recently discontinued the public release of RHEL source code.

Read on

Update (by Roy)

More here:

• Oracle pours fuel all over Red Hat source code drama

  We leave it as an exercise for the reader to puzzle out the rationale for Oracle's failed $10 billion lawsuit against Google over Android's use of copyrighted Java APIs.

  Oracle launched what's now called Oracle Linux back in 2006, and the plan was to provide an RHEL-compatible Linux distribution, in order not to fragment the Linux community and to support a common platform for customers and independent system vendors (ISVs).

  Now that RHEL compatibility is uncertain, Screven and Coekaerts say Oracle Linux will maintain compatibility through version 9.2 and after that Big Red plans to work with customers and ISVs to fix any issues that arise.

Also here:

• Oracle Calls Out Red Hat and IBM Over RHEL Source Code

  Oracle is weighing in on the Red Hat Enterprise Linux debacle, promising it will never restrict access to its own source code.

  Red Hat drew widespread condemnation when it announced it would begin restricting access to RHEL source code to paying customers. In addition, the customer agreement prohibits customers from sharing and redistributing the source code or from using it to create a downstream distro. The move was seen as a way to target Rocky Linux, AlmaLinux, and Oracle Linux, all of which are 1:1 compatible with RHEL and is widely believed to be in violation of the GPL.

  Oracle has responded, calling out Red Hat and IBM for not being good open source citizens in a press release entitled, “Keep Linux Open and Free—We Can’t Afford Not To.”

ITPro:

• Can Oracle really be Linux's knight in shining armor?

  Oracle has waded into the Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) source code furor in a stunning turn of events, claiming it’s “committed to Linux freedom”.

  Oracle’s words will doubtless cause users who remember OpenSolaris to raise an eyebrow or two. Organizations dealing with the pain arising from Oracle’s changes around Java licensing – the introduction of the Java SE Universal Subscription – will also be taken aback by the company’s championing of open and free principles.

ZDNet:

• Oracle takes on Red Hat in Linux code fight

  Now, it's Oracle's turn to jump into the Red Hat open-source Linux code kerfuffle.

ITWire:

• Oracle takes big swing at IBM over locking up RHEL source code

  In a joint blog post published on 10 July, and headlined "Keep Linux Open and Free – We Can’t Afford Not To", chief corporate architect Edward Screven and Oracle Linux Development chief Wim Coekaerts pointed out that by making it more difficult to obtain updated RHEL source code, Red Hat was directly attacking projects like Rocky Linux and AlmaLinux that have sprung up to fill the gap left by CentOS.

  Oracle is the second major company to make an official statement about the Red Hat move. The first, German open source vendor SUSE, said on 11 July that it would invest more than US$10 million (A$14.97 million) to fork the publicly available RHEL source code and make it available to world+dog with no restrictions.

Geeky Gadgets:

• Oracle champions open and free Linux challenging IBM

  Oracle’s quarter-century-long commitment to the Linux community has been consistent and clear. Oracle seeks to make Linux the most effective server operating system, accessible to everyone, supplemented with affordable high-quality support for those in need. They are steadfast in their resolve to provide an open-source system that encourages diversity and fair competition. Jeff Geerling has created a great video to bring you up to speed with everything that is happened.