In the rapidly evolving world of technology, a seismic shift is taking place as the very ethos of the open-source market finds itself in flux. The cherished ideals of open community standards, collaboration, and crowdsourced innovation are now being challenged by powerful enterprises, many of them publicly-traded corporations, grappling with the balance between shareholder fiduciary responsibilities and community support.
Red Hat, one of the longtime leaders in the open-source space, made some key announcements, which I got the chance to discuss with Gunnar Hellekson, the GM of the Red Hat Enterprise Linux business recently, that the company is changing how it approaches the open-source community as it relates to its main source of revenue, Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL). RHEL is an open-source operating system that thousands of organizations, institutions, and government departments use globally.
Due to various factors, open-source software has gained significant prominence over the last decade with crowdsourced, open-code bases underpinning some of the fastest-growing software companies such as Redis, SUSE, MongoDB, and Elastic, among others. Open source refers to software that is released with its source code freely available to the public, enabling users to view, modify, and distribute it under specific open-source licenses. This approach has led to the emergence of a collaborative and transparent development model, resulting in widespread adoption and recognition.
One key reason for the rise of open-source software is its flexibility, allowing users to customize it to meet their specific requirements. This fosters innovation as the community collaboratively improves the software. Users have the freedom to modify and tailor the software to meet their specific requirements, attracting individuals, organizations, and developers who desire more control over their software solutions.
The cost-effectiveness of open-source software contributes to its popularity, with no licensing fees making it financially viable, thus democratizing access to technology. With no enterprise software licensing fees, it offers a financially-viable alternative for organizations and individuals, particularly those with limited budgets.
Furthermore, open-source software’s security and reliability aspects have played a significant role in its rise. The availability of source code to a large community of developers allows for thorough code review, which helps promptly identify and address potential security vulnerabilities. With a collective effort to maintain and enhance the software, the open-source approach ensures higher reliability and stability.
Open source promotes a vendor-neutral environment, encouraging diverse contributions and giving users more choices. The collaborative nature of open-source projects facilitates contributions from diverse sources, leading to increased competition and choice for end-users. This vendor independence empowers users to make informed decisions based on their specific needs and preferences.
Simply put, vibrant communities support open-source software, facilitating knowledge exchange and collaboration, ultimately fostering adoption, growth, and better code for all.
What Did Red Hat Announce?
In a blog post dated June 21 and titled “Furthering the Evolution of CentOS Stream”, Mike Mcgrath, VP Core Platforms at Red Hat, started a ball rolling that quickly gathered traction in the open-source community and subsequently led to Mcgrath having to issue a further clarifying blog post 5 days later.
The key paragraph from this blog post is:
“As the CentOS Stream community grows and the enterprise software world tackles new dynamics, we want to sharpen our focus on CentOS Stream as the backbone of enterprise Linux innovation. We are continuing our investment in and increasing our commitment to CentOS Stream. CentOS Stream will now be the sole repository for public RHEL-related source code releases. For Red Hat customers and partners, source code will remain available via the Red Hat Customer Portal.”
We need some context to understand this announcement. Red Hat has played a significant role in developing the Linux kernel and has made numerous contributions to the community over decades. Red Hat’s impact has extended beyond individuals and has influenced the Linux ecosystem as a whole.
CentOS has gained importance by providing a free alternative for testing solutions against Red Hat Enterprise Linux, without requiring a support agreement. CentOS became an integral part of the Red Hat ecosystem, even for those who had purchased Red Hat licenses.
In an interesting turn, Red Hat acquired CentOS, initially resulting in no significant changes to the CentOS distribution. However, when IBM acquired Red Hat, speculation arose that CentOS might be phased out, given the typical changes associated with acquisitions. Nevertheless, CentOS continued to exist under Red Hat’s leadership. In 2019, CentOS 8 was released, offering a promising distribution with 10 years of support. It garnered significant attention, and many enterprises switched to CentOS 8 due to its lengthy support window. However, in 2020, it was announced that CentOS Stream would replace CentOS 8. This led to a blog post in December 2020 to the community, which also references a blog post that outlines Red Hat’s perspective at the time.
Nevertheless, the Linux community rallied together, as it is prone to do, and projects like AlmaLinux OS and Rocky Linux emerged to provide a drop-in replacement for CentOS, preserving what many argue is the spirit of the distribution. These initiatives allowed users to continue with a CentOS-like experience, despite the changes in the official CentOS release. These community-driven projects are now at risk, given the announcement.
Enter the Open Enterprise Linux Association
Red Hat is not the only game in town when it comes to commercially-supported Linux distributions, with the biggest competitor by revenue and market share being German software company SUSE, which offers a competing Linux distribution called SUSE Linux Enterprise (SLE) and Oracle also has a role to play with its own Linux Distribution.
SUSE CTO, Dr. Thomas Di Giacomo, took to the company’s blog to offer a corporate perspective on how they sees the situation, the summation being encapsulated in this quote “At SUSE, the principles of open-source and power of collaboration are dear to us. While changes in the open-source landscape may shift dynamics, we firmly believe that the freedom to access, modify, and distribute software should remain open to all.”
Most recently, in a significant development, CIQ, Oracle, and SUSE have joined forces to create the Open Enterprise Linux Association (OpenELA). The association’s main goal is to facilitate the development of distributions compatible with RHEL by offering open and free enterprise Linux source code. This move is in response to Red Hat’s recent RHEL source code availability changes, making it challenging for RHEL-clone vendors like AlmaLinux, Rocky Linux, and Oracle Linux to create perfect RHEL variant distributions.
OpenELA, structured as a Delaware 501(c) US nonprofit association, will provide an open process for organizations to access source code and build RHEL-compatible distributions, emphasizing community-driven source code.
The OpenELA will provide all sources necessary to create a compatible version of Enterprise Linux (EL), including security errata data, compatibility guidelines, branding kits, and user documentation. The project will initially focus on RHEL versions 8, 9, and possibly version 7, ensuring the continued availability of OpenELA sources to the community indefinitely. The association’s core principles reflect a commitment to transparency, community inclusivity, and public benefit. Leaders from CIQ, Oracle, and SUSE have emphasized collaboration as vital for innovation and have invited other organizations to join in building a robust, community-driven standard.
Looking Ahead
I can appreciate the commercial reasoning behind Red Hat’s decision, and they are certainly playing by the rule of governing license constructs that apply to open source. I also understand the desire of the community to operate in the way they always have and have access to code they have always had access to.
What is a constant in all of this kerfuffle is that Red Hat is a huge contributor to the open-source community and invests heavily in community outreach and support, as I saw firsthand at KubeCon in Amsterdam earlier this year, and I do not see that changing.
The formation of OpenELA is an important and noteworthy response to the new market dynamic. I view the OpenELA as a welcome development for the Linux environment as it fosters choice and competition while also fostering collaboration.
The creation of OpenELA is a response to these changing dynamics, and its impact on fostering collaboration and sparking further competition will be watched keenly in the months ahead. As the boundaries between commercial interests and open-source principles continue to be redrawn, this new alliance underscores the enduring vitality and adaptability of the open-source community. It is a fascinating chapter in the ever-evolving story of technology, reflecting the industry’s multifaceted and continually shifting landscape. It serves as a testament to the power of innovation, collaboration, and the unbreakable spirit of the open-source community.
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