Red Hat Restricts RHEL Code Access: Targets Rocky Linux and AlmaLinux?
Red Hat Restricts RHEL Code Access: Targets Rocky Linux and AlmaLinux?
Red Hat Restricts RHEL Code Access: Targets Rocky Linux and AlmaLinux?
CentOS Stream is an open source operating system launched by Red Hat, which is closely related to Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL).
In fact, CentOS Stream is an intermediate process in the development process of RHEL (Red Hat will develop the source code of RHEL on the CentOS Stream development platform before releasing a new RHEL version), and it is a preview version of RHEL, including RHEL mid-download Expected features and updates for a release.
As a derivative of RHEL, CentOS Stream has many similarities with RHEL. At the same time, there are many differences between the two in terms of release cycle, support cycle, software package, security, etc.
In addition to CentOS Stream, RHEL has also derived AlmaLinux, Rocky Linux, Oracle Linux and other systems. However, a change that Red Hat is announcing on June 22 could seriously impact these systems.
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.
To be clear, this change does not signify any changes to the CentOS Project, CentOS Stream or source availability for CentOS Stream or CentOS SIGs.
Why make this change?
Before CentOS Stream, Red Hat pushed public sources for RHEL to git.centos.org. When the CentOS Project shifted to center on CentOS Stream, we maintained these repositories even though CentOS Linux was no longer being built downstream of RHEL. The engagement around CentOS Stream, the engineering levels of investment, and the new priorities we’re addressing for customers and partners now make maintaining separate, redundant, repositories inefficient. The latest source code will still be available via CentOS Stream.
Red Hat customers and partners can access RHEL sources via the customer and partner portals, in accordance with their subscription agreement.
Since CentOS Stream will now be the only repository for public RHEL-related source releases, this also means that distributions based on RHEL derivatives (AlmaLinux, Rocky Linux, Oracle Linux, etc.) will have a harder time providing builds that are 100% compatible with RHEL versions.
As for why such a decision was made, Red Hat said in a blog post:
Before CentOS Stream, Red Hat pushed RHEL’s public source code to git.centos.org. When the CentOS project moved to CentOS Stream as the centerpiece, we maintained these repositories even though RHEL-based CentOS Linux was no longer built. The involvement, engineering investment, and new priorities of customers and partners that we are addressing around CentOS Stream make maintaining separate, redundant repositories inefficient.
To sum it up in one sentence, as an upstream RHEL, it will only provide services to paying customers in the future.
At present, AlmaLinux has issued an announcement on social platforms, saying that it will study the impact of this change on them, so that community members should not panic.
