Has Red Hat just killed Rocky Linux?

I hope some news comes out this next week for what this might mean for the future of RHEL clones like Rocky and Alma. Not sure if I would switch to Centos Stream or Debian, since I quite like the selinux support with RHEL.

No real need to edit it right now, or perhaps even if at all.

I’m pretty sure everything will clear up pretty soon, so no need to look at alternatives just yet. Rocky plans to continue exactly as it started out. Where there is a will, there is a way.

So in summary in relation to all the convo going on (read: this is not directed at anyone in particular), no need to look at jumping ship or knee-jerk reactions. In time all will be clear, patience everyone :slight_smile:

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My need is simply for an OS that I don’t have to replace every 6 months. After Red Hat 5.2 (20 years ago!), I started using Fedora, until I realized I’d have to reinstall the OS on my servers every 6 months to get updates. I discovered CentOS and switched to that, allowing me to upgrade the OS only when I upgraded the hardware.

I use Rocky Linux on all my personal vpses so even though I only have less than a handful of vpses, it would save me quite a bit of time if I didn’t have to redo them all. So hoping for some good news this next week! :slight_smile:

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After some reading and pondering for a day or so, I get the sense that Greg Kurtzer and team may have anticipated this sort of action by RHEL. I’m confident a viable path viable forward for the community will be achieved…

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Unless it changed, BSD had an unstated assumption you’d contribute enhancements back - which was positive incentive early days.
But behemoths took the whole thing and never came back (like OSX). It also required you leave their (and/or your) copyright notices intact, so am not sure how ‘canibalizing’ adhered to that. I know there’s BSD ‘variants’ that allow dropping them.

From where I stand ‘Community’ and ‘Enterprise’ a la Rocky supports the BSD spirit but the difference is in how you were raised - babtized at birth - (BSD) or when grown up (EL) but either case one’s ways are set.

Why is the “Principal Solution Architect at Red Hat” so concerned about what Gregory Kurtzer is doing?
“First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win”

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It’s because of the language that he has used and continues to use in his statements, posts to linkedin, and so on.

A direct result of the language used for the past couple years is that the assumption has been made that the RESF and/or the Rocky Linux project sells support (we don’t). This then leads to the conclusion that the Rocky Linux project, the RESF, and CIQ are assumed as one, where they are not. Myself, I am only affiliated with the RESF and the Rocky Linux project. I am not paid for my work. My work is strictly volunteer. I have my own day job. Unfortunately even though our websites show that they are separate, what has been posted online by individuals is taken as the absolute truth or folks draw conclusions that we all must be linked when things are reported by one or the other mentioning one or the other. It does not help that various journalists also get it wrong too, so the messaging remains murky.

I’ve complained about this for about two years, and it’s unfortunate that despite me being vocal about it, it hasn’t changed. This, among other things, has lead to us, AlmaLinux, EuroLinux, and other rebuilds being put into a tight spot. It’s not pleasant.

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The linkedin article is also based on the flawed argument that in order to make a valuable contribution to open source software, you must contribute source code directly to the distribution you’re using, and using that as the argument for moving CentOS upstream, to allow contribution.

We all know that’s just not true. There are many other means to contribute and be involved in open source. You don’t even need to be a technical person to make a valuable contribution. Be it financial, code, documentation, advocacy, managerial, directly or indirectly.

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Agreed! You can also help out by being part of the community of the software you use, helping on forums sharing your knowledge and experiences with others. Filing bug reports and helping the developer test when they release a fix for the bug you reported.

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Since December 2020, they have created a narrative around 3 points: “no experience”, “not enough manpower” “Gregory”. Repeat it until you believe it.

Today they add: what are your contributions to free software?

Meanwhile IRL we were using GMK software (hpcng) for almost 20 years. Remember this: you have saved lives.

Can you summarize what that Spanish article is about for those of us who don’t speak Spanish?

It is the sw/hw listing of two cluster. They are used in medicine, chemistry, engineering…

I absolutely agree with you. In the past when it was just CentOS 5, 6, and 7, I would actually find bugs with FreeIPA and sssd and double check it also happens in RHEL at then $currentJob. I put in quite a few bug reports to try to get the issues squashed, and they were. I even had put in Red Hat support cases too because some were even more serious. It was beneficial for not only my environments and my then work’s infrastructure, but for anyone else who were using those products, whether that was in RHEL, CentOS, Scientific Linux, or even Oracle Linux.

Though I will say having CentOS Stream around is also a net benefit to the contribution of Enterprise Linux in general. Granted, most of the time it may just benefit the upcoming point release of RHEL, but I personally think it’s useful. The one thing I had hoped with Stream is that other vendors would use it and try to certify their stuff ahead of time before the next RHEL point release. This may be happening, but I’m unsure. I do hope it is.

Those three have been fairly consistent, but there are others that have cropped up over time as well.

Unfortunately, it’s easy to create those and more narratives when the target entity (person, company, et al) uses the wrong language (for example, unnecessary corporate speak or lip service) and/or cannot put down one of the “hats” that they wear in their statements. There needs to be a clear line drawn between those “hats” in the messaging. If that cannot be done, then himself and more importantly, us at the RESF, will continue to be put into a bad light. There’s no other way around this.

You can contribute to open source in some way, and perhaps for years whether directly or indirectly. But the language in your messaging can tell a completely different story and diminish the work of those who put in the effort to make the project succeed. In some cases, it can make you and those associated look foolish.[1]

The worst part about this question is that this tends to be from the same folks that also demand a comprehensive list of everything you’ve ever done. I don’t even think that’s 100% possible, and that’s speaking just for myself.

There’s no way that I can remember and find everything I’ve ever done or contributed to in some way. Perhaps in the last couple years I could, but not further than that. While I’ve been using the same username practically everywhere (the exception is fedora where it’s just nalika), there was a time I differing usernames everywhere. It took me a while to clean this up. With that being said, my actual name may or may not bring up results.

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[1] The good news though is that there are plenty of quiet, happy users out there, who can see either through the noise or don’t care to hear it. Ultimately that is what matters to me and keeps me going. It’s something I try not to forget.

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In my job as Linux trainer / book author / admin I’m regularly confronted by this kind of narrative. Here’s what François Élie, founder of ADULLACT (french association to promote the use of open source software in public administrations) said back in 2009 in reply to it:

Noah’s ark is the work of an amateur, whereas the Titanic is a full-blown professional project.

This is very bad news, should we move to debian in the future? Freebsd can also be considered?

No need for doom and gloom, see: Brave New World: The Path Forward for Rocky Linux | Rocky Linux

@Cphusion the info you wanted to confirm all is OK :slight_smile:

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Yes I saw that, it’s looking positive!! :slight_smile: ,I just hope that Redhat/IBM doesn’t put up another roadblock in the near future but it’s probably to be expected. Redhat seems to have increased the entitlements overnight from 16 to 240 for the “Red Hat Developer Subscription for Individuals”. However after what happened with with CentOS and after what happened this last week there is no way I am going to trust for Redhat to not at some point start charging money for that subscription over night.

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Last year I gave the Red Hat Developer Subscription a spin, just out of curiosity. The subscription process seemed only slightly more complicated than a passport application in communist Hungary before the iron curtain went down back in 1989. :upside_down_face:

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This must be a mistake in their config or not?