SUSE partnered with Oracle and CIQ, the party behind Rocky Linux, to encourage developers to create a RHEL-compatible distribution. The partnership supports this by offering the Linux source code for free and open.
SUSE, Oracle and CIQ together form OpenELA, an abbreviation for Open Enterprise Linux Association. “Together with the open source community, we will redefine what it really means to be open and aim to provide a stronger future for EL,” said Thomas Di Giacomo, chief technology officer at SUSE, in the announcement.
OpenELA is a response to the most recent changes made by Red Hat. As a result, RHEL source code will be placed behind a paywall, whereas it has been available for free from the beginning. OpenELA’s motto reacts without compromises to this move: “No subscriptions. No passwords. No barriers. Freeloaders welcome.”
OpenELA’s freely available Linux source code will become available later this year. The focus will be on RHEL versions EL8 and EL9. Offering version EL7 is still under consideration.
SUSE partners
SUSE previously made a promise to fork RHEL. It now appears to have found partners to make good on this promise.
A full overview of the events surrounding RHEL and the possible consequences can be found in the following blog: Lightning strikes the open-source world: SUSE builds its own RHEL variant
Oracle previously reacted negatively to the plan to make the RHEL source code private. The company accused IBM, Red Hat’s parent company, of wanting to shut down competition. Several Linux distributions are built on RHEL. The innovation potential of such redistributions is now only significantly limited. For example, Oracle has the redistribution Oracle Linux in its product line and argues that IBM’s decision will lead to bugs and incompatibility.
So now actions are coming alongside words. The latest partner for OpenELA is CIQ, the commercial party behind Rocky Linux, another RHEL fork.
22 hours ago
