this post was submitted on 14 Jul 2023
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Linux is a family of open source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991 by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged in a Linux distribution (or distro for short).
Distributions include the Linux kernel and supporting system software and libraries, many of which are provided by the GNU Project. Many Linux distributions use the word "Linux" in their name, but the Free Software Foundation uses the name GNU/Linux to emphasize the importance of GNU software, causing some controversy.
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It's not compliant with the letter. The GPL doesn't allow you to place other limitations on someone to receive the source. "You have the rights the GPL grants you, but we can punish you for exercising it" is a blatant and egregious breach of the GPL.
They're not betting that there's a 1 in a billion chance that they're right. They know with absolute certainty that they aren't even in the neighborhood of complying with the license. They're betting that no one is willing to spend the massive amount of money it would take to punish them for their stolen code.
Just to reiterate, I don't think RH is in the right here.
They're "punishing" you by not taking any more of your money for future versions. Maybe we'll see a court case out of it to settle the question but I doubt it. But consider you are a customer, and you have to ship RH binaries with your application. In order to comply with the license you must also make the source available. RedHat can't stop you from doing so, they just won't give you access to any more updates (and stop taking your money). So now you can't ship security updates to your customer. So now you have a legal liability by being a RedHat customer. Either you fail to comply with GPL yourself for the sake of updates, or you expose your customer to known security risks because you compiled with the GPL. So .. why do business with RedHat anymore? Explain this problem to your customers why you can't certify on RedHat anymore.
"If you distribute the code you're entitled to distribute we can terminate your contract" is identical to "if you distribute the code you're entitled to distribute we can charge you money". They're additional restrictions that are unconditionally not under any circumstances allowed by the GPL. You cannot restrict redistribution in any way for any reason outside of the GPL terms.
The second you do so, you are no longer covered under the GPL and everything you're distributing is copyright infringement.
I'm not a lawyer, but I categorically disagree that those two statements are the same. If someone takes RedHat to court and wins, fantastic. But as I've said, I wouldn't make business plans that rely on winning that case.