Red hat linux open source

Is Red Hat Enterprise Linux Open Source?

Is all Linux open source? What about Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL)?

RHEL is popular and has its origins in open source, but things are a little more complicated if you want to use it in production. In this blog, we look at RHEL up close— and your other options for enterprise Linux distributions that are truly open source and completely free to use.

Is Linux Open Source?

Yes, Linux refers to the family of open source operating systems based on the Linux kernel.

What Is Enterprise Linux?

Enterprise Linux is an open source operating system that’s packaged with tools and services designed for the enterprise. It supports containers, cloud, automation, middleware, microservices, and much more. Choosing the right Linux option is important in the enterprise.

Enterprise Linux is a branch of the GNU Linux kernel. The kernel itself is optimized for running Linux in a business enterprise environment. The software was designed to work well with common hardware found in the data centers of large enterprises. It ships with a set of commands that are familiar to experienced Linux administrators. This makes it easy to find qualified resources to utilize an enterprise edition.

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What Is Red Hat Enterprise Linux?

Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) is an operating system that utilizes open source software.

The offering has an ecosystem of software surrounding an enterprise Linux kernel. That ecosystem of software is maintained and developed into by RedHat Inc. It’s a curated set of software that comes together to form the RedHat offer.

Is RHEL Open Source?

RHEL is built from open source components. The kernel itself and the supporting software are all open source. However, Red Hat has built infrastructure, support, and a suite of services that will let you license their branded version of enterprise Linux and use it in production.

Here’s where you lose the freedom of open source – If you want to use it in production, you have to be paying for the license.

Open Source Isn’t Free

While the software itself is open source, you’re not allowed to use it in production unless you’re paying for it.

Part of the idea of being truly open source implies software freedom. When a user is not able to freely run, procure, and install the software without also having to register with a license server/pay for it then the software is no longer free. While the code may be open, there’s a lack of freedom. So according to the ideology of open source software, Red Hat is not open source.

Truly Open Source Alternative for Enterprise Linux

If you’re looking for a truly open source enterprise Linux, the most mainstream resource bound by the terms of GPL is CentOS. Why would you want to choose CentOS ? The code of CentOS identical to Red Hat and it is completely free to distribute. CentOS also has several support options from the community and organizations such as OpenLogic by Perforce.

If you want truly free and open source option, CentOS is the right choice.

The Differences Between Red Hat and CentOS

In the Red Hat and CentOS datasheet , you can see how they compare on over 15 factors including licensing, security, package management, and available commercial support.

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Red Hat Enterprise Linux is popular. But it isn’t the only option for enterprise Linux. In this white paper, you’ll learn the benefits of switching your enterprise Linux to CentOS.

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What is an open source upstream?

At Red Hat we talk a lot about «upstreams» of our products, but that term may not be well-known outside of open source and developer communities. In this post, we’ll take a quick look at what an upstream is, how it relates to enterprise open source products, and how they matter to your organization.

What is an upstream?

Within information technology, the term upstream (and related term «downstream») refers to the flow of data. An upstream in open source is the source repository and project where contributions happen and releases are made. The contributions flow from upstream to downstream.

When talking about an upstream, it’s usually the precursor to other projects and products. One of the best-known examples is the Linux kernel, which is an upstream project for many Linux distributions. Distributors like Red Hat take the unmodified (often referred to as «vanilla») kernel source and then add patches, add an opinionated configuration, and build the kernel with the options they want to offer their users.

In some cases, users get releases or code directly from the upstream. Windows and macOS users who run Firefox, as one example, generally get their software releases directly from Mozilla rather than through a third party. Linux users, on the other hand, often get Firefox packaged for their distribution —and usually with a few changes in the release’s configuration to better integrate Firefox to their desktop environment or otherwise be more suitable for the distribution.

In some cases, a project or product might have more than one upstream. Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) releases are based on Fedora Linux releases. The Fedora Project, in turn, pulls from many upstream projects to create Fedora Linux, like the Linux kernel, GNOME, systemd, Podman, various GNU utilities and projects, the Wayland and X.org display servers, and many more.

The Fedora Project releases a new version of Fedora roughly every six months. Periodically, Red Hat will take a Fedora Linux release and base a RHEL release on that. Rather than starting from scratch with the vanilla sources for the Linux kernel, GNOME, systemd, and the rest Red Hat starts with the Fedora sources for these projects and utilities, which makes Fedora an upstream of RHEL—with a further upstream of the originating projects. Fedora is downstream of these projects and RHEL is downstream of Fedora.

Why are upstreams important?

Upstreams are important because that’s where the source contribution comes from, obviously, but it’s much more than that. Each upstream is unique, but generally the upstream is where decisions are made, the contribution happens, and where the community for a project comes together to collaborate for the benefit of all parties. Work done at the upstream might flow out to many other open source projects.

The upstream is the focal point where collaborators do the work. It’s far better if all the contributors work together rather than, say, contributors from different companies working on features behind closed doors and then trying to integrate them later.

The upstream is also a fixed place where (if we’re talking about creating code) developers can report bugs and security vulnerabilities. If a bug or security flaw is fixed upstream, then every project or product based on the upstream can benefit from that work. (Typically users will report problems to the project or vendor they received the code from, so it’s up to developers to check those out and carry things back upstream if the bug or flaw originated there.)

Upstream first

Because the upstreams are so important, Red Hat has a longstanding practice of doing work upstream first and trying to get features and patches accepted upstream rather than just building them directly in our own products.

The reasons for this are many. First, it’s just good open source citizenship to do the work side-by-side with the rest of the community and share our work with the communities from which we’re benefitting.

By working upstream first, you have the opportunity to vet ideas with the larger community and work together to build new features, releases, content, etc. The features or changes you want to make may have an impact on other parts of the project. It’s good to find these things out early and give the rest of the community an opportunity to weigh in.

Secondly, it’s a better choice pragmatically to do the work upstream first. Sometimes it can be faster to implement a feature in a downstream project or product—especially if there are competing ideas about the direction of a project—but it’s usually more work in the long run to carry those patches back to the project. By the time it’s been shipped in a downstream, there’s a good chance that the upstream code has changed, making it harder to integrate patches developed against an older version of the project.

If the features or patches aren’t accepted upstream for some reason, then a vendor can carry those separately. That’s one of the benefits of open source, you can modify and distribute your own version (within the terms of the license, of course) that meets your needs. It’s possible that will be more work in the long run, but sometimes there’s a good reason to diverge from upstream. But if there isn’t, there’s no point in incurring more work than needed.

From upstream projects to downstream products

Much of the time, users don’t want to get code directly from the upstream. In the olden days of Linux (think late 90s and early 2000s), it was fairly common to compile code from source if you wanted to use something like Apache httpd or even the Linux kernel. Just bought a new laptop with a modem and sound card? Time to configure and compile the kernel!

Those days are pretty much behind us. Sure, you can compile code and tweak software configurations if you want to—but most of the time, users don’t want to. Organizations generally don’t want to, they want to rely on certified products that they can vet for their environment and get support for. This is why enterprise open source exists. Users and organizations count on vendors to turn upstreams into coherent downstream products that meet their needs.

In turn, vendors like Red Hat learn from customer requests and feedback about what features they need and want. That, then, benefits the upstream project in the form of new features and bugfixes, etc., and ultimately finds its way into products and the cycle continues.

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Creating better technology with open source

As the largest open source company in the world, we believe using an open development model helps create more stable, secure, and innovative technologies. At Red Hat, we’ve spent more than two decades collaborating on community projects and protecting open source licenses so we can continue to develop software that pushes the boundaries of technological ability.

Evolving virtually

Red Hat has helped organizations navigate technological change for decades, while doing so in an open way.

Building enterprise-ready solutions

We create software using the open source way, a set of principles built upon an open forum for ideas where communities can form around solving a problem or developing a new technology. This philosophy affects everything we do at Red Hat. And we’re not alone. Most of today’s IT leaders agree that enterprise open source is important.

Research with open source impacts

From unikernels to privacy-preserving AI to usable security, Red Hat Research helps open source communities innovate and solve real industry problems.

Our commitment to open source

Open source software gains its strength from diverse communities of developers around the world. That’s why we’ve worked for more than 25 years to invest in open projects and technologies, protect and defend open source intellectual property, and recruit developers who actively participate in open projects across the IT stack. This experience helps inform our development model to produce more innovative, iterative, stable, and secure technologies.

Collaboration beyond our teams

By tapping into the collective talent and innovation of open source communities, we believe we can create better software. This collaboration helps fuel much of the technology we use today, from open source platforms like Linux and Kubernetes to open source browsers like Firefox and Chromium.

E-Nable

A global volunteer community turns a project that could take years into a usable prosthetic within just three months. Meet the people behind E-Nable, the nonprofit organization that gives kids “superhero hands.”

Open source commitment

Using a trusted process

Through our unique development model, we start with community-created open source software and build upon each project to harden security, fix bugs, patch vulnerabilities, and add new features. We then contribute these improvements back to each project so the entire open source community can benefit.

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About Red Hat

We’re the world’s leading provider of enterprise open source solutions—including Linux, cloud, container, and Kubernetes. We deliver hardened solutions that make it easier for enterprises to work across platforms and environments, from the core datacenter to the network edge.

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