this post was submitted on 22 Jun 2023
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Linux
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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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Red Hat can't go closed source since the source they're distributing is released under the GPL. They're required to distribute code to anyone they distribute binaries to, and they can't stop anyone who has their code from redistributing it.
You are correct. They can however stop doing business with whoever is distributing their source, which makes getting new versions of the source harder.
This is what the dude selling „hardened“ versions of Linux is doing. Can’t remember the name and I don’t care to give him advertisement anyway, but he simply stops selling you new versions if you distribute old ones.
Grsecurity?
Yeah, that’s it.
There's a discussion about this on lwn (relevant part starting around this comment). My understanding is like @fayo said: you can pull this "trick" of releasing their source code, but only once (assuming they catch you).