this post was submitted on 25 Jun 2023
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Have they actually stated this, or is it just an opinion? Because my understanding of the GPL is that it would violate the license to put that restriction on their customers.
I worked for a fairly large tech company (not a household name, but well known in it's sector) and this was their policy for core business IP related changes GPL things. Modified GPL sources were neatly packaged up and available but it was a violation of the support contract to share them.
It ultimately doesn't matter (to those customers) if it's a violation of the license - the customers were large businesses who were not going to risk an expensive court case without a clear victory against a company they're investing hundreds of millions of dollars (or more) in, on some moral crusade.
I'm not defending it (and I did not enjoy working for said company), just saying that this model already exists.
Edit: I should also say that I have no idea if that's going to be RedHats policy, but it would make sense if it were.
https://www.theregister.com/2023/06/23/red_hat_centos_move/
I suspect if they are not acting in accordance with the law, Oracle's lawyers will let them know shortly.
Seems unlikely IBM have announced this to the world without checking the GPL first.
It’s not like the entire operating system is GPL. The customers are obviously free to redistribute the source for the free software components.