Do we consider Red Hat to be on some anti-open-source scheme? Should we boycott Fedora and other Red Hat-sponsored distros that are used to create this closed source distro? (And I’m not sure if RH’s actions has violated the GPL.)
Maybe community-made distros like NixOS or Debian secured with Kicksecure will be better recommendations?
How so? It’s misleading in a way, but true in another. RHEL is still open source, but the only way to access that it is via a subscription. Sure, you can get a free subscription, but it’s still hidden behind that. As for Fedora, 40 is planned to add telemetry. That may change, but for now it’s a real possibility.
Well, it is still open source, and even with new restrictions the majority of Red Hat’s developer contributions are upstream, they are very much an open source company.
Fedora asked its community for feedback about a proposal to add opt-out privacy-conscious telemetry.
In both cases when all nuance is removed it becomes disingenuous and misleading, it’s harmful because it’s easier to spread such a black and white view compared to the truth and people end up making decisions based on it.
I’d argue that it’s really in a gray area of open source. It’s not publicly available, which is part of the definition of open source. You have to have an account to access the more stable downstream, and while the account is free, my understanding is that anything released using said code is restricted to Red Hat’s agreements. This is also causing problems for AlmaLinux and Rocky Linux since they can no longer act as downstream distros, which is incredibly important for stability and why people were up in arms over CentOS switching up upstream to begin with. Relying on upstream code isn’t great for stable software.
As for Fedora, the fact that it’s opt out instead of opt in concerns me. At least with Ubuntu it’s opt in. If this was the only recent change then I wouldn’t consider it much of an issue, but between making it opt out and the changes they’ve done with RHEL, not to mention IBM’s history of anti-competitive behavior, I have some serious doubts to their long term intentions. Besides, the feedback had been overwhelmingly negative but it’s definitely not stopping them from attempting to push this.
If they’re skirting the GPL and definition of open source like this now, then what other changes are they going to try to do in the next 5-10 years? IBM being involved complicates the situation in ways most other distros don’t have to worry about.
While it makes things less convenient I would still argue that’s splitting hairs, everything in RHEL was in CentOS Stream and can be assembled from the source code there.
As for Fedora, the fact that it’s opt out instead of opt in concerns me. At least with Ubuntu it’s opt in.
Actually (it’s buried in the discussion so I can’t find it at the moment), Matthew Miller (I think it was him) gave Ubuntu as an example of how it might work in Fedora, i.e. you’ll be presented with the option after initial install, it’s not going to be something that’s buried in settings.
You are not logged in. However you can subscribe from another Fediverse account, for example Lemmy or Mastodon. To do this, paste the following into the search field of your instance: !privacyguides@lemmy.one
In the digital age, protecting your personal information might seem like an impossible task. We’re here to help.
This is a community for sharing news about privacy, posting information about cool privacy tools and services, and getting advice about your privacy journey.
You can subscribe to this community from any Kbin or Lemmy instance:
Check out our website at privacyguides.org before asking your questions here. We’ve tried answering the common questions and recommendations there!
Want to get involved? The website is open-source on GitHub, and your help would be appreciated!
This community is the “official” Privacy Guides community on Lemmy, which can be verified here. Other “Privacy Guides” communities on other Lemmy servers are not moderated by this team or associated with the website.
Moderation Rules:
We prefer posting about open-source software whenever possible.
No soliciting engagement: Don’t ask for upvotes, follows, etc.
Surveys, Fundraising, and Petitions must be pre-approved by the mod team.
Be civil, no violence, hate speech. Assume people here are posting in good faith.
Don’t repost topics which have already been covered here.
News posts must be related to privacy and security, and your post title must match the article headline exactly. Do not editorialize titles, you can post your opinions in the post body or a comment.
Memes/images/video posts that could be summarized as text explanations should not be posted. Infographics and conference talks from reputable sources are acceptable.
No help vampires: This is not a tech support subreddit, don’t abuse our community’s willingness to help. Questions related to privacy, security or privacy/security related software and their configurations are acceptable.
No misinformation: Extraordinary claims must be matched with evidence.
Do not post about VPNs or cryptocurrencies which are not listed on privacyguides.org. See Rule 2 for info on adding new recommendations to the website.
General guides or software lists are not permitted. Original sources and research about specific topics are allowed as long as they are high quality and factual. We are not providing a platform for poorly-vetted, out-of-date or conflicting recommendations.
How so? It’s misleading in a way, but true in another. RHEL is still open source, but the only way to access that it is via a subscription. Sure, you can get a free subscription, but it’s still hidden behind that. As for Fedora, 40 is planned to add telemetry. That may change, but for now it’s a real possibility.
https://news.itsfoss.com/red-hat-restricts-source-code/
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=36630032
https://linuxiac.com/fedora-40-plans-to-use-telemetry/
Well, it is still open source, and even with new restrictions the majority of Red Hat’s developer contributions are upstream, they are very much an open source company.
Fedora asked its community for feedback about a proposal to add opt-out privacy-conscious telemetry.
In both cases when all nuance is removed it becomes disingenuous and misleading, it’s harmful because it’s easier to spread such a black and white view compared to the truth and people end up making decisions based on it.
I’d argue that it’s really in a gray area of open source. It’s not publicly available, which is part of the definition of open source. You have to have an account to access the more stable downstream, and while the account is free, my understanding is that anything released using said code is restricted to Red Hat’s agreements. This is also causing problems for AlmaLinux and Rocky Linux since they can no longer act as downstream distros, which is incredibly important for stability and why people were up in arms over CentOS switching up upstream to begin with. Relying on upstream code isn’t great for stable software.
As for Fedora, the fact that it’s opt out instead of opt in concerns me. At least with Ubuntu it’s opt in. If this was the only recent change then I wouldn’t consider it much of an issue, but between making it opt out and the changes they’ve done with RHEL, not to mention IBM’s history of anti-competitive behavior, I have some serious doubts to their long term intentions. Besides, the feedback had been overwhelmingly negative but it’s definitely not stopping them from attempting to push this.
If they’re skirting the GPL and definition of open source like this now, then what other changes are they going to try to do in the next 5-10 years? IBM being involved complicates the situation in ways most other distros don’t have to worry about.
While it makes things less convenient I would still argue that’s splitting hairs, everything in RHEL was in CentOS Stream and can be assembled from the source code there.
Actually (it’s buried in the discussion so I can’t find it at the moment), Matthew Miller (I think it was him) gave Ubuntu as an example of how it might work in Fedora, i.e. you’ll be presented with the option after initial install, it’s not going to be something that’s buried in settings.