Oracle has announced its readiness to continue maintaining compatibility with Red Hat Enterprise Linux in its Oracle Linux distribution, despite Red Hat's restrictions on public access to the source code of RHEL packages. Losing access to the reference source code for these packages increases the likelihood of compatibility issues, but Oracle is prepared to address any such problems that affect its clients. Oracle also welcomes the creation of derivative distributions, both public and commercial, and is willing to collaborate with other distribution vendors to facilitate interoperability with Oracle Linux and the certification of Oracle products for other distributions.
It is noted that Oracle is striving to help create a better server operating system based on Linux, distributed without restrictions, freely available for everyone, and providing affordable and high-quality technical support. Oracle is actively involved in the community and significantly contributes to the development of the Linux kernel, file systems, and tools, benefiting not only its clients but all Linux users.
The decision to ensure compatibility in Oracle Linux with RHEL is primarily driven by the desire to avoid excessive fragmentation within the Linux community. The achieved level of compatibility allows for the certification of Oracle software for RHEL, even if it is developed and tested solely on Oracle Linux. Unlike Red Hat, Oracle has always provided free access to ready-made builds and source code for its packages, and it commits to maintaining this practice in the future without requiring additional agreements that Oracle believes violate user rights granted by the GPLv2 license.
Source: opennet.ru
