Red Hat Enterprise Linux clones

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Red Hat Enterprise Linux clones are Linux distributions which are closely based on the source code of Red Hat Enterprise Linux.

Contents

[edit] History

Red Hat Linux was one of the first and most popular Linux distributions. This was largely due to the fact that, while a paid-for supported version was available, a freely downloadable version was also available. Since the only difference between the paid-for option and the free option was support, a great number of people chose to use the free version.

In order to increase revenues, Red Hat made the strategic decision to split its Red Hat Linux product into two: Red Hat Enterprise Linux for business customers, who valued binary stability (RHEL has a 7 year lifespan) and were willing to pay for it and Fedora Core which was made available free of charge but which is updated every 6 months and only supported until the next release.

Most users report that Fedora is reasonably stable and has few serious bugs. It has its own beta cycle and has issues fixed by contributors who include Red Hat staff. But its quick and unconservative release cycle means it is less mature and stable than RHEL. Since the release of Fedora Core 1, Red Hat has no longer made binary versions of its commercial product available free-of-charge.

[edit] Motivations

There were then a great number of users who could not afford or didn't wish to pay for Red Hat Enterprise Linux but who could not use Fedora Core due to its relative immaturity and instability. These users desired an enterprise-class product but at a low or free price.

Red Hat does not make a compiled version of its Enterprise Linux product available for free download. However, Red Hat has made the entire source code available in RPM format via their worldwide network of FTP servers.

The availability of the complete source code of the distribution in RPM format makes it relatively easy to recompile the entire distribution. Due to this relative ease, several distributions were created which simply took Red Hat's source code, recompiled it then released it.

[edit] Features

The Red Hat Enterprise Linux clones generally include the union set which is included in the different versions of RHEL. The version numbers are typically identical to the ones featured in RHEL so that the free versions maintain binary compatibility with the paid-for version which means software intended for RHEL typically runs just as well on a free version. Relatively few changes need to be made to the distributions. However, RHEL uses Red Hat's own Up2date technology for providing updates. For convenience, several of the free alternatives ship with YUM replacing Up2Date, something which makes providing mirrors for upgrades significantly easier.

[edit] Legal

The free distributions are expressly permitted by the free/open source licenses (especially the GNU General Public Licence) which Red Hat is based on. So, from a copyright perspective, they are entirely legal. However, Red Hat is extremely protective of its trademarks so the free distributions go to great lengths to remove all mention of Red Hat from their distributions. Where distributions (e.g. CentOS) have not been deemed sufficiently thorough in removing references to Red Hat, they have received warnings from Red Hat's legal counsel.

CentOS received such a notice seeking to have it remove all mention of Red Hat's asserted trademarks from their website and their distribution. CentOS now refers to Red Hat as the "Upstream Vendor" and a "Prominent North American Enterprise Linux Vendor (PNAELV)."

[edit] Price

All of the below except for Lineox and Pie Box Enterprise Linux are available completely gratis. Lineox is downloadable gratis but users must subscribe to receive upgrades. The Pie Box Enterprise Linux distribution and upgrades are only available to paying customers.

[edit] List of RedHat Enterprise Linux clones

This list is current as of October 30, 2006, ordered by popularity on DistroWatch.com

The following clones require payment to download or update:

The following clones have ceased production:

  • TaoLinux - 4.0 i386 Final Release Available on 2005-04-20; 3.0 Update 4 available on 2005-01-10, Ceased production on 2006-06-14. The web site includes instructions for updating to CentOS for continued updates[1]

[edit] External links

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