OpenELA: A New Initiative for Open Enterprise Linux
A new trade association has been formed to promote the development and adoption of open source Enterprise Linux (EL) distributions that are compatible with Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL). The association, called Open Enterprise Linux Association (OpenELA), is a collaborative effort between CIQ, Oracle and SUSE, three leading providers of EL solutions.

Why OpenELA?
The formation of OpenELA was motivated by the recent changes in RHEL source code availability. Red Hat announced that it would no longer provide free access to the source code of RHEL updates and patches, and instead would only offer them through a subscription service. This decision affected many downstream projects and users who relied on the RHEL source code to build their own EL distributions or to customize their systems.

To address this challenge, CIQ, Oracle and SUSE decided to join forces and create OpenELA, a trade association that will provide an open and free source code repository for EL distributions that are compatible with RHEL. The association will also offer tools and systems to help the community access, build and test the source code. The goal of OpenELA is to ensure a stable and resilient future for both upstream and downstream EL communities.

What is OpenELA?

OpenELA is a collaborative trade association that aims to encourage the development of EL distributions that are compatible with RHEL by providing open and free EL source code. The association will also provide an open process to access the source code that organizations can use to build their own EL distributions or to customize their systems.

OpenELA will be governed by a board of directors composed of representatives from CIQ, Oracle and SUSE, as well as other members who join the association. The board will oversee the strategic direction and operations of the association, as well as the technical aspects of the source code repository. The association will also have a technical steering committee that will manage the technical roadmap and priorities of the project.

How to Join OpenELA?
OpenELA welcomes anyone who is interested in contributing to or benefiting from the project. The association offers different levels of membership, depending on the level of involvement and commitment. Members can enjoy various benefits, such as access to the source code repository, voting rights in the board of directors, participation in technical committees, promotion of their products or services, and more.

To join OpenELA or to learn more about the project, please visit openela.org/join/.

Today SUSE, the company behind SUSE Linux Enterprise (SLE), announced it will fork the publicly available Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) and will develop and maintain a RHEL-compatible distribution available to all without restrictions. Over the next few years, SUSE plans to invest more than $10 million into this project.

Ever since IBM’s announcement last month that RHEL source code will be available only to CentOS Stream and to paying customers, Rocky Linux, Almalinux, Oracle Linux and all the customers using their distros have been trying to look out for solutions. While some of the loyal userbase of Rocky Linux, Almalinux and Oracle Linux have given out official statements on their respective Twitter channels that they have found a solution, there are some customers who feel that the suggested solution may not be viable and are still looking at other options including a possible migration to Ubuntu.

With today’s announcement, where one giant Open Source Enterprise is forking the source code of another giant Open Source Enterprise, this brings in a good enough choice for those looking for more stable choices from the industry. And with the $10 million commitment coming in from SUSE for this fork, they surely have taken IBM head on for a big fight in the Linux open source distro market!

Gregory Kurtzer, the Founder of Rocky Linux also chimed in that “The enterprise Linux community requires standardization, stability, and consistency”.