RedHat is a family of Linux distributions with a commercial slant. Available in both free and supported varieties, RedHat is often the Linux platform of choice for Grid and commercial applications.
1. Redistribution of RedHat software
RedHat repackages and brands much of the software for the commercially supported versions of linux. The licence for the use and redistribution of this branding is seperate to the licence for the software. To quote from the licence:
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- The Software. Red Hat Enterprise Linux and Red Hat Applications (the "Software") are either a modular operating system or application consisting of hundreds of software components. The end user license agreement for each component is located in the component's source code. With the exception of certain image files identified in Section 2 below, the license terms for the components permit Customer to copy, modify, and redistribute the component, in both source code and binary code forms. This agreement does not limit Customer's rights under, or grant Customer rights that supersede, the license terms of any particular component.
Intellectual Property Rights. The Software and each of its components, including the source code, documentation, appearance, structure and organization are owned by Red Hat and others and are protected under copyright and other laws. Title to the Software and any component, or to any copy, modification, or merged portion shall remain with the aforementioned, subject to the applicable license. The "Red Hat" trademark and the "Shadowman" logo are registered trademarks of Red Hat in the U.S. and other countries. This agreement does not permit Customer to distribute the Software using Red Hat's trademarks. Customer should read the information found at http://www.redhat.com/about/corporate/trademark/ before distributing a copy of the Software, regardless of whether it has been modified. If Customer makes a commercial redistribution of the Software, unless a separate agreement with Red Hat is executed or other permission granted, then Customer must modify any files identified as "REDHAT-LOGOS" and "anaconda-images" to remove all images containing the "Red Hat" trademark or the "Shadowman" logo. Merely deleting these files may corrupt the Software.
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In other words you can redistribute the software but not the embedded branding. To overcome this problem, there are a number of derived distributions which have already had the branding removed. These include ScientificLinux and WhiteBoxLinux. These distributions typically aim to be binary-compatible with Red hat and offer no support.
All of the open source software that RedHat ships can be installed on any number of machines within an institution (or other legal body), providing that this does not fall under the definition of "redistribution." Sometimes non-open source software ships bundled with RedHat linux, in which case restrictions probably apply.
The support contracts provided by RedHat typically cover a certain number of desktops, servers or cpus. The fact that the software can be installed on an unlimited number of machines does not automatically mean that RedHat must support that number.
2. Other Issues
Applications packaged for Debian or Ubuntu can often be installed on RedHat (and visa versa) using the tool "alien".
Do you use RedHat? Edit this page to describe your experiences.
