RHEL8's "Enterprise Agreement" (for the free usages)
Mark J. Bailey
Hello,
I was having to deal with RHEL8 for a client this weekend, and in doing some research on something related to the client’s need, I stumbled across yet another post in Reddit on Rocky/Alma/etc vs RHEL’s free usage scenarios. What caught my attention in particular was one commenter pointed out this hidden “gem” of a clause in the Red Hat’s “Enterprise Agreement” (that you have to agree to in order to be able to legally use it for free):
11. Review. While this Agreement is in effect and for one year thereafter, Red Hat or its designee, acting in accordance with Section 9, may inspect your facilities and records to verify your compliance with this Agreement. You agree to (a) respond promptly to requests for information, documents and/or records, (b) grant appropriate access for on site visits in order to verify your compliance, and (c) reasonably cooperate in connection with any such verification. Red Hat will provide at least ten (10) days prior written notice for any on site visits, and will conduct on site visits during regular business hours in a manner that reasonably minimizes interference with your business. If Red Hat notifies you of any noncompliance or underpayment, then you will resolve the non compliance and/or underpayment within fifteen (15) days from the date of notice. If the underpayment exceeds five percent (5%), then you will also reimburse Red Hat for the cost of the inspection.
I must admit, it was a bit of an eye opener. For my part, don’t think I’ve ever seen anything quite like this in the OSS “free” world. Anyways, it’s by and large a moot point of concern for most everyone present here, but still….
So, if the Red Hat Compliance Squad shows up at your home or work place, you’ll now know why! But your spouse or employer (or client even!) might be a little less understanding and sympathetic! 😊
Mark
Sent from Mail for Windows
John R. Dennison
>
> I must admit, it was a bit of an eye opener. For my part, don’t think
> I’ve ever seen anything quite like this in the OSS “free” world.
> Anyways, it’s by and large a moot point of concern for most everyone
> present here, but still….
is applicable to both the free and non-free tiers.
Current Enterprise Agreement for North America is at:
https://www.redhat.com/licenses/Enterprise_Agreement_Webversion_NA_English_20211109.pdf
In this document the section in question is section 10.
John
--
Do not train [children] to learning by force and harshness, but direct them to
it by what amuses their minds, so that you may be better able to discover with
accuracy the peculiar bent of the genius of each.
-- Plato (c 427 BC - 347 BC), Greek philosopher, student of Socrates, teacher
of Aristotle, founder of the Academy of Athens, in The Republic,
Book VII, section 16
Kent Perrier
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Mark J. Bailey
Yeah, no doubt most people never bother to ever read most of these software agreements. No telling what all else is buried deep in some of them! :) It’s a highly unlikely threat for us peons, but I still wasn’t previously aware of this provision. It certainly prompted me to sit up and start paying more attention to it.
And, yes, I bet Oracle is a more unsettling bedfellow. I wonder if/when they finally move into downtown Nashville, if some of our laid back Tennessee-style southern hospitality will sink in with them, and take some of the edge off?! Nah, I doubt it! :)
Tilghman Lesher
them to verify what you pretty much already told them by running the
update tool; by default, without that clause, they have no such right.
Every time you run an update, it's going to compare a whole bunch of
version stuff and then download the necessary packages. They can
infer the number of systems, not only by the number of times that you
run the update in a small span of time, but also the differing
packages. There may even be a unique ID per system generated and
provided to the backend system.
You get a certain number of free installations. If you keep within
that limit, they're never going to infer a greater number of installed
systems, and they'll never show up on your doorstep.
--
Tilghman