June 02, 2026

Red Hat: why I'm going all in on community-driven Linux distros.

You asked for it, you got it. Here's what I think of Red Hat.

Sorry this video took a bit longer than I'd like, since I'm working on finishing my basement (future recording space) at the moment.

Anyway, I'm not planning on dwelling much on Red Hat beyond this- my plan is to move forward with community-driven distros in mind, and recommend those to customers in the months and years ahead. I hope Red Hat gets to a good place again. We'll see.

Supporters make this possible. Seriously, nobody's sponsoring this video except you!

Patreon: https://patreon.com/VeronicaExplains

Ko-Fi: https://ko-fi.com/VeronicaExplains

Buy my shirt: https://vkc.sh/merch

Important Red Hat links referenced in today's video:

Their June 21, 2023 blog: https://www.redhat.com/en/blog/furthering-evolution-centos-stream

Red Hat doubles down on June 26, 2023: https://www.redhat.com/en/blog/red-hats-commitment-open-source-response-gitcentosorg-changes

"Our origin story" page on their website: https://www.redhat.com/en/about/why-we-choose-open-source

The "Appendix 1" PDF containing license details: https://www.redhat.com/licenses/Appendix_1_Global_English_20230309.pdf

"Our Code is Open" marketing video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pj_tLugpz8g

Guide for CentOS project code: https://developers.redhat.com/blog/2021/02/03/a-guide-for-using-centos-project-code

Embracing CentOS: https://www.redhat.com/en/about/press-releases/red-hat-and-centos-join-forces

Extending CentOS: https://www.redhat.com/en/blog/transforming-development-experience-within-centos

Extinguishing CentOS: https://blog.centos.org/2020/12/future-is-centos-stream/

CentOS Stream website: https://centos.org/centos-stream

Red Hat saying CentOS Stream is not for production: https://www.redhat.com/en/resources/centos-stream-checklist

IBM Q1 2023 results: https://newsroom.ibm.com/2023-04-19-IBM-RELEASES-FIRST-QUARTER-RESULTS

Other important links referenced in the video:

Rocky's plan: https://rockylinux.org/news/keeping-open-source-open/

Debian's "who we are" page: https://www.debian.org/intro/people

Debian's "who can contribute" page: https://www.debian.org/intro/help

LWN.net's Kernel 6.1 stats page: https://lwn.net/Articles/915435/

#linux #opensource #redhat

Chapters:

0:00 Brought to you by corporate greed

1:02 #YARDE (Yet Another RHEL Drama Explanation)

3:08 Scars from CentOS

5:08 So what's next?

6:48 Why am I going all in on Debian?

8:11 The "culture" is the culprit

9:43 What about Pop!_OS?

11:13 Don't tell me what to do, Veronica

...more

View all episodes