this post was submitted on 10 Feb 2026
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Linux is a family of open source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991 by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged in a Linux distribution (or distro for short).

Distributions include the Linux kernel and supporting system software and libraries, many of which are provided by the GNU Project. Many Linux distributions use the word "Linux" in their name, but the Free Software Foundation uses the name GNU/Linux to emphasize the importance of GNU software, causing some controversy.

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How much influence does Red Hat/IBM/US government actually have over Fedora? (ahmadhaghighi.com)
submitted 12 hours ago* (last edited 11 hours ago) by Adeptus_Obsoletus@piefed.social to c/linux@lemmy.ml
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I've been using Fedora for many years now. Recently, I've stumbled upon a blogpost that I'm linking here and it actually made me wonder and dig a little deeper. And I'm starting to worry over how much influence does IBM or US government have over so-called "community distro". The blog post makes a pretty clear cut case - a guy was a Fedora contributor and Fedora ambassador, but happened to live in a country that is on a USA no-no list, so he got "disappeared" from the entire project.

Another case was the thing with codecs. One day, some of the patented codecs were just gone from Fedora in general. There was no discussion, the only post we got at the beginning was basically "Red Hat lawyers said we can get sued, so we're removing these".

There is also that "Fedora Export Control Policy", which basically means you're technically not allowed to use Fedora if you're living in one of the countries they list.

All of that plus the recent state of US made me reconsider my choice of distro. I'm not a big fan of distrohopping, but it just doesn't feel right to use Fedora after everything I've seen. Feel free to share your thoughts, or maybe even pray for me, since I'll probably switch to Arch Linux after all.

EDIT: I just want to add that this post is NOT an attack on Red Hat, as during my research I've stumbled upon people who hate Red Hat because supposedly they're "destroying Linux". I think RH made a lot of important contributions to the Linux ecosystem and pushed it forward by a lot.

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[–] iByteABit@lemmy.ml 5 points 6 hours ago (3 children)

This is exactly the post I was trying to find today as I wondered the same thing about Red Hat and IBM having leverage over these projects.

I don't know to what extent that happens, but any FOSS project being used to benefit a profit driven company (the software engineering giant IBM in this case) is a big red flag for me.

[–] Auli@lemmy.ca 2 points 2 hours ago (1 children)

So moving to a BSD then? Linux is mostly packages written by big tech. People have to eat.

[–] roundduckkira@sh.itjust.works 1 points 40 minutes ago

BSD isn't what I'd call a communal focused project anyways with its licensing, as much as I love the BSDs

[–] LeFantome@programming.dev 4 points 5 hours ago

Most of the fundamental packages in your Linux distribution are primarily written by Red Hat. Do you use Glibc, GCC, gnu utils, systemd, GNOME, podman, pipewire, Wayland, Xorg, or Flatpak for starters?

Red Hat is hardly a free rider in the open source world.

It is also worth noting that Red Hat created the Fedora Project. They created it so they could have RHEL (corporate) and Fedora (community) instead of just Red Hat Linux which they had before.

It always makes me laugh when people worry about Red Hat “taking Fedora corporate”. Fedora was created explicitly to be the community offering and is a key part of the Red Hat strategy. I guess not everybody knows their Linux history.

Many of the Fedora leaders and maintainers are Red Hat employees.

As for US influence, that has always been a thing. US law dominates the thinking. What you really need to worry about is the Linux Foundation.

[–] corsicanguppy@lemmy.ca 2 points 6 hours ago

any FOSS project being used to benefit a profit driven company

That's a tough thing to avoid with android and a BSD out there powering most of the phones on the planet.

I hate what rh have done to enterprise Linux, but you need to keep clear what they're selling and what they're buying.

They provide support licenses for enterprise Linux but dont make money off Linux directly. They also foot a LOT of development on projects and apps that aren't systemd and are thus not a cancer on Linux. Please explore more with an open mind.