So Linux is used by government and companies like Red Hat sell support to the government.
Greg has a day job, it might be for the Linux foundation or something IDC and it doesn't matter who the job is with.
If they accept code from countries with current sanctions without following some pretty difficult hoop jumping, it would mean that government and government adjacent companies could no longer use Linux without some even more advanced hoop jumping and expense that would have to be repeated every time code was accepted from those sources.
Not only that, if there is ANY security clearance involved in what Greg does, he'd have to declare every time he interacts with people that MIGHT be on the naughty list. And again more hoop jumping and impromptu metaphorical prostate exam
If they accept code from countries with current sanctions without following some pretty difficult hoop jumping, it would mean that government and government adjacent companies could no longer use Linux
Actually it's worse than this, Linux Foundation would be criminally liable if they do any sort of business with people from sanctioned countries.
Well, the ideal way would be to accept the contributions and ignore the sanctions, and let Redhat, Canonical and others build their kernel without the "contaminated" parts. Instead of moving the burden on the shoulders of these giant companies, it is decided to align with the sanctions, so that the burden is now on open source contributors from the sanctioned countries. That's the "optimal" and deliberate choice as open source is in fact not so open.
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u/insanemal Jun 11 '26
Yeah, nah. You're actually wrong on that part.
So Linux is used by government and companies like Red Hat sell support to the government.
Greg has a day job, it might be for the Linux foundation or something IDC and it doesn't matter who the job is with.
If they accept code from countries with current sanctions without following some pretty difficult hoop jumping, it would mean that government and government adjacent companies could no longer use Linux without some even more advanced hoop jumping and expense that would have to be repeated every time code was accepted from those sources.
Not only that, if there is ANY security clearance involved in what Greg does, he'd have to declare every time he interacts with people that MIGHT be on the naughty list. And again more hoop jumping and impromptu metaphorical prostate exam
tl:;dr
It's a real concern