Red Hat gives Fedora wings

And promises action on patents...

By John Oates • Get more from this author

Posted in Operating Systems, 6th June 2005 14:19 GMT

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Red Hat is giving more freedom to Fedora - the open source project it supports and sponsors.

In simple terms Fedora is an advanced Linux distribution which is used as a testing ground for future developments which may be later included in Red Hat's enterprise linux products. It is fully Open Source and relies on community involvement for its ongoing development.

Red Hat is giving Fedora its freedom by setting it up as an independent foundation. The Fedora Foundation will take control and ownership of the code but Red Hat will continue to provide financial and technical support.

A more independent looking Fedora may help attract more developers.

The company is also looking at a version of the Creative Commons license to encourage developers to work on Fedora projects. Red Hat has been a vocal critic of existing patent law and is expected to call for more changes soon. Red Hat's deputy general counsel, Mark Webbink, told CRN the company was looking at reforms with companies like Nokia because current patent laws are obstructing developments in open source software.

The delayed release of Fedora 4 is also expected in the next few weeks. ®