The title really undersells it, it seems like under a Biden Executive Order, free/open-source software will have to ban all Russian contributions. Its unclear if American developers would be allowed to contribute to Russian software like Nginx
The title really undersells it, it seems like under a Biden Executive Order, free/open-source software will have to ban all Russian contributions. Its unclear if American developers would be allowed to contribute to Russian software like Nginx
Looks like a dumb and ineffective move in general. No public answers as to what the supposed compliance requirements are with the patch. And, removing credit or banning individuals based on nationality seems like really poor precedent.
I disagree that this has anything to do with any Biden executive order. In fact, the patch doesn’t say anything about what those requirements are or what prompts the change. I don’t see why FOSS in general even necessarily needs to comply with US regulations. I think we should refrain from this kind of speculation.EDIT: Linus later confirmed the sanctions were the cause of this action on the mailing list.
That I based on another source (video by Bryan Lunduke) that claims to have insider information.
From what I can see in the law, providing licensed software, even if it is GPL licensed would be in violation of Executive Order 14071
I’m sure an open sourced project hosted in China would gladly tell the US to shove their executive order up their collective ass.
That is a valid concern though for the Linux Foundation. I hope they do not get involved in politics. I really hope not.
Claims of insider information… Certainly suspicious circumstances. I suppose we won’t know until more information becomes publicly available.
Why? There’s plenty of great open-source projects made by Chinese developers… People are not their governments, and there are good people and good developers everywhere.
Right. The ones outside of the US don’t need to comply with US law. Perhaps I’m missing the point?
Sorry I completely misread what you said. I thought you were defending the executive order because “China would do the same” I honestly have no clue how I got that from what you wrote. My bad, I agree with you.
Correct me if I’m wrong, but I thought Europe also had sanctions in place against Russia at this point now as well? Seems likely this would be an issue in pretty much any NATO country not just the US.
True! The sanctions aren’t necessarily US centric.