Red Hat’s Installation Numbers
I’m normally a big fan of Red Hat. Both for the ideals and progress in the Fedora community and for the advantages of using RHEL in the enterprise world. RHEL as a distribution tends to Not Suck(tm).
With the introduction of RHEL 5 Red Hat now wants you to use an activation code to install. Called Installation Numbers. (How long did it take someone to figure up that name?) You can install without a code but you only get the core Client or Server installed. In most cases this is somewhat less than useful. But, being clear, to have the installer install much of the Open Source software on the CD sets you must enter a 16 diget hexadecimal code that configures the installer to install the options you purchased.
I’m very insulted. The ideals that Red Hat holds so highly are flushed down the toilet at the sight of something green. How is this not DRM? How would this be legal with the GPL v3? Its really a horrid, evil idea. The least of which makes me as a sysadmin have to do much more work to deploy RHEL 5. I remember when (back in the day) new distributions were easier to maintain and deploy than older.
This is Open Source software. Its all about choice. Why did Red Hat chose to not give the user a choice what flavor of Server/Client they want to install? At RHN registration time the admin could be alerted that he or she has installed features not covered under the contract and give them options for what to do. Possibly, buy the missing support? No…that would be too hard. Instead, we must give them the complete set of software and then restrict how it can be used. Bad Red Hat.
This is Open Source software. The installer needs to know how to parse these installation numbers. The RHN tools on the system need that knowledge as well to communicate with RHN. This is Open Source software Red Hat. You cannot hide the details of these codes. In fact, I have already learned all I need to generate Installation Numbers myself with any feature set I so desire.
You can find some quick code to generate these numbers in genkey.py. I have also written a more in depth article about creating installation numbers and a few examples.
March 17th, 2007 at 7:09 am
This has nothing to do with DRM. If RedHat were to encrypt their distribution packages somehow and try to have a magic decryption key in their installer then maybe that would be DRM, but back in reality nothing of the sort is happening.
RedHat will have no problems under GPLv3 because RedHat distribute full source code.
If you want to do something more useful than moaning then join the CentOS team or write your own installer (or just hack the RedHat installer to remove the key check). Just don’t go calling the resulting OS by the name “RedHat”…
March 17th, 2007 at 2:06 pm
For God’s sake, would you read the FAQ on Red Hat’s site?
http://kbase.redhat.com/faq/FAQ_103_8967.shtm
“The Installation Number entered by the user during the installation process guides the Installer to include the correct components that match the user’s Red Hat Enterprise Linux Subscription.
…the user has the option to skip entering the installation number or to override it in a Kickstart file.”
If you don’t want, you don’t have to use it. In the worst case, you have to subscribe to the relevant channels manually. That’s all.
March 18th, 2007 at 3:12 am
Installation numbers are a convenience not a requirement. And they have nothing to do with entitlement. You are entitled to a certain set of binary bits when you subscribe to RHEL. The Installation Number is a convenient way to get all those bits at time of install instead of adding them in after the fact (as was custom up until RHEL 5). If you don’t use the Installation Number during the install, then just register your system to RHN during firstboot (or after…and you won’t need your Installation Number at either point) and then “yum install” all your entitled bits. DRM? Do you even know what that means?
March 19th, 2007 at 1:24 pm
In less time than it took you to type of this misinformed drivel, you could have read both the FAQ and the release notes, and figured out that you are completely, totally, and both utterly wrong and completely clueless.
You are a perfect example of the downside of the internet: uninformed idiots blathering about nothing.
June 27th, 2007 at 7:32 pm
You have the freedom of choice!
November 13th, 2007 at 2:53 am
still it is like a regulatory. I remembered not being able to actually install several compilers and run certain application due to skipping the installation number.
November 14th, 2007 at 7:29 pm
I know nothing. I want an installation number. This website gave me an installation number.
Hurray!
Thanks so much!
January 24th, 2008 at 5:53 pm
as a fact you need a subscription number for getting updates for your system…this “intallation number” is let say critical if you want your system to be updated automatically or even manually… as a fact you can not use “yum” to install packages or update your packages…have a nice day