Any code that is copyrighted in the USA, per the sanctions, is not allowed to have Russians working on it. That includes code copyrighted under the GPL, which Linux is.

That makes more sense. And while this executive order stands, this can affect lot of Russian businesses that depend on our software.

This particular EO doesn't prevent the businesses from using the software.
It just prevents the Russian developers from contributing to the codebase.

However, the overall sanctions may very well prevent Russian entities from obtaining software from US sources.

But this sounds like an attack on Russia's civilians, like on their businesses
especially.

The EO itself doesn't, but the overall sanctions likely do.

If the code is not copyrighted, or is not copyrighted in the USA, then Russians can still work on it.

So if I understand this correctly, then they're going to need a new OS, which could mean that 99% of their software will need to be rewritten for compatibility with the new OS. Sounds challenging!

No, they can continue to use whatever OS they are using, they just may not
be able to upgrade it (I am not sure about that). Because linux is open source, they can continue to use it all they want technically, and they can make changes to their own source code respositories. They just cannot send those changes back upstream to be added to the official linux code.

One other thing to keep in mind... I am not sure about Russia but other countries like China and North Korea maintain their own "official" versions
of open sources OSes, so the US cannot really cut them off. They can just
put pressure on US entities not to accept updates from those sources.

BTW, if you google this situation, Linus Torvalds is 100% OK with it.

I'm not exactly blaming him for his position on this, but it sounds like very elitist behavior. If I create something that's for everybody, I want everybody
to have access to it.

I was a little surprised but if you read his position, and keep in mind
that he is originally from Finland, it makes more sense.

Torvalds seems confident that the Russians won't be working on the linux kernel code, most likely because the Linux Foundation won't allow it.

Until now I never realized how dictatorial these Linux people are. I switched to Linux 14 years ago thinking that I was distancing myself from elitists but this makes me feel like maybe I shouldn't get too comfortable with it.

I don't think it is elitism in this case. In the case of open source, if I were managing a software project based in the US and didn't adhere to the sanctions, I would be worried that I might become a target for Russian
hackers by leaving my code open to them. With this order especially, I
would expect some would be motivated to infect projects, especially if they
are projects that US corporations might use.


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