Rocky Linux is promising its users there will not be any disruptions to the distro as a result of Red Hat’s decision to restrict access to RHEL’s source code.

Red Hat announced Wednesday that it would restrict access to RHEL’s (Red Hat Enterprise Linux) source code to paying customers. The announcement was seen as a shot at Rocky Linux and AlmaLinux, both of which are downstream, community-driven, enterprise distros that offer 1:1 compatibility with RHEL.

Rocky Linux has weighed in on the issue, promising its users that it will continue on:

Rocky Linux, a prominent community-driven open-source distribution of Enterprise Linux (EL), remains confident in its ability to continue as a bug-for-bug compatible and freely available alternative to Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL), despite changes in accessibility. Red Hat’s announcement yesterday states that the sources for RHEL will no longer be accessible from git.centos.org. While this decision does change the automation we use for building Rocky Linux, we have already created a short term mitigation and are developing the longer term strategy. There will be no disruption or change for any Rocky Linux users, collaborators, or partners.

Gregory Kurtzer, Rocky Linux founder and chair of the board of the Rocky Enterprise Software Foundation, slammed Red Hat’s decision to restrict RHEL’s source code behind a paywall.

“I believe that open source should always be freely available and completely stable. It should never be hidden behind a paywall, nor should it be controlled by a single company,” said Kurtzer, founder of the Rocky Linux project and chair of the board of the Rocky Enterprise Software Foundation, which hosts the project. “Red Hat’s decision to limit the distribution of their sources has created a minor inconvenience for the Rocky Linux team, but due to fast development and an amazing group, there is no disruption to Rocky Linux users. Moving forward we are becoming even more stable, supported, and secure.”

The announcement is good news for businesses that rely on Rocky Linux.