Russian Linux distributor НПО РусБИТех – aka RPA RusBITech – is thriving and plans to IPO:
A few months ago, The Reg FOSS desk took a quick look at Russian distro ROSA Linux, which is derived from Mandriva. It's not the only distribution from the land of Putin. Another, Astra Linux, is one of Debian's recognized derivatives.
[...] Astra Linux is produced by "research production association" RusBITech, and the distro was specially designed for use in the Russian military. As we mentioned when reporting on the government of India seeking to reduce its dependence on Western tech, Russia has been actively been doing it, since at least 2018.
Since the invasion of Ukraine, Microsoft has blocked the use of Windows in Russia, as have IBM and many others. This seems to be significantly helping drive adoption of replacement operating systems: Reuters reports that RosBITech Astra, the subsidiary dedicated to Astra Linux, is planning to float on the Moscow stock exchange. A Russian estimation of the company values it at around 17 billion roubles ($260 million, ish).
[...] Such large-scale deployments are bound to uncover new issues. It may be unrealistic of us to hope for it, but it's possible that improvements and refinements to Astra Linux get transferred back upstream to Debian, so something positive could come out of this unjustified invasion of Ukraine, which is happening less than 500 miles (700km) from where your vulture is typing.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by canopic jug on Tuesday July 12 2022, @06:30AM (6 children)
This will increase the pressure for further political control of the Debian project, and reduce the technical aspects of becoming a Debian Developer just that much more.
Their only option there, and probably the best one for Debian, too, would be a hard fork. Using a Debian derivative only ends up moving the fight over to Debian.
Money is not free speech. Elections should not be auctions.
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday July 12 2022, @08:57AM
Don't worry, OSes don't run well on political CPUs, there isn't enough IRQ support.
(Score: 2) by pkrasimirov on Tuesday July 12 2022, @09:27AM (1 child)
If there is a global confrontation everything will become political, much like during the Cold War.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by canopic jug on Tuesday July 12 2022, @12:40PM
There already is global confrontation. This move, unless it is a hard fork, will only damage Debian further by making it even more of a political battlefield. Debian not what it once was, but could still recover if the right people were moved out of the way and the rest made an effort. However, if the Kremlin tries to benefit from Debian directly, the easy way to mess with that is to mess with Debian even further. I'd rather see Debian return to its roots and focus on the technology rather than the blue hair and, coming soon, geopolitics.
Money is not free speech. Elections should not be auctions.
(Score: 2) by fraxinus-tree on Tuesday July 12 2022, @01:42PM (2 children)
We can only hope for a hard fork, but this is just a bit less bad and a lot less probable. They do not have the capacity to do a hard fork. The Russian government will try hard to take the control over as much as possible free source projects.
(Score: 2) by gawdonblue on Tuesday July 12 2022, @09:50PM (1 child)
Good luck trying to rest Debian from Microsoft's control.
"Boris!", I say to him. "Boris! Use Devuan. Work better. Break less."
Would he listen? Nyet.
Silly Boris.
(Score: 2) by fraxinus-tree on Wednesday July 13 2022, @02:51PM
One can only hope that their next-next-next habit will keep them on systemd as long as possible.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 13 2022, @12:05AM
What init system does Astra Linux use?