![]() The RHEL UBI containers also include the kernel headers – the source code that's needed to compile kernel modules. So distros include source packages, and that's what the RHEL rebuilders need. ![]() You may not need to rebuild bits of the distro itself, but you still need the source code in order to build things that aren't part of the distro. (That was right at the start of Mozilla's rapid release cycle for Firefox.) This is a problem that's occasionally pointed out by open souce luminaries for example, Poul-Henning Kamp's essay " A Generation Lost in the Bazaar", which pointed out that even back in 2012 you needed 122 external packages in order to compile Firefox. The problem is that most nontrivial programs incorporate bits of lots of other programs – in some cases, a ridiculous number of them. So, for example, if you need a program that isn't in your distro's repositories, you can obtain the source code to that program and build it yourself. In ordinary use, you never normally need these, but it's the nature of open source software that you can compile it yourself. In pretty much all Linux distributions, for each binary package containing a compiled, ready-to-run program, there is also a corresponding package of source code in the distro's repositories. This source code is available to Red Hat customers – and nowadays, only to customers – in the form of SRPMs, or source RPMs. ![]() To build a complete standalone distro, though, you do also need to obtain the source code to the kernel and drivers. ![]()
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