```
Siemens Erases OpenRadioss Repository; Rocky Linux Developers Rebuild as OpenCourant
Siemens has shut down the OpenRadioss project — and, according to Phoronix, has gone considerably further than a routine end-of-life announcement by deleting the GitHub repository that hosted the source code and removing the supporting resources built up around the project. Developers associated with the Rocky Linux community have responded by rebuilding the codebase as a community fork under the name OpenCourant.
What disappeared
OpenRadioss is an open-source finite element analysis (FEA) solver project, started roughly four years ago by Altair Engineering, whose commercial Radioss solver is a well-known tool in engineering simulation. The project has since fallen under Siemens' control; the available reporting does not establish when that transfer occurred.
The sharp edge of the story is the mode of shutdown. Siemens did not mark the repository read-only — the standard practice that preserves the ability to study, fork, and reuse code — but erased it outright, along with surrounding resources. For any organisation that embedded OpenRadioss in its simulation workflows, that removes the fallback of inspecting or rebuilding from the last known good source. It also raises an open question about whether third-party copies, packages, or mirrors survive anywhere; none of that has been confirmed in available reporting.
Notably, the source material provides no stated reason from Siemens for the closure. That silence matters: teams planning migration or contingency work need to know whether this reflects a strategic decision, a security posture, or something else entirely. Without it, the shutdown can only be treated as a fact, not as an explainable one.
Community rescue — and its limits
OpenCourant, the fork created by Rocky Linux developers, restores access to a community-maintained codebase. Its lineage carries weight: Rocky Linux itself was born from a community response to corporate abandonment — the repositioning of CentOS around CentOS Stream — and has demonstrated an ability to maintain upstream codebases at scale.
But operational credibility is not the same as domain expertise. FEA solvers demand deep numerical knowledge, extensive validation, and, in regulated engineering contexts, certification. Whether OpenCourant can recruit contributors with genuine solver expertise, rather than only packaging and build skills, is the unresolved question that will determine the fork's long-term viability. Maintainer plans, governance arrangements, and a roadmap are not detailed in the current reporting.
The licence status of the surviving code and of the fork itself also needs verification before any organisation relies on it. Until the terms governing the repository and any redistributed binaries are confirmed, downstream users cannot assess reuse rights with confidence.
Context: A recurring pattern — Analysis
The following section is editorial analysis, not sourced from the Phoronix report.
The OpenRadioss episode is the latest instance of a well-established pattern in open-source governance: corporations adopt open-source codebases as strategic or ecosystem plays, then withdraw them after acquisitions or shifts in direction. The Redis licensing changes and the CentOS repositioning are precedents. For practitioners, the lesson is blunt — an open-source project's survival is only as durable as the commercial interest behind it.
Analysis: Why this matters in Hong Kong and the Greater Bay Area
The following section is editorial analysis, not sourced from the Phoronix report.
For IT and engineering teams across the Greater Bay Area, particularly those that procure or embed third-party simulation software and open-source components with long development cycles, the OpenRadioss shutdown illustrates how quickly an apparently stable upstream dependency can vanish. Source availability, repository continuity, and licence verification should be treated as part of ordinary supply-chain due diligence, not as an afterthought triggered by a disappearance.
What to watch next
Two questions will determine whether OpenCourant becomes a credible successor or a historical artefact: whether any surviving copies of the original code can feed into the fork's lineage, and whether the community can attract the numerical and FEA expertise the solver code requires. Neither answer is established yet. This is a story still in its early chapters, first reported by Phoronix.
```
Siemens 刪除 OpenRadioss Repository；Rocky Linux 開發者以 OpenCourant 重建項目
Siemens 已關閉 OpenRadioss 項目——據 Phoronix 報道，其做法遠遠超出一般終止（end-of-life）公告的範疇，不僅刪除存放原始碼的 GitHub repository，亦移除圍繞該項目積累的各項支援資源。與 Rocky Linux 社群相關的開發者隨即作出回應，以 community fork 形式將代碼庫重建，並命名為 OpenCourant。
何物被刪除
OpenRadioss 是一個開源有限元分析（FEA）solver 項目，約四年前由 Altair Engineering 創立；其商業版 Radioss solver 是工程模擬界廣為人知的工具。該項目其後落入 Siemens 控制之下，但現有報道並未交代轉手確實發生於何時。
此事最關鍵的一點，在於關閉的方式。Siemens 並未將 repository 設為 read-only——這是業界的標準做法，能保留各方研究、fork 及重用代碼的能力——而是將其徹底刪除，周邊資源亦一併消失。對任何將 OpenRadioss 整合到自身模擬 workflows 的機構而言，這意味著已無法在最後已知良好版本的原始碼基礎上作出檢視或重建。這亦引出一個懸而未決的問題：第三方副本、套件或 mirrors 是否仍然存在於某處？現有報道對此未有任何確認。
值得注意的是，原始資料並未提及 Siemens 對於關閉項目的任何解釋。這種沉默相當重要：負責規劃遷移或應變工作的團隊，需要知道這究竟反映了一項戰略決定、一種安全立場，抑或完全是其他原因。在沒有相關說明的情況下，今次關閉只能被視為一個事實，而無法被理解。
社群救援——及其局限
Rocky Linux 開發者所創立的 OpenCourant，恢復了一個由社群維護的代碼庫的可訪問性。其血統有其份量：Rocky Linux 本身正是社群對企業放棄所作出的回應——即 CentOS 重新定位為 CentOS Stream——而它亦已證明有能力大規模維護 upstream 代碼庫。
然而，運維上的可信度與相關領域的專業知識，並非同一回事。FEA solver 對數值方法知識的要求極高，需要大量驗證工作，而在受規管的工程環境中更需要認證。OpenCourant 能否吸納真正具備 solver 專業知識、而不僅具備打包與 build 技能的貢獻者，是決定這個 fork 長遠可持續性的關鍵問題。現階段報道並未詳細交代維護者計劃、治理安排以及 roadmap。
倖存代碼以及 fork 本身的授權（licence）狀況，同樣需要在任何機構倚靠之前加以核實。在管理 repository 及任何重發行二進制檔的條款未經確認之前，下游用家無法有把握地評估重用權利。
背景：反覆出現的模式——分析
以下部分屬編者分析，並非源自 Phoronix 的報道。
OpenRadioss 事件是開源治理中一個早已確立的模式的最新例子：企業將開源代碼庫作為戰略或生態圈佈局，隨後在收購完成或方向轉變之後將其撤回。Redis 的授權變更以及 CentOS 的重新定位，都是先例。對從業者而言，教訓十分直白——一個開源項目能否存活，端視於其背後的商業利益能否持久。
分析：此事為何對香港及大灣區重要
以下部分屬編者分析，並非源自 Phoronix 的報道。
對大灣區的 IT 及工程團隊而言，尤其對於那些採購或整合開發週期較長的第三方模擬軟件及開源組件的機構，OpenRadioss 的關閉正好說明一個表面上穩定的 upstream 依賴可以消失得何其迅速。原始碼可得性、repository 延續性以及授權核實，應被視為日常供應鏈 due diligence 的一部分，而並非是在項目消失之後才被觸發的事後補救。
接下來應留意的事項
有兩個問題將決定 OpenCourant 會否成為一個可信的後繼者，抑或僅是歷史遺物：原始代碼的倖存副本能否融入 fork 的血脈；以及社群能否吸引 solver 代碼所需的數值方法及 FEA 專才。這兩個答案目前均未有定論。這個故事仍處於開端階段，首先由 Phoronix 報道。