The up2date command, the Red Hat Network client software, is open-source software released by Red Hat under the terms of the GNU GPL. Red Hat Network Proxy Server and Red Hat Network Satellite, the server applications with which up2date interacts, are not freely available, open-source applications. For this reason, an effort is underway to develop servers available under the terms of the GNU GPL that can be used with up2date clients. The main program in this effort is called current, which refers to keeping your systems current.

The current server can be downloaded from http://current.tigris.org. Although not yet as functional as Red Hat Network Proxy Server or Red Hat Network Satellite, current can already be used to create a RPM repository from which up2date-using clients can retrieve and install software. More advanced features, such as support for multiple “channels” of software, will be added to current in future releases.