> I can't figure out why RHEL compat is so desirable.
When you're a part of an international research infrastructure which works on the same stack for a decade and half, being supported by RH for free (because of CERN) and creating tons of software at every layer of this research stack over that time period is one of the bigger reasons, but it's not the only one.
I personally use Debian for my personal computers and small servers elsewhere for 15+ years, but when it comes to infrastructure homogenization amongst high thousands of nodes, it's a different story.
When you're a part of an international research infrastructure which works on the same stack for a decade and half, being supported by RH for free (because of CERN) and creating tons of software at every layer of this research stack over that time period is one of the bigger reasons, but it's not the only one.
I personally use Debian for my personal computers and small servers elsewhere for 15+ years, but when it comes to infrastructure homogenization amongst high thousands of nodes, it's a different story.