AlmaLinux

Main Article: Operating Systems

2023: AlmaLinux 9.2

Following the official release of Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9.2, a release of the AlmaLinux 9.2 distribution was formed, synchronized with the updated RHEL release and containing all the changes proposed in this release. This became known on May 11, 2023. Installation images are prepared for x86_64, ARM64, ppc64le and s390x architectures in the form of boot (804 MB), minimum (1.7 GB) and full image (8.8 GB). Live builds with GNOME, KDE, MATE and Xfce will be formed later, as well as images for Raspberry Pi boards, containers and cloud platforms.

The distribution is fully binary compatible with Red Hat Enterprise Linux and can be used as a replacement for RHEL 9.2 and CentOS 9 Stream. Changes boil down to rebranding, removing RHEL-specific packages such as redhat-*, insights-client, subscription-manager-migration *, kpatch *, kmod-redhat-*, rhc, spice *, and virtio-win.

The AlmaLinux distribution was founded by CloudLinux in response to the premature curtailment of support for CentOS 8 by Red Hat (updates for CentOS 8 were discontinued at the end of 2021, and not in 2029, as users assumed). The project is supervised by a separate non-profit organization, AlmaLinux OS Foundation, which was created to develop on a neutral site with community participation and using a management model similar to organizing the work of the Fedora project. The distribution is free for all categories of users. All developments of AlmaLinux are published under free licenses.

Virtuozzo Oracle Linux In addition to AlmaLinux, Rocky Linux (developed by the community under the leadership of the founder of CentOS), VzLinux (prepared by the company), SUSE Liberty Linux and EuroLinux are also positioned as alternatives to the classic CentOS. In addition, Red Hat has provided the possibility of free use of RHEL in organizations developing and in open-label software individual environments developers with up to 16 or virtual physical systems^[1]

2022: AlmaLinux 9.1

On November 18, 2022, it became known that the release of the AlmaLinux 9.1 distribution was formed, synchronized with the Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9.1 distribution and containing all the changes proposed by this release. Installation images are prepared for x86_64, ARM64, ppc64le and s390x architectures in the form of boot (840 MB), minimum (1.6 GB) and full image (8.6 GB). Live builds with GNOME, KDE and Xfce will be formed later, as well as images for Raspberry Pi boards, containers and cloud platforms.

The distribution is fully binary compatible with Red Hat Enterprise Linux and can be used as a replacement for RHEL 9.1 and CentOS 9 Stream. Changes boil down to rebranding, removing RHEL-specific packages such as redhat-*, insights-client, subscription-manager-migration *, kpatch *, kmod-redhat-*, rhc, spice *, and virtio-win.

The AlmaLinux distribution was founded by CloudLinux in response to the premature curtailment of support for CentOS 8 by Red Hat (updates for CentOS 8 were discontinued at the end of 2021, and not in 2029, as users assumed). The project is supervised by a separate non-profit organization, AlmaLinux OS Foundation, which was created to develop on a neutral site with community participation and using a management model similar to organizing the work of the Fedora project. The distribution is free for all categories of users. All developments of AlmaLinux are published under free licenses.

In addition to AlmaLinux, Rocky Linux (developed by the community under the leadership of the founder of CentOS), VzLinux (prepared by the company), Virtuozzo Oracle Linux SUSE Liberty Linux and EuroLinux are also positioned as alternatives to the classic CentOS. In addition, Red Hat has provided the ability to use RHEL for free in organizations developing and in individual open-label software developer environments with up to 16 or virtual physical systems^[2]

2021: First Issue

On March 30, 2021, it became known that the first stable release of the AlmaLinux distribution took place, created in response to the premature curtailment of support for CentOS 8 by Red Hat (it was decided to stop releasing updates for CentOS 8 at the end of 2021, and not in 2029, as users assumed). The project was founded by CloudLinux, which provided resources and developers, and transferred under the wing of a separate non-profit organization AlmaLinux OS Foundation for development on a neutral site with community participation. A million dollars a year has been allocated for the development of the project.

Assemblies are prepared for the x86_64 architecture in the form of a bootable (650 MB), minimum (1.8 GB) and full image (9 GB). In the near future, it is also planned to publish assemblies for the ARM architecture. The release is based on the release of Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8.3 and is completely identical to it in functionality, with the exception of changes related to rebranding and removal of RHEL-specific packages such as redhat, insights-client and subscription-manager-migration. All developments are published under free licenses.

The distribution develops in accordance with the principles of the classic CentOS, is formed through a rebuild of the package base of Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 and retains full binary compatibility with RHEL, which allows it to be used to transparently replace the classic CentOS 8. Updates for the AlmaLinux distribution branch, based on the RHEL 8 package base, are promised to be released until 2029. To migrate existing CentOS 8 installations to AlmaLinux, just download and run a special script.

The distribution kit is free for all categories of users, develops with the involvement of the community and the use of a management model similar to organizing the work of the Fedora project. AlmaLinux is trying to find the optimal balance between corporate support and community interests - on the one hand, the resources and developers of CloudLinux are involved in the development, which has extensive experience accompanied by RHEL forks, and on the other hand, the project is transparent and controlled by the community.

As alternatives to the old CentOS, in addition to AlmaLinux, Rocky Linux is also positioned (test builds are promised to be published on March 31) and Oracle Linux (tied to the interests of the corporation). In addition, Red Hat has provided the ability to use RHEL for free in organizations developing open source software and in individual developer environments with up to 16 virtual or physical systems.

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