The release of Rocky Linux 8.6 has taken place, aimed at creating a free version of RHEL to fill the void left by classic CentOS, after Red Hat prematurely ended support for the CentOS 8 branch at the end of 2021 instead of the originally planned 2029. This is the third stable release of the project, recognized as ready for production deployments. Rocky Linux builds are prepared for x86_64 and aarch64 architectures.
As with classic CentOS, the changes made to Rocky Linux packages focus on eliminating the branding tied to Red Hat. The distribution is fully binary compatible with Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8.6 and includes all enhancements proposed in this release. New modules such as perl:5.32, php:8.0, container-tools:4.0, eclipse:rhel8, log4j:2 have been introduced, along with updated versions of LLVM Toolset 13.0.1, GCC Toolset 11.2.1, Rust Toolset 1.58.1, Go Toolset 1.17.7, java-17-openjdk, NetworkManager 1.36.0, rpm-ostree 2022.2, bind 9.11.36 and 9.16.23, Libreswan 4.5, audit 3.0.7, samba 4.15.5, and 389 Directory Server 1.4.3.
Among the specific changes for Rocky Linux, the provision of a separate repository pluse with the Thunderbird mail client supporting PGP and the open-vm-tools package stands out. The rockypi repository includes the "rasperrypi2" package with Linux kernel 5.15, incorporating enhancements for operation on Raspberry Pi boards based on Aarch64 architecture. The nfv repository offers a set of packages for virtualizing network components, developed by the NFV (Network Functions Virtualization) SIG group.
The project is being developed under the leadership of Gregory Kurtzer, the founder of CentOS. At the same time, a commercial company, Ctrl IQ, has been established to develop advanced products based on Rocky Linux and support the community of developers of this distribution, which has received $26 million in investments. The Rocky Linux distribution itself is promised to be developed independently of Ctrl IQ under community management. Companies such as Google, Amazon Web Services, GitLab, MontaVista, 45Drives, OpenDrives, and NAVER Cloud have also joined in the development and financing of the project.
In addition to Rocky Linux, alternatives to classic CentOS 8 include AlmaLinux (developed by CloudLinux in collaboration with the community), VzLinux (prepared by Virtuozzo), Oracle Linux, SUSE Liberty Linux, and EuroLinux. Furthermore, Red Hat has provided the opportunity for free use of RHEL in organizations developing open source software and in environments of individual developers with up to 16 virtual or physical systems.
Source: opennet.ru
