The AlmaLinux project has announced the release of two stable versions of the distribution: AlmaLinux OS 9.8 āOlive Jaguarā and AlmaLinux OS 10.2 āLavender Lionā. The project emphasizes that this is the first time two stable branches of AlmaLinux have been released on the same day. The release resulted from improvements to the build infrastructure, automation, and QA procedures that allow for maintaining two parallel branches without delaying one of them.
AlmaLinux 9.8 comes with kernel 5.14.0-687.5.3.el9_8 and is available in installation ISOs for x86_64, aarch64, ppc64le, and s390x. AlmaLinux 10.2 uses kernel 6.12.0-211.7.3.el10_2; builds are prepared for x86_64, x86_64_v2, aarch64, ppc64le, and s390x, as well as a user environment i686 without a separate 32-bit kernel and boot installer.
Both versions include fixes for a number of recently discussed vulnerabilities: Copy Fail, Dirty FRAG, Fragnesia, nginx Rift and SSH Keysign Pwn. This is important for users who are reinstalling the system or upgrading from the yet-to-be-patched AlmaLinux 9.7 and 10.1.
Key changes in AlmaLinux OS 9.8 āOlive Jaguarā
Compiler sets have been updated. The system now includes LLVM Toolset 21.1.8, Rust Toolset 1.92.0 and GCC Toolset 15. This expands the available tools for building modern applications without needing to connect to third-party repositories.
Python 3.14 has been added. The new version of Python is provided as a separate package, allowing it to be used alongside system components without breaking compatibility with the base Enterprise Linux 9 branch.
New module streams for MariaDB, PostgreSQL, and Ruby have been introduced. AlmaLinux 9.8 includes module streams for MariaDB 11.8, PostgreSQL 18 and Ruby 4.0, and the stream Node.js has been updated to version 24. This provides EL9 users with a fresher stack for server applications and development.
Debugging and performance analysis tools have been updated. The release includes elfutils 0.194, Valgrind 3.26.0, SystemTap 5.4, rsyslog 8.2510.0, GDB 16.3 and Bpftrace 0.24. These components are used for tracing, profiling, diagnosing low-level issues, and analyzing application behavior.
The security stack has been strengthened. graphics stack components, including new releases of Mesa 19.2, X.Org Server 1.20.5, and libdrm 2.44.99 that were tested in Ubuntu 19.10. Fresh versions of video drivers for Intel, AMD, and NVIDIA chips have been added (including the proprietary NVIDIA driver 435); SELinux-policy 38.1.75, SSSD 2.9.8, OpenSSL 3.5.5, OpenSSH 9.9p1, crypto-policies 20260224, Keylime 7.12.1 and GnuTLS 3.8.10. This affects policies for mandatory access control, cryptographic settings, SSH, authentication, and remote attestation.
Network components have been updated. The system includes NetworkManager 1.54.3 and iproute 6.17.0, which updates the basic toolkit for network configuration, routing, and managing network interfaces.
Containers and virtualization have been updated. AlmaLinux 9.8 includes Podman 5.8.0, Buildah 1.43.0, libvirt 11.10.0, QEMU-KVM 10.1.0 and skopeo 1.22.0. This is an important part of the release for servers, CI systems, container builds, and virtual hosts.
Other system components have been updated. Among the notable updates are Git 2.52.0, Git-LFS 3.7.1, Samba 4.23.5, Mesa 25.2.7, PipeWire 1.4.9, Cockpit 356, cmake 3.31.8 and sudo 1.9.17p2.
An anticipated kernel backport fix has been added. AlmaLinux 9.8 includes the approved ALESCo backport patch proc: fix a dentry lock race between release_task and lookup, addressing excessive CPU consumption by systemd and ps processes when cleaning up tasks. This fix was proposed in CentOS Stream 9, but its inclusion in upstream was postponed until at least RHEL 9.9, which is why AlmaLinux included it earlier.
Major changes in AlmaLinux OS 10.2 āLavender Lionā
Compilers and toolset packages have been updated. Included in AlmaLinux 10.2 are LLVM Toolset 21.1.8, Rust Toolset 1.92.0 and GCC Toolset 15 based on gcc 15.2.1.
New versions of programming languages and DBMS have been added. The release includes Python 3.14, PostgreSQL 18, MariaDB 11.8, Ruby 4.0 and PHP 8.4. For developers and administrators, this is one of the main distinctions of 10.2 from the previous 10.x branch.
SDL3 and libkrun have been added. The list of new packages includes SDL3 3.2.4 and libkrun 1.17.4. SDL3 is important for multimedia and gaming applications, while libkrun is used in lightweight virtualization and isolation scenarios.
Performance and debugging tools have been updated. Included in the release are elfutils 0.194, Valgrind 3.26.0, SystemTap 5.4, rsyslog 8.2510.0, GDB 16.3, Bpftrace 0.24.2, BCC 0.35.0 and libbpf 1.7.0. This makes the 10.2 branch more suitable for eBPF tracing, profiling, and issue analysis in production.
The security stack has been updated. The release includes SELinux-policy 42.1.18, SSSD 2.12.0, OpenSSL 3.5.5, OpenSSH 9.9p1-20, crypto-policies 20260216, Keylime 7.14.1, libreswan 5.3-8, audit 4.0.3-5 and aide 0.19.2. The changes affect SELinux, SSH, cryptographic policies, auditing, VPN/IPsec, and integrity control.
Network tools have been updated. AlmaLinux 10.2 comes with NetworkManager 1.56.0, iproute 6.17.0, nftables 1.1.5, BIND 9.18.33-15 and chrony 4.8. This updates the basic network subsystem, DNS server, time synchronization, and packet filtering configuration tools.
Containers and virtualization have been updated. The release includes Podman 5.8.0, Buildah 1.43.0, skopeo 1.22.0, libvirt 11.10.0 and QEMU-KVM 10.1.0.
The desktop and system components have been refreshed. AlmaLinux 10.2 has adopted GNOME 49, as well as Git 2.52.0, Git-LFS 3.7.1, Samba 4.23.5, Mesa 25.2.7, PipeWire 1.4.9, Cockpit 356, cmake 3.31.8 and sudo 1.9.17p2.
Support for Btrfs has been retained. Unlike the compatible version of RHEL, AlmaLinux 10.2 continues to provide support Btrfs, including the ability to boot from a Btrfs partition.
Support for x86_64_v2 has continued. AlmaLinux 10 follows Red Hat's decision to use x86_64-v3 as the primary optimization level while also releasing a build. x86_64_v2 for older hardware. For users of this architecture, the project also rebuilds EPEL packages.
A custom i686 environment has been added. AlmaLinux 10.2 has received 32-bit user packages i686, intended for legacy software, CI scripts, and container workloads. There is no separate 32-bit kernel or boot installer; packages are published through vault, and Docker images can be run with --platform linux/386.
Frame pointers are enabled by default. This simplifies system profiling and real-time tracing, which is useful for performance optimization on servers and workstations.
Support for SPICE has been restored. AlmaLinux 10.2 once again includes SPICE for both server and client applications, which is important for some virtualization scenarios and remote access to the graphical console.
KVM for IBM POWER included. Support for KVM in the virtualization stack for IBM POWER is now fully included, rather than in a preview status as it was before.
Firefox and Thunderbird are provided as standard RPM packages. In the AlmaLinux 10.2 system repositories, these applications are available as classic RPMs, not just in alternative delivery formats.
CRB is enabled by default. Repository CodeReady Builder is activated out of the box, making it easier to install libraries and header files often needed for building software.
Support for older hardware has been expanded. In AlmaLinux 10.2, PCI IDs for several storage and network devices that were disabled upstream have been restored: Adaptec, Dell PERC, HP Smart Array, Emulex, Broadcom MegaRAID, Mellanox ConnectX-2/3, LSI SAS, QLogic Fibre Channel, and QLogic iSCSI.
To upgrade an already installed system, simply perform a standard upgrade using dnf upgrade -y; separate instructions for transitioning from beta versions can be found in the AlmaLinux release notes.
Source: linux.org.ru
