The release of AlmaLinux 9.4 is now available, synchronized with the new release of Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9.4 and containing all the proposed changes in this release. Installation images are prepared for the x86_64, ARM64, ppc64le, and s390x architectures in the forms of a bootable image (988 MB), minimal image (1.9 GB), and full image (10 GB). Live builds with GNOME, KDE, MATE, and Xfce, as well as images for Raspberry Pi, containers, WSL (Windows Subsystem for Linux), and cloud platforms will be created later.
The distribution is binary compatible with Red Hat Enterprise Linux wherever possible and can be used as a replacement for RHEL 9.4 and CentOS 9 Stream. Changes include rebranding, removing RHEL-specific packages such as redhat-*, insights-client, subscription-manager-migration*, kpatch*, kmod-redhat-*, rhc, spice*, and virtio-win. Additionally, a repository called Synergy is available, containing packages that differ from Red Hat Enterprise Linux. Currently, the Synergy repository already has packages with the Pantheon user environment developed by the Elementary OS project and the Warpinator utility designed for encrypted file sharing between two computers.
Moreover, it is reported that two new SIG (Special Interest Group) groups, HPC and AI, have been formed, aimed at creating and maintaining AlmaLinux-based solutions for high-performance computing and machine learning, as well as providing support in these areas and promoting related optimizations and innovations. The created groups plan to unite organizations, companies, and community members interested in using AlmaLinux as a platform for deploying HPC and AI systems.
The AlmaLinux distribution was founded by CloudLinux in response to Red Hat's premature discontinuation of CentOS 8 support (the release of updates for CentOS 8 was halted at the end of 2021, not in 2029 as users had expected). The project is overseen by a separate non-profit organization, the AlmaLinux OS Foundation, which was created to develop it in a neutral environment with community participation and using a management model similar to that of the Fedora project. The distribution is free for all categories of users. All AlmaLinux developments are published under open licenses.
In addition to AlmaLinux, alternatives to traditional CentOS include Rocky Linux (developed by a community led by the founder of CentOS), 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 that develop open source software and in individual developer environments with up to 16 virtual or physical systems.
Source: opennet.ru
