The release of Rocky Linux 9.4 has been announced, aimed at creating a free build of RHEL that can take the place of classic CentOS. The distribution is binary compatible with Red Hat Enterprise Linux and can be used as a replacement for RHEL 9.4 and CentOS 4 Stream. Support for the Rocky Linux 9 branch will be provided until May 31, 2032. Installation iso images of Rocky Linux are prepared for architectures x86_64, aarch64, ppc64le, and s390x (IBM Z). Additionally, live builds with GNOME, KDE, Cinnamon, and Xfce desktops are offered, published for the x86_64 architecture.
As in classic CentOS, the changes made in Rocky Linux packages revolve around removing branding tied to Red Hat and eliminating RHEL-specific packages, such as redhat-*, insights-client, and subscription-manager-migration*. A review of the list of changes in Rocky Linux 9.4 can be found in the RHEL 9.4 announcement. Among the Rocky Linux-specific changes, the provision of additional openldap-servers-2.6.6 packages in a separate repository is noteworthy, along with packages for network virtualization components in the NFV repository, developed by the SIG group for NFV (Network Functions Virtualization). Rocky Linux also supports CRB repositories (Code Ready Builder with additional packages for developers, which replaced PowerTools), RT (real-time operation packages), HighAvailability, ResilientStorage, SAP, and SAPHANA (packages for SAP HANA). An experimental package with the Linux kernel—kernel-uki—has been added, providing a unified UKI (Unified Kernel Image), signed with a separate key for SecureBoot.
For the source of the original packages when forming Rocky Linux 9.4, the OpenELA repository is utilized, supported jointly with Oracle and SUSE. Changes in the development processes are due to Red Hat's discontinuation of hosting the source texts of RHEL rpm packages in the public repository git.centos.org. Source packages are provided to customers only through a private section of the website, which operates under a user agreement (EULA) that prohibits data redistribution, preventing these packages from being used to create derivative distributions. Source texts remain available in the CentOS Stream repository, but it is not fully synchronized with RHEL, and the latest versions of packages do not always match those from RHEL.
The Rocky Linux distribution is developed under the auspices of the Rocky Enterprise Software Foundation (RESF), registered as a Public Benefits Corporation, focused on public good rather than profit. The organization's owner is Gregory Kurtzer, the founder of CentOS, but management functions are delegated to a board of directors elected by community members involved in the project. Concurrently, to develop extended products based on Rocky Linux and to support the community of developers of this distribution, a commercial company, Ctrl IQ, has been established and has received $26 million in investments. Companies such as Google, Amazon Web Services, GitLab, MontaVista, 45Drives, OpenDrives, and NAVER Cloud have joined the development and financing of the project.
In addition to Rocky Linux, alternatives to classic CentOS 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
