The Rocky Linux 8.4 distribution was released, aimed at creating a new free build of RHEL capable of taking the place of the classic CentOS, after Red Hat decided to stop supporting the CentOS 8 branch at the end of 2021, and not in 2029, as originally expected. This is the first stable release of the project, recognized as ready for production implementation. Rocky Linux builds are prepared for x86_64 and aarch64 architectures.
The distribution is fully binary compatible with Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8.4. As in classic CentOS, the changes made to the packages boil down to getting rid of the connection to the Red Hat brand. The project is being developed under the leadership of Gregory Kurtzer, the founder of CentOS. In parallel, to develop expanded products based on Rocky Linux and support the community of developers of this distribution, a commercial company, Ctrl IQ, was created, which received $4 million in investments. The Rocky Linux distribution itself is promised to be developed independently of the Ctrl IQ company under community management. Companies such as Google, Amazon Web Services, GitLab, MontaVista, 45Drives, OpenDrives and NAVER Cloud also joined the development and financing of the project.
In addition to Rocky Linux, VzLinux (prepared by Virtuozzo), AlmaLinux (developed by CloudLinux, together with the community) and Oracle Linux are positioned as alternatives to the classic CentOS 8. In addition, Red Hat has made RHEL available for free to open source organizations and individual developer environments with up to 16 virtual or physical systems.
Source: opennet.ru