The first of the next generation of the Red Hat CentOS Linux clones, CloudLinux's AlmaLinux, is here.

AlmaLinux project issues first stable release of CentOS replacement. AlmaLinux is an open-source, community-driven project that intends to fill the gap left by the demise of the CentOS stable release.

If you missed the news, AlmaLinux OS is a 1:1 binary compatible fork of RHEL 8. It is built by the creators of the established CloudLinux OS. CloudLinux has committed a $1 million dollars annual endowment to support the project.

AlmaLinux announced the launch of the first stable release during a live stream earlier today.

So, after about 4 months since the decision to steer CentOS in a different path, you now have a 1:1 binary compatible drop-in replacement, with a very long support timeframe. CloudLinux has committed to supporting AlmaLinux OS until 2029, including stable and thoroughly tested updates and security patches.

The first stable release of AlmaLinux, the drop-in CentOS replacement, has arrived on schedule. AlmaLinux is an open source rebuild of Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) that aims to fill the void left by Red Hat’s move to divert its resources to the CentOS Stream distro.

Proposed by server OS vendor CloudLinux, AlmaLinux backs the new Linux distro with a financial commitment of a million dollars a year, and promises to develop and foster an open source community around the project.

“So, after about 4 months since the decision to steer CentOS in a different path, you now have a 1:1 binary compatible drop-in replacement, with a very long support timeframe,” write the AlmaLinux developers in the release announcement.

At the start of the year CloudLinux announced AlmaLinux as a 1:1 fork of Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL). In ending out Q1, as promised this CentOS alternative is now available for download.

Following the announcement last year that CentOS 8 would be discontinued EOY2021 in favor of focusing on CentOS Stream as the future upstream to RHEL, "Project Lenix" by CloudLinux was started as one of the new RHEL/CentOS alternatives.

After several months of hard work, this community-focused, RHEL8 binary compatible distribution is available for download. CloudLinux Inc is said to be sponsoring AlmaLinux with $1M USD annually.

Good news, Enterprise Linux users! AlmaLinux stable version has been officially released!! Cloud Linux team has released AlmaLinux beta version a month ago. The stable release was planned for the end of the Q1 2021. The AlamaLinux OS team is dedicated and punctual. As promised, the first stable version of AlmaLinux is out yesterday. Go ahead and test it. If everything is OK, deploy it on your production servers.

AlmaLinux is undoubtedly one of the most anticipated Linux distributions of 2021.

In a recent announcement, it looks like the first stable release for AlmaLinux is here. Perhaps, a worthy CentOS replacement that you’ve always wanted?

CentOS used to be the go-to alternative for those who wanted to use Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) without having to pay RedHat to use it. It was a almost 1:1 clone until RedHat took control of it and turned it into what is now a RHEL beta-version, not a stable RHEL release without the branding. Almalinux is one of several projects that have made their own RHEL forks in response. The first Almalinux version is now released.

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The CentOS GNU/Linux distribution, which is very popular on the server-side, has been following Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) stable releases since its inception in on May 14th, 2004. Those who wanted to use RHEL without a RedHat license, or additional licenses in the case of many RedHat customers, could install CentOS and get something that was binary compatible and almost entirely identical. The branding and a few other minor details were all that separated CentOS from RHEL. That changed with an announcement titled CentOS Project shifts focus to CentOS Stream", written by RedHat asset Rich Bowen, in December 2020.

CentOS is no longer a 1:1 clone of RHEL. It is, instead, now based on RHEL beta versions. At least two projects started their own CentOS forks in response to that change: Rocky Linux, lead by CentOS founder Gregory Kurtzer, and AlmaLinux, developed by CloudLinux Incorporated.

The AlmaLinux project, sponsored by CloudLinux, has issued its first stable release along with details of a new open-source foundation set up to manage the project.

The AlmaLinux project, originally codenamed Lenix, was started soon after Red Hat informed the world that CentOS would be replaced by CentOS Stream.

Both are related to Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL), the commercial build, but whereas CentOS is a downstream community build, Stream is a late upstream build.

The first stable release of AlmaLinux, the drop-in CentOS replacement, has arrived on schedule. AlmaLinux is an open source rebuild of Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) that aims to fill the void left by Red Hat’s move to divert its resources to the CentOS Stream distro.

Proposed by server OS vendor CloudLinux, AlmaLinux backs the new Linux distro with a financial commitment of a million dollars a year, and promises to develop and foster an open source community around the project.

“So, after about 4 months since the decision to steer CentOS in a different path, you now have a 1:1 binary compatible drop-in replacement, with a very long support timeframe,” write the AlmaLinux developers in the release announcement.

When Red Hat decided to kill the stable CentOS in favor of rolling release CentOS Stream, it created a sort of revolt.

The adamant sysadmins who preferred a decade old distribution instead of the goodness of the latest software and updates didn’t like this democratic decision of Red Hat. They foolishly looked for CentOS alternatives despite Red Hat repeatedly telling them that CentOS Stream is for their own good.

Its creator, CloudLinux, built the distribution at warp speed, racing to fill the void left by Red Hat's EOL announcement for CentOS.

AlmaLinux OS, which was developed as a free CentOS replacement following Red Hat’s decision to shift focus from CentOS Linux to CentOS Stream is now available for download and use. According to the announcement, you can use AlmaLinux “for any general purpose computing need, in bare-metal installations, in virtual machines, in containers, on cloud providers,” and ARM support is in the works.

We are very happy to announce that today we are releasing the first AlmaLinux OS stable version. That's right, you can go right ahead and download the stable version and use it everywhere you need a stable, reliable, Linux distribution. For some time now we also have the conversion script in our GitHub repository, so you can also convert your system to AlmaLinux OS stable using it if you don't feel like reinstalling from scratch.

AlmaLinux OS, the forever-free open source enterprise-grade Linux is ready.

If you've been following us on Reddit or on our other social media outlets, you also know we had a live launch party just now. We talked to some of our community, industry partners and team members. You can find the link for the recorded version shortly in here.

In this video, I am going to show an overview of AlmaLinux OS 8.3 and some of the applications pre-installed.

Here's a video of the AlmaLinux release event this past Tuesday (March 30th). If you look real hard, I made the "We Are AlmaLinux" montage at the beginning.