CentOS Replacement Rocky Linux Is Now in GA and Under Independent Control

The Rocky Enterprise Software Foundation (RESF) is announcing the general availability of Rocky Linux, release 8.4, designed as a drop-in replacement for the soon-to-be discontinued CentOS. The GA release is launching six-and-a-half months after Red Hat deprecated its support for the widely popular, free CentOS server operating system.

The Rocky Linux development effort – named as a tribute to late CentOS co-founder Rocky McGaugh – was started by Gregory M. Kurtzer, co-creator of CentOS, and the inventor of Singularity and Warewulf.

Free community support for Rocky Linux is available through the RESF via Mattermost (an open source Slack alternative), IRC and via the Rocky Linux site forums.

Successor to CentOS: GNU Rocky Linux 8.4 – community driven enterprise Open Source OS – for x86 and ARM – a test drive (as VirtualBox VM) with screenshots

CentOS 7 (maintained until 2024) is hailed a rock-solid GNU Linux Open Source (?) server OS, hardened by many idelaistic developers & RedHat technicians.

…and indeed it performed well on it’s xfs filesystem (thanks all involved also thanks to RedHat (bought by IBM in 2019) not contribute & not interfere in a harmful way, as it should be with Open Source & Free Software).

Hence many Open Source administrators and users relied heavily and build upon rock solid CentOS.

Rocky Linux 8.4

Rocky Linux is a community enterprise operating system, created by Gregory Kurtzer, founder of the CentOS project. Rocky Linux 8.4 has been released for x86-64 and aarch64. "Sufficient testing has been performed such that we have confidence in its stability for production systems."

CentOS replacement distro Rocky Linux’s first general release is out

Rocky Linux—one of at least two new distributions created to fill the void left when CentOS Linux was discontinued by parent corporation Red Hat—announced general availability of Rocky Linux 8.4 today. Rocky Linux 8.4 is binary-compatible with Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8.4, making it possible to run apps designed and tested only for RHEL without RHEL itself.

Hello Rocky Linux 8.4 (and belated Hello to Alma Linux too)

So according to LWN.net, Rocky Linux 8.4 reached General Available (GA). This is great as it means that there are two* 'community rebuild' to move CentOS 8 systems to if CentOS Stream is not a good match.

[...]

My other reason was to remind people that if they are using CentOS Linux, that the end of life for 8 is December 31, 2021. Before that time it would be good to look at switching to Alma, CentOS Stream 8, Oracle Linux, Red Hat Enterprise Linux, or Rocky. These transitions take time, and there are only ~190 days before it needs to be done.

CentOS Stand-in Rocky Linux Becomes a Ready for Prime Time Player | Data Center Knowledge

Nearly three months after CentOS replacement AlmaLinux reached it's first stable release, Rocky is ready to be a contender.

Rocky Linux is Finally Ready as a CentOS Replacement with 8.4 Stable Release - It's FOSS News

One of the most anticipated release in 2021 — Rocky Linux, as an alternative to CentOS, is finally here with its first stable release 8.4 (Green Obsidian) ready for production use.

If you have been keeping up with the news, it was interesting to see that Rocky Linux 8.3 release candidate was not slated for a stable release. Instead, it was followed by another 8.4 RC 1 release, which finally made its way to the general availability.

Not to forget, it was also one of my favorite distros to look forward to in 2021.

Now that it is here as a CentOS replacement, potentially dropping the need to switch to CentOS Stream, what’s on board in this release (changes from upstream)?

Rocky Linux 8.4 Released, Aims to Fill the Void Left by CentOS

Rocky Linux, one of the most anticipated CentOS replacements, has announced the general availability for Rocky Linux 8.4 “Green Obsidian”.

Rocky Linux 8.4 is designed as a drop-in CentsOS replacement. It was created by the same person who birthed CentOS into being, Gregory Kurtzer, and Rocky follows the same mission of offering an enterprise-ready version of Linux. The name was chosen as a tribute to early CentOS co-founder Rocky McGaugh.

Rocky Linux 8.4 is a complete binary-compatible release using the Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8.4 operating system source code. The release is launching more than a half year after Red Hat deprecated its support for the widely popular CentOS server operating system.

Rocky Linux and competitor AlmaLinux, which released its own binary compliant RHEL clone in March, are built from the same source code as RHEL. This ensuring that a wide range of proprietary software designed with only RHEL in mind will “just work”.

Users of other RHEL 8.4 binary-compatible distributions can use the free migrate2rocky tool for convenient, in-place migration to Rocky Linux 8.4. It has been tested to be useful for migrating from Alma Linux 8.4, CentOS Linux 8.4, RHEL 8.4, and Oracle Linux 8.4 but to be used at your own risk.

Rocky Linux 8.4 is officially available to replace your CentOS deployments

Sometimes it's hard to believe the speed at which technology evolves. One minute Distribution X is all the rage, the next it has become a pariah and we find myriad forks in the road—each of which can lead to success. In this case, CentOS made a crucial misstep and we find ourselves having more than enough replacements to select from.

That's the way of open source; the second one door closes, a handful of newer, better doors open.

When CentOS opted to become an option many businesses could no longer trust, it came as no surprise when AlmaLinux and Rocky Linux appeared. What did surprise me was that AlmaLinux beat Rocky Linux to the punch. Rocky Linux already had the pedigree of being led by the same gentlemen (Gregory Kurtzer) who originally launched CentOS.

Rocky Linux 8.4 Released

Rocky Linux, a distribution created to fill the void left when CentOS Linux was discontinued by Red Hat, announced general availability of Rocky Linux 8.4.

Rocky Linux 8.4: First release of the announced CentOS successor available

The Rocky Linux development team has released version 8.4 (“Green Obsidian”), the first stable release of the new Linux distribution. Rocky Linux, which is binary-compatible with Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) 8.4, was created from the basic idea of ​​creating a follow-up project to the previous CentOS as a free RHEL clone. Rocky was launched by the original CentOS founder Gregory Kurtzer.

After AlmaLinux, Rocky Linux is already the second CentOS successor project that was launched this year. The background to this development is Red Hat’s announcement in December 2020 that the 8.x version series of the free RHEL clone CentOS will only be continued as a rolling release from the end of 2021 without fixed version cycles. CentOS will then no longer be completely compatible with the RHEL model: From this point onwards, it will develop into a kind of harbinger of the upcoming RHEL version. The CentOS version series 7.x will receive updates until the regular end of support in June 2024.

Rocky Linux 8.4 Available Now – Download DVD ISO Images

After months of active development, Rocky Linux has finally got its first stable version 8.4 release, ready for a production system.

If you don’t know, last year, Red Hat decided to drop maintenance of CentOS Linux 8 after 2021 to solely focus on CentOS Stream.

Obviously, the decision made various people unhappy including CentOS project founder Greg Kurtzer. Hence, within a few days, Greg announced a new alternative OS called Rocky Linux, which is still under intensive development.

CentOS replacement Rocky Linux 8.4 arrives, and proves instantly popular

The Rocky Enterprise Software Foundation (RESF) has announced general availability (GA) of Rocky Linux 8.4. It's an important milestone because it's the first Rocky Linux GA release ever.

Josef Strzibny: CentOS 8 free alternatives

CentOS 8 EOL is around the corner, so it’s time to evaluate and try the alternatives. I prepared a small table for everybody with the basic overview.

Rocky Linux 8.4 is now available to migrate from CentOS 8

With the ending of CentOS 8, Long term support branch by Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) has spurted the increase in the appearance of other clones such as AlmaLinux, Rocky Linux, Oracle Linux, and VzLinux. And recently, Rocky Linux has also released its stable latest version i.e 8.4 in parallel to RHEL.

Rocky Linux is also an RHEL clone that came into the Linux world right after Red Hat decided to end CentOS Long term support. The project meant to target enterprises to replace CentOS, the interesting thing is the Rocky Linux is the idea of Gregory Kurtzer, co-founder of CentOS.

RHEL clones generally try to stay close to their parent distribution, so as with AlmaLinux and Oracle Linux, their version is already 8.4 (although VzLinux has remained at version 8.3). However, after few months finally, the Rocky Linux officials say it is “a community enterprise operating system designed to be 100% compatible with Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8.4. ”

OpenLogic by Perforce Announces Commercial Support for Rocky Linux, Other CentOS Alternatives

Rocky Linux Is Ready For Prime Time! | Hackaday

For some small percentage of the Hackaday crowd, our world got turned upside down at the end of last year, when Red Hat announced changes to CentOS. That distro is the official repackage of Red Hat Enterprise Linux, providing a free, de-branded version of RHEL. The big problem was that CentOS 8 support has been cut way short, ending at the end of 2021 instead of the expected 2029. This caused no shortage of consternation in the community, and a few people and companies stepped forward to provide their own CentOS alternative, with AlmaLinux and Rocky Linux being the two most promising. AlmaLinux minted their first release in March, but the Rocky project made the decision to take things a bit slower. The wait is over, and the Rocky Linux 8.4 release is ready.

Rocky Linux 8.4 Achieves First General Availability Release, Proves Popular - Slashdot

"When Red Hat killed off CentOS Linux in a highly controversial December 2020 announcement, Gregory Kurtzer immediately announced his intention to recreate CentOS with a new distribution named after his deceased mentor," Ars Technica reported in February.

And this week, "The Rocky Enterprise Software Foundation has announced general availability (GA) of Rocky Linux 8.4," reports ZDNet. "It's an important milestone because it's the first Rocky Linux general availability release ever."

Rocky Linux release attracts 80,000 downloads as ex-CentOS users mull choices

Rocky Linux 8.4, which was made generally available early last week, attracted 80,000 downloads within 72 hours, but disaffected CentOS users are wondering whether Rocky, rival AlmaLinux, or some other OS, is the right next move.

Both Rocky Linux and AlmaLinux are designed to be binary-compatible with Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL), while also being free software, for those who can manage without Red Hat's support. Red Hat's CentOS used to fulfil this role, until the company declared that in future it would be only CentOS Stream that previews rather than follows what will be in RHEL.