AlmaLinux is a free and open source
Linux distribution
A Linux distribution (often abbreviated as distro) is an operating system made from a software collection that includes the Linux kernel and, often, a package management system. Linux users usually obtain their operating system by downloading one ...
, created originally by CloudLinux to provide a community-supported,
production-grade enterprise operating system that is
binary-compatible with
Red Hat Enterprise Linux
Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) is a commercial open-source Linux distribution developed by Red Hat for the commercial market. Red Hat Enterprise Linux is released in server versions for x86-64, Power ISA, ARM64, and IBM Z and a desktop vers ...
(RHEL). The first stable release of AlmaLinux was published on March 30, 2021,
and will be supported through March 1, 2029.
Etymology
The name of the distribution comes from the word "alma", meaning "soul" in Spanish and other Latin languages. It was chosen to be an homage to the Linux community.
History
On December 8, 2020,
Red Hat announced that development of
CentOS Linux
CentOS (, from Community Enterprise Operating System; also known as CentOS Linux) is a Linux distribution that provides a free and open-source community-supported computing platform, functionally compatible with its upstream source, Red Hat En ...
, a free-of-cost
downstream fork of the commercial Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL), would be discontinued and its official support would be cut short to focus on CentOS Stream, a stable LTS release without minor releases officially used by Red Hat to preview what is intended for inclusion in updates to RHEL.
In response, CloudLinux – which maintains its own commercial Linux distribution,
CloudLinux OS
CloudLinux OS is a commercial Linux distribution marketed to shared hosting providers. It is developed by software company CloudLinux, Inc. CloudLinux OS is based on the CentOS operating system; it uses the OpenVZ kernel and the rpm package ma ...
– created AlmaLinux to provide a community-supported spiritual successor to CentOS Linux, aiming for binary-compatibility with the current version of RHEL.
A beta version of AlmaLinux was first released on February 1, 2021, and the first stable release of AlmaLinux was published on March 30, 2021.
AlmaLinux 8.x will be supported until 2029.
Numerous companies, such as ARM, AWS, Equinix, and Microsoft, also support AlmaLinux. On March 30, 2021, the AlmaLinux OS Foundation was created as a
501(c) organization
A 501(c) organization is a nonprofit organization in the federal law of the United States according to Internal Revenue Code (26 U.S.C. § 501(c)) and is one of over 29 types of nonprofit organizations exempt from some federal income taxes. ...
to take over AlmaLinux development and governance from CloudLinux, which has promised $1 million in annual funding to the project.
In September of 2022 the AlmaLinux OS Foundation held its first election, announcing a board of 7 community-elected members on September 19th.
On December 7th, 2022 it was announced that
CERN
The European Organization for Nuclear Research, known as CERN (; ; ), is an intergovernmental organization that operates the largest particle physics laboratory in the world. Established in 1954, it is based in a northwestern suburb of Gene ...
and
Fermilab
Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory (Fermilab), located just outside Batavia, Illinois, near Chicago, is a United States Department of Energy national laboratory specializing in high-energy particle physics. Since 2007, Fermilab has been opera ...
would be providing AlmaLinux as the standard operating system for their experiments.
Releases
* AlmaLinux was announced , first beta release was 53 days later.
See also
*
Fedora Linux, the upstream project from which AlmaLinux descends
*
Rocky Linux
Rocky Linux is a Linux distribution developed by Rocky Enterprise Software Foundation, which is a privately owned benefit corporation that describes itself as a "self imposed not-for-profit". It is intended to be a downstream, complete binary-co ...
, with development organised by a privately owned
benefit corporation
In the United States, a benefit corporation (or in several jurisdictions including Delaware, a public-benefit corporation or PBC) is a type of for-profit corporate entity, authorized by 35 U.S. states and the District of Columbia, that include ...
References
External links
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{{Authority control
Enterprise Linux distributions
Linux distributions
RPM-based Linux distributions