We recently shared here on the blog the news of the RHEL 9 releases, as well as the version of Alma Linux 9 (which is synced with RHEL 9) and now AlmaLinux 8.6 release released. This version of the distribution arrives synchronized with Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8.6 and contains all the changes proposed in this version.
For those who are unaware of the distribution, they should know that is fully binary compatible with Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8.6 and can be used as a transparent replacement for CentOS 8. Changes boil down to rebranding, removing RHEL-specific packages like redhat-*, insights-client, and subscribe-manager-migration*, creating a "devel" repository with additional packages and build dependencies.
The AlmaLinux distribution was founded by CloudLinux in response to the premature end of support for CentOS 8 by Red Hat (the release of updates for CentOS 8 was discontinued at the end of 2021, and not in 2029, as users expected).
The project is overseen by an independent non-profit organization, the AlmaLinux OS Foundation, which was created to be developed in a neutral, community-driven environment using a governance model similar to that of the Fedora Project. The distribution kit is free for all categories of users. All AlmaLinux developments are released under free licenses.
Main new features of AlmaLinux 8.6
As already mentioned, the distribution is binary compatible with RHEL 8.6, so all the changes that were introduced in RHEL 8.6 are the ones that we can find in this new version of AlmaLinux.
Among the most important changes we can mention, for example, the update to version 1.1 of the fapolicyd framework, which allows you to determine which programs a certain user can run and which ones cannot, as well as what in OpenSSH implements the ability to use the "Include" directive in the sshd_config configuration file to override settings from other files, which, for example, allows you to put system-specific settings in a separate file.
Also included new versions of compilers and development tools: Perl 5.32, PHP 8.0, LLVM Toolset 13.0.1, GCC Toolset 11.2.1, Rust Toolset 1.58.1, Go Toolset 1.17.7, java-17-openjdk (also continue to ship java -11-openjdk and java-1.8.0 -openjdk).
In nftables memory consumption was significantly reduced (up to 40%) when restoring large configuration lists. The nft utility implements support for packet and traffic counters bound to config list items and enabled via the “counter” keyword (“@myset {ip saddr counter}”).
Most eBPF components are supported, such as BCC (BPF Compiler Collection), libbpf, Traffic Control (tc, Traffic Control), bpftracem, xdp-tools, and XDP (eXpress Data Path). Support for the AF_XDP socket remains in technology preview for accessing XDP from user space.
Support for guest system images based on RHEL 9 and the XFS file system is guaranteed (RHEL 9 uses an updated XFS format with support for bigtime and inobtcount).
Of the others changes that stand out from this new version:
- Added container-tools 4.0 suite, including Podman, Buildah, Skopeo, and runc utilities.
- Provided the ability to use NFS as storage for isolated containers and their images.
- Container image stabilized with the Podman toolkit. Added wrapper with openssl command line utility.
- Added new module sequences:
PHP 8.0
Perl 5.32
log4j 2 - New repositories added:
TR
NFV - Compiler updates:
GCC 11 toolset
LLVM Toolset 13.0.1
Rust Toolset 1.58.1
Go Toolset 1.17.7
Get AlmaLinux 8.6
For those who are interested in being able to test this new version of the distribution, you should know that builds have been prepared for x86_64, ARM64, and ppc64le architectures in bootable (830 MB), minimal (1,6 GB), and full image (11 GB) forms.
Later, they also promise to create live builds as well as images for Raspberry Pi boards, containers, and cloud platforms.
You can get the installation pictures from the link below.