The launch of the new version of the distribution "AlmaLinux 8.5" which arrives synchronized with Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8.5 and that contains all the changes proposed in this release, in addition to some changes typical of the distribution.
The distribution is identical to RHEL in functionality, except for changes related to rebranding and removing specific RHEL packages like redhat- *, insights-client, and subscription-manager-migration *. AlmaLinux is free for all categories of users, developed with the participation of the community and using a management model similar to that of the Fedora project.
For those who are still unaware of the distribution you should know that Red Hat decided to release updates to the classical distribution of CentOS 8 only until December 2021, and not until 2029, as originally intended. That is to say, now CentOS Stream is Red Hat's proposal and in whose key difference with classic CentOS, is that it acts as a «downstream», that is, it was compiled from stable RHEL versions already formed, while CentOS Stream is positioned as « upstream »for RHEL, ie There will be a test run of packages before they are included in RHEL releases (RHEL 9 beta builds on CentOS Stream).
The AlmaLinux distribution was founded by CloudLinux, which, despite the involvement of its resources and developers, transferred the project to a separate non-profit organization AlmaLinux OS Foundation for development on a neutral site with community involvement. One million dollars a year has been earmarked for the development of the project. All AlmaLinux developments are published under free licenses.
The creators of AlmaLinux they tried to strike the optimal balance between corporate support and community interests; On the one hand, CloudLinux resources and developers, who have extensive experience in supporting RHEL forks, participated in the development and on the other hand, the project is transparent and controlled by the community.
The distribution is developed according to the principles of the classic CentOS, andIt consists of rebuilding the Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 package base and retains full binary compatibility with RHEL, allowing it to be used to seamlessly replace the classic CentOS 8.
As for the changes in this new version, the following stand out:
New modules:
- nginx 1.20
- Node.js 16
- Ruby 3.0
Updated components:
- PHP 7.4.19
- Squid 4.15
- Mutt 2.0.7
Compiler updates:
- GCC 11
- LLVM 12.0.1
- Rest 1.54.0
- GO 1.16.7
New repositories added:
- Resilient Storage
- More
The SCAP Security Guide includes new profiles and enhancements to existing profiles:
- A new profile aligned with the Australian Cyber Security Center (ACSC ISM) Information Security Manual.
- The closest mirror will be selected automatically in network installation mode.
- AlmaLinux profile from the Center for Internet Security (CIS) (opens new window) restructured into four different profiles (workstation level 1, workstation level 2, server level 1, server level 2).
- The security profile of the Security Technical Implementation Guide (STIG) updated to version V1R3.
- A new server-compatible STIG profile with GUI installations.
- A new high-level profile from the French National Security Agency (ANSSI), which completes the availability of profiles for all levels of hardening ANSSI-BP-028 v1.2 in the SCAP Security Guide.
If you want to know more about it, you can consult the details In the following link.
Get AlmaLinux
For those who are interested in being able to download this new version, they should know that the compilations offered They are ready for x86_64 and ARM64 architectures in the form of bootable (740 MB), minimum (2 GB) and full image (10 GB). In addition to also images of the system prepared separately for installation on plates Raspberry Pi.
It is worth mentioning that they also promise to form live compilations, as well as images for containers and cloud platforms, while for the part of the updates for the AlmaLinux 8.x branch they promise to release until 2029.