Release Distribution Rocky Linux 8.5 , aimed at creating a free Assembling RHEL, capable of occupying a classic CentOS, after Red Hat has decided to stop supporting the CentOS 8 branch support at the end of 2021, and not in 2029, as it was originally expected. This is the second stable project release recognized ready for work implements. Assembly Rocky Linux Prepared for architectures x86_64 and aarch64.
As in the classic CentOS entered in Rocky Linux packages Changes are reduced to deliverance from binding to the Red Hat brand. The distribution is fully binary compatible with Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8.5 and includes all the improvements offered in this issue. Including additional packages with OpenJDK 17, Ruby 3.0, Nginx 1.20, Node.js 16, PHP 7.4.19, GCC Toolset 11, LLVM Toolset 12.0.1, Rust Toolset 1.54.0 and Go ToolSet 1.16.7.
Among Rocky Linux-specific changes. Added to the PLUSE package with the Thunderbird email client with PGP support and OpenLDAP-Servers package. The RasperryPI2 package with the Linux core, which includes improvements to the Rasperry PI boosts based on the AARCH64 architecture.
For X86_64 systems, official download support is provided in UEFI Secure Boot mode (Used when downloading Rocky Linux Shim-layer / A> Microsoft’s key). For AARCH64 architecture, the possibility of verifying the integrity of the loaded system for digital signature will be implemented later.
The project is developing under the guidance of Gregory Kurtzer (Gregory Kurtzer), the founder of the CentOS. In parallel, for the development of advanced products based on Rocky Linux and support for the developer community of this distribution, a CTRL IQ commercial company has been created, which received $ 4 million in investment. The Rocky Linux distribution itself promises to develop independently of the company Ctrl IQ under community. Companies such as Google, Amazon Web Services, Gitlab, Montavista, 45Drives, OpenDrives and Naver Cloud have also joined the design and financing of the project.
In addition to Rocky Linux, Almalinux is also positioned as an alternatives (develops CloudLinux, together with the community), VZLinux (prepared by Virtuozzo) and Oracle Linux. In turn, Red Hat provided the possibility of free use of RHEL in organizations developing open software, and in the environment of individual developers, consisting of up to 16 virtual or physical systems.