The Rocky Linux project has announced the release of Rocky Linux 9.8, a distribution kit designed to provide a free alternative to Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) and serve as a replacement for CentOS. The distribution is fully compatible with RHEL and can be used as a replacement for RHEL 9.8 and CentOS 9 Stream. Support for Rocky Linux 9 branch will be available until May 31, 2032. Installation iso images for Rocky Linux 9.8 are available for x86_64, aarch64, ppc64le, and s390x architectures. Additionally, live builds with GNOME, KDE, Cinnamon, and Xfce desktops are offered for x86_64 architecture.
Similar to classic CentOS, Rocky Linux includes packages that have removed the Red Hat branding and RHEL-specific packages such as redhat-*, insights-client, and subscription-manager-migration*. A new “security” repository has been implemented for urgent package updates that address critical vulnerabilities not yet patched by RHEL. Apart from these changes, Rocky Linux 9.8 aligns with RHEL 9.8 updates.
Rocky Linux also features specific packages like openldap 2.6.8, 7zip 25.01, iftop 1.0, and nmon available in separate repositories like “plus” and NFV. The NFV repository offers packages for virtualization of network components, developed by the NFV (Network Functions Virtualization) SIG group. Additionally, Rocky Linux supports repositories like CRB, RT, HighAvailability, ResilientStorage, SAP, and SAPHANA for specific development needs. An experimental package with the Linux kernel, kernel-uki, provides a unified UKI image certified for SecureBoot.