Re: [tlug] Upgrading from CentOS 7

[Scott Robbins <srobb@example.com>]

On Sun, Mar 09, 2025 at 07:19:46AM +0000, Stephen J. Turnbull wrote:
> Charles Muller writes:
> 
>  > It seems like in doing so, it is advisable to update the OS.  Both
>  > CentOS 7 and 8 are already E0L, so we're thinking about doing a
>  > clean install of CentOS 9 (although we're open to other
>  > distributions).  Does anyone have any advice regarding this move?
> 
> I agree with Brian, recent and future CentOS is not Grampaw's CentOS
> any more.  AIUI it has been integrated into Red Hat's dev process, and
> now is more of a "pre-branding" release candidate for RHEL than an
> RHEL with the serial numbers filed off.
> 

If I haven't commented already, I'd add my voice to this. CentOS is now 
CentOS Stream, more or less a development platform for RH. Current stream
is similar to RH's 10 Beta right now. (Fedora is also more or less a
development platform, but more desktop oriented.)


> I have nothing against Rocky Linux, and there is at least one active
> contributor in TLUG so community support for you personally and your
> organization through you may be better than alternatives (in the
> unlikely event that you need OS-level support for any of the RHEL
> alternatives).  But I will mention that my employer recommends and
> offers commercial support for Alma Linux, and I can testify that
> they're well-documented.  So it's a quality product too.


I've used both, and at this point, at least, find little to differentiate
between them, but I've not looked too deeply into it. Alma also has Alma
Kitten, which seems to be similar to CentOS Stream.

As far as I've seen, so far, there's little to choose between them, they're
both well supported. I *vaguely* remember that Alma is now going to be API
compatible with RH, vs bit for bit, while I *think* Rocky is still trying
for bit to bit.

A couple of asides, which may interest a few members. On an AMD machine running
FreeBSD, FreeBSD's Bhyve, its virtualization variant, won't install
RH/Alma/Rocky/ 9.5, apparently due to a bug in glibc. You can install Alma
9.4 and upgrade without problems. 
It is also working with CentOS stream and Alma Kitten, though not with
RHEL10-Beta.
Also as RHEL10 is only using Wayland, the only available desktop at
present, (though it is Beta at the moment) is Gnome. However, one can
install labwc (a Wayland variant, very like openbox) and the alcritty
terminal, using the install instructions from their respective github
sites.

-- 
Scott Robbins
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