Up to 2019, CentOS Linux was 'just' a downstream fork of Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL). Red Hat also founded Fedora way back in 2003 and for me, it seemed quite natural to have everybody at one table. With this change, many CentOS contributors now were paid to work full-day on CentOS Linux and develop the platform. joining forces to build a new CentOS, capable of driving forward development and adoption of next-generation open source technologies. In 2014, Red Hat and the CentOS Project announced, that both are joining forces. But what is the reason for this kind of messages, and where do we go from here? To get a better understanding of the shift, we have to have a look at the history, first.

You may have heard, that 'CentOS Linux is dead' and 'CentOS Linux 8 is EOL' or that 'you have to migrate'. Practically, everybody is able to use a binary compatible fork of RHEL for personal or professional use, maintained by a community of developers and enthusiasts. In the past, it was often referred to as the 'Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) clone' or 'free RHEL'. The CentOS Project is a community-driven project, that wants to provide a robust open source ecosystem around a Linux platform.

In December 2020, the CentOS Project announced, that it will shift focus from CentOS Linux to CentOS Stream: ' The future of the CentOS Project is CentOS Stream.'.īut what does this mean? How is CentOS Stream different? Is CentOS now a rolling distribution? In this article, I will explain the situation.

Centos stable version