CentOS
| Company type | Community-driven project |
|---|---|
| Industry | Linux distribution |
| Founded | May 2004 |
| Founder | Gregory Kurtzer, Lance Davis, others |
| Fate | Discontinued; succeeded by CentOS Stream |
Area served | Worldwide |
| Products | CentOS Linux distribution |
| Parent | Red Hat (from January 2014) |
CentOS (an abbreviation for Community Enterprise Operating System, also referred to as CentOS Linux) was a discontinued Linux distribution offering a no-cost, community-driven platform fully compatible with its upstream counterpart, Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL). In January 2014, CentOS officially became part of Red Hat while retaining its autonomy under a newly formed governing board.
The initial CentOS version 2, released in May 2004, was derived from RHEL 2.1AS. Starting with version 8, CentOS supported the x86-64, ARM64, and POWER8 CPU architectures; earlier versions also accommodated IA-32. From 2015 onward, AltArch variants extended compatibility to IA-32, Power ISA, and additional ARM platforms. CentOS 8 was launched on 24 September 2019.
In December 2020, Red Hat ceased development of CentOS Linux in favor of CentOS Stream 9, which serves as an upstream branch to RHEL. Following this shift, CloudLinux introduced the RHEL-based distribution AlmaLinux in March 2021. Additionally, in May 2021, Gregory Kurtzer, one of CentOS’s co-founders, initiated the rival Rocky Linux project to uphold CentOS’s foundational objectives.
History
CentOS traces its roots back to CAOS Linux, an RPM-based distribution initiated by Gregory Kurtzer in 2002. Infiscale characterized its GravityOS as incorporating "the small footprint of Caos," highlighting the influence from this now-defunct distribution.
In June 2006, David Parsley—the lead developer behind Tao Linux (another RHEL clone)—retired Tao Linux and merged its development efforts into CentOS. Users of Tao Linux transitioned to CentOS through .
In July 2009, an open letter disclosed that Lance Davis, a CentOS co-founder who had ceased contributions in 2008, retained control over the CentOS domain and PayPal account. By August 2009, the CentOS team successfully reclaimed management of the centos.info and centos.org domains.
By July 2010, CentOS had overtaken Debian as the most widely used Linux distribution for web hosting servers, achieving close to a 30% market share; however, Debian regained its lead in January 2012.
In January 2014, Red Hat announced it would sponsor the CentOS Project to assist open source developers integrating technologies within the operating system ecosystem. Ownership of CentOS trademarks was transferred to Red Hat, which employed most of the lead CentOS developers within its Open Source and Standards team—operating independently from Red Hat Enterprise Linux. A new governance board was also established at this time.
On 8 December 2020, the CentOS Project declared that development of CentOS Linux would end by late 2021 to prioritize focus on CentOS Stream. This decision generated significant opposition from the community. In response, founder Gregory Kurtzer launched Rocky Linux to continue pursuing the original vision of CentOS. Meanwhile, CloudLinux unveiled AlmaLinux as a community-driven RHEL-compatible alternative. AlmaLinux’s beta version was released on February 1, 2021, followed by its initial stable release on March 30, 2021. Rocky Linux’s beta appeared on April 30, 2021, with a stable release arriving on June 21, 2021.
Design
CentOS developers rebuild Red Hat’s source code to create a product that closely replicates RHEL while removing all Red Hat branding due to redistribution restrictions. The distribution is available free of charge and relies primarily on community-based technical assistance through forums, mailing lists, and chat channels.
Although affiliated with Red Hat, the project strives for greater openness and inclusivity. While most lead developers are employed by Red Hat, funding for CentOS depends on donations from users and sponsors.
CentOS Release Versions
Prior to version 7.0, CentOS utilized a two-segment numbering convention that corresponded to the major version and update level of the equivalent RHEL release. For instance, CentOS 6.5 matches RHEL 6 update 5.
Starting with version 7.0, a third identifier was introduced to denote the source code's month and year stamp—such as 7.0-1406, which references RHEL 7.0 with source code from June 2014. This system enables reissuing installation images tailored for container and cloud environments while preserving a connection to the original release.
Since mid-2006, Red Hat has aligned its versioning scheme with CentOS’s pattern (e.g., RHEL 4.5 or 6.5).
In September 2019, priority was given to finalizing CentOS 7.7 before advancing CentOS 8.1 due to its production status; following the release of 7.7, efforts returned to CentOS 8.0.
CentOS officially launched version 8.0 on September 24, 2019. The project concluded at the end of 2021, with its last release being version 8.5 in November 2021. Concurrently, RHEL development continued up to version 8.10 as of September 2024.
End-of-Support Timeline
According to the Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) product life cycle, CentOS versions 5, 6, and 7 benefit from maintenance support lasting up to ten years, consistent with their RHEL counterparts. CentOS 4 received support for seven years. Typically, new CentOS releases occur every two years approximately, with updates issued about every six months to accommodate newer hardware.
| CentOS Version |
Release Date |
Full Updates |
Maintenance Updates |
|---|---|---|---|
| 3 | 2004-03-19 | 2006-07-20 | 2010-10-31 |
| 4 | 2005-03-09 | 2009-03-31 | 2012-02-29 |
| 5 | 2007-04-12 | 2014-01-31 | 2017-03-31 |
| 6 | 2011-11-27 | 2017-05-10 | 2020-11-30 |
| 7 | 2014-07-07 | 2020-08-06 | 2024-06-30 |
| 8 | 2019-09-24 | 2021-12-31 | |
Historical Version Details
| CentOS Version | Supported Architectures | RHEL Base Version | Kernel Version | CentOS Release Date | RHEL Release Date | Release Delay (Days) | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2.1 | IA-32 | 2.1 | 2.4.9 | 2004-05-14 | 2002-05-17 | 728 | ||||||
| 3.1 | IA-32, x86-64, IA-64, s390, s390x | 3.1 | 2.4.21-15 | 2004-03-19 | 2003-10-23 | 148 | ||||||
| 3.3 | IA-32, x86-64, IA-64, s390, s390x | 3.3 | 2.4.21-20 | 2004-09-17 | 2004-09-03 | 14 | ||||||
| 3.4 | IA-32, x86-64, IA-64, s390, s390x | 3.4 | 2.4.21–27 | 2005–01–23 | 2004–12–12 | 42 | ||||||
| 3.5 | IA–32 | 3.5 | 2.4.21–32 | 2005–06–10 | 2005–05–18 | 23 | ||||||
| 3.6 | IA–32 | 3.6 | 2.4.21–37 | 2005–11–01 | 2005–09–28 | 34 | ||||||
| 3.7 | IA–32, x86–64, IA–64, s390, s390x | 3.7 | 2.4.21–40 | 2006–04–10 | 2006–03–17 | 23 | ||||||
| 3.8 | IA–32, x86–64 | 3.8 | 2.4.21–47 | 2006–08–25 | 2006–07–20 | 36 | ||||||
| 3.9 | IA–32, x86–64, IA–64, s390, s390x | 3.9 | 2.4.21–50 | 2007–07–26 | 2007–06–15 | 41 | ||||||
| 4.0 | IA–32, x86–64, multiple architectures | 4.0 | 2.6.9–5 | 2005–03–09 | 2005–02–14 | 23 | ||||||
| 4.1 | IA‑32, IA‑64, s390 | 4.1 | 2.6.9‑11 | 2005‑06‑12 | 2005‑06‑08 | 4 | ||||||
| 4.2 | IA‑32, x86‑64, IA‑64, s390, s390x, alpha | 4.2 | 2.6.9‑22 | 2005‑10‑13 | 2005‑10‑05 | 8 | ||||||
| 4.3 | IA‑32, x86‑64, IA‑64, s390, s390x | 4.3 | 2.6.9‑34 | 2006‑03‑21 | 2006‑03‑12 | 9 | ||||||
| 4.4 | IA‑32, x86‑64 | 4.4 | 2.6.9‑42 | 2006‑08‑30 | 2006‑08‑10 | 20 | ||||||
| 4.5 | IA‑32, x86‑64, IA‑64 | 4.5 | 2.6.9‑55 | 2007‑05‑17 | 2007‑05‑01 | 16 | ||||||
| 4.6 | IA‑32, x86‑64, IA‑64, Alpha, s390, s390x, PowerPC (beta), SPARC (beta) | 4.6 | 2.6.9‑67 | 2007‑12‑16 | 2007‑11‑16 | 30 | ||||||
| 4.7 | IA‑32, x86‑64 | 4.7 | 2.6.9‑78 | 2008‑09‑13 | 2008‑07‑24 | 51 | ||||||
| 4.8 | IA‑32, x86‑64 | 4.8 | 2.6.9‑89 | 2009‑08‑21 | 2009‑05‑18 | 95 | ||||||
| 4 .9 | IA‐32 , x86‐64 | RHEL base version : 4 .9 | Kernel version : 2 .6 .9 ‐100 | CentOS release date : 2011 ‐03 ‐02 | RHEL release date : 2011 ‐02 ‐16 | Delay : 14 days | ||||||
| 5.x series (from versions 5 .0 to 5 .11) | Supported on IA‐32 and x86‐64 architectures | Derived from RHEL releases in the 5.x series | Kernel versions from Linux kernel series in the mid-to-late '2.x' range | Release dates span April 12 , 2007 (CentOS 5 .0 ) through September 30 , 2014 (CentOS 5 .11 ) | Delays between CentOS and RHEL releases vary from approximately two weeks up to more than two months | |||||||
| 6.x series (versions from 6 .x onward) | Supports IA‐32 and x86‐64 architectures | Based on RHEL releases in the 6.x series | Kernel versions within Linux kernel 2.x range (e.g., starting from 2 .6 .x) | CentOS release dates range from July 10 , 2011 (CentOS 6 .0 ) through July 3 , 2018 (CentOS 6 .10 ) | Typical release delays span between two weeks and several months |
CentOS version 7
| CentOS release | Supported architectures | Corresponding RHEL version | Kernel version | CentOS launch date | RHEL launch date | Time lag (days) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 7.0-1406 | x86-64[lower-alpha 1] | 7.0 | 3.10.0-123 | 2014-07-07 | 2014-06-10 | 27 |
| 7.1-1503 | x86-64 | 7.1 | 3.10.0-229 | 2015-03-31 | 2015-03-05 | 26 |
| 7.2-1511 | x86-64 | 7.2 | 3.10.0-327 | 2015-12-14 | 2015-11-19 | 25 |
| 7.3-1611 | x86-64 | 7.3 | 3.10.0-514 | 2016-12-12 | 2016-11-03 | 39 |
| 7.4-1708 | x86-64 | 7.4 | 3.10.0-693 | 2017-09-13 | 2017-07-31 | 43 |
| 7.5-1804 | x86-64 | 7.5 | 3.10.0-862 | 2018-05-10 | 2018-04-10 | 31 |
| 7.6-1810 | x86-64 | 7.6 | 3.10.0-957 | 2018-12-03 | 2018-10-30 | 34 |
| 7.7-1908 | x86-64 | 7.7 | 3.10.0-1062 | 2019-09-17 | 2019-08-06 | 42 |
| 7.8-2003 | x86-64 | 7.8 | 3.10.0-1127 | 2020-04-27 | 2020-03-30 | 28 |
| 7.9-2009 | x86-64 | 7.9 | 3.10.0-1160 | 2020-11-12 | 2020-09-29 | 44 |
CentOS version 8
| CentOS release version | Supported platforms | RHEL equivalent | Kernel version | CentOS launch date | RHEL launch date | Release delay (days) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| 8.0–1905 | x86–64, ppc64le, AArch64 | 8.0 | 4.18.0–80 | 2019–09–24 | 2019–05–07 | 140 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 8.1–1911 | 8.1 | 4.18.0–147 | 2020–01–15 | 2019–11–05 | 71 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 8.2–2004 | 8.2 | 4.18.0–193 | 2020–06–15 | 2020–04–28 | 48 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 8.3–2011 | 8.3 | 4.18.0–240 | 2020–12–07 | 2020–11–03 | 34 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 8.4–2105 | 8.4 | 4.18.0–305 | 2021–06–03 | getDate(2021,05,18) | getDate(2021,05,18) | getDate(2021,05,18) | getDate(2021,05,18) | getDate(2021,05,18) | getDate(2021,05,18) | getDate(2021,05,18) | getDate(2021,05,18) | getDate(2021,05,18) | getDate(2021,05,18) | getDate(2021,05,18) | getDate(2021,05,18) | getDate(2021,05,18) | getDate(2021,05,18) | getDate(2021,05,18) | getDate(2021,05,18)
Add-on Package ReleasesSoftware Collections (SCL) represents a CentOS repository that delivers updated versions of programming languages, database servers, and associated software. These packages either present more recent releases compared to the base CentOS distribution or are introduced as official CentOS offerings for the first time. Rather than overwriting the system's default tools, SCL installs parallel versions within a separate directory, which can be activated on a per-application basis using the command-line utility. For example, the default Perl or MySQL versions remain those provided by the base CentOS installation.
Releases Lacking Direct Upstream CounterpartsCertain CentOS ISO distributions do not have exact upstream equivalents and are tailored for specialized scenarios such as live bootable images or compact installation media. This category also encompasses AltArch editions. LiveCD and LiveDVD variants contain a bootable compressed filesystem created through custom scripts utilizing a kickstart configuration file. These live images can be installed onto a hard drive, resulting in a fully operational CentOS system. However, the collection of installed packages is predetermined during installation, mirroring the CD/DVD content; subsequent package management is performed through yum. MinimalCD images offer only the core packages necessary for a secure, network-enabled installation using the standard CentOS installer but with a reduced package selection. After installation, package updates and additions are managed via yum.
Special Interest GroupsSpecial Interest Groups (SIGs) represent focused factions within the CentOS community dedicated to creating customized CentOS editions tailored to particular needs. These groups enhance CentOS by integrating advanced software, recompiling packages, providing alternative desktop environments, or enabling compatibility with architectures that are otherwise unsupported. ArchitecturesStarting with version 8, CentOS offers comprehensive support for x86-64, POWER8, and 64-bit ARM platforms. Architectures no longer supported include:
From December 2015 onward, the AltArch SIG has coordinated AltArch releases of CentOS 7 that encompass ARMv7hl and AArch64 ARM variants, with intentions to extend support to further ARM architectures. AltArch also covers IA-32 and Power ISA (POWER7, POWER8) platforms. CentOS provides a Live CD accessible via mirror.centos.org and bootable Live USB images that users can create manually or with utilities like UNetbootin. Additionally, Amazon Machine Images (AMIs) of CentOS are offered on Amazon EC2 to facilitate cloud-based deployments. RepositoriesCentOS operates three fundamental software repositories forming the core of its distribution:
Beyond these primary channels, several additional repositories expand CentOS capabilities:
CentOS StreamCentOS Stream is a rolling-release distribution positioned as an intermediary stage between Fedora Linux and Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL), closely following the development trajectory of RHEL. It is designed for users who wish to actively engage in the RHEL development process. In contrast to earlier CentOS versions that were directly derived from RHEL, CentOS Stream occupies a position between Fedora's upstream innovations and RHEL's downstream stabilization. CentOS Stream 9 shares its codebase with RHEL 9, aligning it more closely with RHEL than with Fedora. The first iteration, CentOS Stream 8, was introduced on 24 September 2019 concurrently with CentOS 8. After support for CentOS 8 ended, The CentOS Project offered a simple upgrade route from CentOS Linux 8 to CentOS Stream 8. Further readingExternal links
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