CentOS Stream 9, branched off Fedora 34, is generally available | Hacker News Reader

CentOS Stream 9, branched off Fedora 34, is generally available

centos.org

5 pointssmarx0072 comments

As someone who is mostly using Debian/Ubuntu on the server side, I have two questions:

1. Is there someone who is going to use the Stream in production? I know how Stream differs from, e.g. Rocky Linux, but have no insight into the state of practice.

2. Were does CentOS Stream fit if we use the Debian/Ubuntu analogy? Fedora releases twice a year and that maps to Ubuntu .04/.10 releases. Debian and Ubuntu LTS are released every 2 years but remain supported for 5+ years, which should map to RHEL/Rocky. The webpage linked says that support for CentOS Stream 9 ends when RHEL 9 is EOLed, which is in 2027. Still, how much breakage are CentOS Stream 9 users expected to see until 2027?

Also, CentOS 8 users seem to be squeezed pretty hard no matter how you look at it, they have only one month to migrate to CentOS Stream 9 (I understand that most switched to Rocky Linux in place). Even Fedora allows 6 months at least for a migration. Edit: CentOS 8 users can switch to CentOS 8 Stream and stay there till 2024.

1. There are a number of organizations using CentOS Stream 8 in production, and I expect that those same organizations will do the same with CentOS Stream 9 shortly. For example, I'm aware that the folks working in the CentOS Hyperscale SIG are all folks working on uplifting to CentOS Stream 9 after working on Stream 8 for the past couple of years.

2. Mapping to the Debian/Ubuntu model gets a bit interesting. Ubuntu regular releases (made every six months) map to Fedora Linux. Every three years, Fedora Linux releases are branched to become CentOS Stream. This is analogous to the Debian or Ubuntu LTS release cadence. Red Hat Enterprise Linux is the commercially branded version of CentOS Stream, which is in beta now and the GA version will launch next May.

The lifecycle of Fedora Linux, CentOS Stream, and RHEL releases are not exactly the same as Debian/Ubuntu ones.

* Fedora Linux releases every 6 months, each release is supported for ~13 months. (no real analogue)

* CentOS Stream releases every 3 years, each release is supported for ~6 years. (much like Debian and Ubuntu LTS)

* Red Hat Enterprise Linux releases every 3 years, each release is supported for 10 years. (no real analogue)

The end of CentOS Linux 8 was announced last year, so people had 12 months to do something. The project's preferred option is folks move to CentOS Stream 8, but you could easily move to RHEL itself (especially with the free subscription option now available with 16 entitlements) or another RHEL rebuild like AlmaLinux 8, Rocky Linux 8, or Oracle Linux 8 (and indeed, lots of folks have).

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