CentOS
Linux distribution based on Red Hat Enterprise Linux / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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CentOS (/ˈsɛntɒs/, from Community Enterprise Operating System; also known as CentOS Linux)[5][6] is a discontinued Linux distribution that provided a free and open-source community-supported computing platform, functionally compatible with its upstream source, Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL).[7][8] In January 2014, CentOS announced the official joining with Red Hat while staying independent from RHEL,[9] under a new CentOS governing board.[10][11]
Developer | The CentOS Project (affiliated with Red Hat) |
---|---|
OS family | Linux (Unix-like) |
Working state | Discontinued |
Source model | Open source |
Initial release | 14 May 2004; 20 years ago (2004-05-14)[1] |
Final release | |
Marketing target | Servers, desktop computers, workstations, supercomputers |
Update method | Release Candidate |
Package manager | dnf (command line); PackageKit (graphical); .rpm (binaries format) |
Platforms | x86-64, ARM64, and ppc64le[lower-alpha 1] |
Kernel type | Monolithic (Linux kernel) |
Default user interface | Bash, GNOME Shell[4] |
License | GNU GPL and other licenses |
Succeeded by | CentOS Stream, AlmaLinux, Rocky Linux |
Official website | centos |
The first CentOS release in May 2004, numbered as CentOS version 2, was forked from RHEL version 2.1AS.[1] Since version 8, CentOS officially supports the x86-64, ARM64, and POWER8 architectures, and releases up to version 6 also supported the IA-32 architecture. As of December 2015[update], AltArch releases of CentOS 7 are available for the IA-32 architecture, Power ISA, and for the ARMv7hl and AArch64 variants of the ARM architecture.[12][13] CentOS 8 was released on 24 September 2019.[14]
In December 2020, Red Hat unilaterally terminated CentOS development[15][16][17][18] in favor of CentOS Stream, a distribution positioned upstream of RHEL.[19] In March 2021, CloudLinux (makers of CloudLinux OS) released a RHEL derivative called AlmaLinux.[20] Later in May 2021, one of the CentOS founders (Gregory Kurtzer) created the competing Rocky Linux project as a successor to the original mission of CentOS.[21]