CentOS Linux end of life, CentOS Stream and the new Red Hat Enterprise Linux landscape

On June 30, 2024, CentOS Linux 7 reached its end of life - as highlighted by numerous articles across the IT world, this means that there are no more security patches, feature updates or bug fixes delivered to any versions of CentOS Linux. Red Hat has provided numerous mechanisms for migration, but if you’re reading the Red Hat blog, you already know about these options. Instead, I want to talk about the future of the CentOS Project, which remains a foundational catalyst of the entire Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) ecosystem

To be clear, CentOS Linux no longer exists. CentOS Stream was created to enable participation in changes to mainstream RHEL and as a base for the work done in CentOS Project  special interest groups (SIGs), providing a faster feedback loop into RHEL engineering as well as a crystal ball into RHEL’s future.

With CentOS Linux no longer active, this means that any CentOS Linux support being offered in the marketplace, from any vendor or source, is a fork. Users should fully be aware that this support or technology is wholly separate from the CentOS Project, Red Hat and the RHEL ecosystem. This is true even when code is pulled from CentOS Stream, as it lacks the backporting, quality engineering, hardening, support, security analysis and more provided by Red Hat.

Enterprise Linux’s innovation catalyst

If you’re not familiar, CentOS Stream provides a mid-point in the RHEL development cycle. Advancements in the Linux kernel and supporting components make their way to the Fedora Project, which packages and delivers the leading-edge Fedora Linux operating system every six months. Those innovations periodically make their way downstream - not straight into RHEL, but into CentOS Stream, and then into RHEL. 

It’s in this development model with CentOS Stream where we are able to more transparently and openly build the next versions of the world’s leading enterprise Linux platform. More than just providing a view of the build process, CentOS Stream enables the broader community, whether it’s Red Hat customers, partners or individual contributors, to impact these future distributions of RHEL. This was part of the unrealized potential of the CentOS Project - to provide a place for user feedback to help shape what’s next in enterprise Linux.

This means that hardware providers can test as well as submit new drivers for upcoming hardware, ISVs can experiment with integrations of new applications and customers can use CentOS Stream builds to prepare and plan for future RHEL updates. CentOS Stream is also home to a number of SIGs which focus on specific enterprise Linux use cases. These include (but certainly are not limited to):

• The Hyperscale SIG focuses on CentOS Stream deployments on large-scale infrastructure and collaboration around supporting packages and tooling.
• The Automotive SIG works to deliver in-development, preview versions of Red Hat In-Vehicle Operating System for testing and integration within the CentOS Stream community.
• The Virtualization SIG aims to deliver a full stack of virtualization technologies, from delivery and deployment to management and lifecycle, building on CentOS Stream.

This is just a snapshot of the collaboration and innovation being driven in CentOS Stream, as customer, partner and individual contributions and feedback helps Red Hat engineers build future versions of RHEL. CentOS Stream is much more than a consumable; it’s a direct line to shape what’s next in enterprise Linux.

Many operating system choices, one enterprise ecosystem

For Red Hat, an enterprise-grade Linux platform means enterprise grade support, consistent code quality and hardening, a dedicated product security team and a predictable lifecycle. For nearly three decades, we’ve engineered RHEL to these standards, contributing greatly to its role as the most popular enterprise Linux platform.

We know that not every scenario requires this level of production confidence, so within the RHEL ecosystem, there are many options to meet specific requirements in terms of support, innovation and consistency. The common thread between all of these offerings, however, is that they exist on the development path to RHEL - the closer that a component sits to RHEL, the more scrutiny and updates it will typically receive, while the further upstream (and closer to the Linux kernel) a distribution lies, it trades this scrutiny and greater consistency for newer technology and features.

For developers and end users looking for the latest in Linux innovation, Fedora Linux (compiled and managed by the Fedora Project community) delivers it. Fedora Linux brings many of the latest and greatest open source innovations to bear in a free and completely open operating system, offering editions suitable for developers, desktop users, server administrators and more.

CentOS Stream provides an option for those seeking a Linux platform that shares the RHEL code base but provides a more forward-looking view of enterprise Linux. Given how tightly CentOS Stream is tied to Red Hat engineering cycles, the distribution is well-suited for development and proof-of-concept tasks that will ultimately run on RHEL.

Finally, the Red Hat Developer subscription provides no-cost access to self-supported RHEL. Developer subscriptions can be used for development purposes or for up to 16 systems in  production environments. Developer subscribers gain access to all of the benefits of the world’s leading enterprise Linux platform, including knowledge articles and documentation, patches and CVE updates as they happen.

Constant innovation in the open

RHEL is THE platform for innovation at Red Hat - even as new technologies emerge and mature, RHEL continues to serve as the backbone for major IT breakthroughs. The newly-announced RHEL AI, as the name suggests, uses RHEL as the springboard for more accessible, open source AI development, while the forthcoming RHEL Lightspeed aims to bolster and extend Linux administration skills through generative AI (GenAI). Finally, image mode for RHEL makes containers the language of the operating system, providing a single workflow for developers and operations teams when it comes to how they build, manage and consume Linux images.

Red Hat wants the open source software world, from communities to the associated business models, to continue to evolve and refine themselves, especially as more partners, vendors, end users, and individuals collaborate around the future of RHEL. More than just delivering the world’s leading enterprise Linux platform, we continue to be committed to bridging communities and businesses in a way that is mutually beneficial, healthy, and thriving. We’ve always thought that the best, most innovative work is done in the open, and that’s what the CentOS Project, CentOS Stream, Fedora Project, Fedora Linux and the broader RHEL ecosystem help provide.