Just a friendly reminder that if you are on the IBM-Red Hat CentOS 8 Linux distribution, the project as we know it officially gets sunset tomorrow as it goes EOL on December 31, 2021. We have had some time to get ready for this change, but if you are behind, then it is time to get into gear soon. Starting January 1, 2022 CentOS 8 will no longer be supported.
Farewell CentOS 8 Migration Hour Draws Near
In December 2020 we noted that Red Hat was going full IBM and saying farewell to CentOS. Some said that was unfair, but here we are and it is now migration hour. Here is the video from last year:
IBM and Red Hat are attempting to migrate CentOS users to RHEL subscriptions but for many, that is not an option. Even the CentOS Project is already warning users and reminding them of the fact that this will be a significant change:
Reminder: CentOS Linux 8 will be End Of Life tomorrow. We recommend migrating to CentOS Stream before that time. More details of how the EOL will be handled may be found at https://t.co/1aRIq7tVar
— CentOS Project (@CentOS) December 30, 2021
There are two leading alternatives at this point. AlmaLinux and Rocky Linux. One can also go to Oracle Linux, but that may give users pause as they are facing a transition forced by IBM-Red Hat.
Users on CentOS 8 will not be migrated to CentOS Stream but will also not have fixes for security after the EOL process. As a result, if you are on CentOS 8, it will be time to migrate.
Final Words
Luckily, STH readers should be well aware of this transition. It is never fun, but AlmaLinux, Rocky Linux and others have figured out how to make the migration processes relatively simple. Even Ubuntu has gotten in on the act. Canonical has had a CentOS migration FAQ on its front page for almost a year to lure more from the alternative ecosystem. As a gentle reminder though, remember to remind colleagues and friends since we all know those people who wait until the last minute to make changes like this.
Oracle Linux.
Enough said
Anything except Oracle Linux. Moar enougher said.
as you can see EVERYWHERE, Red Hat is still operating and appearing as completely independent company and IBM has nothing to do with this CentOS related decisions
IBM owns Red Hat Ivo. Red Hat may operate independently but I don’t see the issue. Red Hat has operating metrics to meet for the parent. If you’ve ever worked in a real corporation with this arrangement you know it’s not really independent.
Been using Oracle Linux over a decade and recommend it. I’m an Oracle developer consultant so I may be biased, but really OEL developer licensing is super easy with this distro, doesn’t require syncing licenses, or renewing the license each year which is pain in the buttocks with rhel dev license especially if you have alot of servers. They are basically the same distro but dev licensing with oracle is so much easier. You won’t miss a thing going to oel