6 ms·

This is out of date as of the CentOS Stream announcement (such as the part saying CentOS is "Supported for 10 years with security and maintenance updates, until

This is out of date as of the CentOS Stream announcement (such as the part saying CentOS is "Supported for 10 years with security and maintenance updates, until 2029"). Today, if you are choosing between CentOS 8 and Amazon Linux 2, you are choosing between one soon-to-be EOL OS and one that is focused on stability for several years to come.

actionowl 6y ago
Came here to say the same thing.
area51org 6y ago
... which makes Amazon Linux more relevant than ever. There's now OEL and Amazon Linux unless you want to live on the edge with CentOS Stream. (If there are others based on RHEL, I can't think of them. Yes, I'm well aware of Ubuntu and Debian. There's nothing wrong with them, but some folks need RHEL for various reasons.)
- fortran77 6y ago
  That was the point! You can run Amazon Linux in a VM or in an EC2 instance. It's a reasonable replacement for Centos, and very similar.
  - symlinkk 6y ago
    Can you run it in a VM? Where’s the ISO?
    - fortran77 6y ago
      Here's how to do it: https://docs.aws.amazon.com/AWSEC2/latest/UserGuide/amazon-linux-2-virtual-machine.html https://docs.aws.amazon.com/AWSEC2/latest/UserGuide/amazon-l... And there's a Vagrant box for it: https://app.vagrantup.com/gbailey/boxes/amzn2 https://app.vagrantup.com/gbailey/boxes/amzn2 (There are a few versions of this.)
    - yebyen 6y ago
      Here's another version, that pre-dates the official docs (when they announced that Amazon Linux 2 was now possible to install on your own metal, it wasn't exactly well-documented.) The Amazon docs probably cover the same stuff now. https://superuser.com/questions/1048091/can-i-install-ec2-amazon-linux-os-locally-on-virtual-machine https://superuser.com/questions/1048091/can-i-install-ec2-am...
kiallmacinnes 6y ago
CentOS 8 EOL was effectively 2029. It's now 2021. So, yea, it's out of date :) CentOS 8 was a stable OS mirroring RHEL, CentOS Stream is a bleeding edge OS mirroring Debian Unstable / Arch / similar. Let's not pretend these are the same thing. CentOS went from something valuable to something we already have many of and, frankly, don't need more of. (Don't get me wrong, I'm not a CentOS / RHEL user - but I do understand the value proposition that was the original CentOS vision) (Edit: also don't get me wrong, I'm not disagreeing with you. Just stating in more explicit terms that CentOS as we knew it is gone)
- rilindo 6y ago
  > CentOS Stream is a bleeding edge OS mirroring Debian Unstable It most accurate so that Stream is Debian Testing, since it will be a minor version ahead. Bleeding edge would be Fedora.
- shiftpgdn 6y ago
  Amazon Linux has an eol of 2023. That's not "years to come."
  - yebyen 6y ago
    Sorry, I'm going to nit-pick the nit... 2021, 2022, that's two full years, and June 2023 makes it also half of 2023. That's one and a half years more than Centos 8, and it's more than two full years from the current date. So, yeah, it is years to come... even if only a bit more than a couple of years, 2.5 years is years.
    - shiftpgdn 6y ago
      I'll assume you're not a native English speaker as "years to come" generally means many years (5-10-50+) and not a literal singular pluralization of the word year.
      - yebyen 6y ago
        How generous of you. Since we were comparing it to something that has only one year of support to come, I thought it was fair to count any more than that as "years" Amazon has a historically good record and reputation for supporting things longer rather than axing them early. Look at what they've done with Amazon Linux 1, which was supposed to be EOL this summer: (they made a judgement call that people still needed the support, and extended security updates for at least another year.) Regardless of the dates that are on paper, I think you're the one that's being pedantic now. What's the last time that Amazon ended support for anything that was in GA? It's absolutely fair to say years to come, when making this comparison.
em500 6y ago
An important omission here is that Amazon Linux 2 is based on RHEL 7, not RHEL 8. (At least, most of the userland is, they do use newer kernels.) Which means it's competing against CentOS 7, not 8 or Stream. Curiously, Amazon only supports it till June 30, 2023, a year less than RHEL7/CentOS7. It will be interesting to see what they plan to do for Amazon Linux 3, with the latest CentOS news.
- noja 6y ago
  > It will be interesting to see what they plan to do for Amazon Linux 3 Rocky Linux from the CentOS creator looks promising: https://www.theregister.com/2020/12/10/rocky_linux/ https://www.theregister.com/2020/12/10/rocky_linux/ https://github.com/rocky-linux https://github.com/rocky-linux

actionowl 6y ago

Came here to say the same thing.

area51org 6y ago

... which makes Amazon Linux more relevant than ever. There's now OEL and Amazon Linux unless you want to live on the edge with CentOS Stream. (If there are others based on RHEL, I can't think of them. Yes, I'm well aware of Ubuntu and Debian. There's nothing wrong with them, but some folks need RHEL for various reasons.)

fortran77 6y ago
That was the point! You can run Amazon Linux in a VM or in an EC2 instance. It's a reasonable replacement for Centos, and very similar.
- symlinkk 6y ago
  Can you run it in a VM? Where’s the ISO?
  - fortran77 6y ago
    Here's how to do it: https://docs.aws.amazon.com/AWSEC2/latest/UserGuide/amazon-linux-2-virtual-machine.html https://docs.aws.amazon.com/AWSEC2/latest/UserGuide/amazon-l... And there's a Vagrant box for it: https://app.vagrantup.com/gbailey/boxes/amzn2 https://app.vagrantup.com/gbailey/boxes/amzn2 (There are a few versions of this.)
  - yebyen 6y ago
    Here's another version, that pre-dates the official docs (when they announced that Amazon Linux 2 was now possible to install on your own metal, it wasn't exactly well-documented.) The Amazon docs probably cover the same stuff now. https://superuser.com/questions/1048091/can-i-install-ec2-amazon-linux-os-locally-on-virtual-machine https://superuser.com/questions/1048091/can-i-install-ec2-am...

kiallmacinnes 6y ago

CentOS 8 EOL was effectively 2029. It's now 2021. So, yea, it's out of date :) CentOS 8 was a stable OS mirroring RHEL, CentOS Stream is a bleeding edge OS mirroring Debian Unstable / Arch / similar. Let's not pretend these are the same thing. CentOS went from something valuable to something we already have many of and, frankly, don't need more of. (Don't get me wrong, I'm not a CentOS / RHEL user - but I do understand the value proposition that was the original CentOS vision) (Edit: also don't get me wrong, I'm not disagreeing with you. Just stating in more explicit terms that CentOS as we knew it is gone)

rilindo 6y ago
> CentOS Stream is a bleeding edge OS mirroring Debian Unstable It most accurate so that Stream is Debian Testing, since it will be a minor version ahead. Bleeding edge would be Fedora.
shiftpgdn 6y ago
Amazon Linux has an eol of 2023. That's not "years to come."
- yebyen 6y ago
  Sorry, I'm going to nit-pick the nit... 2021, 2022, that's two full years, and June 2023 makes it also half of 2023. That's one and a half years more than Centos 8, and it's more than two full years from the current date. So, yeah, it is years to come... even if only a bit more than a couple of years, 2.5 years is years.
  - shiftpgdn 6y ago
    I'll assume you're not a native English speaker as "years to come" generally means many years (5-10-50+) and not a literal singular pluralization of the word year.
    - yebyen 6y ago
      How generous of you. Since we were comparing it to something that has only one year of support to come, I thought it was fair to count any more than that as "years" Amazon has a historically good record and reputation for supporting things longer rather than axing them early. Look at what they've done with Amazon Linux 1, which was supposed to be EOL this summer: (they made a judgement call that people still needed the support, and extended security updates for at least another year.) Regardless of the dates that are on paper, I think you're the one that's being pedantic now. What's the last time that Amazon ended support for anything that was in GA? It's absolutely fair to say years to come, when making this comparison.

em500 6y ago

An important omission here is that Amazon Linux 2 is based on RHEL 7, not RHEL 8. (At least, most of the userland is, they do use newer kernels.) Which means it's competing against CentOS 7, not 8 or Stream. Curiously, Amazon only supports it till June 30, 2023, a year less than RHEL7/CentOS7. It will be interesting to see what they plan to do for Amazon Linux 3, with the latest CentOS news.

noja 6y ago
> It will be interesting to see what they plan to do for Amazon Linux 3 Rocky Linux from the CentOS creator looks promising: https://www.theregister.com/2020/12/10/rocky_linux/ https://www.theregister.com/2020/12/10/rocky_linux/ https://github.com/rocky-linux https://github.com/rocky-linux