7 ms·

Another suitable option, which has handled the situation of Red Hat source RPM releases[1] quite a bit better imo, is Alma Linux. https://almalinux.org/ https:

Another suitable option, which has handled the situation of Red Hat source RPM releases[1] quite a bit better imo, is Alma Linux. https://almalinux.org/ https://almalinux.org/ Similar goal, but is working more directly upstream with Red Hat[2] as opposed to the (as I last had read) undisclosed and non-open approach that Rocky Linux has taken. 1: https://www.redhat.com/en/blog/furthering-evolution-centos-stream https://www.redhat.com/en/blog/furthering-evolution-centos-s... 2: https://almalinux.org/blog/future-of-almalinux/ https://almalinux.org/blog/future-of-almalinux/

deleted 3y ago
[deleted]
chasil 3y ago
As I understand it, Alma is following the stream release, which is slightly upstream and less stable than RHEL. https://linux.slashdot.org/story/23/07/29/0214234/almalinux-discovers-working-with-red-hat-and-centos-stream-isnt-easy https://linux.slashdot.org/story/23/07/29/0214234/almalinux-... Rocky and SUSE Liberty Linux aim to be bug-for-bug compatible with RHEL, which has become more difficult.
- bityard 3y ago
  This is the first time I have heard of SUSE Liberty Linux as an alternative to RHEL... when I went searching for information on it, all I could find was the product page and some press releases. It's hard to read between the lines of the marketing speak but it sounds like it's just a suite of paid support options for existing RHEL/CentOS deployments and not a RHEL derivative that one can just download and use. Unless I am missing something?
  - freedomben 3y ago
    No it is actually a RHEL derivative, but personally I wouldn't go that direction unless you intend to eventually move to other SUSE stuff. They committed a chunk of budget initially to maintain it, but I'm sure they view it as a stepping stone or bridge SLE.
- iseletsk 3y ago
  Alma is not following stream. It sues stream sources but selects only the right patches - to be fully binary compatible with RHEL
  - chasil 3y ago
    > It sues stream sources Beware the Freudian slip.
- heywoodlh 3y ago
  > which is slightly upstream and less stable than RHEL As a user who almost exclusively uses rolling release OS-es, is this actually something people care about? CentOS Stream is downstream of Fedora -- and Fedora is a rock solid base. It's not like CentOS Stream is riddled with bugs, broken features, etc.
  - orthoxerox 3y ago
    Yes, this is something people running servers want. A lot of enterprisey software is supported only on LTS releases of operating systems.
  - josephcsible 3y ago
    If you wanted a distro that was similar to but not exactly the same as RHEL, then Fedora itself would be a way better choice. And if you care that it's exactly the same as RHEL, then CentOS Stream doesn't cut it.
    - dralley 3y ago
      This is absurd. CentOS Stream isn't just "similar", it has ABI compatibility with RHEL, it's waaaaay more stable than Fedora because the most it can be different from RHEL in general terms is the difference between two Y-releases (e.g. 9.Y -> 9.Y+1)
- bennyvasquez 3y ago
  AlmaLinux matches releases and versions with RHEL. More clarification in this 2-minute video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DNMnajmyLaA https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DNMnajmyLaA
- dissident_coder 3y ago
  Alma Linux is getting their source packages from Stream but they are using the exact same versions that are in the current Redhat release.
freedomben 3y ago
Yeah Alma is a much better option if you care about the behavior and attitudes of the people behind the project. The Rocky people are antagonistic toward Red Hat and view them as somewhat an enemy (which seems so weird to me as without Red Hat, they couldn't possibly exist). They strictly want to take what Red Hat sells and rebuild and distribute it for free. The Alma people on the other hand view themselves as partners and contributors to Red Hat's ecosystem. They want to make their product available for free, but they upstream as much as possible and add actual value to the ecosystem. If you don't care about any of that, it's still better to choose Alma IMHO because their approach (following the letter and spirit of "the law") is a lot more sustainable than Rocky's exploit-the-system approach.
- tux1968 3y ago
  > They strictly want to take what Red Hat sells and rebuild and distribute it for free. I think this is an unfair framing. Rather, they want to take all the GPL source code that Red Hat is obligated to make available, and distribute it freely. They believe this is in accordance with both the law and the software license that Red Hat agreed to, when using it as a basis for their business in the first place. Personally, I don't have a dog in the fight, or a strong opinion on the matter. But we should at least fairly represent each parties position.
  - dralley 3y ago
    All of the source code is already available, in CentOS Stream, from which RHEL is built in the first place. What they want to do, is do an exact rebuild of RHEL without having to go through the effort of putting the distribution together themselves, matching the versions that are used in a particular version of RHEL against what is available via CentOS Stream.
    - skybrian 3y ago
      And that's perfectly fine under open source licenses. You are allowed to build and redistribute your own binaries. That's both spirit and letter. Don't fall for people making up additional terms that aren't in the license.

deleted 3y ago

[deleted]

chasil 3y ago

As I understand it, Alma is following the stream release, which is slightly upstream and less stable than RHEL. https://linux.slashdot.org/story/23/07/29/0214234/almalinux-discovers-working-with-red-hat-and-centos-stream-isnt-easy https://linux.slashdot.org/story/23/07/29/0214234/almalinux-... Rocky and SUSE Liberty Linux aim to be bug-for-bug compatible with RHEL, which has become more difficult.

bityard 3y ago
This is the first time I have heard of SUSE Liberty Linux as an alternative to RHEL... when I went searching for information on it, all I could find was the product page and some press releases. It's hard to read between the lines of the marketing speak but it sounds like it's just a suite of paid support options for existing RHEL/CentOS deployments and not a RHEL derivative that one can just download and use. Unless I am missing something?
- freedomben 3y ago
  No it is actually a RHEL derivative, but personally I wouldn't go that direction unless you intend to eventually move to other SUSE stuff. They committed a chunk of budget initially to maintain it, but I'm sure they view it as a stepping stone or bridge SLE.
iseletsk 3y ago
Alma is not following stream. It sues stream sources but selects only the right patches - to be fully binary compatible with RHEL
- chasil 3y ago
  > It sues stream sources Beware the Freudian slip.
heywoodlh 3y ago
> which is slightly upstream and less stable than RHEL As a user who almost exclusively uses rolling release OS-es, is this actually something people care about? CentOS Stream is downstream of Fedora -- and Fedora is a rock solid base. It's not like CentOS Stream is riddled with bugs, broken features, etc.
- orthoxerox 3y ago
  Yes, this is something people running servers want. A lot of enterprisey software is supported only on LTS releases of operating systems.
- josephcsible 3y ago
  If you wanted a distro that was similar to but not exactly the same as RHEL, then Fedora itself would be a way better choice. And if you care that it's exactly the same as RHEL, then CentOS Stream doesn't cut it.
  - dralley 3y ago
    This is absurd. CentOS Stream isn't just "similar", it has ABI compatibility with RHEL, it's waaaaay more stable than Fedora because the most it can be different from RHEL in general terms is the difference between two Y-releases (e.g. 9.Y -> 9.Y+1)
bennyvasquez 3y ago
AlmaLinux matches releases and versions with RHEL. More clarification in this 2-minute video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DNMnajmyLaA https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DNMnajmyLaA
dissident_coder 3y ago
Alma Linux is getting their source packages from Stream but they are using the exact same versions that are in the current Redhat release.

freedomben 3y ago

Yeah Alma is a much better option if you care about the behavior and attitudes of the people behind the project. The Rocky people are antagonistic toward Red Hat and view them as somewhat an enemy (which seems so weird to me as without Red Hat, they couldn't possibly exist). They strictly want to take what Red Hat sells and rebuild and distribute it for free. The Alma people on the other hand view themselves as partners and contributors to Red Hat's ecosystem. They want to make their product available for free, but they upstream as much as possible and add actual value to the ecosystem. If you don't care about any of that, it's still better to choose Alma IMHO because their approach (following the letter and spirit of "the law") is a lot more sustainable than Rocky's exploit-the-system approach.

tux1968 3y ago
> They strictly want to take what Red Hat sells and rebuild and distribute it for free. I think this is an unfair framing. Rather, they want to take all the GPL source code that Red Hat is obligated to make available, and distribute it freely. They believe this is in accordance with both the law and the software license that Red Hat agreed to, when using it as a basis for their business in the first place. Personally, I don't have a dog in the fight, or a strong opinion on the matter. But we should at least fairly represent each parties position.
- dralley 3y ago
  All of the source code is already available, in CentOS Stream, from which RHEL is built in the first place. What they want to do, is do an exact rebuild of RHEL without having to go through the effort of putting the distribution together themselves, matching the versions that are used in a particular version of RHEL against what is available via CentOS Stream.
  - skybrian 3y ago
    And that's perfectly fine under open source licenses. You are allowed to build and redistribute your own binaries. That's both spirit and letter. Don't fall for people making up additional terms that aren't in the license.