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If you run CentOS, it's probably because you're running something that wants to run on RHEL and isn't re-compilable for another platform because it isn't free s

If you run CentOS, it's probably because you're running something that wants to run on RHEL and isn't re-compilable for another platform because it isn't free software. Such as, say, Oracle. CentOS has for years been the go-to for running Oracle without paying anyone for the OS (RedHat EL or Windows). Now that Oracle has it's own Linux, it makes perfect sense for them to provide a free path into that offering.

SwellJoe 14y ago
I just want a server OS that is stable as hell, has a long lifecycle, and won't break when updating. None of those are quite as true of Debian and Ubuntu (though Debian and Ubuntu have their own benefits, they just don't match the priorities I have for a server OS), and I prefer yum to apt-get, anyway. And, most of our customers think the same way. CentOS is, by far, the most popular OS for running Virtualmin/Webmin/Cloudmin. Ubuntu has been gaining pretty fast, particularly now that LTS releases have become relatively stable (6.06 LTS had some awful breakages, 8.04 has some minor breakages, 10.04 and 12.04 seem to be pretty stable so far), but RHEL-based systems still have a strong lead in web hosting. For people already having to sign a deal with the devil, using Oracle may make sense. But, I don't have that requirement. Everything on all five of our servers works fine on CentOS, RHEL, and SL (and Ubuntu, Debian, etc.).