About Rocky Linux
Rocky Linux Overview
Rocky Linux is a new community-led Linux distribution developed as an alternative to CentOS, with the goal of maintaining 100% compatibility with Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL).
In December 2020, Red Hat announced that CentOS, previously developed as a downstream rebuild of RHEL, would be discontinued and that the project would focus on CentOS Stream, an upstream branch of RHEL. Because CentOS Stream is upstream of RHEL, it could not serve as a direct replacement for users who wanted to use CentOS as before. The shortening of CentOS 8 support also caused strong backlash from the community.
Rocky Linux quickly emerged as a CentOS replacement. It is led by Gregory Kurtzer, the founder of the CentOS project, and has drawn strong expectations from the community.
Main Features
- Aims to be a robust, stable, and transparent RHEL replacement developed by the community for the community.
- Can be used as a downstream distribution like the former CentOS.
- Is community-driven and not directly affected by a company’s sales policy.
- The Rocky Linux project is not affiliated with Red Hat.
Operating Environment
Current version 9 images are provided for the following architectures.
- x86_64
- ARM64 (aarch64)
- ppc64le
- s390x
Similar Software
RHEL-compatible alternatives include AlmaLinux OS, CentOS Stream, Asianux, Oracle Linux, and Amazon Linux.