Psychz - Prachi
Votes: 0Posted On: Jan 05, 2021 10:50:56
CentOS has recently announced that CentOS Linux 8 (rebuild of RHEL 8) will end at the end of 2021. CentOS Stream continues after that date, serving as the upstream (development) branch of Red Hat Enterprise Linux. This has caused major turbulence in the associated partners and the developer communities. And there is a probable reason for this outrage and anger.
CentOS Stream will serve as a rolling preview of what's next in RHEL, both in terms of kernel and features. This means the functionality and looks of it will be much like Red Hat Enterprise Linux as it will be a year or so in the future. The current version which is CentOS 8, itself built atop RHEL 8. Normally, CentOS enjoys the same ten-year support lifecycle as RHEL itself—which would give CentOS 8 an end-of-life date in 2029. This means CentOS 7 will still be supported alongside RHEL 7, through 2024.
CentOS Stream is said to provide a roughly the same support system with some of the following changes
- Support on Security and bug fixes will reduce down to 4 years from 10
- Major versions (8, 9) will track ahead of Red Hat Enterprise Linux releases
- You will be upgraded to each minor version in a rolling-release fashion
- There might experience some issues with some of the EPEL packages
Now, Red Hat is also offering a set of platforms along with CentOS Stream to address a spectrum of developer needs that includes
- Foundation of the Fedora operating system, for those looking to contribute to the leading-edge of operating system innovation.
- The Red Hat Universal Base Image (Free)
With the Red Hat Universal Base Image, developers can more easily create certified applications for production deployment on RHEL and across Red Hat’s open hybrid cloud portfolio, including Red Hat OpenShift.
- The RHEL Developer subscription, a free, self-supported subscription for developers, provides a dev/test environment for applications that are meant to be deployed into production on the stable, more secure, and high-performance foundation of RHEL.
(Source: redhat.com)
With the above information, it would be wise to say that CentOS Stream may not be good for the live environment because of the reduced security and bug fixes support which has reduced down to only 4 years compared to 10 years. This will lead to forced upgrades from the current OS version to a newer one after every 4 years. Now that may not be an option for most businesses. For now, CentOS seems a good choice since their support and updates are valid till the year 2029. Having said that, it is also too early to judge what CentOS Stream might shape up to be and could possibly result in a stable reliable version of Linux.
