Rocky Linux has announced the release of Rocky Linux 9.5, a distribution aimed at serving as a free alternative to RHEL and potentially replacing CentOS. The new version is compatible with Red Hat Enterprise Linux and can be used as a replacement for RHEL 9.5 and CentOS 9 Stream. The Rocky Linux 9 branch will be supported until May 31, 2032. Installation ISO-images for Rocky Linux are available for architectures X86_64, AARCH64, PPC64le, and S390X. Additionally, live-assemblies with desktop environments such as GNOME, KDE, Cinnamon, and XFCE are published for architecture x86_64 (source).
Similar to classic CentOS, the changes in Rocky Linux 9.5 primarily involve removing branding related to RED HAT and specific RED HAT packages for RHEL. Additional changes specific to Rocky Linux include the supply of OpenLdap-servers-2.6.6 packages in a separate repository, as well as packages for network virtualization developed by the SIG-group NFV. Rocky Linux also supports repositories for Code Ready Builder, real-time packet work, high availability, resilient storage, SAP, and SAP HANA. An experimental package with a unified image of the UKI (Unified Kernel Image) certified for Secureboot is also included in this release (source).
The source packets used in the development of Rocky Linux 9.5 are sourced from the Openla repository, which is supported by Oracle and SUSE. This change in development processes is due to RED HAT no longer hosting the initial RPM packet texts for RHEL in the public repository (source).