Template:Short description Template:Distinguish Template:Infobox OS
Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) is a commercial Linux distribution developed by Red Hat. Red Hat Enterprise Linux is released in server versions for x86-64, Power ISA, ARM64, and IBM Z and a desktop version for x86-64. Fedora Linux and CentOS Stream serve as its upstream sources. All of Red Hat's official support and training, together with the Red Hat Certification Program, focuses on the Red Hat Enterprise Linux platform.
The first version of Red Hat Enterprise Linux to bear the name originally came onto the market as "Red Hat Linux Advanced Server". In 2003, Red Hat rebranded Red Hat Linux Advanced Server to "Red Hat Enterprise Linux AS"<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> and added two more variants, Red Hat Enterprise Linux ES and Red Hat Enterprise Linux WS.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
As Red Hat Enterprise Linux is heavily based on open-source software and its source code was historically available to the public, it has been used as the basis for several third-party derivatives, including the commercial Oracle Linux and the community-supported Rocky Linux and AlmaLinux. In 2023, Red Hat stopped making the source code of Red Hat Enterprise Linux available to the public, allowing access only to customers and developers.<ref name="RHELClosedSource" />
VariantsEdit
Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server subscription is available at no cost for development purposes.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Developers need to register for the Red Hat Developer Program and agree to license terms forbidding production use and redistribution of the source code.<ref name="RHELClosedSource">Template:Cite news</ref> This free developer subscription was announced on March 31, 2016.
There are also "Academic" editions of the Desktop and Server variants.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> They are offered to schools and students, are less expensive, and are provided with Red Hat technical support as an optional extra. Web support based on the number of customer contacts can be purchased separately.
It is often assumed the branding ES, AS, and WS stand for "Entry-level Server",<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> "Advanced Server" and "Work Station", respectively. The reason for this is that the ES product is indeed the company's base enterprise server product, while AS is the more advanced product. However, nowhere on its site or in its literature does Red Hat say what AS, ES, and WS stand for.
In Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 there are new editions that substitute former Red Hat Enterprise Linux AS/ES/WS/Desktop:<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
- Red Hat Enterprise Linux Advanced Platform (former AS)
- Red Hat Enterprise Linux (former ES) (limited to two CPUs)
- Red Hat Enterprise Linux Desktop with Workstation and Multi-OS option
- Red Hat Enterprise Linux Desktop with Workstation option (former WS)
- Red Hat Enterprise Linux Desktop with Multi-OS option
- Red Hat Enterprise Linux Desktop (former Desktop)
Red Hat had also announced its Red Hat Global Desktop Linux edition "for emerging markets".<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
RHEL 4, 3, and prior releases had four variants:
- Red Hat Enterprise Linux AS for mission-critical/enterprise computer systems.
- Red Hat Enterprise Linux ES for supported network servers
- Red Hat Enterprise Linux WS for technical power user enterprise desktops for high-performance computing
- Red Hat Desktop for multiple deployments of single-user desktops for enterprises.
Relationship with Fedora LinuxEdit
The Fedora Project provides the following explanation:<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
Fedora is a free distribution and community project and upstream for Red Hat Enterprise Linux. Fedora is a general purpose system that gives Red Hat and the rest of its contributor community the chance to innovate rapidly with new technologies. Red Hat Enterprise Linux is a commercial enterprise operating system and has its own set of test phases including alpha and beta releases which are separate and distinct from Fedora development.
Originally, Red Hat sold boxed versions of Red Hat Linux directly to consumers and business through phone support. The Fedora Project began in 2002 as a set of community supported packages for Red Hat Linux. However, the six month release cycle of Red Hat Linux was too disruptive for business users and Red Hat wanted a more reliable revenue stream. In 2002 Red Hat began releasing Red Hat Enterprise Linux based on Red Hat Linux, but with a much more conservative release cycle and a subscription based support program. A year later, Red Hat discontinued the Red Hat Linux product line, merging it with the Fedora community packages and releasing the resulting Fedora distribution for free.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation
|CitationClass=web }}</ref>
Template:Update span For example, RHEL 5 was forked from Fedora at the end of 2006 (approximately at the time of the Fedora Core 6 release) and released more or less together with Fedora 14. By the time RHEL 6 was released, many features from Fedora 13 and 14 had already been backported into it. The Fedora Project lists the following lineages for older Red Hat Enterprise releases:<ref name="lineage" />
- Red Hat Linux 6.2/7 to Red Hat Linux Enterprise Edition 6.2E
- Red Hat Linux 7.2, 7.2A to Red Hat Enterprise Linux 2.1
- Red Hat Linux 9 to Red Hat Enterprise Linux 3
- Fedora Core 3 to Red Hat Enterprise Linux 4
- Fedora Core 6 to Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5
- Fedora 12, 13 to Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6
- Fedora 19, 20 to Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7
- Fedora 28 to Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation
|CitationClass=web }}</ref>
- Fedora 34 to CentOS Stream 9 to Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation
|CitationClass=web }}</ref>
- Fedora 40 to CentOS Stream 10 to Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation
|CitationClass=web }}</ref>
In addition, the Fedora project publishes a set of packages for RHEL called the Extra Packages for Enterprise Linux (EPEL). EPEL packages can be expected to work in RHEL, but it is up to willing community members to maintain the packages and back port any upstream changes. As such, packages "may come and go" during the ten-year lifespan of the RHEL release and Red Hat support plans do not include resolving issues caused by EPEL packages.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
DerivativesEdit
Red Hat Enterprise Linux is derived from free and open source software. Until 2023, Red Hat made the source code to its enterprise distribution publicly available through its FTP website,Template:Citation needed though the inclusion of Red Hat trademarks prevented direct redistribution of the software.<ref name="onlamp-trademark">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Accordingly, several groups used the source code to compile their own derivatives, typically with changes including the removal of any references to Red Hat's trademarks and pointing the update systems to non-Red Hat servers. Groups which have undertaken this include AlmaLinux, CentOS, MIRACLE LINUX, Oracle Linux, CloudLinux OS, Rocky Linux, Scientific Linux, StartCom Enterprise Linux, Pie Box Enterprise Linux, X/OS, Lineox, and Bull's XBAS for high-performance computing.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>Template:Additional citations needed
In 2023, Red Hat stopped providing the source code of Red Hat Enterprise Linux to the public. As required by its open-source licenses, the code remains available to customers and developers, but the customer contract allows Red Hat to drop any customer who redistributes the source code (as allowed by the licenses), discouraging them from doing so.<ref name="RHELClosedSource"/><ref name="SFCGPLAnalysis">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> This led to AlmaLinux, one of the RHEL derivative Linux distributions, moving away from "1:1 bug for bug" compatibility to "application binary interface (ABI) compatible", while Oracle, SUSE, and CIQ (the company behind Rocky Linux) collaborated to form the Open Enterprise Linux Association (OpenELA) in order to provide "open and free Enterprise Linux (EL) source code".<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
Derivatives of Red Hat Enterprise Linux are free but do not get any commercial support or consulting services from Red Hat and lack software, hardware or security certifications from Red Hat. They also do not get access to Red Hat services like Red Hat Network.
Unusually, Red Hat took steps to obfuscate their changes to the Linux kernel for RHEL 6.0 by not publicly providing the patch files for their changes in the source tarball, and only releasing the finished product in source form. Speculation suggested that the move was made to affect Oracle's competing rebuild and support services, which further modifies the distribution. This practice however, still complies with the GNU GPL since source code is defined as "[the] preferred form of the work for making modifications to it", and the distribution still complies with this definition.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Red Hat's CTO Brian Stevens later confirmed the change, stating that certain information (such as patch information) would now only be provided to paying customers to make the Red Hat product more competitive against the growing number of companies offering support for products based on RHEL. CentOS developers had no objections to the change since they do not make any changes to the kernel beyond what is provided by Red Hat.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Their competitor Oracle announced in November 2012 that they were releasing a RedPatch service, which allows public view of the RHEL kernel changes, broken down by patch.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
Related products and add-onsEdit
A number of commercial vendors use Red Hat Enterprise Linux as a base for the operating system in their products. Two of the best known are the Console Operating System in VMware ESX Server and Oracle Linux.
==Version history and timeline<ref name="rhelupdates">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>== <timeline>
ImageSize = width:990 height:460 PlotArea = right:30 left:30 bottom:60 top:30 DateFormat = dd/mm/yyyy Period = from:01/01/2000 till:01/01/2033 TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal Legend = orientation:vertical position:bottom columns:2 Colors =
id:production value:green Legend:Production id:extended value:rgb(0.9,0.9,0.2) Legend:Extended_support id:lightline value:rgb(0.8,0.8,0.8) id:today value:rgb(0.2,0.2,0.9)
BackgroundColors = canvas:white ScaleMajor = gridcolor:lightline unit:year increment:1 start:01/01/2000
Define $vshift = 15 # move text above the bars Define $now=03/08/2025
LineData=
at:$now color:today width:0.1
PlotData=
bar: color:production mark:(line,white) align:left fontsize:M from:18/05/2022 till:18/05/2022 shift:(-55,-4) text:"RHEL 9" barset:break color:production from:18/05/2022 till:15/11/2022 shift:(-12,$vshift) text:".0" barset:break color:production from:15/11/2022 till:31/05/2032 shift:(-139,$vshift) text:".1" barset:break color:production from:10/05/2023 till:31/05/2032 shift:(-133,$vshift) text:".2" barset:break color:production from:08/11/2023 till:31/05/2032 shift:(-126,$vshift) text:".3" barset:break color:production from:30/04/2024 till:31/05/2032 shift:(-120,$vshift) text:".4" barset:break color:production from:13/11/2024 till:31/05/2032 shift:(-113,$vshift) text:".5"
bar: color:production mark:(line,white) align:left fontsize:M from:07/05/2019 till:07/05/2019 shift:(-55,-4) text:"RHEL 8" barset:break color:production from:07/05/2019 till:05/11/2019 shift:(-12,$vshift) text:".0" barset:break color:production from:05/11/2019 till:28/04/2020 shift:(-12,$vshift) text:".1" barset:breaks color:production from:28/04/2020 till:29/10/2020 shift:(-13,$vshift) text:".2" barset:break color:production from:29/10/2020 till:18/05/2021 shift:(-13,$vshift) text:".3" barset:break color:production from:18/05/2021 till:09/11/2021 shift:(-13,$vshift) text:".4" barset:break color:production from:09/11/2021 till:10/05/2022 shift:(-13,$vshift) text:".5" barset:break color:production from:10/05/2022 till:07/11/2022 shift:(-13,$vshift) text:".6" barset:break color:production from:07/11/2022 till:16/05/2023 shift:(-13,$vshift) text:".7" barset:break color:production from:16/05/2023 till:08/11/2023 shift:(-13,$vshift) text:".8" barset:break color:production from:08/11/2023 till:22/05/2024 shift:(-13,$vshift) text:".9" barset:break color:production from:22/05/2024 till:31/05/2029 shift:(-75,$vshift) text:".10"
bar: color:production mark:(line,white) align:left fontsize:M from:10/06/2014 till:10/06/2014 shift:(-55,-4) text:"RHEL 7" barset:break color:production from:10/06/2014 till:05/03/2015 shift:(-16,$vshift) text:".0" barset:break color:production from:05/03/2015 till:19/11/2015 shift:(-15,$vshift) text:".1" barset:break color:production from:19/11/2015 till:03/11/2016 shift:(-20,$vshift) text:".2" barset:break color:production from:03/11/2016 till:01/08/2017 shift:(-16,$vshift) text:".3" barset:break color:production from:01/08/2017 till:10/04/2018 shift:(-15,$vshift) text:".4" barset:break color:production from:10/04/2018 till:30/10/2018 shift:(-15,$vshift) text:".5" barset:break color:production from:30/10/2018 till:06/08/2019 shift:(-15,$vshift) text:".6" barset:break color:production from:06/08/2019 till:31/03/2020 shift:(-15,$vshift) text:".7" barset:break color:production from:31/03/2020 till:29/09/2020 shift:(-13,$vshift) text:".8" barset:break color:production from:29/09/2020 till:30/06/2024 shift:(-58,$vshift) text:".9" barset:break color:extended from:01/07/2024 till:30/06/2028
bar: color:production mark:(line,white) align:left fontsize:M from:10/11/2010 till:10/11/2010 shift:(-55,-4) text:"RHEL 6" barset:break color:production from:10/11/2010 till:19/05/2011 shift:(-13,$vshift) text:".0" barset:break color:production from:19/05/2011 till:06/12/2011 shift:(-13,$vshift) text:".1" barset:break color:production from:06/12/2011 till:20/06/2012 shift:(-14,$vshift) text:".2" barset:break color:production from:20/06/2012 till:21/02/2013 shift:(-15,$vshift) text:".3" barset:break color:production from:21/02/2013 till:21/11/2013 shift:(-17,$vshift) text:".4" barset:break color:production from:21/11/2013 till:13/10/2014 shift:(-20,$vshift) text:".5" barset:break color:production from:13/10/2014 till:22/07/2015 shift:(-17,$vshift) text:".6" barset:break color:production from:22/07/2015 till:10/05/2016 shift:(-17,$vshift) text:".7" barset:break color:production from:10/05/2016 till:21/03/2017 shift:(-18,$vshift) text:".8" barset:break color:production from:21/03/2017 till:19/06/2018 shift:(-23,$vshift) text:".9" barset:break color:production from:19/06/2018 till:30/11/2020 shift:(-45,$vshift) text:".10" barset:break color:extended from:30/11/2020 till:30/06/2024
bar: color:production mark:(line,white) align:left fontsize:M from:14/03/2007 till:14/03/2007 shift:(-55,-4) text:"RHEL 5" barset:break color:production from:14/03/2007 till:07/11/2007 shift:(-14,$vshift) text:".0" barset:break color:production from:07/11/2007 till:21/05/2008 shift:(-13,$vshift) text:".1" barset:break color:production from:21/05/2008 till:20/01/2009 shift:(-16,$vshift) text:".2" barset:break color:production from:20/01/2009 till:02/09/2009 shift:(-15,$vshift) text:".3" barset:break color:production from:02/09/2009 till:30/03/2010 shift:(-15,$vshift) text:".4" barset:break color:production from:30/03/2010 till:13/01/2011 shift:(-17,$vshift) text:".5" barset:break color:production from:13/01/2011 till:21/07/2011 shift:(-15,$vshift) text:".6" barset:break color:production from:21/07/2011 till:20/02/2012 shift:(-14,$vshift) text:".7" barset:break color:production from:20/02/2012 till:07/01/2013 shift:(-19,$vshift) text:".8" barset:break color:production from:07/01/2013 till:01/10/2013 shift:(-17,$vshift) text:".9" barset:break color:production from:01/10/2013 till:16/09/2014 shift:(-24,$vshift) text:".10" barset:break color:production from:16/09/2014 till:31/03/2017 shift:(-47,$vshift) text:".11" barset:break color:extended from:31/03/2017 till:30/11/2020
bar: color:production mark:(line,white) align:left fontsize:M from:15/02/2005 till:15/02/2005 shift:(-55,-4) text:"RHEL 4" barset:break color:production from:15/02/2005 till:08/06/2005 shift:(-11,$vshift) text:".0" barset:break color:production from:08/06/2005 till:05/10/2005 shift:(-10,$vshift) text:".1" barset:break color:production from:05/10/2005 till:12/03/2006 shift:(-11,$vshift) text:".2" barset:break color:production from:12/03/2006 till:10/08/2006 shift:(-11,$vshift) text:".3" barset:break color:production from:10/08/2006 till:01/05/2007 shift:(-15,$vshift) text:".4" barset:break color:production from:01/05/2007 till:15/11/2007 shift:(-13,$vshift) text:".5" barset:break color:production from:15/11/2007 till:29/07/2008 shift:(-16,$vshift) text:".6" barset:break color:production from:29/07/2008 till:19/05/2009 shift:(-16,$vshift) text:".7" barset:break color:production from:19/05/2009 till:16/02/2011 shift:(-31,$vshift) text:".8" barset:break color:production from:16/02/2011 till:29/02/2012 shift:(-21,$vshift) text:".9" barset:break color:extended from:29/02/2012 till:31/03/2017
bar: color:production mark:(line,white) align:left fontsize:M from:22/10/2003 till:22/10/2003 shift:(-55,-4) text:"RHEL 3" barset:break color:production from:22/10/2003 till:16/01/2004 shift:(-12,$vshift) text:".0" barset:break color:production from:16/01/2004 till:12/05/2004 shift:(-10,$vshift) text:".1" barset:break color:production from:12/05/2004 till:03/09/2004 shift:(-11,$vshift) text:".2" barset:break color:production from:03/09/2004 till:12/12/2004 shift:(-10,$vshift) text:".3" barset:break color:production from:12/12/2004 till:18/05/2005 shift:(-12,$vshift) text:".4" barset:break color:production from:18/05/2005 till:28/09/2005 shift:(-12,$vshift) text:".5" barset:break color:production from:28/09/2005 till:17/03/2006 shift:(-13,$vshift) text:".6" barset:break color:production from:17/03/2006 till:20/07/2006 shift:(-11,$vshift) text:".7" barset:break color:production from:20/07/2006 till:15/06/2007 shift:(-19,$vshift) text:".8" barset:break color:production from:15/06/2007 till:31/10/2010 shift:(-53,$vshift) text:".9" barset:break color:extended from:31/10/2010 till:30/01/2014
bar: color:production mark:(line,white) align:left fontsize:M from:26/03/2002 till:26/03/2002 shift:(-62,-4) text:"RHEL 2.1" barset:break color:production from:26/03/2002 till:14/02/2003 shift:(-17,$vshift) text:".0" barset:break color:production from:14/02/2003 till:29/05/2003 shift:(-11,$vshift) text:".1" barset:break color:production from:29/05/2003 till:19/12/2003 shift:(-13,$vshift) text:".2" barset:break color:production from:19/12/2003 till:21/04/2004 shift:(-13,$vshift) text:".3" barset:break color:production from:21/04/2004 till:18/08/2004 shift:(-13,$vshift) text:".4" barset:break color:production from:18/08/2004 till:13/12/2004 shift:(-11,$vshift) text:".5" barset:break color:production from:13/12/2004 till:28/04/2005 shift:(-10,$vshift) text:".6" barset:break color:production from:28/04/2005 till:31/05/2009 shift:(-62,$vshift) text:".7"
TextData =
pos:(320,480) fontsize:L textcolor:black text:"Red Hat Enterprise Linux release timeline"
</timeline>
Naming conventionEdit
Each release is given a codename which is selected by a vote of the developers. The codenames don't have a specific pattern (unlike Ubuntu or Debian).
RHEL 10Edit
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10 beta is available. RHEL 10 is due to reach general availability in mid-2025.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
RHEL 10 was officially announced on May 20, 2025, at the Red Hat Summit.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
RHEL 9Edit
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9 was announced at Red Hat Summit on May 10, 2022, and was officially released on Template:Start date.<ref name="rhel-9">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> In this version of the system introduced a Linux Kernel 5.14.0 and Gnome 40.
RHEL 9 was the first to be based on CentOS Stream, itself based on Fedora Linux, while historically RHEL was based directly on Fedora Linux.<ref>Template:Cite press release</ref>
The first beta for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9 (Plow), based on Fedora Linux 34, was released on November 3, 2021.<ref name="rhel-9-beta">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9 (Plow) was released on May 18, 2022.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> The name Plow was the Appalachian Trail nickname for Tim Burke, one of the founders of RHEL and retired leader of RHEL engineering.<ref name="auto">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
- Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9.0, Template:Start date and age, uses Linux kernel 5.14.0-70.13.1.el9_0
- 9.1, Template:Start date and age
- kernel 5.14.0-162.6.1.el9_1
- 9.2, Template:Start date and age
- kernel 5.14.0-284.11.1.el9_2
- 9.3, Template:Start date and age
- kernel 5.14.0-362.8.1.el9_3
- 9.4, Template:Start date and age
- kernel 5.14.0-427.13.1.el9_4
- 9.5, Template:Start date and age
- kernel 5.14.0-503.11.1.el9_5
- 9.6, Template:Start date and age
- kernel 5.14.0-570.17.1.0.1.el9_6
- 9.1, Template:Start date and age
RHEL 8Edit
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 (Ootpa) is based on Fedora 28, upstream Linux kernel 4.18, GCC 8.2, glibc 2.28, systemd 239, GNOME 3.28, and the switch to Wayland. The first beta was announced on November 14, 2018.<ref name="rhel-8-beta">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 was officially released on Template:Start date.<ref name="rhel-8-release">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
With Release 8 of Red Hat Enterprise Linux, IBM has completed transition of POWER8 and POWER9 servers to little-endian mode.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
The name Ootpa was a tribute to Larry Troan. His son, Eric Troan was Red Hat's first head engineer and his username was ewt, so his father was given the name ewt's pa, pronounced Ootpa.<ref name="auto"/>
- Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8.0, Template:Start date and age, uses Linux kernel 4.18.0-80<ref name="rhel-8-release" />
- 8.1, Template:Start date and age, uses Linux kernel 4.18.0-147<ref name="rhel-8-1-release">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation
|CitationClass=web }}</ref>
- GNOME rebased to 3.32
- 8.2, Template:Start date and age
- kernel 4.18.0-193
- 8.3, Template:Start date and age
- kernel 4.18.0-240
- 8.4, Template:Start date and age <ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation
|CitationClass=web }}</ref>
- kernel 4.18.0-305
- 8.5, Template:Start date and age
- kernel 4.18.0-348
- 8.6, Template:Start date and age
- kernel 4.18.0-372.9.1
- 8.7, Template:Start date and age
- kernel 4.18.0-425.3.1
- 8.8, Template:Start date and age
- kernel 4.18.0-477.10.1.el8_8
- 8.9, Template:Start date and age
- kernel 4.18.0-513.5.1.el8_9
- 8.10, Template:Start date and age
- kernel 4.18.0-553.el8_10
RHEL 7Edit
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 (Maipo) is based on Fedora 18 and Fedora 19, upstream Linux kernel 3.10, systemd 208 (updated to 219 in RHEL 7.2), and GNOME 3.8 (rebased to GNOME 3.28 in RHEL 7.6) The first beta was announced on 11 December 2013,<ref name="rhel-7-beta">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }} See for example this presentation Template:Webarchive</ref> and a release candidate was made available on 15 April 2014.<ref name="rhel-7-rc">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> On Template:Start date Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 was officially released.<ref name="rhel-7">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
- Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.0 (Maipo), Template:Start date and age, uses Linux kernel 3.10.0-123
- 7.1, Template:Start date and age<ref name="rhel-71">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation
|CitationClass=web }}</ref>
- kernel 3.10.0-229
- 7.2, Template:Start date and age<ref name="Red Hat, Inc">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation
|CitationClass=web }}</ref>
- kernel 3.10.0-327
- systemd updated to 219
- Fedora rebased to 21
- GNOME rebased to 3.14
- 7.3, Template:Start date and age<ref name="access.redhat.com">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation
|CitationClass=web }}</ref>
- kernel 3.10.0-514
- 7.4, Template:Start date and age<ref name="Red Hat 7.4 Release Notes">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation
|CitationClass=web }}</ref>
- kernel 3.10.0-693
- Fedora rebased to 25
- GNOME rebased to 3.22
- 7.5, Template:Start date and age<ref name="Red Hat 7.5 Release Notes">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation
|CitationClass=web }}</ref>
- kernel 3.10.0-862
- Fedora rebased to 27
- GNOME rebased to 3.26<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation
|CitationClass=web }}</ref>
- 7.6, Template:Start date and age<ref name="Red Hat 7.6 Release Announcement">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation
|CitationClass=web }}</ref>
- kernel 3.10.0-957
- Fedora rebased to 28
- GNOME rebased to 3.28
- 7.7, Template:Start date and age<ref name="Red Hat 7.7 Release Announcement">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation
|CitationClass=web }}</ref>
- kernel 3.10.0-1062
- GNOME remains as 3.28
- 7.8, Template:Start date and age<ref name="Red Hat 7.8 Release Announcement">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation
|CitationClass=web }}</ref>
- kernel 3.10.0-1127
- GNOME remains as 3.28
- 7.9, Template:Start date and age<ref name="Red Hat 7.9 Release Announcement">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation
|CitationClass=web }}</ref>
- kernel 3.10.0-1160
- 7, Extended Life-cycle Support (ELS) Start Date Template:Start date and age
- aka added ELS entitlement until ELS end Date Template:Start date and age<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation
|CitationClass=web }}</ref>
RHEL 6Edit
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 was forked from Fedora 10 and contains many backported features from Fedora 11 and Fedora 12.
- Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 (Santiago), Template:Start date and age, uses Linux kernel 2.6.32-71<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation
|CitationClass=web }}</ref>
- 6.1, Template:Start date and age (kernel 2.6.32-131.0.15)
- 6.2, Template:Start date and age (kernel 2.6.32-220)
- 6.3, Template:Start date and age (kernel 2.6.32-279)
- 6.4, Template:Start date and age (kernel 2.6.32-358)
- 6.5, Template:Start date and age (kernel 2.6.32-431)
- 6.6, Template:Start date and age (kernel 2.6.32-504)
- 6.7, Template:Start date and age (kernel 2.6.32-573)
- 6.8, Template:Start date and age (kernel 2.6.32-642)
- 6.9, Template:Start date and age (kernel 2.6.32-696)
- 6.10, Template:Start date and age (kernel 2.6.32-754)
- 6 ELS +, Extended Life-cycle Support (ELS) Start Date Template:Start date and age
- aka added ELS entitlement until ELS end Date Template:Start date and age
RHEL 5Edit
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 has forked with Fedora Core 6.
- Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 (Tikanga), Template:Start date and age, uses Linux kernel 2.6.18-8
- 5.1, Template:Start date and age (kernel 2.6.18-53)
- 5.2, Template:Start date and age (kernel 2.6.18-92)
- 5.3, Template:Start date and age (kernel 2.6.18-128)
- 5.4, Template:Start date and age (kernel 2.6.18-164)
- 5.5, Template:Start date and age (kernel 2.6.18-194)
- 5.6, Template:Start date and age (kernel 2.6.18-238)
- 5.7, Template:Start date and age (kernel 2.6.18-274)
- 5.8, Template:Start date and age (kernel 2.6.18-308)
- 5.9, Template:Start date and age (kernel 2.6.18-348)
- 5.10, Template:Start date and age (kernel 2.6.18-371)
- 5.11, Template:Start date and age (kernel 2.6.18-398)
- 5.11+, Extended Life-cycle Support (ELS) Start Date Template:Start date and age
- aka added ELS entitlement until ELS end Date Template:Start date and age
RHEL 4Edit
RHEL 4 introduced Linux kernel 2.6 versions and extended attributes on ext2 and ext3 file systems.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
- Red Hat Enterprise Linux 4 (Nahant), Template:Start date and age, uses Linux kernel 2.6.9-5
- Update 1, Template:Start date and age (kernel 2.6.9-11)
- Update 2, Template:Start date and age (kernel 2.6.9-22)
- Update 3, Template:Start date and age (kernel 2.6.9-34)
- Update 4, Template:Start date and age (kernel 2.6.9-42)
- Update 5, Template:Start date and age (kernel 2.6.9-55)
- Update 6, Template:Start date and age (kernel 2.6.9-67)
- Update 7, Template:Start date and age (kernel 2.6.9-78)
- Update 8, Template:Start date and age (kernel 2.6.9-89)
- Update 9, Template:Start date and age (kernel 2.6.9-100)
RHEL 3Edit
- Red Hat Enterprise Linux 3 (Taroon), Template:Start date and age, uses Linux kernel 2.4.21-4
- Update 1, Template:Start date and age (kernel 2.4.21-9)
- Update 2, Template:Start date and age (kernel 2.4.21-15)
- Update 3, Template:Start date and age (kernel 2.4.21-20)
- Update 4, Template:Start date and age (kernel 2.4.21-27)
- Update 5, Template:Start date and age (kernel 2.4.21-32)
- Update 6, Template:Start date and age (kernel 2.4.21-37)
- Update 7, Template:Start date and age (kernel 2.4.21-40)
- Update 8, Template:Start date and age (kernel 2.4.21-47)
- Update 9, Template:Start date and age (kernel 2.4.21-50)
RHEL 2.1Edit
- Red Hat Enterprise Linux 2.1 AS (Pensacola), Template:Start date and age, uses Linux kernel 2.4.9-e.3
- Update 1, Template:Start date and age (kernel 2.4.9-e.12)
- Update 2, Template:Start date and age (kernel 2.4.9-e.24)
- Update 3, Template:Start date and age (kernel 2.4.9-e.34)
- Update 4, Template:Start date and age (kernel 2.4.9-e.40)
- Update 5, Template:Start date and age (kernel 2.4.9-e.49)
- Update 6, Template:Start date and age (kernel 2.4.9-e.57)
- Update 7, Template:Start date and age<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation
|CitationClass=web }}</ref>
- Red Hat Enterprise Linux 2.1 ES (Panama), May 2003Template:Citation needed
Product life cycleEdit
The life cycle of Red Hat Enterprise Linux is at least seven years for versions 3 and 4, and spans at least 10 years for versions 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9. The life cycle comprises several phases of varying length with different degrees of support. During the first phase ("Production 1"), Red Hat provides full support and updates software and hardware drivers. In later phases ("Production 2" and "Production 3"), only security and other important fixes are provided and support for new hardware is gradually reduced.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
In the last years of the support lifecycle (after seven years for version 4 and earlier, and after 10 years for version 5 and later), critical and security-related fixes are only provided to customers who pay an additional subscription ("Extended Lifecycle Support Add-On") that is available for versions 3, 4, 5 and 6. This covers a limited number of packages.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Red Hat only supports major version upgrades from version 6 to version 7 and from version 7 to version 8.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
RHEL version |
Last minor release |
Release date | End of Full Support | End of Maintenance Support 1 (RHEL 5, 6, 7) |
End of Maintenance Support (RHEL 8, 9, 10), Maintenance Support 2 (RHEL 5, 6, 7) (product retirement) |
End of Extended Lifecycle Support | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Template:Version | U-7 | 26 March 2002 (AS) 1 May 2003 (ES) |
30 November 2004 | 31 May 2005 | citation | CitationClass=web
}}</ref> |
Template:N/A | |
Template:Version | U-9 | 23 October 2003 | 20 July 2006 | 30 June 2007 | citation | CitationClass=web
}}</ref> |
30 January 2014 | |
Template:Version | U-9 | 14 February 2005 | 31 March 2009 | 16 February 2011 | 29 February 2012 | 31 March 2017 | ||
Template:Version | 5.11 | 15 March 2007 | 8 January 2013 | 31 January 2014 | 31 March 2017 | 30 November 2020 | ||
Template:Version | 6.10 | 10 November 2010 | 10 May 2016 | 10 May 2017 | 30 November 2020 | 30 June 2024 | ||
Template:Version | 7.9 | citation | CitationClass=web
}}</ref> |
6 August 2019 | 6 August 2020 | 30 June 2024 | citation | CitationClass=web
}}</ref> |
Template:Version | 8.10 | 7 May 2019 | May 2024 | Template:N/A | May 2029 | citation | CitationClass=web
}}</ref> | |
Template:Version | 9.6 | 08 Nov 2022 | May 2027 | Template:N/A | May 2032 | 31 May 2034<ref name="auto1"/> | ||
Template:Version | 10.0 | 13 May 2025 | May 2030 | Template:N/A | May 2035 | 31 May 2037<ref name="auto1"/> | ||
Template:Version |
Kernel backportingEdit
To maintain a stable application binary interface (ABI), Red Hat does not update the kernel version, but instead backports new features to the same kernel version with which a particular version of RHEL has been released. New features are backported throughout the Production 1 phase of the RHEL lifecycle.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Consequently, RHEL may use a Linux kernel with a dated version number, yet the kernel is up-to-date regarding not only security fixes, but also certain features.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> One specific example is the Template:Mono socket option which was added to Linux kernel 3.9, and was subsequently backported and became available since RHEL 6.5, which uses version 2.6.32 of the Linux kernel.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
Extended Update Support (EUS) / Z TreeEdit
Template:Cleanup The Extended Update Support (EUS) allows an organization / company to choose when they change to a new minor version. For the first 6 months of the EUS channel / yum repo, features may be added, but then the channel is locked down so that only bug and security fixes are patched. The organization / company then has 24 months to move to a new EUS branch. EUS allows the organization / company to stay on a minor version if required by a third-party application which is only tested with a particular minor version of RHEL, such as Oracle Database, IBM Db2, IBM Cloud Orchestrator, Hortonworks. There may also be extra costs associated with using the EUS repos/channels depending on the agreement the organization / company has with Red Hat.<ref name="rhel-eus">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> For more information on what is Included/Excluded from the EUS see.<ref name="rhel-eus"/>
NoteEdit
- The EUS update mechanism for using older minor version branches is not available to CentOS, Oracle Linux and Scientific Linux, as Red Hat do not publish source packages for rebuilding.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation
|CitationClass=web }}</ref> As such, projects clearly state to ensure users run on the latest available minor version within a supported major release.
UpdatesEdit
In general one can move from z streams to the next version of the z stream.
- The 7.4.z EUS channel after the release of 7.4.
- The 7.5.z EUS channel after the release of 7.5.
Any 7.y.z EUS channel where y is greater than 1. The standard base channel for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7, which is the most recent minor release aka rhel 7Y where y is the latest greatest.
One can not go back in time, aka 7.5.z to 7.4.z and will NOT be supported.<ref name="rhel-eus"/>
RHEL 6Edit
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 was forked from Fedora 12 and contains many backported features from Fedora 13 and 14.
- Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 (Santiago), 10 November 2010, uses Linux kernel 2.6.32-71<ref name=rhelupdates/>
- 6.7, also termed Update 7, Template:Start date and age (kernel 2.6.32-573)
- 1st Day of EUS Window Template:Start date and age
- Last Day of EUS Window Template:Start date and age
- Note: There were no more EUS for Rhel6 after 6.7
- 6.7, also termed Update 7, Template:Start date and age (kernel 2.6.32-573)
RHEL 7Edit
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 (Maipo) is based on Fedora 19, upstream Linux kernel 3.10, 10 June 2014, uses Linux kernel 3.10.0-123<ref name=rhelupdates/>
- 7.1, also termed Update 1, Template:Start date and age (kernel 3.10.0-229)<ref name="rhel-71"/>
- 1st Day of EUS Window Template:Start date and age
- Last Day of EUS Window Template:Start date and age
- 7.2, also termed Update 2, Template:Start date and age (kernel 3.10.0-327)<ref name="Red Hat, Inc"/>
- 1st Day of EUS Window Template:Start date and age
- Last Day of EUS Window Template:Start date and age
- 7.3, also termed Update 3, Template:Start date and age (kernel 3.10.0-514)<ref name="access.redhat.com"/>
- 1st Day of EUS Window Template:Start date and age
- Last Day of EUS Window Template:Start date and age
- Features may be updated<ref name="rhel-eus-supported-channels-dates">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation
|CitationClass=web }}</ref>
- 7.4, also termed Update 4, Template:Start date and age (kernel 3.10.0-693)<ref name="Red Hat 7.4 Release Notes" />
- 1st Day of EUS Window Template:Start date and age
- Last Day of EUS Window Template:Start date and age
- 7.5, also termed Update 5, Template:Start date and age (kernel 3.10.0-862)<ref name="Red Hat 7.5 Release Notes" />
- 1st Day of EUS Window Template:Start date and age
- Last Day of EUS Window Template:Start date and age
- 7.6, also termed Update 6, Template:Start date and age (kernel 3.10.0-957)<ref name="Red Hat 7.6 Release Announcement" /><ref name=":0">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation
|CitationClass=web }}</ref>
- 1st Day of EUS Window Template:Start date and age
- Last Day of EUS Window Template:Start date and age
- 7.7, also termed Update 7, Template:Start date and age (kernel 3.10.0-1062)<ref name="Red Hat 7.7 Release Announcement" /><ref name=":0" />
- 1st Day of EUS Window Template:Start date and age
- Last Day of EUS Window Template:Start date and age
- 7.8, also termed Update 8<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation
|CitationClass=web }}</ref>
- Released on Template:Start date and age
- 7.9, also termed Update 9 is the final RHEL 7 release<ref name=":0" /><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation
|CitationClass=web }}</ref>
- Released on Template:Start date and age
RHEL 8Edit
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 (Ootpa) is based on Fedora 28, upstream Linux kernel 4.18, systemd 239, and GNOME 3.28. The first beta was announced on November 14, 2018.<ref name="rhel-8-beta"/> Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 was officially released on May 7, 2019.<ref name="rhel-8-release"/>
For RHEL 8, the update schedule is approximately:<ref name="RHEL-8-Lifecycle">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
- 8.0 - 6 Month Minor Release (kernel 4.18.0-80)<ref name="rhel8-release-dates">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation
|CitationClass=web }}</ref>
- 1st Day of Support Window Template:Start date and age<ref name="rhel8-release-dates"/>
- 8.1 - 6 Month Minor Release with Extended Support and Update Services for SAP Solutions (kernel 4.18.0-147)<ref name="rhel8-release-dates"/>
- 1st Day of Support Window Template:Start date and age<ref name="rhel8-release-dates"/>
- 8.2 - 6 Month Minor Release with Extended Support and Update Services for SAP Solutions (kernel 4.18.0-193)<ref name="rhel8-release-dates"/>
- 1st Day of Support Window Template:Start date and age<ref name="rhel8-release-dates"/>
- 8.3 - 6 Month Minor Release (kernel 4.18.0-240)<ref name="rhel8-release-dates"/>
- 1st Day of Support Window Template:Start date and age<ref name="rhel8-release-dates"/>
- 8.4 - 6 Month Minor Release with Extended Support and Update Services for SAP Solutions (kernel 4.18.0-305)<ref name="rhel8-release-dates"/>
- 1st Day of Support Window Template:Start date and age<ref name="rhel8-release-dates"/>
- 8.5 - 6 Month Minor Release (kernel 4.18.0-348)<ref name="rhel8-release-dates"/>
- 1st Day of Support Window Template:Start date and age<ref name="rhel8-release-dates"/>
- 8.6 - 6 Month Minor Release with Extended Support and Update Services for SAP Solutions (kernel 4.18.0-372.9.1)<ref name="rhel8-release-dates"/>
- 1st Day of Support Window Template:Start date and age<ref name="rhel8-release-dates"/>
- 8.7 - 6 Month Minor Release (kernel 4.18.0-425.3.1)<ref name="rhel8-release-dates"/>
- 1st Day of Support Window Template:Start date and age<ref name="rhel8-release-dates"/>
- 8.8 - 6 Month Minor Release with Extended Support and Update Services for SAP Solutions (kernel 4.18.0-477.10.1.el8_8)<ref name="rhel8-release-dates"/>
- 1st Day of Support Window Template:Start date and age<ref name="rhel8-release-dates"/>
RHEL 8 application streamsEdit
In addition to normal OS updates, RHEL 8 also maintains application streams to allow for certain applications to be supported and updated independent of the base OS and to match the maintenance stream of the application vendor.<ref name="rhel-8-app-stream-support">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Each application stream will be supported from two to five years with new versions only available during the Red Hat Enterprise Linux Full Support Phase.<ref name="rhel-8-app-streams">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> These apps should be expected to be updated frequently with shorter lifecycles than the base OS packages.
Packages currently offered as streams<ref name="rhel-8-app-streams"/>
- authd 1.4.4 (through May 2021)
- container-tools 1 (through May 2021)
- dotnet 2.1 (through Aug 2021)
- git 2.18 (through May 2021)
- httpd 2.4 (through May 2024)
- Identity Management DL1 (through May 2024)
- mariadb 10.3 (through May 2023)
- maven 3.5 (through May 2022)
- mercurial 4.8 (through May 2022)
- mysql 8 (through Apr 2023)
- nginx 1.14 (through May 2021)
- nodejs 10 (through Apr 2021)
- openjdk 1.8.0 (through Jun 2023)
- openjdk 11 (through Oct 2024)
- perl 5.24 (through May 2021)
- php 7.2 (through May 2021)
- postgresql 10 (through May 2024)
- postgresql 9.6 (through Nov 2021)
- python 2.7 (through Jun 2024)
- redis 5 (through May 2022)
- ruby 2.5 (through Feb 2021)
- scala 2.1 (through May 2022)
- swig 3 (through May 2022)
- varnish 6 (through May 2022)
RHEL 9Edit
Template:Expand section Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9 (RHEL 9) is a commercial open-source operating system developed by Red Hat for enterprise environments. It is built from the open-source Fedora distribution and aims to provide a stable, secure, and enterprise-grade platform. RHEL 9, released in May 2022, introduces several new features and improvements, especially tailored for cloud-native development, security, automation, and performance enhancements.
Key featuresEdit
- Kernel and Performance RHEL 9 is based on the Linux kernel 5.14, offering improved performance and hardware support. It also features enhanced performance tuning tools for administrators to optimize workloads on modern architectures.
- Security Enhancements RHEL 9 includes advanced security measures such as the Integrity Measurement Architecture (IMA), which ensures system integrity. It also incorporates OpenSSL 3.0 for updated cryptography and enhanced security policies. By default, SSH root password login is disabled to encourage the use of key-based authentication. SELinux continues to play a crucial role in enforcing strict security policies.
- Automation and Management The integration with Ansible allows for more streamlined automation and configuration management across systems. The Cockpit web console has also been improved, offering new features for managing containers, networking, and storage.
- Cloud and Container Support RHEL 9 is designed for cloud-native environments, with strong support for containers and hybrid cloud infrastructures. It is optimized to work seamlessly with Red Hat OpenShift, a Kubernetes-based platform, and supports containerization through tools like Podman. It also includes AppStreams, which provide curated packages for developers, ensuring access to the latest runtimes and frameworks.
- Networking and Storage Enhanced NetworkManager features and support for NVMe over Fabrics improve performance and scalability for modern networking and storage configurations.
Use casesEdit
RHEL 9 is suitable for a wide range of enterprise applications across industries such as financial services, healthcare, and government. It is used in both on-premises and cloud environments, with strong support for multi-cloud and hybrid cloud deployments
Support lifecycleEdit
RHEL 9 follows Red Hat's 10-year support lifecycle, which includes full support for the first five years, followed by maintenance support for the remaining five years.
See alsoEdit
- Red Hat Virtualization
- Stratis (configuration daemon)
- List of commercial products based on Red Hat Enterprise Linux
ReferencesEdit
Further readingEdit
- Template:Cite book
- Template:Cite book
- Template:Cite book
- Template:Cite book
- Template:Cite book
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External linksEdit
- Template:Official website
- Brian Stevens, CTO and vice president of engineering, Red Hat on why Red Hat Enterprise Linux is "The Business OS for Flexibility and Value" Template:Webarchive
- Template:DistroWatch
Template:Red Hat Template:Fedora Linux derivatives Template:Linux distributions Template:IBM operating systems Template:IBM FOSS