CentOS

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Jump to: navigation, search
CentOS
Image:Centos logo.png

CentOS 5.3 running GNOME
Company / developer Lance Davis
OS family Unix-like
Working state Current
Source model Free software
Initial release December 1, 2003 (2003-12-01)
Latest stable release 5.3  (2009-03-31; 3 months ago) [+/−]
Kernel type Monolithic kernel
License Mainly the GNU General Public License/ & various others.
Website www.centos.org

CentOS is a community-supported, freely-available operating system based on Red Hat Enterprise Linux. It exists to provide a free enterprise class computing platform and strives to maintain 100% binary compatibility with its upstream distribution.[1] CentOS stands for Community ENTerprise Operating System.

Contents

[edit] Structure

Red Hat Enterprise Linux is a commercial product, available only through a paid subscription service that provides access to software updates and varying levels of technical support. The product is largely composed of software packages distributed under open source licenses, and the source code for those packages is made public by Red Hat.

CentOS developers use Red Hat's source code to create a final product very similar to Red Hat Enterprise Linux. Red Hat's branding and logos are changed because Red Hat does not allow them to be redistributed.[2] Also, non-free software is either removed or replaced. For example, stock versions of yum have always been the preferred means to manage software packages in CentOS. Red Hat includes proprietary software to access the Red Hat Network (up2date in older versions, yum with custom plugins in Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5) for managing software installation.

CentOS is available free of charge. Technical support is primarily provided by the community via official mailing lists, web forums, and chat rooms. The project is not affiliated with Red Hat and thus receives no financial or logistical support from the company; instead, the CentOS Project relies on donations from users and organizational sponsors.

[edit] Versioning scheme

  • CentOS version numbers have two parts, a major version and a minor version. The major and minor version numbers respectively correspond to the major version and update set of Red Hat Enterprise Linux from which the source packages used to build CentOS are taken. For example, CentOS 4.4 is built from the source packages from Red Hat Enterprise Linux 4 update 4.[3]
  • Since mid-2006, starting with version 4.4 (formerly known as Red Hat Enterprise Linux 4.0 update 4), Red Hat has adopted a versioning convention identical to that of CentOS, e.g., Red Hat Enterprise Linux 4.5.[4]

[edit] Release history

The architecture information is taken from the CentOS Overview page.

CentOS Release Architectures RHEL base CentOS release date RHEL release date
2 i386 2.1 2004-05-14[5] 2002-05-17[6]
3.1 i386, x86_64, ia64, s390, s390x 3 2004-03-19[7] 2003-10-23[6]
3.4 - Server CD i386, x86_64, ia64, s390, s390x 3.4 2005-01-23 -
3.7 i386, x86_64, ia64, s390, s390x 3.7 2006-04-11[8] -
3.8 i386, x86_64 3.8 2006-08-25[9] -
4 i386, x86_64, various 4 2005-03-09[10] 2005-02-14[11]
4.6 i386, x86_64, ia64, alpha, s390, s390x, ppc (beta), sparc (beta) 4.6 2007-12-16[12] 2007-11-16[13]
4.7 i386, x86_64 4.7 2008-09-13[14] 2008-07-24[15]
4.7 - Server CD i386, x86_64 4.7 2008-10-17[16]
5 i386, x86_64 5 2007-04-12[17] 2007-03-14[18]
5.1 i386, x86_64 5.1 2007-12-02[19] 2007-11-07[20]
5.1 - LiveCD i386 5.1 2008-02-18[21] -
5.2 i386, x86_64 5.2 2008-06-24[22] 2008-05-21[23]
5.2 - LiveCD i386 5.2 2008-07-17[24] -
5.3 i386, x86_64 5.3 2009-03-31[25] 2009-01-20[26] -
5.3 - Live CD i386 5.3 2009-05-27[27] -

[edit] Architectures

CentOS supports the x86 architectures:[28][29]

  • x86 (32-bit)
  • x86-64 (AMD's AMD64 and Intel's EM64T, 64-bit)

The following architectures were supported by CentOS up to version 4:

The following two architectures were supported or partially supported in CentOS but are not supported upstream:[28]

  • Alpha (CentOS 4 only)
  • SPARC (beta support since CentOS 3)

[edit] Bootable media version

A Live CD version of CentOS is available at mirror.centos.org.

A Live USB of CentOS can be created manually or with UNetbootin.

[edit] Tao Linux

Tao Linux was another prominent distribution derived from Red Hat Enterprise Linux. Its primary developer announced in June 2006 that Tao would be retired and rolled into CentOS development. Migration via 'yum update' was available to Tao users, providing a relatively painless migration path to the CentOS release. This helped prevent Tao users from becoming "orphaned" by their OS.[30]

[edit] Further reading

[edit] References

  1. ^ "Purpose of CentOS". CentOS Project. http://www.centos.org/modules/tinycontent/index.php?id=3. Retrieved on 2009-04-21. 
  2. ^ "Red Hat License Agreements". Red Hat. http://www.redhat.com/licenses/rhel_rha_eula.html. Retrieved on 2008-06-01. 
  3. ^ "What is the versioning/release scheme of CentOS and how does it compare to the upstream vendor?". CentOS Project. http://www.centos.org/modules/smartfaq/faq.php?faqid=34. Retrieved on 2009-04-21. 
  4. ^ "Red Hat Enterprise Linux > AS/ES/WS Basics". Red Hat. http://kbase.redhat.com/faq/FAQ_80_10667.shtm. Retrieved on 2008-08-11. 
  5. ^ John Newbigin (2004-05-14). "CentOS-2 Final finally released". http://lists.centos.org/pipermail/centos/2004-May/000153.html. Retrieved on 2008-06-01. 
  6. ^ a b Red Hat. "Red Hat Enterprise Linux Errata Support Policy". http://www.redhat.com/security/updates/errata/. Retrieved on 2008-06-01. 
  7. ^ Lance (2004-03-19). "CentOS 3.1 has now been released". http://lists.centos.org/pipermail/centos/2004-March/000015.html. Retrieved on 2008-06-01. 
  8. ^ CentOS Team (2006-04-11). "CentOS 3.7 for all Architectures is released". http://www.centos.org/modules/news/article.php?storyid=129. Retrieved on 2008-10-21. 
  9. ^ CentOS Team (2006-08-25). "CentOS 3.8 for i386 and x86_64 is released". http://www.centos.org/modules/news/article.php?storyid=140. Retrieved on 2008-10-21. 
  10. ^ DistroWatch.com (2005-03-09). "Distribution Release: CentOS 4". http://distrowatch.com/2439. 
  11. ^ DistroWatch.com (2005-02-14). "Distribution Release: Red Hat Enterprise Linux 4". http://distrowatch.com/?newsid=02364. 
  12. ^ DistroWatch.com (2007-12-16). "Distribution Release: CentOS 4.6". http://distrowatch.com/?newsid=04657. Retrieved on 2008-11-10. 
  13. ^ DistroWatch.com (2007-11-16). "Distribution Release: Red Hat Enterprise Linux 4.6". http://distrowatch.com/?newsid=04592. Retrieved on 2008-11-10. 
  14. ^ Johnny Hughes (2008-09-13). "CentOS 4.7 is released for i386 and x86_64". http://lists.centos.org/pipermail/centos-announce/2008-September/015241.html. Retrieved on 2008-09-14. 
  15. ^ Red Hat Enterprise Linux team (2008-07-24). "Red Hat Enterprise Linux 4.7 GA Announcement". http://www.redhat.com/archives/rhelv4-announce/2008-July/msg00002.html. Retrieved on 2008-09-14. 
  16. ^ Karanbir Singh (2008-10-17). "CentOS 4.7 Server CD - i386 Released". http://lists.centos.org/pipermail/centos-announce/2006-May/012927.html. Retrieved on 2009-01-23. 
  17. ^ Karanbir Singh (2007-04-12). "Release for CentOS-5 i386 and x86_64". http://lists.centos.org/pipermail/centos-announce/2007-April/013660.html. Retrieved on 2008-06-01. 
  18. ^ Red Hat Enterprise Linux team (2007-03-15). "Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 Now Available". http://www.redhat.com/archives/rhelv5-announce/2007-March/msg00001.html. Retrieved on 2008-06-01. 
  19. ^ Karanbir Singh (2007-12-02). "Release for CentOS-5.1 i386 and x86_64". http://lists.centos.org/pipermail/centos-announce/2007-December/014476.html. Retrieved on 2008-06-01. 
  20. ^ Red Hat Enterprise Linux team (2007-11-07). "Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.1 General Availability Announcement". http://www.redhat.com/archives/rhelv5-announce/2007-November/msg00000.html. Retrieved on 2008-06-01. 
  21. ^ Patrice Guay (2008-02-18). "CentOS 5 i386 - The CentOS-5.1 i386 Live CD is released". http://lists.centos.org/pipermail/centos-announce/2008-February/014688.html. Retrieved on 2009-03-25. 
  22. ^ Karanbir Singh (2008-06-24). "Release for CentOS-5.2 i386 and x86_64". http://lists.centos.org/pipermail/centos-announce/2008-June/014999.html. Retrieved on 2009-02-03. 
  23. ^ Red Hat Enterprise Linux team (2008-05-21). "Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.2 General Availability Announcement". http://www.redhat.com/archives/rhelv5-announce/2008-May/msg00002.html. Retrieved on 2009-01-22. 
  24. ^ Patrice Guay (2008-07-17). "CentOS 5 i386 - The CentOS-5.2 i386 Live CD is released". http://lists.centos.org/pipermail/centos-announce/2008-July/015148.html. Retrieved on 2009-02-03. 
  25. ^ Karanbir Singh (2009-04-01). "Release for CentOS-5.3 i386 and x86_64". http://lists.centos.org/pipermail/centos-announce/2009-April/015711.html. Retrieved on 2009-04-01. 
  26. ^ Red Hat Enterprise Linux team (2009-01-20). "Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.3 General Availability Announcement". http://www.redhat.com/archives/rhelv5-announce/2009-January/msg00000.html. Retrieved on 2009-01-22. 
  27. ^ "[CentOS-announce CentOS 5 i386 - The CentOS-5.3 i386 Live CD is released]". CentOS mailing list. http://lists.centos.org/pipermail/centos-announce/2009-May/015944.html. Retrieved on 2009-06-22. 
  28. ^ a b "About CentOS". CentOS. http://www.centos.org/modules/tinycontent/index.php?id=2. Retrieved on 2008-06-01. 
  29. ^ "Red Hat Enterprise Linux server details". Red Hat. http://www.redhat.com/rhel/server/details/#architectures. Retrieved on 2008-06-01. 
  30. ^ "Retirement of TaoLinux". CentOS Project. http://www.centos.org/modules/news/article.php?storyid=135. Retrieved on 2009-04-21. 

[edit] External links

Free software portal
v • d • e
Derivatives of Red Hat Enterprise Linux or Fedora
Red Hat Enterprise Linux derivatives
Fedora derivatives
v • d • e
Linux distributions
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CentOS"
Personal tools