CentOS

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CentOS
CentOS full logo.svg
CentOS 6.0.png
CentOS 6.0's default GNOME desktop
Company / developer The CentOS Project
OS family Unix-like (based on RHEL)
Working state Current
Source model Free and open source software
Initial release 03:32:38, May 14, 2004 (UTC) (2004-05-14T03:32:38Z)[1]
Latest stable release 6.4, 5.9 (March 9, 2013; 2 months ago (2013-03-09), January 17, 2013; 3 months ago (2013-01-17)) [±]
Marketing target Free computing (desktops, mainframes, servers, workstations)
Available language(s) Multilingual
Update method Yum (PackageKit)
Package manager RPM Package Manager
Supported platforms i386, x86-64 (as of CentOS5)
Kernel type Monolithic (Linux)
Default user interface GNOME and KDE (user-selectable)
License GNU GPL & various others.
Official website CentOS.org

CentOS (Community ENTerprise Operating System) is a Linux distribution which attempts to provide a free enterprise class computing platform which has 100% binary compatibility with its upstream source, Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL).[2] As of version 6.4, it officially supports x86 and x86-64 architecture with Physical Address Extension, while a beta is expected to be available for PowerPC.[3]

The first CentOS is based upon RHEL version 2.1, and was numbered 2.1 as well.[1]

Contents

History [edit]

In June 2006, David Parsley, the primary developer of Tao Linux, another Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) clone, announced that it would be retired and rolled into CentOS development. Tao users migrated to the CentOS release via "yum update".[4]

In July 2009, it was reported that CentOS's founder, Lance Davis, had disappeared in 2008. Davis had ceased contribution to the project, but continued to hold the registration for the CentOS domain and PayPal account. In August 2009, the CentOS team reportedly made contact with Davis and obtained the centos.info and centos.org domains.[5]

In July 2010, CentOS overtook Debian to become the most popular Linux distribution for web servers, with almost 30% of all Linux web servers using it,[6] although Debian retook the lead in January 2012.[7]

Design [edit]

RHEL is 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 free software licenses and the source code for these packages is made public by Red Hat.

CentOS developers use Red Hat's source code to create a final product very similar to RHEL. Red Hat's branding and logos are changed because Red Hat does not allow them to be redistributed.[8]

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 thus receives no financial or logistical support from the company; instead, the CentOS Project relies on donations from users and organizational sponsors.

Versioning [edit]

CentOS version numbers have two parts, a major version and a minor version, which correspond to the major version and update set of Red Hat Enterprise Linux that was used to build that version of CentOS. For example, CentOS 4.7 is built from the source packages from RHEL 4 update 7.[9]

Since mid-2006, starting with version 4.4 (formally known as Red Hat Enterprise Linux 4.0 update 4), Red Hat has adopted a versioning convention identical to that of CentOS, e.g., RHEL 4.5.[10]

Release history
Version number Architectures[11] RHEL base Kernel CentOS release date RHEL release date Delay
2.1 i386 2.1 2.4.9 2004-05-14[1] 2002-05-17[12] 728d
3.1 i386, x86-64, IA-64, s390, s390x 3.1 2.4.21-15 2004-03-19[13] 2003-10-23[12] 148d
3.3 i386, x86-64, IA-64, s390, s390x 3.3 2.4.21-20 2004-09-17 2004-09-03 14d
3.4 i386, x86-64, IA-64, s390, s390x 3.4 2.4.21-27 2005-01-23 2004-12-12 42d
3.5 i386 3.5 2.4.21-32 2005-06-10[14] 2005-05-18 23d
3.6 i386 3.6 2.4.21-37 2005-11-01[15] 2005-09-28 34d
3.7 i386, x86-64, IA-64, s390, s390x 3.7 2.4.21-40 2006-04-10[16] 2006-03-17 23d
3.8 i386, x86-64 3.8 2.4.21-47 2006-08-25[17] 2006-07-20 36d
3.9 i386, x86-64, IA-64, s390, s390x 3.9 2.4.21-50 2007-07-26[18] 2007-06-15 41d
4.0 i386, x86-64, various 4.0 2.6.9-5 2005-03-09[19] 2005-02-14[20] 23d
4.1 i386, IA-64, s390 4.1 2.6.9-11 2005-06-12[21] 2005-06-08 4d
4.2 i386, x86-64, IA-64, s390, s390x, alpha 4.2 2.6.9-22 2005-10-13[22] 2005-10-05 8d
4.3 i386, x86-64, IA-64, s390, s390x 4.3 2.6.9-34 2006-03-21[23] 2006-03-12 9d
4.4 i386, x86-64 4.4 2.6.9-42 2006-08-30[24] 2006-08-10 20d
4.5 i386, x86-64, IA-64 4.5 2.6.9-55 2007-05-17[25] 2007-05-01 16d
4.6 i386, x86-64, IA-64, Alpha, s390, s390x, PowerPC (beta), SPARC (beta) 4.6 2.6.9-67 2007-12-16[26] 2007-11-16[27] 30d
4.7 i386, x86-64 4.7 2.6.9-78 2008-09-13[28] 2008-07-24[29] 51d
4.8 i386, x86-64 4.8 2.6.9-89 2009-08-21[30] 2009-05-18[31] 95d
4.9 i386, x86-64 4.9 2.6.9-100 2011-03-02[32] 2011-02-16[33] 14d
5.0 i386, x86-64 5.0 2.6.18-8 2007-04-12[34] 2007-03-14[35] 28d
5.1 i386, x86-64 5.1 2.6.18-53 2007-12-02[36] 2007-11-07[37] 25d
5.2 i386, x86-64 5.2 2.6.18-92 2008-06-24[38] 2008-05-21[39] 34d
5.3 i386, x86-64 5.3 2.6.18-128 2009-03-31[40] 2009-01-20[41] 69d
5.4 i386, x86-64 5.4 2.6.18-164 2009-10-21[42] 2009-09-02[43] 49d
5.5 i386, x86-64 5.5 2.6.18-194 2010-05-14[44] 2010-03-31[45] 44d
5.6 i386, x86-64 5.6 2.6.18-238 2011-04-08[46] 2011-01-13[47] 85d
5.7 i386, x86-64 5.7 2.6.18-274 2011-09-13[48] 2011-07-21[49] 54d
5.8 i386, x86-64 5.8 2.6.18-308 2012-03-07[50] 2012-02-21[51] 15d
5.9 i386, x86-64 5.9 2.6.18-348 2013-01-17[52] 2013-01-07[53] 10d
6.0 i386, x86-64 6.0 2.6.32-71 2011-07-10[54] 2010-11-10[55] 242d
6.1 i386, x86-64 6.1 2.6.32-131 2011-12-09[56] 2011-05-19[57] 204d
6.2 i386, x86-64 6.2 2.6.32-220 2011-12-20[58] 2011-12-06[59] 14d
6.3 i386, x86-64 6.3 2.6.32-279 2012-07-09[60] 2012-06-21[61] 18d
6.4 i386, x86-64 6.4 2.6.32-358 2013-03-09[62] 2013-02-21[63] 15d

In accordance with the Red Hat Enterprise Linux Life Cycle CentOS 5 and 6 will also be supported for 10 years.[64] Previously, CentOS 4 had been supported for 7 years.[65]

End of support schedule
CentOS Release Full Updates Maintenance Updates
3 2006-07-20 2010-10-31
4 2009-03-31 2012-02-29
5 Q1 2014 2017-03-31
6 Q2 2017 2020-11-30
Releases that have no upstream equivalent
CentOS Release Architectures RHEL base CentOS release date
4.7 - Server i386, x86-64 4.7 2008-10-17[66]
5.1 - LiveCD i386 5.1 2008-02-18[67]
5.2 - LiveCD i386 5.2 2008-07-17[68]
5.3 - LiveCD i386 5.3 2009-05-27[69]
5.5 - LiveCD i386, x86-64 5.5 2010-05-14[44]
5.6 - LiveCD i386, x86-64 5.6 2011-04-08[46]
6.0 - LiveCD i386, x86-64 6.0 2011-07-25[70]
6.0 - LiveDVD i386, x86-64 6.0 2011-07-27[71]
6.0 - MinimalCD i386, x86-64 6.0 2011-07-28[72]
6.1 - LiveCD i386, x86-64 6.1 2011-12-09[73]
6.1 - LiveDVD i386, x86-64 6.1 2011-12-09[74]
6.1 - MinimalCD i386, x86-64 6.1 2011-12-09[75]
6.2 - LiveCD i386, x86-64 6.2 2011-12-20[76]
6.2 - LiveDVD i386, x86-64 6.2 2011-12-20[76]
6.2 - MinimalCD i386, x86-64 6.2 2011-12-20[58]
6.3 - MinimalCD i386, x86-64 6.3 2012-07-09[60]
6.3 - LiveCD i386, x86-64 6.3 2012-07-15
6.3 - LiveDVD i386, x86-64 6.3 2012-07-15
6.4 - MinimalCD i386, x86-64 6.4 2013-03-09[62]

Architectures [edit]

CentOS supports only the x86 architectures:[3]

The following architectures are not supported by CentOS (as of version 6):

A Live CD version of CentOS is available at mirror.centos.org. A Live USB of CentOS can be created manually or with UNetbootin.

See also [edit]

Portal icon Free software portal
Portal icon Linux portal

References [edit]

  1. ^ a b c John Newbigin (2004-05-14). "CentOS-2 Final finally released". Retrieved 2008-06-01. 
  2. ^ "Purpose of CentOS". CentOS Project. Retrieved 2009-04-21. 
  3. ^ a b "About/Product - CentOS Wiki". CentOS Wiki. Retrieved 18 April 2013. 
  4. ^ "Retirement of TaoLinux". CentOS Project. Retrieved 2009-04-21. 
  5. ^ Perlow, Jason. (2 August 2009). CentOS: Getting Their S#!t Together is a Top Priority. ZDNet
  6. ^ "The most popular Linux for Web servers is ..." (blog). computerworld.com. 
  7. ^ "Debian is now the most popular Linux distribution on web servers". w3techs.com. 
  8. ^ "Red Hat License Agreements". Red Hat. Retrieved 2008-06-01. 
  9. ^ "What is the versioning/release scheme of CentOS and how does it compare to the upstream vendor?". CentOS Project. Retrieved 2009-04-21. 
  10. ^ "Red Hat Enterprise Linux > AS/ES/WS Basics". Red Hat. Retrieved 2008-08-11. [dead link]
  11. ^ "CentOS Overview". 
  12. ^ a b Red Hat. "Red Hat Enterprise Linux Errata Support Policy". Retrieved 2008-06-01. 
  13. ^ Lance Davis (2004-03-19). "CentOS 3.1 has now been released". Retrieved 2008-06-01. 
  14. ^ Lance Davis (2005-06-10). "[CentOS-announce] CentOS 3.5 i386 is released". 
  15. ^ Lance Davis (2005-11-01). "[CentOS-announce] CentOS 3.6 is released.". 
  16. ^ Lance Davis (2006-04-10). "[CentOS-announce] CentOS 3.7 is released". 
  17. ^ Johnny Hughes (2006-08-25). "[CentOS-announce] Subject: CentOS 3.8 is released for i386 and x86_64". 
  18. ^ CentOS Team (2007-07-26). "CentOS 3.9 is released for i386 and x86_64". Retrieved 2008-10-21. 
  19. ^ DistroWatch.com (2005-03-09). "Distribution Release: CentOS 4". 
  20. ^ DistroWatch.com (2005-02-14). "Distribution Release: Red Hat Enterprise Linux 4". 
  21. ^ Johnny Hughes (2005-06-12). "[CentOS-announce] CentOS 4 i386 - CentOS 4.1 i386 is available". 
  22. ^ Johnny Hughes (2005-10-13). "[CentOS-announce] CentOS-4.2 is Released for i386, x86_64, IA-64, s390, s390x and alpha architectures". 
  23. ^ Johnny Hughes (2006-03-21). "[CentOS-announce] CentOS 4.3 is Released for i386, x86_64, and IA-64". 
  24. ^ Johnny Hughes (2006-08-30). "[CentOS-announce] CentOS 4.4 is released for i386 and x86_64". 
  25. ^ Johnny Hughes (2007-05-17). "[CentOS-announce] CentOS 4.5 is released for i386, x86_64, and IA-64". 
  26. ^ DistroWatch.com (2007-12-16). "Distribution Release: CentOS 4.6". Retrieved 2008-11-10. 
  27. ^ DistroWatch.com (2007-11-16). "Distribution Release: Red Hat Enterprise Linux 4.6". Retrieved 2008-11-10. 
  28. ^ Johnny Hughes (2008-09-13). "CentOS 4.7 is released for i386 and x86_64". Retrieved 2008-09-14. 
  29. ^ Red Hat Enterprise Linux team (2008-07-24). "Red Hat Enterprise Linux 4.7 GA Announcement". Retrieved 2008-09-14. 
  30. ^ Johnny Hughes (2009-08-21). "CentOS 4 i386 and x86_64 release of CentOS-4.8". 
  31. ^ Red Hat Enterprise Linux team (2009-05-18). "Red Hat Enterprise Linux 4.8 GA Announcement". Retrieved 2010-03-12. 
  32. ^ Johnny Hughes (2011-03-02). "CentOS 4 i386 and x86_64 release of CentOS-4.9". 
  33. ^ Red Hat Enterprise Linux team (2011-02-16). "Red Hat Enterprise Linux 4.9 GA Announcement". 
  34. ^ Karanbir Singh (2007-04-12). "Release for CentOS-5 i386 and x86_64". Retrieved 2008-06-01. 
  35. ^ Red Hat Enterprise Linux team (2007-03-15). "Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 Now Available". Retrieved 2008-06-01. 
  36. ^ Karanbir Singh (2007-12-02). "Release for CentOS-5.1 i386 and x86_64". Retrieved 2008-06-01. 
  37. ^ Red Hat Enterprise Linux team (2007-11-07). "Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.1 General Availability Announcement". Retrieved 2008-06-01. 
  38. ^ Karanbir Singh (2008-06-24). "Release for CentOS-5.2 i386 and x86_64". Retrieved 2009-02-03. 
  39. ^ Red Hat Enterprise Linux team (2008-05-21). "Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.2 General Availability Announcement". Retrieved 2009-01-22. 
  40. ^ Karanbir Singh (2009-04-01). "Release for CentOS-5.3 i386 and x86_64". Retrieved 2009-04-01. 
  41. ^ Red Hat Enterprise Linux team (2009-01-20). "Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.3 General Availability Announcement". Retrieved 2009-01-22. 
  42. ^ Singh, Karanbir (21 Oct 2009). "[CentOS-announce] Release for CentOS-5.4 i386 and x86_64". lists.centos.org. Retrieved 2009-10-24. 
  43. ^ Red Hat Enterprise Linux team (2009-09-02). "Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.4 GA Announcement". Retrieved 2009-09-22. 
  44. ^ a b Singh, Karanbir (14 May 2010). "[CentOS-announce] Release for CentOS-5.5 i386 and x86_64". lists.centos.org. Retrieved 2010-05-15. 
  45. ^ Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 (Tikanga) announcement mailing-list (2010-03-31). "[rhelv5-announce] Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.5 GA Announcement". Retrieved 2010-05-15. 
  46. ^ a b "Release for CentOS-5.6 i386 and x86_64". Retrieved 2011-04-08. 
  47. ^ "Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.6 Now Available". Retrieved 2011-01-13. [dead link]
  48. ^ "Release for CentOS-5.7 i386 and x86_64". 2011-09-13. Retrieved 2011-09-13. 
  49. ^ "Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.7 Release Notes". Retrieved 2011-07-21. 
  50. ^ "Release for CentOS-5.8 i386 and x86_64". 2012-03-07. Retrieved 2012-03-08. 
  51. ^ "Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.8 Release Notes". Retrieved 2012-02-21. 
  52. ^ "Release for CentOS-5.9 i386 and x86_64". 2013-01-17. Retrieved 2013-01-17. 
  53. ^ "Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.9 Release Notes". Retrieved 2013-01-07. 
  54. ^ "Release for CentOS-6.0 i386 and x86_64". 2011-07-10. Retrieved 2011-07-10. 
  55. ^ Red Hat Enterprise Linux team (2010-11-10). "Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 Now Available". Retrieved 2010-11-10. 
  56. ^ "Release for CentOS-6.1 i386 and x86_64". 2011-12-09. Retrieved 2011-12-09. 
  57. ^ Red Hat Enterprise Linux team (2011-05-19). "Red Hat Delivers Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6.1". Retrieved 2011-05-19. [dead link]
  58. ^ a b "Release for CentOS-6.2 i386 and x86_64". 2011-12-20. Retrieved 2011-12-20. 
  59. ^ Red Hat Enterprise Linux team (2011-12-06). "Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6.2 Release Notes". Retrieved 2011-12-06. 
  60. ^ a b "Release for CentOS-6.3 i386 and x86_64". 2012-07-09. Retrieved 2012-07-09. 
  61. ^ Red Hat Enterprise Linux team (2012-06-21). "Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6.3 Release Notes". Retrieved 2012-06-21. 
  62. ^ a b "Release for CentOS-6.4 i386 and x86_64". 2013-03-08. Retrieved 2013-03-08. 
  63. ^ Red Hat Enterprise Linux team (2013-02-21). "Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6.4 Release Notes". Retrieved 2013-02-21. 
  64. ^ CentOS team (2012-09-22). "CentOS Wiki Frontpage". Retrieved 2012-09-22. 
  65. ^ CentOS team. "CentOS-4 i386 and x86_64 End of Life (EOL)". 
  66. ^ Karanbir Singh (2008-10-17). "CentOS 4.7 Server CD — i386 Released". Retrieved 2009-01-23. 
  67. ^ Patrice Guay (2008-02-18). "CentOS 5 i386 - The CentOS-5.1 i386 Live CD is released". Retrieved 2009-03-25. 
  68. ^ Patrice Guay (2008-07-17). "CentOS 5 i386 - The CentOS-5.2 i386 Live CD is released". Retrieved 2009-02-03. 
  69. ^ "[CentOS-announce] CentOS 5 i386 - The CentOS-5.3 i386 Live CD is released". CentOS mailing list. Retrieved 2009-06-22. 
  70. ^ Karanbir Singh (2011-07-25). "Release for CentOS-6.0 LiveCD i386 and x86_64". Retrieved 2011-07-25. 
  71. ^ Karanbir Singh (2011-07-27). "Release for CentOS-6.0 LiveDVD i386 and x86_64". Retrieved 2011-07-28. 
  72. ^ Karanbir Singh (2011-07-28). "Release for CentOS-6.0 Minimal i386 and x86_64". Retrieved 2011-07-29. 
  73. ^ Karanbir Singh (2011-12-09). "Release for CentOS-6.1 LiveCD i386 and x86_64". Retrieved 2011-12-10. 
  74. ^ Karanbir Singh (2011-12-09). "Release for CentOS-6.1 LiveDVD i386 and x86_64". Retrieved 2011-12-10. 
  75. ^ Karanbir Singh (2011-12-09). "Release for CentOS-6.1 Minimal i386 and x86_64". Retrieved 2011-12-10. 
  76. ^ a b "CentOS 6.2 Release Notes". 2011-12-20. Retrieved 2011-12-20. 

Further reading [edit]

External links [edit]
Red Hat Enterprise Linux derivatives
Fedora derivatives
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