CentOS

CentOS
CentOS full logo.svg
CentOS 5.3.png
CentOS 5.3's default GNOME desktop
Company / developer The CentOS Project
OS family Unix-like
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]
Marketing target Free computing (desktops, mainframes, servers, workstations)
Available language(s) Multilingual
Package manager RPM Package Manager
Supported platforms IA-32, x86-64, PowerPC, i386, s390, s390x
Kernel type Monolithic (Linux)
Default user interface GNOME and KDE
License GNU GPL & Various others.
Official website www.centos.org

CentOS is a community-supported, mainly free software 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.[2] CentOS stands for Community ENTerprise Operating System.

CentOS is the most popular Linux distribution for web servers and the only community-supported linux distro listed in top500.org.[3]

Contents

Structure

Red Hat Enterprise Linux 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 either an open source or a free software license 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 Red Hat Enterprise Linux. Red Hat's branding and logos are changed because Red Hat does not allow them to be redistributed.[4]

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.

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.[5]

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.[6]

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 UTC[1] 2002-05-17[7]
3.1 i386, x86-64, IA-64, s390, s390x 3 2004-03-19[8] 2003-10-23[7]
3.4 - Server i386, x86-64, IA-64, s390, s390x 3.4 2005-01-23 -
3.7 i386, x86-64, IA-64, s390, s390x 3.7 2006-04-11[9] -
3.8 i386, x86-64 3.8 2006-08-25[10] 2006-07-20
3.9 i386, x86-64, IA-64, s390, s390x 3.9 2007-07-26[11] 2007-06-15
4 i386, x86-64, various 4 2005-03-09[12] 2005-02-14[13]
4.6 i386, x86-64, IA-64, Alpha, s390, s390x, PowerPC (beta), SPARC (beta) 4.6 2007-12-16[14] 2007-11-16[15]
4.7 i386, x86-64 4.7 2008-09-13[16] 2008-07-24[17]
4.7 - Server i386, x86-64 4.7 2008-10-17[18] -
4.8 i386, x86-64 4.8 2009-08-21[19] 2009-05-18[20]
5 i386, x86-64 5 2007-04-12[21] 2007-03-14[22]
5.1 i386, x86-64 5.1 2007-12-02[23] 2007-11-07[24]
5.1 - LiveCD i386 5.1 2008-02-18[25] -
5.2 i386, x86-64 5.2 2008-06-24[26] 2008-05-21[27]
5.2 - LiveCD i386 5.2 2008-07-17[28] -
5.3 i386, x86-64 5.3 2009-03-31[29] 2009-01-20[30]
5.3 - LiveCD i386 5.3 2009-05-27[31] -
5.4 i386, x86-64 5.4 2009-10-21[32] 2009-09-02[33]
5.5 i386, x86-64 5.5 2010-05-14 UTC[34] 2010-03-31[35]

Architectures

CentOS supports only the x86 architectures:[36][37]

The following architectures are not supported by CentOS (as of version 4):

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.

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. Tao users migrated to the CentOS release via "yum update".[38]

Organizational difficulties

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.[39]

See also

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 John Newbigin (2004-05-14). "CentOS-2 Final finally released". http://lists.centos.org/pipermail/centos/2004-May/000153.html. Retrieved 2008-06-01. 
  2. ↑ "Purpose of CentOS". CentOS Project. http://www.centos.org/modules/tinycontent/index.php?id=3. Retrieved 2009-04-21. 
  3. ↑ "Usage of Linux for websites". W3Techs. http://w3techs.com/technologies/details/os-linux/all/all. Retrieved 2010-08-10. 
  4. ↑ "Red Hat License Agreements". Red Hat. http://www.redhat.com/licenses/rhel_rha_eula.html. Retrieved 2008-06-01. 
  5. ↑ "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 2009-04-21. 
  6. ↑ "Red Hat Enterprise Linux > AS/ES/WS Basics". Red Hat. http://kbase.redhat.com/faq/FAQ_80_10667.shtm. Retrieved 2008-08-11. 
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 Red Hat. "Red Hat Enterprise Linux Errata Support Policy". http://www.redhat.com/security/updates/errata/. Retrieved 2008-06-01. 
  8. ↑ Lance (2004-03-19). "CentOS 3.1 has now been released". http://lists.centos.org/pipermail/centos/2004-March/000015.html. Retrieved 2008-06-01. 
  9. ↑ CentOS Team (2006-04-11). "CentOS 3.7 for all Architectures is released". http://www.centos.org/modules/news/article.php?storyid=129. Retrieved 2008-10-21. 
  10. ↑ 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 2008-10-21. 
  11. ↑ CentOS Team (2007-07-26). "CentOS 3.9 is released for i386 and x86_64". http://lists.centos.org/pipermail/centos-announce/2007-July/014084.html. Retrieved 2008-10-21. 
  12. ↑ DistroWatch.com (2005-03-09). "Distribution Release: CentOS 4". http://distrowatch.com/2439. 
  13. ↑ DistroWatch.com (2005-02-14). "Distribution Release: Red Hat Enterprise Linux 4". http://distrowatch.com/?newsid=02364. 
  14. ↑ DistroWatch.com (2007-12-16). "Distribution Release: CentOS 4.6". http://distrowatch.com/?newsid=04657. Retrieved 2008-11-10. 
  15. ↑ DistroWatch.com (2007-11-16). "Distribution Release: Red Hat Enterprise Linux 4.6". http://distrowatch.com/?newsid=04592. Retrieved 2008-11-10. 
  16. ↑ 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 2008-09-14. 
  17. ↑ 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 2008-09-14. 
  18. ↑ Karanbir Singh (2008-10-17). "CentOS 4.7 Server CD - i386 Released". http://lists.centos.org/pipermail/centos-announce/2006-May/012927.html. Retrieved 2009-01-23. 
  19. ↑ Johnny Hughes (2009-08-21). "CentOS 4 i386 and x86_64 release of CentOS-4.8". http://lists.centos.org/pipermail/centos-announce/2009-August/016106.html. 
  20. ↑ Red Hat Enterprise Linux team (2009-05-18). "Red Hat Enterprise Linux 4.8 GA Announcement". https://www.redhat.com/archives/rhelv4-announce/2009-May/msg00000.html. Retrieved 2010-03-12. 
  21. ↑ 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 2008-06-01. 
  22. ↑ 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 2008-06-01. 
  23. ↑ 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 2008-06-01. 
  24. ↑ 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 2008-06-01. 
  25. ↑ 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 2009-03-25. 
  26. ↑ 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 2009-02-03. 
  27. ↑ 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 2009-01-22. 
  28. ↑ 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 2009-02-03. 
  29. ↑ 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 2009-04-01. 
  30. ↑ 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 2009-01-22. 
  31. ↑ "[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 2009-06-22. 
  32. ↑ Singh, Karanbir (21 Oct 2009). "[CentOS-announce] Release for CentOS-5.4 i386 and x86_64". lists.centos.org. http://lists.centos.org/pipermail/centos-announce/2009-October/016195.html. Retrieved 2009-10-24. 
  33. ↑ Red Hat Enterprise Linux team (2009-09-02). "Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.4 GA Announcement". http://www.redhat.com/archives/rhelv5-announce/2009-September/msg00000.html. Retrieved 2009-09-22. 
  34. ↑ Singh, Karanbir (14 May 2010). "[CentOS-announce] Release for CentOS-5.5 i386 and x86_64". lists.centos.org. http://lists.centos.org/pipermail/centos-announce/2010-May/016638.html. Retrieved 2010-05-15. 
  35. ↑ Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 (Tikanga) announcement mailing-list (2010-03-31). "[rhelv5-announce] Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.5 GA Announcement". http://www.redhat.com/archives/rhelv5-announce/2010-March/msg00000.html. Retrieved 2010-05-15. 
  36. ↑ "About CentOS". CentOS. http://www.centos.org/modules/tinycontent/index.php?id=2. Retrieved 2008-06-01. 
  37. ↑ "Red Hat Enterprise Linux server details". Red Hat. http://www.redhat.com/rhel/server/details/#architectures. Retrieved 2008-06-01. 
  38. ↑ "Retirement of TaoLinux". CentOS Project. http://www.centos.org/modules/news/article.php?storyid=135. Retrieved 2009-04-21. 
  39. ↑ Perlow, Jason. (2 August 2009). CentOS: Getting Their S#!t Together is a Top Priority. ZDNet

Further reading

External links

Derivatives of Red Hat Enterprise Linux or Fedora
Red Hat Enterprise Linux derivatives
CentOS · Scientific Linux · Oracle Enterprise Linux · Yellow Dog Linux
Fedora derivatives
Berry Linux · BLAG Linux and GNU · LinuxTLE · MythDora · Aurora SPARC Linux · Planet CCRMA · Red Flag Linux
Linux distributions
Arch Linux · CentOS · Debian · Fedora · Gentoo · Knoppix · Linux Mint · Mandriva · PCLinuxOS · Red Hat Enterprise Linux · Slackware · SUSE · Ubuntu · more…