Red Hat-compatible AlmaLinux 10.1 with Package Updates and Btrfs
The Red Hat-compatible AlmaLinux has been released in version 10.1. It brings packages up to date and supports Btrfs.
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The Linux distribution AlmaLinux has been released in version 10.1. It continues to provide compatibility with Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) but now also supports Btrfs and more hardware. Naturally, the software packages are also up-to-date.
In a blog post, the maintainers announce AlmaLinux 10.1 codenamed "Heliotrope Lion." The innovations remain modest. The developers particularly highlight the support for the Btrfs file system. AlmaLinux can even be installed directly onto a Btrfs file system. The installer and storage management can already handle this, with further support in AlmaLinux applications to follow.
What distinguishes AlmaLinux from Red Hat includes additional added drivers; in particular, the Linux distribution supports many more network cards or additional RAID controllers. The lists the AlmaLinux changelog lists these in detail. While Red Hat relies on x86_64-v3 as the minimally supported processor architecture, which describes the instruction extensions of Intel Haswell architecture from 2013, AlmaLinux also offers x86_64-v2 builds, meaning for instruction sets that came from Intel Nehalem processors from 2008 onwards. However, third-party packages for RHEL 10 also rely on v3 instruction sets, meaning only environments that can manage with the factory-provided packages are still supported.
Further Improvements in AlmaLinux
The AlmaLinux maintainers also add that they have re-enabled support for Spice -- for example, for accessing virtual desktops -- on servers and clients. Developers can also use frame pointers for profiling, tracing, and ultimately optimizing workloads. In the IBM Power virtualization stack, the developers have also enabled KVM, which should function similarly to how it does under AlmaLinux 8.
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Otherwise, interested parties will find current package versions in the changelog. Further changes are based on those in RHEL 10.1, therefore the changelog applies, the maintainers explain.
In mid-2023, AlmaLinux had announced that after the controversy surrounding the Red Hat Enterprise Linux source texts, the distribution would no longer be rebuilt identically. However, compatibility remains.
(dmk)
