HackMDTentative date: Nov 19 Dec 03 Dec 11
Introducing CentOS Stream 10
The CentOS Project is delighted to announce the general availability of CentOS Stream 10 "Coughlan", the latest version of the CentOS Project distribution.
What is CentOS Stream?
CentOS Stream defines Enterprise Linux. It is a Linux distribution built by Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) engineers, and is used as the major version branch that RHEL minor versions are created from. It has roughly a five year lifecycle and will be maintained until 2030. The exact date will be contingent on the end of the Full Support phase of RHEL 10. Special Interest Groups (SIGs) and other communities use it as a trusted base for their tailored solutions. RHEL customers can use it as a preview of what's coming soon to RHEL.
CentOS Stream - a preview of RHEL, a solid base for CentOS SIGs
Building RHEL in the open
The source, the builds, the release, it all happens in the open. And because it's what's coming to RHEL, not a rebuild of what's already been there, you can contribute changes to shape the future of RHEL.
Because you're contributing to both a community project and an enterprise product, with many promises around stability compatibility, not all contributions will be appropriate. Please refer to our contribution guide for instructions on getting started. Some contributions should go further upstream to Fedora, which can lead to them being included in the next major version of CentOS Stream and RHEL.
What's new?
CentOS Stream 10 includes several exciting new features and enhancements. Some of the highlights include:
- Linux kernel 6.12
- Python 3.12
- Go 1.23
- Rust 1.82
- Valkey 7.2
- GNOME 47
For more details please refer to the release notes.
Getting Started
Ready to start using CentOS Stream 10?
Head to our download page
to grab an ISO.
You can also run the command
podman run -it --rm centos:stream10
to start an interactive shell inside a container image on you current distro.
extra notes, not part of actual annnouncement
CS9 reference: https://blog.centos.org/2021/12/introducing-centos-stream-9/
Most everything below this point has been incorporated into the release notes page, or needs to be incorporated into the new contribution guide.
Johnny suggested we have a note about how to install Firefox
Can we get a banner image for this post?
Would it make sense to mention the Content Resolver project at all as a contribution path?
Introducing CentOS Stream 10
The CentOS Project is delighted to announce the general availability of CentOS Stream 10 "Coughlan", the latest version of the CentOS Project distribution.
CentOS Stream is a Linux distribution built by Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) engineers. Special Interest Groups (SIGs) and other communities use it as a trusted base for their tailored solutions, and RHEL customers can use it as a preview of what's coming soon to RHEL.
What's included
CentOS Stream 10 includes many popular applications, programming languages, compilers, and more.
Programming languages and compilers:
- Python 3.12
- Go 1.23
- Rust 1.82
- LLVM 19
- Ruby 3.3
- Node.js 22
- PHP 8.3
- OpenJDK 21
- GCC 14
Webservers:
- Apache HTTP Server 2.4.62
- nginx 1.26
Databases:
- PostgreSQL 16
- MariaDB 10.11
- MySQL 8.4
- Valkey 7.2
What's not included
There are a few notable things that have been removed from CentOS Stream 10 as compared to previous versions. The most notable of these is Xorg server (xorg-x11-server-Xorg). CentOS Stream 10 will use Wayland instead, and will run Xorg applications via Xwayland. Please refer to this blog post for more details.
Another notable removal is desktop applications like Firefox and Thunderbird as RPM packages. Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10 plans to provide these as Flatpak packages. CentOS users can install Firefox from the Fedora Flatpak repository. First, enable the repository by running the following in your terminal:
Then you can open Gnome Software, search for Firefox, and install it. If you prefer terminal, you can do:
Removed packages in RHEL 10.0 Beta
Removed features and technologies in RHEL 10.0 Beta
Fedora, CentOS, and Red Hat
Watch a recent talk from Flock 2024 CentOS Stream - a preview of RHEL, a solid base for CentOS SIGs to learn about the relationship of the Fedora and CentOS projects, and Red Hat the company. And also Fedora Linux, CentOS Stream, and Red Hat Enterprise Linux!
It'll give you an overview about how CentOS Stream is built, how it's tested, what kinds of contributions make sense, and how CentOS SIGs are building on and extending CentOS Stream in all sorts of interesting ways without needing to reinvent the wheel.
Contributing to RPMs
CentOS Stream defines Enterprise Linux.
The source, the builds, the release, it all happens in the open. And because it's what's coming to RHEL, not a rebuild of what's already been there, you can contribute as well.
But because you're effectively contributing to an enterprise product — with many promises around stability, API and ABI compatibility (see links below) — only certain types of contributions make sense. See the following resources:
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9: Application Compatibility Guide
Red Hat Enterprise Linux Life Cycle
Red Hat Enterprise Linux Container Compatibility Matrix
All of this needs to be considered when making a contribution to CentOS Stream RPMs.
But everything starts in Fedora! And for the most ambitious (or disruptive!) contributions, Fedora the best place to go.
Contribute Release Tests
CentOS Stream 10 is the first release that's tested by the Integration SIG. Everyone is welcome to see the latest test results and of course contribute tests!
Unlike RPM contributions (which is effectively contributing to Red Hat Enterprise Linux), the Integration SIG is a CentOS Project-driven innitiatives with a way lower barrier of entry. Apart from contributing tests, you're welcome to help us define the testing process itself, contribution guidelines, release criteria, and more.
If that sounds interesting, join the Integration SIG!
…
Apart from comprehensive release tests, there are also RPM-level gating tests in each RPM repository. You are of course welcome to contribute there, too, but please mindful about what makes sense for RHEL to accept (see the Contributing to RPMs section above).
(maybe) Secureboot still in progress
https://github.com/rhboot/shim-review/issues/454
Known caveats
CentOS Stream 10 has been built using the x86_64 v3 microarchitecture level.
This is a change from CentOS Stream 9,
which was built using the v2 microarchitecture level.
This new level enables capabilities such as the AVX, AVX2, and FMA instruction sets.
However, it also results in a minimum CPU hardware requirement.
You can check what levels your CPU supports by running ld.so --help.
You can read more about this change in the
following article.
secureboot, if not working by the time of the announcement
Alternate Phrasings
Feel free to toss
What's changed?
Replaces "What's [Not] Included"
With any new major release of a distribution comes a degree of package churn. CentOS Stream 10 is no exception, and some of the changes may have a greater impact on user workloads. For a detailed rundown of the changes to the distribution, please see the RHEL 10.0 Beta adoption considerations and release notes. A few packages and technologies stand out for being noteworthy to a broad range of CentOS users.
Enhancements
Desktop
CentOS Stream 10 ships with GNOME 47, aggregating 3 years of development. There is much to appreciate in this iteration of the GNOME desktop environment with many UI and UX improvements.
…
For a more comprehensive overview of the changes from GNOME 40 to GNOME 47, please see the GNOME release announcements:
Developer Tools
Programming Languages and Compilers
- Python 3.12
- Ruby 3.3
- Node.js 22
- PHP 8.3
- OpenJDK 21
- GCC 14
- LLVM/Clang 19
- Rust 1.81
- Go 1.23
Web Servers
- Apache HTTP Server 2.4
- NGINX 1.26
Databases
- PostgreSQL 16 (with
pgvectorsupport) - MariaDB 10.11
- MySQL 8.4
- Valkey 7.2 (drop-in replacement for Redis)
Removals
Xorg
The Xorg server (xorg-x11-server-Xorg) has been removed from the distribution.
Deprecated in CentOS Stream 9, this removal completes the transition to a Wayland driven desktop.
Applications that require an X11 compatible environment will continue to run via the XWayland server (xorg-x11-server-Xwayland).
Please refer to this blog post for more details.
Desktop Applications
Several desktop applications have been removed in favor of alternative applications and solutions.
Firefox, Thunderbird, Evolution, and Totem (GNOME Videos) have been removed from the distribution. The Mozilla application suite is intended to be consumed via Flatpaks; there is ongoing work to make this a seamless transition. For the time being, they can be installed from Flatpak repositories, including Fedora's and Flathub.
Installing Flatpak applications from Fedora's registry
- Enable the repository
flatpak --user remote-add --if-not-exists fedora oci+https://registry.fedoraproject.org
- Install Firefox and Thunderbird
flatpak --user install fedora \
org.mozilla.Firefox \
org.mozilla.Thunderbird
Installing Flatpak applications from Flathub
- Enable the repository
flatpak --user remote-add --if-not-exists flathub https://dl.flathub.org/repo/flathub.flatpakrepo
- Install Firefox and Thunderbird
flatpak --user install flathub \
org.mozilla.Firefox \
org.mozilla.Thunderbird \
org.freedesktop.Platform.ffmpeg-full
Other small changes include:
| Application | CentOS Stream 9 | CentOS Stream 10 |
|---|---|---|
| Image Viewer | Eye of GNOME | Loupe |
| Camera | Cheese | Snapshot |
| Text Editor | gedit | GNOME Text Editor |
Desktop Technologies
The desktop stack has also seen some underlying changes that users and developers should be aware of.
Qt5, WebKitGTK, VNC, and PulseAudio's daemon have been removed from the distribution.
Developers are recommended to migrate their programs to Qt6 for enhanced functionality and features.
The removal of WebKitGTK and Firefox (including mozjs) does mean there is no native path to rendering web content.
A web browser such as Firefox or building with an alternative technology will be required.
VNC, provided by the TigerVNC package set, is succeeded by GNOME Remote Desktop utilizing RDP.
For audio, only the PulseAudio daemon has been removed.
The client libraries and utilities remain, with Pipewire providing the primary audio stack and PulseAudio compatible APIs.
