CentOS Linux

Welcome to the mirror for CentOS Linux

Purpose of CentOS

The CentOS Linux distribution is a stable, predictable, manageable and reproducible platform derived from the sources of Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL). We are now looking to expand on that by creating the resources needed by other communities to come together and be able to build on the CentOS Linux platform. And today we start the process by delivering a clear governance model, increased transparency and access. In the coming weeks we aim to publish our own roadmap that includes variants of the core CentOS Linux.

Since March 2004, CentOS Linux has been a community-supported distribution derived from sources freely provided to the public by Red Hat. As such, CentOS Linux aims to be functionally compatible with RHEL. We mainly change packages to remove upstream vendor branding and artwork. CentOS Linux is no-cost and free to redistribute.

CentOS Linux is developed by a small but growing team of core developers. In turn the core developers are supported by an active user community including system administrators, network administrators, managers, core Linux contributors, and Linux enthusiasts from around the world.

Over the coming year, the CentOS Project will expand its mission to establish CentOS Linux as a leading community platform for emerging open source technologies coming from other projects such as OpenStack. These technologies will be at the center of multiple variations of CentOS, as individual downloads or accessed from a custom installer. Read more about the variants and Special Interest Groups that produce them.

The CentOS Project

Our purpose is to provide stable Linux solutions for organizations and individuals who do not need strong commercial support to achieve successful operation.

To meet that overall goal, we strive to achieve:

  • easy maintenance
  • self hosting distribution (one that can build on itself)
  • suitability for long term use in production environments
  • friendly environment for users and package maintainers
  • long-term support of the core
  • active development
  • community infrastructure
  • open management
  • open business model
  • commercial support - offered by partner vendors

CentOS uses the original sources whenever possible. Under normal circumstances CentOS will NOT add patches to original upstream source packages. The vast majority of changes made will be made to comply with the upstream vendor's re-distribution policies concerning trademarked names or logos. Any other changes made will be spelled out in the Release Notes for the individual CentOS product.

Click here to go to their official website.

All donations go towards the expansion project of Linux Freedom