The past
You might have read the first part of this topic and wonder where we stand today…?!
Spoiler: Guess what.. None on this list is the favorite these days! O_o
It has been a while since I wrote that first post (>3 years..) and so it’s time to review real life scenarios.
When it comes to distro decisions a lot of factors come into play and not necessarily those with best / most logic arguments win. This might apply for the successor of CentOS, too.
Again the following does reflect my very own experience at my customer base and from what I hear based on direct reports of other freelancers working each for their own customer base within Europe (mainly Germany) only.
What were the ideal choice at that time again?
(reminder: the following was for 2021)
If willing to change the base (rpm): Ubuntu -> RHEL -> Oracle Linux -> SLES
Not willing to change the base (rpm): RHEL -> Oracle Linux
Funny thing is that Ubuntu still has not a good standing in companies here. Usually you always find Debian systems everywhere but not Ubuntu. My assumption is that it is because Canonical always had the main focus on desktops for long time. Well today it is definitively no choice anymore for many due to the move to snap for tons of applications.
3 years ago the newcomers Rocky Linux and Alma Linux were too new to get into my list of recommendations but now it’s their time to shine it seems.
First things first: IBM clearly made a good choice (for them) to stop providing a stable RHEL clone. Many customers changed to RHEL due to that fact – at least at first. Thanks to the awesome Open Source community there were even 2 clones available very quickly after the announcement of CentOS “Stream-Only” but many were scared at that time – as it is always with new / changed things.
The new
Actually the main question these days is: should it be Rocky or Alma?
There are several arguments for the one or the other and many rumors around both of them and I am not here to judge. There are tons of comparisons out there which all come to the same conclusion (if they are serious): both are fine and just have few differences… which might matter for you.. or not.
Just a few words about both of them:
Rocky Linux
Rocky Linux has often a bad standing due to posts like this while not everything seems to be the full truth or better said with a negative direction against it. Besides that the main reason for Rockys little lower reputation is the fact it is not a non-profit foundation behind – and – last but not least – the (I name it) “Greg effect“. More important (for some) it is also not FIPS compliant though (atm of writing). There was a big step in that regard but nothing much happened since then – up to today.
Speaking in favor of Rocky is that is has (like Alma) a solid community, many sponsors and receives often a big funding by CIQ (the Greg company). Besides that it beats Alma Linux in several stats (see the following “Some stats” topic).
Being not a non-profit foundation is clearly mentioned on their website, instead they describe themselves as a self-imposed not-for-profit organization founded as a Delaware Public Benefits Corporation (PBC). As said, I leave it up to you to judge if that’s good or bad.
Overall Rocky seems to be a solid choice for the most.
Alma Linux
On the other site Alma Linux has often a bad standing due to the fact it was founded by CloudLinux and the CEO of CloudLinux Igor Seletskiy is still attending in the Alma Linux board meetings (as guest only though since his retirement 7 months after the first Alma release). Is that something to worry about? Truly not – but it is enough for some to spread FUD on it including Alma Linux would be controlled by Russia etc. I don’t say there is FUD about Rocky as well, just I see it more often for Alma.
Speaking in favor of Alma is that is has (like Rocky) a solid community, also many sponsors (2023, 2024 up to now) and they are also the founders of ELevate – the major tool for doing in-place migrations from one (RHEL based) distribution to the other (i.e. between Rocky, Alma, RHEL, …).
As mentioned the AlmaLinux OS Foundation is a 501(c)(6) non-profit organization (bylaws) and last but not least (if that is important for you) Alma is already FIPS compliant.
Overall Alma seems to be a solid choice for the most, as well.
So where do we stand today?
Ubuntu is clearly out of scope here. There was a time where I said unfortunately but this changed to thankfully now. Main reason is some of the (imho) stupid decisions Canonical did – like snap.
Debian is still a valid choice these days but what about the main stream of people coming from CentOS? They likely do not want to switch to a complete new distribution and yes, they didn’t. Not just because of the learning curve but also because of support, more recent tools/software they need etc. Still there is Debian in any of my customer base, of course. Just not more than before due to the CentOS change.
Fact is that no one is on CentOS Stream. Not surprisingly though. Companies like static long term supported distributions where they can plan and calculate with.
Another fact is that no one (of those I can report on) switched to Ubuntu nor Debian nor Oracle Linux nor SuSE.
There are only 2 main approaches we saw:
- either RHEL (if money is no issue) or
- Alma Linux
Rocky? Contrary to some of the following stats we saw it just at 3 of my customers out of 30 and these were not in bigger environments.
Some stats
DistroWatch:
Rocky: Popularity (hits per day): 12 months: 49 (190), 6 months: 51 (193), 3 months: 40 (232), 4 weeks: 63 (153), 1 week: 60 (157)
Alma: Popularity (hits per day): 12 months: 28 (306), 6 months: 25 (293), 3 months: 21 (374), 4 weeks: 38 (235), 1 week: 51 (213)
Docker
Rocky: >10M pulls VS. Alma: >5M pulls
Google Trend:
Rocky vs. Alma based on search queries since April 2021: interest level between 0-100
Conclusion
There are no absolute clear reasons for the one or the other (Rocky vs. Alma) while fans of these distributions will likely protest loudly now ;)
If you really require a RHEL clone (so do not want to completely switch the base) go with RHEL for major systems and Alma Linux for the rest. Again this is just the outcome of my personal experience, tests and reports I got within my European (mainly Germany) customer base and freelancers.
Is it wrong to use Rocky? For sure not. For some it is an extreme important decision having it clearly stated as non-profit though – which Rocky is not (legally). Also ensure FIPS compliance is not important for you then (e.g. when using it in financial institutes or governments).
My recommendation (since 2022): Alma Linux and RHEL.
Based on the importance of a system I go with RHEL but not because RHEL is more stable, better or we require their support often, no, it is simply because to not let RHEL (and so its clones) die actually.
They all exist only as long as RHEL exists.. keep that in mind.
credits:
– image by rawpixel.com on Freepik
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