CentOS Stream Lifecycle: End Of Life And Support Status
Last updated on January 8, 2024
CentOS Stream is one of the projects of CentOS and is one of the many Linux distributions. While the other project (CentOS Linux) was downstream, CentOS Stream is an upstream distribution of Linux. This is because CentOS Linux was a rebuild of Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL), while CentOS Stream contains content that is planned for the upcoming minor release of RHEL.
The CentOS project is nearly terminating its CentOS Linux downstream distribution and focusing on CentOS Stream instead. This is why the CentOS Linux versions will no longer receive any kind of support.
Support status guide
End of life (EOL) is the end of a product’s useful life. When a product reaches the end of its life cycle, the manufacturer no longer supports it. The following table explains the different phases of a product’s lifecycle. Testing status is when the product is initially released and EOL is when product support is no longer offered. The time between these two points is the support timeframe.
Testing
The software is not yet publicly available. It is in testing phase i.e., alpha, beta, release preview etc.
Active
The software is actively supported by the vendor.
Phasing Out
The software will soon reach its end of life. You need to look for upgrade or migration options. The software will automatically go into phasing out status 2 months before end of life.
End Of Life
The software is no longer supported by the vendor. You need to make sure your system and environment are safe.
Version
Released
Active Support
Security Support
(15 September 2021)
(31 May 2027)
(31 May 2027)
(24 September 2019)
(31 May 2024)
(31 May 2024)
A CentOS Stream version is placed between Fedora Linux and RHEL. A CentOS Stream version builds on the ideas of a Fedora Linux version, takes more contributions from open-source contributors, and then releases its own version. RHEL then uses this version, builds on top of it, and then publishes its own OS.
The first version of CentOS Stream started from version 8. Before this, only the different CentOS Linux versions were available. Although there aren’t any announced rules, CentOS Stream is only released as major versions, and released in September. It is then supported for nearly 5 years and 9 months, which includes both Active and Security support. However, since no minor versions are released, the updates do not change the operating system’s version.
EOLs
