We are pleased to announce the immediate availability of CentOS-6.6 and install media for i386 and x86_64 Architectures. Release Notes for 6.6 are available at http://wiki.centos.org/Manuals/ReleaseNotes/CentOS6.6 - we recommend everyone review these release notes.

CentOS-6.6 is based on source code released by Red Hat, Inc. for Red Hat Enterprise Linux. All upstream variants have been placed into one combined repository to make it easier for end users. Workstation, server, and minimal installs can all be done from our combined repository.

There are many fundamental changes in this release, compared with the past CentOS-6 releases, and we highly recommend everyone study the upstream Release Notes as well as the upstream Technical Notes about the changes and how they might impact your installation. (See the 'Further Reading' section if the CentOS release notes link above).

All updates since the upstream 6.6 release are also on the CentOS-6.6 mirrors as zero day updates. When installing CentOS-6.6 (or any other version) from any of our media, you should always run 'yum update' after the install.

Users consuming our centos-cr repositories will already be running all the packages that make up CentOS-6.6 as of one week ago and will notice only the centos-release rpm update today. For more information on the CR repository for future updates, see this link: http://wiki.centos.org/AdditionalResources/Repositories/CR

Release Announcements for all updated packages are available here: http://lists.centos.org/pipermail/centos-cr-announce/2014-October/thread.htm...

+++++++++++++++++++++++ Upgrading From Prior Major CentOS Versions:

We recommend everyone perform a fresh reinstall rather than attempt an in place upgrade from other major CentOS versions (CentOS-2.1, CentOS-3.x, CentOS-4.x, CentOS-5.x).

+++++++++++++++++++++++ Upgrading from CentOS-6.0 / 6.1 / 6.2 / 6.3 / 6.4 or 6.5

CentOS is designed to automatically upgrade between releases within a major version (in this case, CentOS-6). Unless you have edited your yum default configuration, a 'yum update' should move your machines seamlessly from any previous CentOS-6.x release to CentOS-6.6.

+++++++++++++++++++++++ Downloading CentOS-6.6 for new installs:

When possible, consider using torrents to obtain our ISOs. Usually it is also the fastest means to download the distro.

Torrent files for the DVD's are available at : http://mirror.centos.org/centos/6.6/isos/i386/CentOS-6.6-i386-bin-DVD1to2.to... http://mirror.centos.org/centos/6.6/isos/x86_64/CentOS-6.6-x86_64-bin-DVD1to...

You can also use a mirror close to you to get any of our ISOs: http://mirror.centos.org/centos/6.6/isos/

If you need to update a local mirror, you can choose from our mirror network: http://www.centos.org/download/mirrors/

Most mirrors will allow downloads over http, ftp and rsync.

Please keep in mind that not all mirrors are currently updated, some may take as long as 24 hours after this announcement to receive all CentOS-6.6 content.

We have made efforts to ensure that most install types and roles can be done from DVD-1 itself.

Note: Some UEFI machines can not use the 'netinstall' ISOs, but either the DVD or minimal ISOs will work with UEFI. Secure Boot must be disabled to install CentOS-6.6.

+++++++++++++++++++++++ sha1sum for the CentOS-6.6 ISOS:

i386: d16aa4a8e6f71fb01fcc26d8ae0e3443ed514c8e CentOS-6.6-i386-bin-DVD1.iso be31aa5c635363092b944e5d43c6a77f2398c3a0 CentOS-6.6-i386-bin-DVD2.iso 6760e2e2a807081731763fcfa680d8413cf24cb7 CentOS-6.6-i386-minimal.iso 2fd5d721b174e40331e6733368f9c2a0206fc4aa CentOS-6.6-i386-netinstall.iso

x86_64: 08be09fd7276822bd3468af8f96198279ffc41f0 CentOS-6.6-x86_64-bin-DVD1.iso 826b1e03238934577cee0359e8d2200b399728b0 CentOS-6.6-x86_64-bin-DVD2.iso 4ed6c56d365bd3ab12cd88b8a480f4a62e7c66d2 CentOS-6.6-x86_64-minimal.iso 2560335ef975907799251ae9d6a0fa2e4d289704 CentOS-6.6-x86_64-netinstall.iso

+++++++++++++++++++++++ Cloud Images:

Images for various on-premise and off-premise Cloud environments are currently under development for CentOS-6.6 and will be released in the coming days. Everyone looking to join and help with the CentOS Cloud efforts is encouraged to join the CentOS-Virt list where such issues are discussed ( http://lists.centos.org/mailman/listinfo/centos-virt ).

+++++++++++++++++++++++ Getting Help:

The best place to start when looking for help with CentOS is at the wiki ( http://wiki.centos.org/GettingHelp ) which lists various options and communities who might be able to help. If you think there is a bug in the system, do report it at http://bugs.centos.org/ - but keep in mind that the bugs system is *not* a support mechanism. If you need supported software with Support Level Agreements, people to call and response times then we recommend Red Hat Enterprise Linux.

+++++++++++++++++++++++ Meet-ups and training sessions:

The next CentOS Dojo is going to take place in Barcelona, Spain, on October 29th, 2014: http://wiki.centos.org/Events/Dojo/Barcelona2014

We also are having a CentOS Dojo in Seattle, WA on November 11th, 2014: http://wiki.centos.org/Events/Dojo/LISA14

Other CentOS events can be found on the wiki: http://wiki.centos.org/Events

If you would like to get involved in helping organize, run, present or sponsor a CentOS Dojo or even just want more details then join the CentOS Promo list: http://lists.centos.org/mailman/listinfo/centos-promo

+++++++++++++++++++++++ Contributing and joining the project:

We are always looking for people to join and help with various things in the project. If you are keen to help out a good place to start is the wiki page at http://wiki.centos.org/Contribute . If you have questions or a specific area you would like to contribute towards that is not covered on that page, feel free to drop in on #centos-devel at irc.freenode.net for a chat or email the centos-devel list (http://lists.centos.org).

+++++++++++++++++++++++ Thanks to everyone who contributed towards making CentOS 6.6, especially the effort put in, as always, by the QA (http://wiki.centos.org/QaGroup) and Build teams.

A special shout out to all the donors who have contributed hardware, network connectivity, hosting and resources over the years. The CentOS project now has a fairly well setup resource pool, solely thanks to the donors.

Enjoy!

- -- Johnny Hughes <johnny at centos.org> The CentOS Project {http://www.centos.org%7D irc: hughesjr at irc.freenode.net ( #centos, #centos-devel, #centos-social )