We are pleased to announce the immediate availability of CentOS Linux 6.9 and install media for i386 and x86_64 Architectures. Release Notes for 6.9 are available at:

http://wiki.centos.org/Manuals/ReleaseNotes/CentOS6.9

CentOS Linux 6.9 is derived from source code released by Red Hat, Inc. for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6.9. 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. All of our testing is only done against this combined distribution.

There are many fundamental changes in this release, compared with the past CentOS Linux 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 6.9 release are also on the CentOS mirrors as zero day updates. When installing CentOS-6.9 (or any other version) from any of our media, you should always run 'yum update' after the install to apply these.

Users consuming our CentOS-CR repositories will already be running most of the packages that make up CentOS-6.9, and all updates released since. They will notice only the centos-release, anaconda, curl, tzdata, and oracleasm updates today when moving to CentOS Linux 6.9. 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://bit.ly/2n1H8Bf

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

We recommend everyone perform a fresh reinstall rather than attempt an inplace 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 / 6.5 / 6.6 / 6.7 / 6.8

CentOS Linux 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 Linux 6.x release to 6.9. We also test this in our QA cycles and have noticed no problems, any issues would be mentioned in the Release Notes.

+++++++++++++++++++++++ Downloading CentOS Linux 6.9 for new installs:

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

The install media is split into various formats. We have made efforts to ensure that most install types and roles can be done from DVD-1 itself, and the minimal install ISO is only tested to deliver a minimal install set, when used as an ISO format ( either on cd or usb ). While other forms of installs ( eg. pxe delivered ) might work from the minimal ISO, they are neither tested not supported. The only format where we support the entire set of install options and delivery mechanisms is via the complete CentOS Linux 6.9 tree, which can also be created by consolidating all content from DVD1 and DVD2.

We no longer produce CD size images for the entire CentOS Linux 6 distribution, however the minimal install and netinstall iso images are small enough to fit on all CD grade media.

Torrent files for the DVD's are available at :

i386: http://bit.ly/2nDOzh8 x86_64: http://bit.ly/2naL2eY

If you download an ISO via torrent, leave it up for a couple hours to share with other users who are downloading.

You can also use a mirror close to you to get any of our ISOs: http://mirror.centos.org/centos/6.9/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.

Note: The x86_64 ISOs (minimal, netinstall, DVD1) should install on UEFI machines. Secure Boot must be disabled to install CentOS 6. The Live ISOs and i386 ISOs will not boot with UEFI.

+++++++++++++++++++++++ sha256sum for the CentOS-6.9 ISOS:

x86_64: CentOS-6.9-x86_64-bin-DVD1.iso: d27cf37a40509c17ad70f37bc743f038c1feba00476fe6b69682aa424c399ea6

CentOS-6.9-x86_64-bin-DVD2.iso: 631b8640460f46a8139a6a7cbbac5f3594d08c32945449b6bbd65234929ce7a4

CentOS-6.9-x86_64-minimal.iso: 422af57b493b8af49d485885a730c5a1d955f803fac85aa51311c393168b9080

CentOS-6.9-x86_64-netinstall.iso: 6b2cbec908708476389b143841a8e73462506de0744bda8b4192d3655d5bb8d2

CentOS-6.9-x86_64-LiveDVD.iso ae56f677786673ad476477ed2df84ce80cf5f9b90a44e25146e69ef3cfd02602

i386: CentOS-6.9-i386-bin-DVD1.iso: 0724a468ec0c4ac46ac6a1daba0273be697a37bb7f4e9fed8ad84ad270cdee2f

CentOS-6.9-i386-bin-DVD2.iso d95e427ca39588f4287f3bfdb080110c8dcbbfff76e1a6394395ec06858c8275

CentOS-6.9-i386-minimal.iso e104b3bc2261e40c020e4047d31a4454a00435787c54fb0a376261f9348382b7

CentOS-6.9-i386-netinstall.iso c498a47b5ec47ecc8423c96bb80e5dd530e4d98bb839c60476cf113d1e4de0d6

CentOS-6.9-i386-LiveDVD.iso 4f7cd0be1c223b22427830b101e3e1765a93d27ed668047d8183976247a8a427

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

Images for various on-premise and off-premise Cloud environments are currently under development for CentOS Linux 6.9 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-devel list where such issues are discussed ( http://lists.centos.org/mailman/listinfo/centos-devel ).

+++++++++++++++++++++++ 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.

If you have questions you would like to field at us in real time, come join the office hours on Wed or Thu of every week. You can find details on these at http://wiki.centos.org/OfficeHours

+++++++++++++++++++++++ Meet-ups and 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 and drop an email introducing yourself. We are very keen to find help to run events around the world, and also to find people who can represent CentOS at various community events around the world. (Current Events List: https://wiki.centos.org/Events )

+++++++++++++++++++++++ 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 Linux 6.9, 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 CentOS Project { http://www.centos.org/ } irc: hughesjr, #centos at irc.freenode.net Twitter: @JohnnyCentOS