[CentOS-devel] Queries on CentOS Stream

Thu Jan 7 09:43:09 UTC 2021
Chan, Catherine [ITS] <catherine.chan at polyu.edu.hk>

Hi,

I'm working in a University and we have a no. of servers running CentOS Linux. We chose CentOS Linux because it is free of charge.  Recently we learned that CentOS is shifting focus from CentOS Linux to CentOS Stream.  We are very concerned if CentOS Stream requires subscription and if updates/patches for CentOS Stream requires subscription.

Can you help on my queries below:

Question 1
Referring to 'FAQ - CentOS Project shifts focus to CentOS Stream' (https://centos.org/distro-faq/<https://secure-web.cisco.com/12vidbGo4KDeMy7BxwP79RXZ8adFilOrBfFEAuqwSj1E2GWAByDpMNh0PTewiEzSzsxsOsAOipvu1Til0zc6Q_igSjdcHWzQ2NpO74qdefGQoG3VCYZaBh3bVfZAGjD5C3fwyrfv21imb8gUektv1yrAVv4X9Mqkc0MMMmtVau9uNKJDUg96bzXYjr_s1KLu1-JYOyZPn64djm_rIGQ2CBuE1Pw5XcJx6pWasRgZ2QjSAl40JGxfXqeRlJSXXwOzZHUebFei0DeEOn877-DzphbMIw0RTnsobRBdNDcr_Bv9z0XH1z4Hy3wd6WRt4V5Eb/https%3A%2F%2Fcentos.org%2Fdistro-faq%2F>):

Q2: What about the other releases of CentOS Linux?
A:

  *   Updates for the CentOS Linux 6 distribution ended November 30, 2020<https://secure-web.cisco.com/1AFEn0WSozOLnX5KWTyqLb81hqQsytVdWyuFXdazPwmDg4Fs-4sm1Y_dCi0cZKfrGElHF-zlZr4JeLnHTNAOXCaXGtS--9Ymp0SdI2A7WdPIMsdzSmujwzbxHkSFj8QJrkPWaz3h15ynmJM-k0fMvhtpj8ayA3Pmr3Sh7PV6W9efKo1HjPPNNytlESjCHdbRfta3C8Ftyl6cfqIZo1FMZlwiMX_inFvX_eTZbbEtpaPKSBo9W2PIL63P26ln_SwsLDTd3cFmVZdRfbaHOLv_bwmyan1f6G1A_E6YVZZ1XwUTaD5Z_wwV8aX4Q7uF4U02F/https%3A%2F%2Fwiki.centos.org%2FAbout%2FProduct>.
  *   Updates for the CentOS Linux 7 distribution continue as before until the end of support for RHEL7<https://secure-web.cisco.com/1Vjg5-b7gAc7XPdTp009SgavZ85rt-79Y60WEjKdZHhQl-sqnRJAlvG9k-Yz1CcNC7xp1Mxdatzpdm6LfRYDcpgtwifkWsjWP_xfTy0CmNbzV3ahnM4OBVFg9booyDbXpcfeVhSzITINmB4eISdXEcOqwafpGuK27hQW1IUQ8gwgnyshxmgIULEHeHdmIqwvHhbxMMst-f7Xjbg5ffkooM5BK0MzzrJ3oV2ImeTiZAD96a7fPl_kP1MxES9swYCGR4u52LWGed4-k57CbMXtuY15yv72kHLIWMiY46katdOOdDl5AjOfWCS83YB1jIx9O/https%3A%2F%2Faccess.redhat.com%2Fsupport%2Fpolicy%2Fupdates%2Ferrata%2F%23Life_Cycle_Dates>.
  *   Updates for the CentOS Linux 8 distribution continue until the end of 2021; users can choose to switch over directly to CentOS Stream 8
  *   Updates for the CentOS Stream 8 distribution continue through the full RHEL support phase<https://secure-web.cisco.com/1Vjg5-b7gAc7XPdTp009SgavZ85rt-79Y60WEjKdZHhQl-sqnRJAlvG9k-Yz1CcNC7xp1Mxdatzpdm6LfRYDcpgtwifkWsjWP_xfTy0CmNbzV3ahnM4OBVFg9booyDbXpcfeVhSzITINmB4eISdXEcOqwafpGuK27hQW1IUQ8gwgnyshxmgIULEHeHdmIqwvHhbxMMst-f7Xjbg5ffkooM5BK0MzzrJ3oV2ImeTiZAD96a7fPl_kP1MxES9swYCGR4u52LWGed4-k57CbMXtuY15yv72kHLIWMiY46katdOOdDl5AjOfWCS83YB1jIx9O/https%3A%2F%2Faccess.redhat.com%2Fsupport%2Fpolicy%2Fupdates%2Ferrata%2F%23Life_Cycle_Dates>.
We will not be producing a CentOS Linux 9, as a rebuild of RHEL 9. Instead CentOS Stream 9 fulfills this role. (See Q6 below regarding the overlap between concurrent streams.)

I don't quite understand the 4th point, 'Updates for the CentOS Stream 8 distribution continue through the full RHEL support phase<https://secure-web.cisco.com/1Vjg5-b7gAc7XPdTp009SgavZ85rt-79Y60WEjKdZHhQl-sqnRJAlvG9k-Yz1CcNC7xp1Mxdatzpdm6LfRYDcpgtwifkWsjWP_xfTy0CmNbzV3ahnM4OBVFg9booyDbXpcfeVhSzITINmB4eISdXEcOqwafpGuK27hQW1IUQ8gwgnyshxmgIULEHeHdmIqwvHhbxMMst-f7Xjbg5ffkooM5BK0MzzrJ3oV2ImeTiZAD96a7fPl_kP1MxES9swYCGR4u52LWGed4-k57CbMXtuY15yv72kHLIWMiY46katdOOdDl5AjOfWCS83YB1jIx9O/https%3A%2F%2Faccess.redhat.com%2Fsupport%2Fpolicy%2Fupdates%2Ferrata%2F%23Life_Cycle_Dates>'.  Can you further elaborate it?  Does it mean that users will receive updates/patches for CentOS Stream 8 ONLY if they subscribe full RHEL support?

Question 2
In the announcement, it states 'If you are using CentOS Linux 8 in a production environment, and are concerned that CentOS Stream will not meet your needs, we encourage you to contact Red Hat about options.'  Can you highlight what are the drawbacks of CentOS Stream causing not encouraged to run on a production environment?

Thanks very much in advance.

Regards,
Catherine Chan
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