[CentOS] [CentOS-devel] https://blog.centos.org/2020/12/future-is-centos-stream/

On Tue, Dec 08, 2020 at 08:34:54AM -0600, Christopher Wensink wrote:
> I agree this is shocking news.  If we don't want to be beta testers
> and want to continue to use a stable tested OS should we be moving
> to RHEL servers?  Is there a license-free RHEL server option that is
> the recommended path from using CentOS?

So: other than the developer subscription, not yet. But see this part of the
FAQ -- https://www.redhat.com/en/blog/faq-centos-stream-updates#Q10:

    In the first half of 2021, we will be introducing low- or no-cost
    programs for a variety of use cases, including options for open
    source projects and communities, partner ecosystems and an
    expansion of the use cases of the Red Hat Enterprise Linux
    Developer subscription to better serve the needs of systems
    administrators and partner developers. We’ll share more details on
    these initiatives as they become available.

I'm not part of any of the decisions around that, but I know for sure
that work is in progress and it's not just meant to sound nice. I don't
know if any of these will meet your use cases, but I think they will
for a lot of people here.

For others, note that the plan is for CentOS Stream to target upcoming
RHEL minor releases. Between any two six months, the change delta
should be just the same as it is in CentOS Linux now. It's not like
it's going to become Fedora Rawhide. Everything going into it is
intended to land in RHEL on a short timescale. It's not a beta or a
playground for broken code.

Is it possible that more regressions will get through than have before?
Well, sure, some. But let's not pretend that even RHEL is ever
regression-free. It's software, after all, and there are bugs and
errata. I don't think that for most self-supported CentOS use, it will
be particularly dangerous to switch to Stream at all.

And if your use case isn't covered by one of the upcoming low- and
no-cost programs, and you can't take the risk or the possible increased
change management overhead, or for some other reason... well, is it
_really_ so bad for companies to pay for RHEL? (I like my family to be
able to eat, so I'm a bit biased.... but all of this has to come from
something.)

-- 
Matthew Miller
<mattdm at fedoraproject.org>
Fedora Project Leader