History of CentOS
6 hours ago
- #Open-Source
- #Linux-Distributions
- #Enterprise-Software
- Red Hat's shift from Red Hat Linux to RHEL in 2003 angered Linux users, sparking interest in community rebuilds.
- Gregory Kurtzer, inspired by open source collaboration, started the Caos Foundation to create a Debian-like alternative for RPM-based distributions.
- Early RHEL clones included White Box Enterprise Linux and Tao Linux, but CentOS gained traction due to existing infrastructure and community consolidation.
- CentOS emerged from the Caos team's efforts, leveraging binaries and community collaboration, with version 3 launching in March 2004.
- CentOS enabled a two-tier enterprise model: free CentOS for most systems, paid RHEL for supported slices, benefiting both users and Red Hat.
- CentOS grew from a niche rebuild to a default choice, highlighted by vendor support demands at mid-2000s supercomputing conferences.
- Red Hat's sponsorship of CentOS in 2014 was seen as fair by Kurtzer, providing paid roles for developers, but the 2021 pivot to CentOS Stream caused community backlash.
- Kurtzer quickly initiated Rocky Linux after the CentOS shift, attracting thousands and fostering a healthy ecosystem with alternatives like AlmaLinux.