CentOS Stream Frequently Asked Questions

Contents

If you have a question that isn't answered here, please email the centos-devel mailing list.

1. What is CentOS Stream?

CentOS Stream is a developer-forward distribution that aims to help community members, Red Hat partners and others take full advantage of open source innovation within a more stable and predictable Linux ecosystem. Its content is what Red Hat intends to be in the next update of a stable RHEL release. It is free for anyone to download, use, study, modify, and redistribute (with the exception of the CentOS trademarks, which are owned by Red Hat). CentOS Stream is a distribution that community members can use to take advantage of a stable ABI/API for development and testing, while still seeing some updates on an accelerated basis.

2. How do I download CentOS Stream?

CentOS Stream is available on the CentOS downloads page.

3. Where do I get CentOS Stream container images?

See this question.

4. Where is the source code?

The source code in CentOS Stream is stored per package at in the CentOS git server

5. What artifacts are built?

• Yum repositories

  • x86_64
  • ppc64le
  • aarch64

• Container images

  • x86_64
  • ppc64le
  • aarch64

• EC2 images

  • x86_64
  • ppc64le
  • aarch64

• Generic cloud images

  • x86_64
  • ppc64le
  • aarch64

• Vagrant images

  • x86_64

6. What architectures are included?

Currently, x86_64, aarch64, and ppc64le are included. By December 2020, arm7hfp will be included. Inclusion of s390x (IBM System Z) has not yet been scoped and is unlikely during CY2020.

7. Is there a daily CentOS Stream "release"? How frequently is it released?

There is a nightly compose for release verification purposes. We are currently pushing CentOS Stream to http://mirror.centos.org/centos/8-stream/ on a case-by-case basis as new packages come in.

Note: downloads are hosted on a mirror network, where we cannot mandate that every mirror node runs SSL/TLS, hence using regular http and not enforcing https

8. What happens when CentOS Stream switches from RHEL 8 to RHEL 9 based content?

Around the time the RHEL 9 Public Beta is issued, an additional set of CentOS Stream repositories and ISOs will be available. The existing CentOS Stream repositories representing RHEL 8 bits will continue to be available, and changes to these bits will continue as before for the duration of the RHEL 8 Full Support Phase. At that time, the older repositories will be discontinued, although sources will continue to be available.

9. What does this mean for CentOS Linux?

The CentOS project has decided to switch focus from CentOS Linux to CentOS Stream. CentOS Linux 8 will cease maintenance on December 31, 2021, and after that time we'll be focusing entirely on CentOS Stream for future updates.

10. Where do I report bugs?

Bugs against CentOS Stream should be reported to Red Hat:

Red Hat Bugzilla (CentOS Stream 8)

Red Hat Bugzilla (CentOS Stream 9)

11. Why is $package newer in RHEL than CentOS Stream?

CentOS Stream is a work in progress. At a future milestone, users can expect CentOS Stream content will include content intended for inclusion in the next RHEL minor release. In some cases, however, Red Hat is obligated to release fixes to customers first, after which these fixes can be released into CentOS Stream.