EuroLinux 8.5 ARM64 GA released

We start the new year 2022 with the release of the General Availability (GA) version of EuroLinux 8.5 for ARM64 (aarch64) architecture. For the EuroLinux community and our customers, this is another milestone in the wide adoption of this architecture. It is also essential in the further development of our manufacturing processes.

It is worth reminding that EuroLinux since version 8 is available in the Open Core model. This means that anyone can use the system free of charge and freely without any limits. At the same time, for organizations requiring direct support from the manufacturer, we offer the possibility to purchase a subscription. You can read about the advantages of a professionally supported subscription here support levels.

EuroLinux 8 is 1:1 compatible with RHEL and released simultaneously to both the community and our customers.

Selected advantages of EuroLinux for ARM64

Open Core Model

The Open Core model assumes that the manufacturer makes its software available for free without restrictions. At the same time, it may offer additional advantages and capabilities and technical support as part of the paid version of the solution. Since version 8 of EuroLinux it is possible to purchase the support of the system manufacturer and the possibility to create your own software supply chain with the possibility to rebuild the system yourself. The support of a manufacturer with a long tradition guarantees stability of solutions and predictability of product development.

Open buildroot for developers and super users

While it may seem surprising, to date, no organization or foundation that builds systems based on Red Hat® Enterprise Linux® sources has published full build trees. This means that people not directly involved in creating the system could not use the full capabilities of the system and its libraries. EuroLinux is the only Enterprise operating system vendor to make full build trees available to the community. They contain all the produced packages for the packages included in each repository.

NOTE: Packages and repositories that give access to full build trees are not officially supported. For example in the case of perl packages, they are broken by design because it is impossible to simultaneously make all build artifacts available and support 100% modularity.

Below is a sample repo file that allows you to use the full EuroLinux build trees for the aarch64 architecture:

[certify-baseos-all]
name = EuroLinux certify BaseOS ALL REPO (NOT SUPPORTED)
baseurl=https://fbi.cdn.euro-linux.com/dist/eurolinux/server/8/aarch64/certify-BaseOS/all
enabled=0
gpgcheck=1
gpgkey=file:///etc/pki/rpm-gpg/RPM-GPG-KEY-eurolinux8


[certify-appstream-all]
name = EuroLinux certify AppStream ALL REPO (NOT SUPPORTED)
baseurl=https://fbi.cdn.euro-linux.com/dist/eurolinux/server/8/aarch64/certify-AppStream/all
enabled=0
gpgcheck=1
gpgkey=file:///etc/pki/rpm-gpg/RPM-GPG-KEY-eurolinux8


[certify-powertools-all]
name = EuroLinux certify PowerTools ALL REPO (NOT SUPPORTED)
baseurl=https://fbi.cdn.euro-linux.com/dist/eurolinux/server/8/aarch64/certify-PowerTools/all
enabled=0
gpgcheck=1

The corresponding config files are present in the mock-core-configs package, which is available in the EPEL repository. To build, for example, the package XXX.rpm with open build roots, you can use the command mock. mock.

mock -r /etc/mock/eurolinux-8-aarch64.cfg /path/to/XXX.rpm

Full version compatibility

EuroLinux is the only available Enterprise Linux modular distribution whose RPM packages are 1:1 compatible with RHEL® releases. This required developing and implementing a build system that allows local and repeatable compilation of packages.

Below is a sample build for a modular nginx package:

System	Package name	Package version	Release
RHEL^®	nginx	1.14.1	9.module+el8.0.0+4108+af250afe
EuroLinux	nginx	1.14.1	9.module+el8.0.0+4108+af250afe
Oracle^® Linux	nginx	1.14.1	9.0.1.module+el8.0.0+5347+9282027e

Easy migration

EuroLinux offers straightforward migration from other Enterprise Linux platforms. Running the migration script requires a single command. Distributions from which migration is supported include:

CentOS
RHEL^®
Oracle^® Linux
Rocky Linux
AlmaLinux.

It is worth noting that this is the only migration that actually removes remnants of other systems, such as the kernel (including the kernel the system is running on – however, this solution requires a system reboot, as you cannot remove the kernel of the operating system the system is running on). This functionality has been implemented as one of the critical aspects of migration in environments once supported by other vendors. This functionality mitigates the risk from software vendors who could claim fees resulting from unauthorized licensing provisions.

EuroLinux Gaia – build your Enterprise Linux

The proprietary EuroLinux Gaia tool introduces a breakthrough functionality for organizations. It is the ability to self-build (compile) the operating system from source files in the customer’s own infrastructure. This is the highest possible level of system delivery and support. It also allows to create your own trusted software supply chain, which guarantees the maximum level of security and allows to customize the system to the needs of the organization. It also allows you to create your own dedicated distribution (fork). For the version of EuroLinux on ARM64, we had to update the customer’s hardware on which the rebuild takes place.

As part of the solution, the customer receives:

Golden Key subscription (use of an unlimited number of systems with support)
Gaia EuroLinux building system
software comparison system with test oracle
Battery Repositories, which are packages not included in the distribution, necessary for building it
EuroLinux Gaia internal documentation for building the system
direct support (on-site, phone, email) from the EuroLinux Release Engineer for automating the build.

Release Notes

Release Notes are available in open documentation: EuroLinux 8.5 ARM Release Notes.

System installation and installation media

An installation of the system and information on where to download the installation media are described in the open documentation – EuroLinux 8 Jump Start.

Reporting comments, bugs, and ideas

Reporting comments, bugs, and ideas is described in the documentation.

EuroLinux aarch64 ISO

ISO images CDN: https://fbi.cdn.euro-linux.com/isos/
ISO images Mirror Host: https://fbi2.cdn.euro-linux.com/isos/

Next roadmap item completed

The EuroLinux ARM 64 release is the closing point of the roadmap for Q4/2021. A post discussing the older roadmap and the new roadmap should appear later this month.

Next steps for EuroLinux 8.5 aarch64

We are currently preparing our production processes for delivering further ready-to-use continuously supported images – including containers and virtual machines for the ARM64 architecture. We will be publishing short posts about their releases shortly.

Plans for the near future, or EuroLinux 9.0

Another significant milestone for EuroLinux is releasing the new “big” version of the system marked 9. Work on this project is well advanced, and we plan to release a beta version of this system in mid-Q1 2022.