CentOS is a free (as in beer and speech) GNU/Linux distribution that is community driven and based on source code released from RedHat.

CentOS is a free (as in beer and speech) GNU/Linux distribution that is community driven and based on source code released from RedHat. CentOS aims to be 100% binary compatible with RedHat Enterprise Linux. CentOS mainly changes packages to remove upstream vendor branding and artwork.

Support & Lifecycle

Each CentOS version is maintained for up to 10 years and a new version is released approximately every 2 years.

+----------+-------------- +---------------+---------------------+
|  Version | Release date  |  Full updates | Maintenance updates |
+----------+---------------+---------------+---------------------+
| 3        | 19 March 2004 | 20 July 2006  |31 October 2010      |
| 4        | 9 March 2005  | 31 March 2009 |29 February 2012     |
| 5        | 12 April 2007 | Q1 2014       |31 March 2017        |
| 6        | 10 July 2011  | Q2 2017       |30 November 2020     |
| 7        | 7 July 2014   | Q4 2020       |30 June 2024         |
+----------+---------------+---------------+---------------------+

External Resources: