Rocky Linux 8.5, nicknamed Green Obsidian, is officially available! It was launched on November 12, 2021—just six months after the release of Rocky Linux 8.4, which was the fourth stable version in the series.

This marks the first fully stable and production-ready version of Rocky Linux following extensive development efforts. It supports both x86_64 and ARM64 architectures.

As you may already be aware, Rocky Linux is a community-driven enterprise OS that maintains full binary compatibility with Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8.5, ensuring bug-level parity. This makes it an ideal replacement for CentOS 8, which will reach its End of Life (EOL) by the end of December 2021.

With the launch of Rocky Linux 8.5, a migration tool has been introduced to assist users in transitioning from CentOS 8 to Rocky Linux, allowing testing without requiring a clean installation.

To give you a quick update, the following distributions can now be upgraded to Rocky Linux 8.5:

• Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8.4
• CentOS Linux 8.4
• AlmaLinux 8.4
• Oracle Linux 8.4

Download Rocky Linux 8.5

For those looking to perform a fresh install, you can download Rocky Linux 8.5 in minimal, DVD, and Boot ISO formats.

Additionally, Rocky Linux 8.5 is accessible via Amazon Web Services (AWS Marketplace) and Google Cloud Platform. You can also find pre-built container images on Docker Hub and Quay.io.

Migrating from CentOS 8 to Rocky Linux 8.5

Before proceeding with any system migration, including switching to Rocky Linux 8.5, it’s crucial to back up all your data to prevent potential loss during the process.

First, let's verify the current CentOS 8 version we're using. In this case, we are running CentOS Linux 8.2, as shown below:

<code>$ cat /etc/redhat-release

<strong>CentOS Linux release 8.2.2004 (Core)</strong></code>

Unlike when migrating to other distributions like AlmaLinux or Oracle Linux, there’s no need to upgrade your CentOS system to the latest version before proceeding.

Next, download the migrate2rocky.sh script from GitHub using the wget command:

<code>$ wget https://raw.githubusercontent.com/rocky-linux/rocky-tools/main/migrate2rocky/migrate2rocky.sh</code>

Once downloaded, grant execute permissions to the script file:

<code>$ chmod  x migrate2rocky.sh</code>

Now, everything is ready for migration.

To begin the switch from CentOS 8 to Rocky Linux, run the script with the following command:

<code>$ sudo bash migrate2rocky.sh -r</code>

The script starts by mapping CentOS Linux 8 repositories to their Rocky Linux counterparts. Then, it removes CentOS packages and repositories, replacing them with the corresponding Rocky Linux 8.5 versions.

Following that, the required new packages for Rocky Linux 8.5 are fetched.

After downloading, these packages are installed or upgraded accordingly. The entire migration process can take a significant amount of time—around 3 hours in our test environment. However, this largely depends on your internet speed. Systems with minimal installations will likely complete the migration faster.

Upon completion, you’ll be prompted to restart your system.

Use the following command to reboot:

<code>$ sudo reboot</code>

During boot-up, you'll see the Rocky Linux logo if you’re using a GUI-based installation.

On the GRUB menu, ensure you select the 'Rocky Linux' option, which should appear as the top entry.

Log in using your existing user credentials.

You'll then arrive at the dark-gray themed desktop background typical of Rocky Linux.

That concludes the migration. You can now enjoy the robustness and features offered by Rocky Linux, completely free of charge, just as you did with CentOS Linux.

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