Rocky Linux 10 Released
The enterprise Linux landscape has witnessed a significant milestone with the release of Rocky Linux 10.0 on June 11, 2025. This major version represents a substantial evolution in the Rocky Linux ecosystem, introducing groundbreaking features while maintaining the stability and reliability that enterprise users demand. The release follows Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10 and positions Rocky Linux as a leading choice for organizations seeking a robust, open-source enterprise operating system.
Rocky Linux 10 brings transformative changes that will reshape how administrators manage enterprise environments. From architectural shifts to networking overhauls, this release demonstrates the project’s commitment to modern computing standards. The introduction of RISC-V architecture support marks a pivotal moment in making Rocky Linux more versatile and accessible to emerging hardware platforms.
What’s New in Rocky Linux 10: Major Features and Enhancements
Kernel and Core System Updates
The foundation of Rocky Linux 10 rests on significant kernel improvements that enhance both performance and security. The default kernel has been updated to version 6.12.0, providing users with the latest hardware support and security patches. This kernel update brings substantial improvements to system responsiveness and overall performance.
A notable change involves the replacement of the Completely Fair Scheduler (CFS) with the Earliest Eligible Virtual Deadline First (EEVDF) scheduler. This new scheduler prioritizes latency-sensitive tasks with shorter time slices, resulting in improved system responsiveness for interactive workloads. The EEVDF scheduler represents a significant advancement in task scheduling technology, particularly beneficial for modern multi-core processors.
System administrators will notice enhanced security measures throughout the core system. Several kernel features have been disabled due to being unmaintained, insecure, or deprecated, though the rh_waived kernel command-line argument can re-enable these features when absolutely necessary. This approach demonstrates Rocky Linux’s commitment to maintaining secure defaults while providing flexibility for legacy requirements.
Architecture Support Changes
Rocky Linux 10 introduces significant changes to supported architectures that will impact hardware compatibility decisions. The most notable change involves the removal of x86-64-v2 architecture support, requiring users to have CPUs that support x86-64-v3 instruction sets. This decision reflects the project’s focus on modern hardware capabilities and performance optimization.
The complete retirement of 32-bit package support marks another major architectural shift. Organizations relying on legacy 32-bit applications must transition to 64-bit libraries or implement containerized solutions for their legacy dependencies. This change aligns Rocky Linux with contemporary computing standards and simplifies the distribution’s maintenance burden.
Despite these removals, Rocky Linux 10 maintains robust support for ARM, IBM POWER, and IBM z architectures. These platforms continue to receive full support, ensuring enterprise users on diverse hardware ecosystems can leverage Rocky Linux’s capabilities effectively.
RISC-V Architecture Support
The introduction of official RISC-V support represents one of Rocky Linux 10’s most exciting developments. This open-standard instruction set architecture offers unprecedented flexibility for hardware manufacturers and organizations seeking alternatives to traditional processor architectures. The RISC-V implementation targets riscv64gc builds, ensuring compatibility with mainstream RISC-V hardware platforms.
Compatible platforms include the StarFive VisionFive 2, QEMU virtualization environments, and SiFive HiFive Premier P550 systems. This diverse compatibility matrix demonstrates Rocky Linux’s commitment to supporting both development and production RISC-V environments. Organizations interested in exploring RISC-V technology can join the ~SIG/AltArch community on Rocky Linux Mattermost for technical support and collaboration opportunities.
The RISC-V support development involved extensive collaboration with the Fedora RISC-V Community, leveraging existing expertise and ensuring robust implementation. This partnership approach highlights the open-source ecosystem’s collaborative nature and Rocky Linux’s integration within the broader Linux community.
Networking and System Configuration Overhaul
NetworkManager Transition
Rocky Linux 10 completes the transition away from legacy ifcfg-rh network scripts, making NetworkManager the mandatory network management solution. This change represents the culmination of a deprecation process that began in earlier Rocky Linux versions, finally removing support for traditional network script configurations.
System administrators must now use NetworkManager tools including nmcli, nmtui, and nmstate for all network configuration tasks. The command-line interface nmcli provides comprehensive network management capabilities, while nmtui offers a text-based user interface for interactive configuration. The nmstate tool enables declarative network configuration management, particularly valuable for automated deployments and infrastructure-as-code implementations.
Network configuration files have relocated to /etc/NetworkManager/system-connections/, replacing the traditional /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/ directory structure. Files with the ifcfg- prefix are no longer supported, requiring administrators to migrate existing configurations to NetworkManager format. The legacy ifup and ifdown commands are completely removed, along with custom network scripts like ifup-local.
DHCP Changes
The DHCP infrastructure undergoes substantial modernization in Rocky Linux 10. The DHCP client functionality is now implemented as an internal subsystem within NetworkManager, eliminating the need for separate DHCP client packages. This integration provides tighter coupling between network interface management and DHCP configuration, resulting in more reliable network initialization and management.
The legacy dhcp-client package has been completely removed due to upstream end-of-life status. Organizations using custom DHCP client configurations must adapt their implementations to work with NetworkManager’s integrated DHCP subsystem. This change simplifies the network stack while maintaining full DHCP functionality.
Server-side DHCP services also experience significant updates with the replacement of ISC DHCP server by Kea DHCP. Kea DHCP represents the modern successor to ISC DHCP, offering improved performance, enhanced configuration flexibility, and better integration with contemporary network management systems. The transition to Kea DHCP aligns Rocky Linux with current networking standards and ensures long-term support for DHCP services.
Network Bonding Updates
Network interface aggregation capabilities undergo important changes in Rocky Linux 10. The NIC teaming feature, deprecated in previous versions, has been completely removed. Network bonding emerges as the recommended replacement technology for interface aggregation requirements.
Network bonding provides robust link aggregation capabilities with multiple bonding modes supporting different use cases. Active-backup bonding offers high availability with automatic failover, while 802.3ad bonding provides load balancing and increased bandwidth. Administrators migrating from NIC teaming configurations must recreate their aggregation setups using network bonding technology.
The bonding configuration integrates seamlessly with NetworkManager, enabling consistent management through standard NetworkManager tools. This integration simplifies network aggregation deployment and maintenance while providing powerful clustering and high-availability capabilities.
Desktop Environment and Display Technology
Rocky Linux 10 embraces modern display technology through complete Wayland adoption, replacing the legacy X.Org server as the default display server. This transition provides improved security, better performance, and enhanced support for modern display hardware including high-DPI monitors and multi-monitor configurations.
Wayland’s security model offers significant advantages over X.Org, implementing proper application isolation and preventing unauthorized access to other application windows or input devices. The performance improvements are particularly noticeable on modern graphics hardware, with reduced latency and smoother animations throughout the desktop environment.
Xwayland remains available for applications that haven’t transitioned to native Wayland support. This compatibility layer ensures legacy applications continue functioning while developers complete their Wayland migration efforts. The Xwayland implementation provides seamless integration, making the transition transparent for most users and applications.
Graphical remote access capabilities transition from VNC to Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP). RDP provides superior performance for remote desktop scenarios, with better compression algorithms, enhanced security features, and improved multi-monitor support. This change aligns Rocky Linux with modern remote access standards used throughout enterprise environments.
Installation and Administrative Changes
Installation Process Improvements
The Rocky Linux 10 installation process introduces several enhancements designed to improve user experience and administrative efficiency. Default administrative privileges are automatically granted to users during installation, unless explicitly declined by the administrator. This change simplifies initial system setup while maintaining security through optional privilege restriction.
The installation wizard provides enhanced software selection capabilities, allowing administrators to choose from comprehensive base environments and additional software packages. Options include debugging tools, DNS name server packages, FTP server tools, and various development environments. This flexibility enables customized installations tailored to specific organizational requirements.
Storage configuration options offer both automatic and manual partitioning capabilities. The manual partitioning interface supports standard partition schemes with comprehensive file system options. Administrators can create custom partition layouts including separate /home, /boot, and swap partitions according to their specific storage requirements and security policies.
Package Management and Repository Changes
Rocky Linux 10 implements version policy updates that enhance package management capabilities and provide better downgrade support. The package coexistence features enable organizations to maintain multiple package versions simultaneously, facilitating testing and gradual rollout procedures.
Repository structure modifications optimize package delivery and improve mirror synchronization performance. These changes reduce bandwidth requirements for package updates while maintaining comprehensive software availability. The updated repository structure also enhances security through improved package signing and verification mechanisms.
The shift from Peridot to Koji for release engineering ensures optimal stability and security during the build process. This temporary change demonstrates the project’s commitment to maintaining high-quality releases while developing long-term infrastructure improvements. The Koji build system provides enhanced build reproducibility and comprehensive quality assurance capabilities.
Security and Virtualization Enhancements
Rocky Linux 10 introduces comprehensive security improvements that strengthen the overall security posture of enterprise deployments. System-wide cryptographic policies now support post-quantum algorithms in OpenSSL and OpenSSH implementations. This forward-looking approach ensures Rocky Linux environments remain secure against emerging quantum computing threats.
The Sequoia PGP implementation replaces traditional OpenPGP libraries with a memory-safe alternative. This change reduces the potential for memory-related security vulnerabilities while maintaining full OpenPGP compatibility. The implementation provides robust cryptographic operations with enhanced performance characteristics.
OpenSSH security receives significant attention with stricter host key permissions restored to 0600 instead of the previous 0640 setting. This change enhances SSH security by preventing unauthorized access to host key materials. GnuTLS improvements include compressed client and server certificates, reducing network overhead while maintaining security standards.
Password security enhancements include the adoption of the yescrypt algorithm for default user password hashing. This modern password hashing algorithm provides improved resistance to brute-force attacks while maintaining compatibility with existing authentication systems.
SELinux policy updates introduce new libvirt service types and invert file context equivalency to /var/run = /run. These changes improve virtualization security while simplifying SELinux policy management. The updated policies provide better support for modern containerization and virtualization technologies.
Virtualization capabilities receive substantial improvements with enhanced container technology support and storage system optimizations. The integration of kernel-level Integrity Measurement Architecture (IMA) provides comprehensive system integrity monitoring and verification capabilities.
Software Stack and Development Tools
Rocky Linux 10 delivers a comprehensive software stack featuring the latest versions of popular programming languages, web servers, and database systems. PHP 8.3 provides modern language features and improved performance for web applications. Python 3.12 offers enhanced developer productivity with new language constructs and performance optimizations.
Web server capabilities receive significant upgrades with nginx 1.26, delivering improved performance and enhanced security features. Database support includes PostgreSQL 16.8, MySQL 8.4, MariaDB 10.11, and the new Valkey 8.0 in-memory data structure store. This diverse database ecosystem supports various application architectures and performance requirements.
Performance analysis tools receive substantial updates with GDB 14.2, Valgrind 3.23.0, SystemTap 5.1, and Dyninst 12.3.0. These debugging and profiling tools enable developers to optimize application performance and identify system bottlenecks effectively. The elfutils 0.192 and libabigail 2.6 packages provide enhanced binary analysis capabilities.
Monitoring and observability receive attention through Performance Co-pilot 6.3.0 and Grafana 10.2.6. These tools enable comprehensive system monitoring and performance visualization, essential for maintaining large-scale enterprise deployments.
Compiler toolsets include LLVM Toolset 19.1.7, Rust Toolset 1.84.1, and Go Toolset 1.23. These modern compiler environments support contemporary software development practices and enable organizations to leverage cutting-edge programming technologies.
Support Timeline and Lifecycle
Rocky Linux 10 provides a comprehensive 10-year support lifecycle extending through May 31, 2035. The active support period continues until May 31, 2030, providing organizations with substantial long-term stability for their enterprise deployments. This extended support timeline enables strategic planning for infrastructure investments and application development cycles.
The current version 10.0 status represents the initial general availability release, with minor updates scheduled throughout the support lifecycle. Regular security updates and bug fixes ensure system stability and security throughout the support period. The predictable release schedule enables organizations to plan maintenance windows and update procedures effectively.
Minor release schedules follow established patterns, providing regular updates while maintaining system stability. The maintenance policy ensures backward compatibility within major version releases, minimizing disruption to production environments while delivering necessary improvements and security updates.
Migration Considerations and Best Practices
Organizations planning Rocky Linux 10 adoption must understand that direct upgrades from previous versions are not supported. Fresh installations are required for migration from Rocky Linux 8.x or 9.x, necessitating comprehensive migration planning and testing procedures.
Network configuration migration requires particular attention due to the NetworkManager transition. Existing ifcfg-based network configurations must be converted to NetworkManager format, involving configuration file relocation and command syntax updates. Organizations should develop comprehensive migration scripts and testing procedures to ensure smooth network configuration transitions.
Application compatibility assessment becomes crucial for organizations with extensive software portfolios. The removal of 32-bit package support may impact legacy applications, requiring containerization strategies or application modernization efforts. Thorough testing in non-production environments helps identify compatibility issues before production migration.
Testing and validation procedures should encompass all critical system components, including network configurations, storage systems, security policies, and application compatibility. Comprehensive testing reduces migration risks and ensures successful production deployments.
Industry Impact and Enterprise Adoption
Rocky Linux 10’s positioning within the enterprise Linux landscape demonstrates significant advancement in open-source enterprise computing. The combination of modern hardware support, enhanced security features, and comprehensive software stacks positions Rocky Linux as a compelling alternative to commercial enterprise distributions.
Community and corporate support ecosystems continue expanding, with organizations like CIQ providing specialized hardened versions for security-conscious enterprises. The Rocky Linux from CIQ – Hardened variant offers enhanced security features including secure supply chain delivery, pre-configured security settings, and automated security updates.
The RISC-V architecture support opens new possibilities for organizations exploring alternative hardware platforms and open-source processor technologies. This forward-looking approach positions Rocky Linux at the forefront of emerging computing architectures while maintaining compatibility with established enterprise hardware.
Future development roadmap implications suggest continued evolution toward modern computing standards while preserving enterprise stability requirements. The balance between innovation and stability remains central to Rocky Linux’s development philosophy, ensuring long-term viability for enterprise deployments.
Storage and File System Updates
Storage subsystem improvements in Rocky Linux 10 address modern enterprise requirements while discontinuing outdated technologies. The removal of Global File System 2 (GFS2) support reflects the evolution toward more modern clustered storage solutions. Organizations using GFS2 must migrate to alternative clustered file systems or storage architectures.
Device Mapper Multipath support changes include the discontinuation of NVMe device support. This change reflects the evolution of NVMe technology and storage management practices, requiring organizations to adapt their storage configurations accordingly.
LUKS2 disk encryption receives significant improvements through the cryptsetup package rebase to version 2.7. These updates address compatibility issues and provide enhanced support for LUKS-encrypted devices when using kernel dump (kdump) services. The improvements ensure reliable disk encryption functionality across various enterprise scenarios.
