Rocky Linux 10: The Free RHEL 10 Alternative

Rocky Linux 10 continues the mission that started when CentOS shifted to CentOS Stream: provide a free, bug-for-bug compatible alternative to RHEL. With RHEL 10 introducing image mode and AI tooling, Rocky Linux 10 follows suit while maintaining its commitment to community governance.

What Is New in Rocky Linux 10

Rocky Linux 10 tracks RHEL 10, which means you get:

• Kernel 6.12 LTS
• Image-based deployment support via bootc
• Updated toolchains (GCC 14, Python 3.12, Go 1.22+)
• Podman 5.x with improved rootless support
• SELinux and FIPS improvements

Where Rocky differs is governance. The Rocky Enterprise Software Foundation (RESF) is a public benefit corporation with community-elected board members. No single vendor controls the project.

Installation

Download from rockylinux.org and install via the standard Anaconda installer:

# Minimal server install (recommended for Kubernetes nodes)
# Select "Minimal Install" in the installer

# After install, verify
cat /etc/rocky-release
# Rocky Linux release 10.0 (Blue Onyx)

Migrating from Rocky 9

# Use the Rocky Linux upgrade tool
sudo dnf install rocky-upgrade
sudo rocky-upgrade precheck
sudo rocky-upgrade run

Migrating from CentOS Stream 10

# Convert from CentOS Stream to Rocky
curl -O https://raw.githubusercontent.com/rocky-linux/rocky-tools/main/migrate2rocky/migrate2rocky.sh
sudo bash migrate2rocky.sh -r

# Verify
cat /etc/rocky-release

Rocky vs RHEL: When to Choose

Choose Rocky when: budget is a constraint, you have in-house Linux expertise, you do not need ISV certification, or you are running non-production workloads.

Choose RHEL when: you need vendor support SLAs, ISV certification matters (SAP, Oracle), you are in a regulated industry, or your team needs Red Hat’s knowledge base.

Kubernetes on Rocky Linux 10

Rocky Linux 10 is fully supported as a Kubernetes node OS:

# Disable swap
sudo swapoff -a
sudo sed -i '/swap/d' /etc/fstab

# Load required kernel modules
cat <<EOF | sudo tee /etc/modules-load.d/k8s.conf
overlay
br_netfilter
EOF

sudo modprobe overlay
sudo modprobe br_netfilter

# Install containerd
sudo dnf install containerd.io

# Install kubeadm
sudo dnf install kubeadm kubelet kubectl
sudo systemctl enable --now kubelet

Automating with Ansible

Ansible treats Rocky Linux identically to RHEL. The ansible_os_family fact reports “RedHat”:

---
- name: Configure Rocky Linux 10
  hosts: rocky10
  tasks:
    - name: Update all packages
      ansible.builtin.dnf:
        name: "*"
        state: latest

    - name: Install development tools
      ansible.builtin.dnf:
        name:
          - gcc
          - make
          - python3-devel
        state: present

Final Thoughts

Rocky Linux 10 delivers everything RHEL 10 offers without the subscription cost. For Kubernetes nodes, CI/CD runners, development environments, and non-certified production workloads, it is a compelling choice. The community governance model ensures the project cannot be pulled away from its users, which is ultimately why Rocky Linux exists.

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