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 |
+----------+---------------+---------------+---------------------+
