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Community Enterprise Operating System (CentOS) offers an open-source, enterprise-class free operating system that is practicably compatible with Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL). “Gregory Kurtzer” is the founder of CentOS. CentOS developers use the RHEL source code to generate a product that is highly comparable to RHEL.

CentOS provides a development platform in one of the best and most powerful available distributions. It is a community-driven free software project built to provide a robust platform for open-source communities to grow. It is highly adaptable, as well as safe and strong. In addition, it features several corporate-level security updates that declare it an excellent choice for any use.

History of CentOS:

CentOS was released in May 2004 as an operating system that is completely free and based on the Linux kernel. It has originated from RHEL. Its goal is to deliver an enterprise-class computing platform that is freely available and maintains Red Hat’s binary compatibility. It was introduced as a CAOS build and was founded by “Gregory Kurtzer.”

After that, “David Parsley,” Tao Linux’s primary developer, announced in June 2006 that Tao Linux would be retired and its development would be absorbed into it(Tao Linux is another RHEL clone). By using the Yum update, Tao users were able to upgrade their current system version to CentOS. Unfortunately, “Lance Davi,” the founder of CentOS, was reported missing on the CentOS project website in July 2009. “Davis” had stopped contributing to this project, but he had kept his CentOS website.

The CentOS team allegedly contacted “Davis” in August 2009 and got the domains of centos.org and centos.info. It became the most popular Linux distribution in July 2010 and overtook Debian’s popularity for web servers, accounting for over 30% of all Linux web servers. However, in January 2012, Debian dropped it to second place. Red Hat declared in January 2014 that the team would sponsor the CentOS project, assisting in the development of a platform that is compatible with the requirements of open-source developers who work around the operating system and emerging technologies.

CentOS trademarks have been shifted to Red Hat. RHEL standards and open-source team groups, which work independently from the RHEL team, employ the lead developers. In the hosting market, CentOS is considered the most reliable distribution. CentOS is exceptionally compatible with most Linux software because of its binary compatibility with RHEL. It is also the most suitable Linux distro for most hosting control panels.

Aim of this OS development:

CentOS development aims to provide a robust system for open-source communities for development purposes. In addition, this platform can be used for scientific data processing and hosting businesses; for example, Companies can use this dependable platform to host their programs.

RHEL and CentOS:

CentOS is a commercial Linux distribution based on the RHEL source code and supported by the community. Because Red Hat builds their product using open source software, that’s the reason they have to make their source code public. Subsequently, CentOS and RHEL are functionally equivalent, with the main differences being the removal of vendor artwork and branding.

On the other hand, CentOS lacks Red Hat certifications because it is based only on its source code. The CentOS project uses the Red Hat publicly available source packages to produce binary packages, which anybody can use for free. Still, specific updates have not been made public; there may exist some variations between the packages delivered by CentOS and Red Hat.

Red Hat has supported the CentOS project since 2014 to assist open-source developers in developing a suitable platform that utilizes integrated technologies. In the same year, these OS and Red Hat developers formed the Governing Board, which various working groups now supervise. This Governing Board is made up of project founders as well as Red Hat employees.

Special Interest Groups (SIGs):

Special Interest Groups (SIGs) are the teams in which specific members of the community are concerned about raising awareness, boosting the Linux distribution, and improving functional aspects such as documentation and infrastructure. Virtualization, ArtWork, and Core are some of the active special interest groups.

What is the project?

This project comprises a group that is responsible for maintaining the framework of the developments. It operates more than an operating system and issues resources to help other organizations develop CentOS-based technologies. Furthermore, this project aspires to make CentOS Linux a premier community platform for developing new open-source technologies from other projects.

What is suitable for this OS?

This Linux version is suitable for business users who do not want to pay the high fees associated with RHEL. These two distributions are identical in versions, save for RHEL subscription management and RHEL branding, and are frequently referred to as “Enterprise Linux.”

Architecture:

CentOS has a similar architecture as compared to other Linux distros. However, it only supports the x86-64 architecture. This statement declares that it can run on both 64-bit and 32-bit platforms:

• The physical or hardware equipment, such as network devices, storage, and computer systems, is at the bottom.
• The kernel, the Operating System’s fundamental component that interacts directly with the hardware, lies on top of this.
• The shell sits on top of the kernel and serves as an interface between the kernel and the user.
• The application layer exists at the top of all of these levels, interacting with the kernel and shell to perform user-specified activities. Media players, Web browsers, text editors, file explorers, etc., are examples of applications.

Repositories:

The main distribution is made up of three primary repositories, which are also known as channels, each of which contains these software packages:

• CentOSPlus: includes packages that update specific based components, causing this to differ from the content provided by the upstream source.
• CentOS-Fasttrack: includes enhancement updates and bugfix released regularly in-between point release update sets. Packages released in this manner are considered strong candidates for inclusion in the next point release. Therefore, the Fasttrack repository does not contain unsuitable packages for inclusion in point releases. Moreover, it also does not provide any security updates.
• Debug info: when the central packages are built, this repository stores packages that generate debugging symbols.
• Software Collections: Provides newer versions of software than the standard distribution.
• CentOS Extras: it is a collection of packages that add functionality to it without compromising upstream compatibility or requiring the base components to update.
• contrib: This repository supplies those packages that do not overlap with any of the packages found in the core distribution.
• Continuous Release (CR): makes packages that will appear in its next point release broadly available. Until the actual point release is released in ISO images, the packages are accessible for hot fixing and testing.
• CentOS-Testing: This repository serves as a testing area for packages destined for CentOSPlus and Extras. This repository’s packages may or may not replace distribution core packages, and their functionality is not assured.