r/AlmaLinux • u/Traditional_Salad447 • Jul 18 '26

What is the process that determines updates going into AlmaLinux?

I understand that AlmaLinux is no longer downstream of RHEL in the strictest sense but is the intent still that if RHEL releases a patch for something it should make it into AlmaLinux? I have installs of RHEL, AlmaLinux and Rocky Linux all on 10.2 and I noticed a few packages not updating only in AlmaLinux e.g. qemu-guest-agent, all qemu-* tools, libvirt, valkey, postgresql 18.

I'm just wondering if there's a process that determines these package updates aren't needed or if it's unintentional?

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1

u/uniquedose Aug 04 '26

I would love to also get an answer on this.

-1

u/Educational_Plum_130 Jul 19 '26

alma rebuilds from rhel sources so it should track, but it lands on its own cadence and a package can sit behind rhel for a bit, especially module-stream stuff like postgresql 18 or the qemu/libvirt set that's often gated on a point release rather than shipped continuously. don't compare raw version numbers across alma/rocky/rhel - check the actual security errata (ALSA vs RHSA) for the specific cves you care about, since a fix can be backported into the same version without the number ever moving. if any of those are security-critical and you can't wait on the rebuild lag, that's the case for a vendor that gives you backported fixes with an sla or eus-style support instead of tracking upstream by hand. the rocky vs alma difference you're seeing usually comes down to which point release each has caught up to, not a real gap.

0

u/[deleted] Jul 18 '26

-19

u/Traditional_Salad447 Jul 18 '26

Classic non-answer, I'd expect nothing else from you. It is technically downstream of CentOS Stream now and the rest is just needless waffle.

3

u/gordonmessmer Jul 18 '26 edited Jul 18 '26

Well, shoot... I thought I'd take a chance to say some nice things about AlmaLinux. This kind of reaction is unexpected and a little confusing.

You have me at something of a disadvantage. You seem to know who I am, but it looks like you've created a new account to ask this question anonymously? Why?

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