CentOS-8 (2105) Release Notes

Last updated: June 3rd, 2021

1. Translations

Translations of these release notes are available for the following languages:

2. Introduction

Hello and welcome to the fifth CentOS-8 release. The CentOS Linux distribution is a stable, predictable, manageable and reproducible platform derived from the sources of Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL).

CentOS conforms fully with Red Hat's redistribution policy and aims to have full functional compatibility with the upstream product. CentOS mainly changes packages to remove Red Hat's branding and artwork.

We have decided not to follow Red Hat's usage of Installation Roles. In CentOS Linux all content from every distribution 'channel' is made available to the user at time of installation.

Please read through the other sections before trying an install or reporting an issue.

3. Install Media

Various installation images are available for installing CentOS. Which image you need to download depends on your installation environment. All of these images can either be burned on a DVD or dd'ed to a USB memory stick.

If you are unsure which image to use, pick the DVD image. It allows selecting which components you want to install and contains all packages that can be selected from the GUI installer.

The boot image can be used for doing installs over network. After booting the computer with this image, the installer downloads packages as needed based on selected components from the closest mirror.

4. Verifying Downloaded Installation Images

Before copying the image to your preferred installation media you should check the sha256sum of the downloaded installation images.

# CentOS-8.4.2105-aarch64-boot.iso: 677838848 bytes
SHA256 (CentOS-8.4.2105-aarch64-boot.iso) = 106d9ce13076441c52dc38c95e9977a83f28a4c1ce88baa10412c1e3cc9b2a2b
# CentOS-8.4.2105-aarch64-dvd1.iso: 7325042688 bytes
SHA256 (CentOS-8.4.2105-aarch64-dvd1.iso) = 6654112602beec7f6b5c134f28cf6b77aedc05b2a7ece2656dacf477f77c81df

# CentOS-8.4.2105-ppc64le-boot.iso: 722780160 bytes
SHA256 (CentOS-8.4.2105-ppc64le-boot.iso) = 4a83e12f56334132c3040491e5894e01dfe5373793e73f532c859b958aeeb900
# CentOS-8.4.2105-ppc64le-dvd1.iso: 8484990976 bytes
SHA256 (CentOS-8.4.2105-ppc64le-dvd1.iso) = 9cfca292a59a45bdb1737019a6ac0383e0a674a415e7c0634262d66884a47d01

# CentOS-8.4.2105-x86_64-boot.iso: 758120448 bytes
SHA256 (CentOS-8.4.2105-x86_64-boot.iso) = c79921e24d472144d8f36a0d5f409b12bd016d9d7d022fd703563973ca9c375c
# CentOS-8.4.2105-x86_64-dvd1.iso: 9928966144 bytes
SHA256 (CentOS-8.4.2105-x86_64-dvd1.iso) = 0394ecfa994db75efc1413207d2e5ac67af4f6685b3b896e2837c682221fd6b2

5. Major Changes

5.0.1. Upstream changes

See the Overview section of the upstream RHEL 8.4 release notes.

Of particular note, this release adds the following new versions of software in optional module streams.

• Python 3.9
• SWIG 4.0
• Subversion 1.14
• Redis 6
• PostgreSQL 13
• MariaDB 10.5

Several rolling AppStream have been rebased to newer versions.

• LLVM Toolset 11.0.0
• Rust Toolset 1.49.0
• Go Toolset 1.15.7

5.0.2. Fully Functional Boot ISO

Since the initial release of CentOS Linux 8, our boot ISO has suffered from a number of issues that resulted in users needing to enter a mirror URL manually. We recently resolved that issue in CentOS Stream 8, and have brought the same fixes to CentOS Linux 8 (2105). With this release the boot ISO will now default to using the closest mirror and no longer require entering a mirror URL manually.

5.0.3. Downgradeable Packages

We recently enabled downgradeable packages in CentOS Stream 8, and have brought that same change to CentOS Linux 8 (2105). Going forward users will be able to dnf downgrade packages if multiple packages are available.

5.0.4. Yum repo file and repoid changes

Recently we've done work so that CentOS Stream operates as a distribution independently of CentOS Linux: https://lists.centos.org/pipermail/centos-devel/2020-September/056069.html

Continuing this work, we made some changes in CentOS Linux 8.3.2011 that make the process of migrating from CentOS Linux to CentOS Stream easier. This meant that we needed to change the name of some files in /etc/yum.repos.d and update repoids to match.

As a good practice with any update, if you have made any local customizations to files in /etc (including the .repo files), you will want to compare with any .rpmnew files that are created for you.

You may also want to update any scripts that you have that specify repoids using the --enablerepo or --disablerepo flags

6. Deprecated Features

See upstream documentations for Deprecated functionality and Removed security functionality.

7. Known Issues

A list of known upstream issues can be found in the RHEL 8.4 release notes. Given that we build from the same sources, many, if not all, of those issues will likely also apply to CentOS Linux.

8. Fixed Issues

A list of known fixed issues upstream can be found in the RHEL 8.4 bug fix notes. Given that we build from the same sources, many, if not all, of those issues will likely also apply to CentOS Linux.

9. Packages and Applications

9.1. Packages modified by CentOS

• abrt
• anaconda
• apache-commons-net
• basesystem
• cloud-init
• cockpit
• compat-glibc
• dhcp
• firefox
• fwupdate
• grub2
• httpd
• initial-setup
• ipa
• kabi-yum-plugins
• kernel
• kde-settings
• libreport
• oscap-anaconda-addon

• PackageKit

• pcs
• plymouth
• redhat-lsb
• redhat-rpm-config
• scap-security-guide
• shim
• shim-signed
• sos
• subscription-manager
• system-config-date
• system-config-kdump
• thunderbird
• xulrunner
• yum

9.2. Packages removed from CentOS that are included upstream

• insights-client
• Red_Hat_Enterprise_Linux-Release_Notes-8-*
• redhat-access-gui
• redhat-bookmarks
• redhat-indexhtml
• redhat-logos
• redhat-release-*
• subscription-manager-migration
• subscription-manager-migration-data
• rhc

9.3. Packages added by CentOS that are not included upstream

• centos-indexhtml
• centos-logos
• centos-obsolete-packages
• centos-linux-release
• centos-backgrounds
• epel-release
• elrepo-release

10. Sources

All CentOS Linux 8 sources are hosted at git.centos.org. All code released into the distribution originated from git.centos.org.

Source RPMs will also be published once the release is done, in the usual location at http://vault.centos.org/centos/8/

From a CentOS machine you can easily retrieve sources using the yumdownloader --source <packagename> command.

11. How to help and get help

As a CentOS user there are various ways you can help out with the CentOS community. Take a look at our Contribute page for further information on how to get involved.

11.1. Special Interest Groups

CentOS consists of different Special Interest Groups (SIGs) that bring together people with similar interests. The following SIGs already exist (among others):

• Artwork - create and improve artwork for CentOS releases and promotion

• Promotion - help promoting CentOS online or at events

• Virtualization - unite people around virtualization in CentOS

And we encourage people to join any of these SIGs or start up a new SIG, e.g.

• ARM, PPC and i386 port - help with porting CentOS to other architectures
• Hardware compatibility - provide feedback about specific hardware
• RPM Packaging - contribute new useful RPM packages
• Translation - help translating the documentation, website and Wiki content

11.2. Mailing Lists and Forums

Another way you can help others in the community is by actively helping and resolving problems that users come up against in the mailing lists and the forums.

11.3. Wiki and Website

Even as an inexperienced CentOS user we can use your help. Because we like to know what problems you encountered, if you had problems finding specific information, how you would improve documentation so it becomes more accessible. This kind of feedback is as valuable to others as it would have been to you so your involvement is required to make CentOS better.

So if you want to help out and improve our documentation and Wiki, register on the Wiki or subscribe to the centos-docs mailing list.

11.4. IRC Presence

The CentOS project maintains a presence on the Libera Chat IRC network as an additional venue for community support and interaction. Please see our IRC wiki article for more information.

12. Further Reading

The following websites contain large amounts of information to help people with their CentOS systems:

• Upstream release notes and documentation : https://access.redhat.com/documentation/en-US/Red_Hat_Enterprise_Linux/

• https://centos.org/

• https://wiki.centos.org/

• https://lists.centos.org/

• https://bugs.centos.org/

• https://blog.centos.org/

13. Thanks

We thank everyone involved for helping us produce this product and would like to specifically acknowledge the extra effort made by the QA Team. Without them working lots and lots of hours in evenings, nights, weekends and holidays, we couldn't have released this Release in the time we did. A special thanks also goes to the CentOS community. A more complete list of the contributors to this release can be found at /usr/share/doc/centos-release/Contributors of your new CentOS Linux 8 installation.

Copyright (C) 2020 The CentOS Project