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On 17 November 2025, the AlmaLinux OS Foundation announced the general availability of AlmaLinux OS 9.7. The new release is codenamed ‘Moss Jungle Cat’, is compatible with the Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9.7 source code, and uses the 5.14.0-611.5.1.el9_7 kernel.
The installation ISOs for all four architectures are available on the mirrors:
A torrent has been created for each architecture, such as the x86_64 torrent.
AlmaLinux 9.7 improves performance, developer tools and security. New compiler toolchains and updated module streams have been introduced, whilst debugging and networking tools have been enhanced; containers and virtualisation now work with the latest versions of Podman and Buildah. In terms of security, the SELinux policy, SSSD and Keylime have been updated, whilst OpenSSL now supports post-quantum encryption.
Post-quantum encryption
The most important new feature in version 9.7 is support for algorithms designed to protect against quantum computers (post-quantum, PQC):
- OpenSSL 3.5: supports the ML-KEM, ML-DSA and SLH-DSA post-quantum algorithms, and has included the hybrid ML-KEM key exchange among the default TLS suites
- Encryption policies (crypto-policies): a new
PQsub-policy enables PQC algorithms, and numerous fixes help ensure that applications can also use them
Here’s how to enable the PQ sub-policy alongside the default policy:
update-crypto-policies --set DEFAULT:PQ
After configuration, it is advisable to restart the server or at least the services that use encryption (web server, SSH), and to check that older clients can still connect.
Software versions in AlmaLinux 9.7
| Area | Versions |
|---|---|
| Module streams and runtime environments | Node.js 24, .NET 10.0, SWIG 4.3 |
| Compilers and toolkits | GCC Toolset 15 (GCC 15.1, Binutils 2.44), LLVM Toolset 20.1.8, Rust Toolset 1.88.0, Go Toolset 1.24 |
| Basic toolchain | glibc 2.34, Annobin 12.98 |
| Debugging and logging | GDB 16.3, Valgrind 3.25.1, SystemTap 5.3, Dyninst 13.0.0, elfutils 0.193, libabigail 2.8, rsyslog 8.2506.0, bpftrace 0.23.5 |
| Performance monitoring | PCP 6.3.7, Grafana 10.2.6 |
| Network | NetworkManager 1.54.0, iproute 6.14.0, ethtool 6.15 |
| Containers | podman 5.6.0, buildah 1.41.4 |
| Security | SELinux-policy 38.1.65, SSSD 2.9.7, Keylime 7.12.1 |
| Miscellaneous | Samba 4.22.4, Git LFS 3.6.1, Mesa 25.0.7, GIMP 3.0.4 |
From GCC Toolset 15 onwards, Annobin and dwz are no longer part of the toolset. Node.js 24 can be installed via the module system:
dnf module reset nodejs
dnf module install nodejs:24
Support for older hardware
As has been the case since version 9.4, version 9.7 also restores support for devices that had been disabled in the upstream release: the aacraid, be2iscsi, be2net, hpsa, lpfc, megaraid_sas, mlx4_core, mpt3sas, mptsas, qla2xxx and qla4xxx drivers once again recognise older RAID controllers, Fibre Channel and network cards.
Cloud, container and live images
At launch, the following images were also made available: container images (Platform and UBI alternatives), LXC/LXD, live systems (GNOME, GNOME-mini, KDE, XFCE, MATE), cloud images for AWS, Azure, Google Cloud, OpenNebula and Oracle Cloud, a general cloud-init image for all four architectures, Vagrant boxes, and Raspberry Pi and WSL versions.
ISO verification and updating
wget https://repo.almalinux.org/almalinux/RPM-GPG-KEY-AlmaLinux-9
gpg --import RPM-GPG-KEY-AlmaLinux-9
wget https://repo.almalinux.org/almalinux/9.7/isos/x86_64/CHECKSUM
gpg --verify CHECKSUM
sha256sum AlmaLinux-9.7-x86_64-boot.iso
The output of gpg --verify should display the line “Good signature from “AlmaLinux OS 9”” (fingerprint: BF18 AC28 7617 8908 D6E7 1267 D36C B86C B86B 3716), and the ISO’s SHA256 value should match that in the CHECKSUM file.
On an existing AlmaLinux 9 system, the update can be carried out with a single command:
dnf upgrade -y
Users of the 9.7 beta should first install the final repository package:
rpm -i https://repo.almalinux.org/almalinux/9.7/BaseOS/x86_64/os/Packages/almalinux-repos-9.7-1.el9.x86_64.rpm --replacefiles
dnf upgrade -y
You can update from AlmaLinux 8 to 9 locally by following our ELevate guide.
The full list of changes can be found in the AlmaLinux 9.7 release notes and the Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9.7 release notes.
How long will AlmaLinux 9 be supported?
Active support for AlmaLinux 9 will continue until 31 May 2027, and security updates will be provided until 31 May 2032. Individual point releases will reach the end of their lifecycle upon the release of the following versions. Further releases in the 9 series:
- AlmaLinux 9.0 (May 2022)
- AlmaLinux 9.1 (November 2022)
- AlmaLinux 9.2 (May 2023)
- AlmaLinux 9.3 (November 2023)
- AlmaLinux 9.4 (May 2024)
- AlmaLinux 9.5 (November 2024)
- AlmaLinux 9.6 (May 2025)
- AlmaLinux 9.8 (May 2026)
We wrote about the 10.1 point release of the 10 series, which was released a week later, in our article on AlmaLinux 10.1.
You can choose AlmaLinux as your operating system when ordering KVM VPS or dedicated servers.