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For the first time in AlmaLinux’s history, two releases were published on the same day: on 26 May 2026, the AlmaLinux OS Foundation simultaneously made available the stable versions of AlmaLinux OS 9.8 ‘Olive Jaguar’ and AlmaLinux OS 10.2 ‘Lavender Lion’. This simultaneous release was made possible by the work of the Build, Core and Infrastructure SIGs.
| AlmaLinux 9.8 | AlmaLinux 10.2 | |
|---|---|---|
| Code name | Olive Jaguar | Lavender Lion |
| Kernel | 5.14.0-687.5.3.el9_8 | 6.12.0-211.7.3.el10_2 |
| Architectures | x86_64, aarch64, ppc64le, s390x | x86_64, x86_64_v2, aarch64, ppc64le, s390x, i686 (user packages only) |
| End of security updates | 31 May 2032 | 31 May 2035 |
Security fixes in both releases
Both releases include fixes for recent serious Linux vulnerabilities, so the update is urgent even for existing servers:
- Copy Fail (CVE-2026-31431)
- Dirty FRAG
- Fragnesia (CVE-2026-46300)
- nginx Rift (CVE-2026-42945)
- SSH Keysign Pwn (CVE-2026-46333)
A recent development is that the x86_64 Shim 16.1 bootloader binaries have now been signed with Microsoft’s 2011 and 2023 UEFI Secure Boot certificates, meaning that the system will still boot on machines protected by Secure Boot even after the old certificate has expired.
AlmaLinux 9.8 “Olive Jaguar”
Version 9.8 brings new compiler toolchains, updated module streams and improved security. From a web server perspective, the most significant developments are the arrival of MariaDB 11.8, PostgreSQL 18 and Ruby 4.0 as new module streams, and Python 3.14 as a separate package.
| Area | Versions |
|---|---|
| New module streams and packages | MariaDB 11.8, PostgreSQL 18, Ruby 4.0, Python 3.14 |
| Updated module stream | Node.js 24 |
| Compilers and toolkits | GCC Toolset 15, LLVM Toolset 21.1.8, Rust Toolset 1.92.0 |
| Debugging and logging | GDB 16.3, Valgrind 3.26.0, SystemTap 5.4, elfutils 0.194, rsyslog 8.2510.0, bpftrace 0.24 |
| Security | OpenSSL 3.5.5, OpenSSH 9.9p1, GnuTLS 3.8.10, SELinux-policy 38.1.75, crypto-policies 20260224, SSSD 2.9.8, Keylime 7.12.1 |
| Network | NetworkManager 1.54.3, iproute 6.17.0 |
| Containers and virtualisation | podman 5.8.0, buildah 1.43.0, skopeo 1.22.0, libvirt 11.10.0, QEMU-KVM 10.1.0 |
| Miscellaneous | Git 2.52.0, Git LFS 3.7.1, Samba 4.23.5, Cockpit 356, cmake 3.31.8, sudo 1.9.17p2 |
AlmaLinux 9.8 includes a kernel fix not yet present in RHEL: the ALESCo (AlmaLinux Engineering Steering Committee) has voted to backport the upstream fix ‘proc: fix a dentry lock race between release_task and lookup’. This prevents systemd and ps from using an unnecessary amount of processor time when terminating processes. The fix has also been submitted to CentOS Stream 9, but will not be included in RHEL until version 9.9 at the earliest.
PostgreSQL 18 or MariaDB 11.8 can be installed via the module system, for example:
dnf module reset postgresql
dnf module install postgresql:18
Always back up an existing database (using pg_dumpall) before upgrading to a new major version, as the PostgreSQL data directory cannot be used directly in the new major version.
AlmaLinux 10.2 ‘Lavender Lion’
Version 10.2 introduces new language and database packages, the GNOME 49 desktop environment and enhanced security features:
| Area | Versions |
|---|---|
| New packages | PHP 8.4, Python 3.14, PostgreSQL 18, MariaDB 11.8, Ruby 4.0, SDL3 3.2.4, libkrun 1.17.4 |
| Compilers and toolkits | GCC Toolset 15 (GCC 15.2.1), LLVM Toolset 21.1.8, Rust Toolset 1.92.0 |
| Debugging and logging | GDB 16.3, Valgrind 3.26.0, SystemTap 5.4, elfutils 0.194, rsyslog 8.2510.0, bpftrace 0.24.2, BCC 0.35.0, libbpf 1.7.0 |
| Security | OpenSSL 3.5.5, OpenSSH 9.9p1, SELinux-policy 42.1.18, crypto-policies 20260216, SSSD 2.12.0, Keylime 7.14.1, Libreswan 5.3, audit 4.0.3, AIDE 0.19.2 |
| Network | NetworkManager 1.56.0, iproute 6.17.0, nftables 1.1.5, BIND 9.18.33, chrony 4.8 |
| Containers and virtualisation | podman 5.8.0, buildah 1.43.0, skopeo 1.22.0, libvirt 11.10.0, QEMU-KVM 10.1.0 |
| Miscellaneous | Git 2.52.0, Samba 4.23.5, Cockpit 356, sudo 1.9.17p2, GNOME 49 |
The release of PHP 8.4 is the most important news for web application operators; we wrote about the support periods for PHP versions prior to 8.4 in our article ‘End of support for PHP 8.2’.
32-bit packages are back
Version 10.0 was released without any 32-bit packages at all, but version 10.2 saw the return of the i686 user packages, which first appeared in AlmaLinux OS Kitten in April. There is no 32-bit system or 32-bit kernel available for installation; the packages are intended to run legacy 32-bit programs. The official Docker image can also be started using the docker run --platform linux/386 switch. The i686 packages will be maintained until 2035.
Differences from RHEL 10.2
- KVM on IBM POWER: support, which began as a technical preview in version 9.6, became fully featured in version 10.2, meaning that KVM can now be used in exactly the same way as in AlmaLinux 8
- Btrfs: support introduced in version 10.1 has been retained; the system can now boot from a Btrfs volume
- CRB repository is enabled by default on new installations
- x86_64_v2 version for older processors, with EPEL packages
- Frame pointers, SPICE, and Firefox and Thunderbird as RPM packages
- Legacy hardware: drivers for Adaptec, Dell PERC, HP, Mellanox, QLogic, Emulex, LSI and Broadcom controllers and cards now recognise devices that were previously disabled in the upstream
Checking ISO files
AlmaLinux 9.8 (x86_64):
wget https://repo.almalinux.org/almalinux/RPM-GPG-KEY-AlmaLinux-9
gpg --import RPM-GPG-KEY-AlmaLinux-9
wget https://repo.almalinux.org/almalinux/9.8/isos/x86_64/CHECKSUM
gpg --verify CHECKSUM
sha256sum AlmaLinux-9.8-x86_64-boot.iso
AlmaLinux 10.2 (for the current machine’s architecture):
wget https://repo.almalinux.org/almalinux/RPM-GPG-KEY-AlmaLinux-10
gpg --import RPM-GPG-KEY-AlmaLinux-10
wget https://repo.almalinux.org/almalinux/10.2/isos/$(uname -m)/CHECKSUM
gpg --verify CHECKSUM
sha256sum AlmaLinux-10.2-$(uname -m)-boot.iso
For version 9.8, the ‘AlmaLinux OS 9’ (fingerprint BF18 AC28 7617 8908 D6E7 1267 D36C B86C B86B 3716) and, for version 10.2, the ‘AlmaLinux OS 10’ key (fingerprint EE6D B7B9 8F5B F5ED D9DA 0DE5 DEE5 C11C C2A1 E572) should appear in the ‘Good signature’ line. For the x86_64_v2 ISO, manually enter the directory name x86_64_v2 in place of $(uname -m).
Update
On existing AlmaLinux 9 or 10 systems, the update is carried out using the usual command; due to the security patches, it is advisable to run it as soon as possible:
dnf upgrade -y
Users of the 9.8 beta should first run the command rpm -i https://repo.almalinux.org/almalinux/9.8/BaseOS/x86_64/os/Packages/almalinux-repos-9.8-1.el9.x86_64.rpm --replacefiles, whilst users of the 10.2 beta should run dnf install https://repo.almalinux.org/almalinux/almalinux-{release,repos,gpg-keys}-latest-10.$(uname -m).rpm, followed by dnf upgrade -y. For major version upgrades (8 → 9, 9 → 10), please refer to our ELevate guide.
The full list of changes can be found in the release notes for AlmaLinux 9.8 and 10.2, as well as in the release notes for RHEL 9.8 and RHEL 10.2.
How long will they be supported?
Active support for AlmaLinux 9 runs until 31 May 2027, with security updates available until 31 May 2032; active support for AlmaLinux 10 runs until 31 May 2030, with security updates available until 31 May 2035. Previous releases in the two series:
- AlmaLinux 9.0, 9.1, 9.2, 9.3, 9.4, 9.5, 9.6 and 9.7
- AlmaLinux 10.0 and 10.1
If you’d like to run the updated AlmaLinux on your own server, you can order a KVM VPS or a dedicated server with it. Our cPanel hosting servers run CloudLinux OS, which is closely related to AlmaLinux and is also RHEL-compatible.