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Rocky Linux 10.0, the new major release codenamed ‘Red Quartz’, was officially released on 11 June 2025. This release, which is compatible with Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10, is based on the 6.12.0 kernel (version 6.12.0-55.14.1 at the time of release) and was tested for two weeks prior to approval. The installer, container, cloud and live images are available on the download page.
New processor requirements and architectures
The biggest change is that Rocky Linux 10 no longer supports x86-64-v2-level processors: AMD and Intel machines require at least x86-64-v3 (the instruction set following Intel Haswell). Processors predating AMD Excavator and certain Intel Atom models are not supported. The architectures are:
- 64-bit AMD/Intel x86-64-v3 (x86_64)
- 64-bit RISC-V (riscv64), for the first time: StarFive VisionFive 2, QEMU and SiFive HiFive Premier P550
- 64-bit ARMv8.0-A (aarch64), with support for Raspberry Pi 4 and 5
- IBM POWER, little-endian (ppc64le)
- IBM Z (s390x)
32-bit packages have been completely phased out, so 32-bit applications no longer run. To check whether the processor on an existing machine is compatible, you can do the following on a Linux system using glibc version 2.33 or higher (for example, Rocky Linux 9):
/lib64/ld-linux-x86-64.so.2 --help | grep supported
If the line x86-64-v3 (supported, searched) appears, the machine is compatible. Rocky Linux’s own CPU compatibility guide also describes this test.
Software versions in Rocky Linux 10.0
| Area | Versions |
|---|---|
| Languages | PHP 8.3, Python 3.12, Ruby 3.3, Node.js 22.13, Perl 5.40 |
| Web servers and proxies | Apache HTTP Server 2.4.63, nginx 1.26, Varnish Cache 7.6, Squid 6.10 |
| Databases | MariaDB 10.11, MySQL 8.4, PostgreSQL 16.8, Valkey 8.0 |
| Compilers and toolkits | LLVM Toolset 19.1.7, Rust Toolset 1.84.1, Go Toolset 1.23 |
| Troubleshooting and performance monitoring | GDB 14.2, Valgrind 3.23.0, SystemTap 5.1, Dyninst 12.3.0, elfutils 0.192, PCP 6.3.0, Grafana 10.2.6 |
Important changes to web servers include Valkey replacing Redis, Postfix being recommended in place of sendmail, and SpamAssassin being moved to the EPEL repository. DNF’s modularity is now obsolete: package versions can be selected directly, for example, dnf install nginx-1.26.3.
Installation, networking and desktop
- Root account: disabled by default; the user created during installation is granted full
sudoprivileges; the root account can be re-enabled by entering the root password. - Remote installation: you can connect remotely to the graphical installer using RDP instead of VNC.
- Network: the
ifcfgfiles and theifup/ifdowncommands have been deprecated; configuration is now carried out using NetworkManager (nmcli,nmtui,nmstate) in the/etc/NetworkManager/system-connections/directory. The DHCP server has been replaced by Kea, and ‘bond’ must be used instead of network card teaming. - Desktop: the X.Org server has been replaced by Wayland, and old X11 programs are now run by Xwayland; GNOME Text Editor has replaced gedit, ptyxis has replaced GNOME Terminal, and PipeWire has replaced PulseAudio as the default.
- Containers and virtualisation: Podman 5, with crun as the default runtime environment and cgroups v2; the monolithic libvirtd and Virtual Machine Manager are deprecated, with modular daemons and Cockpit recommended instead.
Security
- Encryption policies, OpenSSL and OpenSSH are already using post-quantum (PQC) algorithms
- New OpenPGP implementation: Sequoia PGP
- Permissions for OpenSSH machine keys have been tightened (0600)
- The default password algorithm is yescrypt
Known issues
- SELinux and passt: if the virtual machine is running passt with a network backend and memfd memory, the interface will not start whilst SELinux is enabled.
- Grey screen: on some machines (such as those running 3D virtualisation), the installer may halt before the setup wizard; in this case, you can proceed by pressing Ctrl+Alt+F1, followed by Ctrl+Alt+F6.
Koji instead of Peridot
Rocky Linux 10 packages are no longer built using Peridot, as introduced in Rocky Linux 9, but are now built using the Koji build system. According to the announcement, the new generation of Peridot is not yet ready, whilst Koji also supports IMA signatures.
A full list of changes can be found in the Rocky Linux 10.0 release notes.
ISO verification
The checksum files for the 10 series are signed by the Rocky Linux 10 key. In the folder where you saved the ISO:
curl -O https://dl.rockylinux.org/pub/rocky/RPM-GPG-KEY-Rocky-10
gpg --import RPM-GPG-KEY-Rocky-10
curl -O https://dl.rockylinux.org/vault/rocky/10.0/isos/x86_64/CHECKSUM
curl -O https://dl.rockylinux.org/vault/rocky/10.0/isos/x86_64/CHECKSUM.asc
gpg --verify CHECKSUM.asc CHECKSUM
sha256sum -c CHECKSUM --ignore-missing
The line ‘Good signature from “Release Engineering (Rocky Linux 10)”’ (fingerprint: FC22 6859 C086 0BF0 DDB9 5B08 5B10 6C73 6FED FC85) and the ‘OK’ result next to the downloaded ISO should appear.
Update and migration
Rocky Linux does not support upgrading between major versions: it recommends a fresh installation from version 8 or 9 to version 10, restoring data from a backup. The Rocky Linux documentation provides a step-by-step method for this: on the old machine, you export the list of users and installed packages, then on the new machine, after enabling CRB and EPEL, you install them. We’ve written about the current capabilities of the ELevate tool at the end of our ELevate guide.
How long is it supported for?
Active support for Rocky Linux 10 (“Red Quartz”) will continue until 31 May 2030, and its lifecycle will end on 31 May 2035. Only the latest minor version will receive updates. Further releases in the 10 series:
- Rocky Linux 10.1 (November 2025)
- Rocky Linux 10.2 (May 2026)
The previous major release, Rocky Linux 9, will receive updates until 2032; the point release of the 9 series, 9.6, was released a week earlier.
Rocky Linux is also an available operating system option on our KVM VPS servers. If you’re running it on an older dedicated server with a processor that doesn’t support x86-64-v3, stick with Rocky Linux 9.