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Rocky Linux is an open-source Linux distribution developed by the Rocky Enterprise Software Foundation. On 14 July 2022, the developers announced a new major release of this Red Hat Enterprise Linux clone, Rocky Linux 9.0 (codenamed ‘Blue Onyx’), which is available for the x86_64, aarch64, ppc64le and s390x architectures, and uses the 5.14.0-70.13.1 kernel. The new release includes GNOME 40 as the default desktop environment and will be supported until 31 May 2032.
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Rocky Linux 9 offers GNOME 40 as its default desktop environment. The redesigned core applications, settings and user interface are designed to make it easier to use Rocky Linux as a desktop operating system. The XFS file system now supports Direct Access (DAX) operations, enabling direct access to byte-addressable persistent memory and the ‘eager write’ mount option to reduce latency.
Rocky Linux 9 includes a number of the latest runtime environments and compilers, including GCC 11.2.1, LLVM (13.0.1), Rust (1.58.1) and Go (1.17.1). Updated versions of developer tools, including GCC (11.2.1), glibc (2.34) and binutils (2.35). New features in the GCC compiler help developers better track the code flow with enhanced debugging capabilities and write optimised code for efficient hardware utilisation.
Languages and security
The new release includes Python 3.9, Node.js 16, Ruby 3.0.3, Perl 5.32 and PHP 8.0. All packaging methods, such as Software Collections, Flatpaks and RPMs, have been integrated into the application pipeline, making it easier for developers to use their preferred packages.
As regards security features, the Rocky Linux 9 series has disabled authentication via the root user’s password over SSH by default, to prevent attackers from gaining access through brute-force attacks using the password. OpenSSL 3.0 has been enhanced with a provider-based architecture, a new version management scheme and improved HTTPS support. Another notable enhancement is that the Cockpit web console now features an improved performance monitoring page, which helps identify the causes of spikes in CPU, memory, disk and network resource usage.
Software versions in Rocky Linux 9.0
| Area | Versions |
|---|---|
| Languages | Python 3.9, PHP 8.0, Perl 5.32, Ruby 3.0, Node.js 16 |
| Web servers and proxies | Apache HTTP Server 2.4.51, nginx 1.20, Varnish Cache 6.6, Squid 5.2 |
| Databases | MariaDB 10.5, MySQL 8.0, PostgreSQL 13, Redis 6.2 |
| Version control | Git 2.31, Subversion 1.14 |
| Security | OpenSSL 3.0.1, OpenSSH 8.7p1 |
Rocky Linux 9 requires at least an x86-64-v2-class processor; it uses cgroup v2 by default (which also affects Docker and Kubernetes configurations), and the network-scripts package has been deprecated. We have written a separate article about the new Peridot build system: Rocky Linux 9.0 arrives with a new, rock-solid build system.
Rocky Linux 9 is supported until 31 May 2032, whilst Rocky Linux 8 is supported until 31 May 2029.
Rocky Linux 9.0 can be downloaded here.
ISO verification
Once you have downloaded the 9.0 installation ISOs (Rocky-9.0-x86_64-boot.iso, -minimal.iso, -dvd1.iso/-dvd.iso), it is worth checking them. In the folder where you saved the ISOs:
curl -O https://dl.rockylinux.org/vault/rocky/9.0/isos/x86_64/CHECKSUM
sha256sum -c CHECKSUM --ignore-missing
The command compares the ISO files in the folder with the CHECKSUM file and returns an ‘OK’ result next to the downloaded image file. The packages are signed by the Rocky Linux 9 GPG key (RPM-GPG-KEY-Rocky-9, fingerprint: 21CB 256A E16F C54C 6E65 2949 702D 426D 350D 275D), which dnf automatically verifies after installation.
Update and migration
An existing Rocky Linux 9 system can be updated using the usual command:
sudo dnf -y upgrade
Rocky Linux only ever supports the latest point release of each major release, so the command now updates to the latest release in the 9 series. You can migrate from other Enterprise Linux 9 distributions (AlmaLinux, CentOS, Oracle Linux, RHEL) using the migrate2rocky script.
Rocky Linux does not officially support in-place upgrades between major versions; it recommends a fresh installation from version 8 to 9. If you do wish to perform an in-place upgrade, you can find the steps for the community-developed ELevate tool in our ELevate guide.
How long is it supported for?
Active support for Rocky Linux 9 (“Blue Onyx”) runs until 31 May 2027, and its lifecycle ends on 31 May 2032. Only the latest minor version receives updates. Further releases in the 9 series:
- Rocky Linux 9.1 (November 2022)
- Rocky Linux 9.2 (May 2023)
- Rocky Linux 9.3 (November 2023)
- Rocky Linux 9.4 (May 2024)
- Rocky Linux 9.5 (November 2024)
- Rocky Linux 9.6 (June 2025)
- Rocky Linux 9.7 (December 2025)
- Rocky Linux 9.8 (May 2026)
Rocky Linux is also available as an operating system option on our KVM VPS servers; you can also order a dedicated server with it for heavier workloads.