After AlmaLinux 9.7 appeared two weeks ago, followed by Oracle Linux 9.7, the Rocky team now announced the general availability of Rocky Linux 9.7 (Blue Onyx), as the seventh refresh to the 9.x series for this RHEL-based replacement, with refreshed installation media, cloud, container, WSL, and live images now available via the project’s downloads page.
Powered by Linux kernel 5.14, the update introduces new system-wide cryptographic policy improvements, including support for post-quantum cryptography. Dynamic language stacks receive updates such as Node.js 24 and Valkey 8, while system toolchain components such as Glibc 2.34 and Annobin 12.98 receive maintenance improvements.
Performance and debugging tools receive updates with GDB 16.3, Valgrind 3.25.1, SystemTap 5.3, Dyninst 13.0.0, elfutils 0.193, and libabigail 2.8. Compiler toolsets advance to GCC Toolset 15 with GCC 15.1 and Binutils 2.44, along with LLVM Toolset 20.1.8, Rust 1.88.0, Go 1.24, and .NET 10.0.
Cockpit, the web-based management console, adopts the PatternFly 6 design for a more consistent interface. In addition, Image Builder now supports generating WSL2 and Vagrant (libvirt) images, widening its utility for testing, development, and hybrid Windows–Linux workflows.
For more information, see the announcement.
Upgrading from earlier Rocky Linux 9 releases is supported through standard package management tools, whether via dnf upgrade on the command line or through the graphical software tools in GNOME or KDE.
Major version upgrades from Rocky Linux 8 to 9 still require a fresh installation. Users of other Enterprise Linux 9 derivatives can migrate to Rocky Linux 9.7 using the migrate2rocky utilities.
