Rocky Linux, a free and community-driven enterprise Linux distribution that maintains compatibility with Red Hat Enterprise Linux, has just announced the general availability of Rocky Linux 9.8, the latest update in the older 9.x series.
The update includes OpenSSH 9.9, which provides fixes and improvements over the earlier OpenSSH 8.7. GnuTLS has been updated to version 3.8.10, adding ML-KEM hybrid key exchange and ML-DSA post-quantum algorithm support.
The release also provides p11-kit 0.26.1 with post-quantum cryptography definitions in PKCS #11 headers and fapolicyd 1.4.3, which now supports rule filtering.
Rocky Linux 9.8 also updates several dynamic programming languages, web, and database components. It includes MariaDB 11.8, PostgreSQL 18, Ruby 4.0, and Node.js 24, offering administrators and developers modern application stack options within the enterprise Linux 9 platform.
Core system toolchain components have been updated as well, including GCC 11.5, glibc 2.39, Annobin 12.98, and Binutils 2.35.2. For those requiring newer compiler stacks, GCC Toolset 15 is now available, featuring GCC 15.2 and Binutils 2.44.
Additional development updates include LLVM Toolset 21.1.8, Rust Toolset 1.92.0, and Go Toolset 1.26.2. Performance and debugging tools have been refreshed, including GDB 16.3, Valgrind 3.26.0, SystemTap 5.4, Dyninst 13.0, elfutils 0.194, and libabigail 2.9. For monitoring, the distro offers PCP 6.3.7 and Grafana 10.2.6.
Moreover, Image Builder introduces several enhancements in this release. It now supports advanced disk partitioning for custom images, Kickstart file injection for ISO builds, and WSL2 image creation. System images for AWS and KVM formats no longer include a separate /boot partition.
Existing Rocky Linux 9 users can upgrade to Rocky Linux 9.8 from the command line by running sudo dnf -y upgrade.
Desktop users can upgrade using GNOME Software or KDE Discover. As before, Rocky Linux does not support upgrades between major versions, so moving from Rocky Linux 8 to 9 requires a fresh installation.
For additional details, see the announcement.
Users of other Enterprise Linux 9-based distributions can convert their systems to Rocky Linux 9.8 using the project’s migrate2rocky utilities. Rocky Linux 9 remains supported until May 31, 2032, with active support ending on May 31, 2027.
Meanwhile, Rocky Linux 10.2 (based on RHEL 10.2) is already in progress. The project’s release tracker currently lists the 10.2 branch as being built, though the assets are not yet suitable for general testing.
