What is CentOS Linux?
CentOS Linux is a community-supported distribution derived from sources freely provided to the public on Red Hat or CentOS git for Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL). As such, CentOS Linux aims to be functionally compatible with RHEL. The CentOS Project mainly changes packages to remove upstream vendor branding and artwork. CentOS Linux is no-cost and free to redistribute. Each CentOS version is maintained until the equivalent RHEL version goes out of general support. A new CentOS version is made available once a new RHEL version is rebuilt - approximately every 6-12 months for minor point releases and several years for major version bumps. The length of time the rebuild takes varies from weeks for point releases to months for major version bumps. This results in a secure, low-maintenance, reliable, predictable and reproducible Linux environment.