AlmaLinux 10.2 & 9.8 drop with updated compilers, improved security, and more

The AlmaLinux OS Foundation is back with a side-by-side release, which brings forward the "Olive Jaguar" stable release 9.8 with the 5.14.0-687.5.3.el9_8 kernel and AlmaLinux 10.2, dubbed "Lavender Lion" and rocking the 6.12.0-211.7.3.el10_2 kernel. Until now, the second release came about a week after the first one, and moving to a simultaneous release is one of the foundation's goals for 2026. Those interested in all the goals for 2026 should check out this blog post.

AlmaLinux 9.8 "Olive Jaguar" comes with new compiler toolsets, updated module streams, and improved security. Multiple packages get new versions and various tweaks and fixes, including the ALESCo-approved kernel backport ahead of upstream. The ISOs available target ARM64, IBM Z, IBM PowerPC, as well as 64-bit Intel/AMD chips. The full release notes can be found on this page.

Although it supports the same architectures mentioned above, AlmaLinux 10.2 "Lavender Lion" also comes with a parallel Intel/AMD build with matching EPEL coverage for older hardware. The highlights of this update include updated compiler toolsets, new language and database packages, and improved security. Thanks to i686 userspace packages, now in a stable stage, AlmaLinux 10.2 enables legacy 32-bit software and CI pipelines, as well as containerized workloads. The full release notes can be found here.

In addition to the above, it should also be noted that a variety of cloud, container, and live images are available for both releases (see the Source link for details).