Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9 and AlmaLinux 8.6

And more updates for Linux on OpenPOWER: RHEL 9 and AlmaLinux 8.6. AlmaLinux 8.6 continues on kernel 4.18 from version 8.5 with the usual bug fixes and security updates, plus updated streams for Perl, PHP and log4j and updated toolchains for gcc, LLVM, Rust and Go. ISOs are available. Currently your best bet on OpenPOWER for RHEL-style stability without the RHEL-style price, support for AlmaLinux 8.x is expected through at least 2029.

But hey, let's say in these inflationary times you think support contracts are a good investment. IBM-Red Hat's got you covered with RHEL 9, the first release based on CentOS Stream (version 9) instead of directly off Fedora, meaning this is actually F34 instead of the recently-released F36. This is particularly notable for ppc64le because you won't get the new long double support in F36 (it's "only" glibc 2.34), but then you won't have to deal with the GNOME 42 stupidity either. Fortunately application streams will cover keeping your toolchains current. If you're still on RHEL 8, though, you're still supported until at least 2030, and big-endian systems and others putting along on RHEL 7 will be supported through mid-2024 (with extended support planned for two years after that).