AlmaLinux ships 9.8 and 10.2 on the same day for the first time

By AI, Created 4:51 PM UTC, May 26, 2026, /AGP/ – AlmaLinux OS Foundation released AlmaLinux OS 9.8 and 10.2 on May 26, 2026, marking the first time the project has shipped two stable versions on the same day. The releases add new language, virtualization and hardware support, plus patches for several high-profile vulnerabilities.

Why it matters: - AlmaLinux’s first same-day dual stable release signals a faster release engineering pipeline and stronger automation for enterprise users. - The new 9.8 and 10.2 builds add platform updates, hardware support and security fixes that matter to production Linux environments.

What happened: - AlmaLinux OS Foundation announced general availability of AlmaLinux OS 9.8, codenamed “Olive Jaguar,” and AlmaLinux OS 10.2, codenamed “Lavender Lion,” on May 26, 2026. - The Foundation said this is the first time in AlmaLinux’s history that two stable releases shipped on the same day. - The project posted release details in the AlmaLinux blog announcement.

The details: - AlmaLinux said the milestone reflects advances in release engineering, automation and quality assurance infrastructure. - The Foundation said those upgrades let the project deliver parallel stable releases without sacrificing reliability, performance or enterprise readiness. - Andrew Lukoshko, Lead Architect of the AlmaLinux project and Chair of ALESCo, said the dual release shows how much the community and engineering ecosystem have accomplished in a short period of time. - Lukoshko said the project continues to add upstream enhancements, expanded hardware support and rapid security response capabilities.

AlmaLinux OS 9.8: - AlmaLinux OS 9.8 adds updated compiler toolsets, new module streams and expanded security enhancements. - The release includes Python 3.14. - AlmaLinux OS 9.8 updates streams for MariaDB, PostgreSQL, Ruby and Node.js 24. - The release refreshes container and virtualization tools including Podman, Buildah, libvirt and QEMU-KVM. - AlmaLinux OS 9.8 includes an ALESCo-approved kernel backport ahead of upstream availability to address excessive CPU consumption by systemd and ps during task cleanup. - Release notes are available in the 9.8 documentation.

AlmaLinux OS 10.2: - AlmaLinux OS 10.2 expands language, virtualization and hardware support. - The release adds PostgreSQL 18, MariaDB 11.8, Ruby 4.0, PHP 8.4 and GNOME 49. - AlmaLinux OS 10.2 includes stable i686 userspace packages for legacy 32-bit workloads. - The release continues upstream enhancements with Btrfs boot support, CRB enabled by default and x86_64_v2 builds with matching EPEL coverage. - New features in 10.2 include fully enabled KVM support for IBM POWER systems, restored SPICE support, Firefox and Thunderbird as RPM packages, and re-enabled legacy storage and networking drivers for enterprise hardware. - Release notes are available in the 10.2 documentation.

Between the lines: - The same-day release suggests AlmaLinux is maturing its build and test systems enough to push multiple stable branches at once. - The security patch list shows the project is trying to pair release cadence with rapid response to newly disclosed vulnerabilities. - The mix of legacy support, new software stacks and hardware enablement points to a strategy aimed at both older enterprise installations and newer deployments.

What’s next: - AlmaLinux users can now adopt either 9.8 or 10.2 based on their enterprise stack, hardware needs and compatibility requirements. - The Foundation is likely to keep emphasizing release speed, security response and broad platform support as it evolves the distribution.

The bottom line: - AlmaLinux’s same-day 9.8 and 10.2 launch is both a release milestone and a signal that the project wants to compete on speed, stability and enterprise readiness at the same time.