Red Hat clone CentOS 6.4 replicated and released

The CentOS project has released version 6.4 of its Linux distribution. As usual, this distribution is a Red Hat Enterprise Linux clone, and CentOS 6.4 therefore includes all the features that are available in RHEL 6.4, which was released on 21 February. Among these features are drivers for Microsoft's Hyper V technology, KVM virtualisation optimisations, and support for Intel's next generation of processors. As the CentOS developers are aiming to achieve full compatibility with the original, their clone should behave exactly like the original in all essential areas; it only looks slightly different because CentOS replaces the Red Hat branding. Some known problems of CentOS 6.4 are listed in the release notes.

CentOS 6.4 is the second free clone of the commercial RHEL 6.4, as Oracle released Oracle Linux 6.4, which is also based on this distribution, at the end of February. However, Oracle includes additional features, uses a newer default kernel and is, therefore, not as close to the original as CentOS. Details of the differences and the new features of Oracle Linux 6.4 are available in its release notes. From this version, XFS will be among the supported filesystems and ksplice, which allows security holes in the kernel to be fixed during operation, now includes an "offline client" that can install ksplice patches on systems that are not connected to the internet.

(djwm)