I’ve had a problem with the CentOS Stream 8 kernel ever since I found out that the RHEL kernel is patched, then weeks or so later, that same kernel is CentOS-ified and eventually moved to Stream 8 users. We THINK. I say “think” because the process was never clear.

That is over. In my last batch of CentOS Stream 8 updates, the new kernel on my system is now the very same that moved a few days earlier to users of Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8.5.

Here are the kernels on my system right now:

$ rpm -qa kernel
kernel-4.18.0-348.el8.x86_64
kernel-4.18.0-338.el8.x86_64
kernel-4.18.0-348.2.1.el8_5.x86_64

To get kernel-4.18.0-348.2.1.el8_5.x86_64, there was no two-week wait. No monthlong wait.

Now Stream 8 users have a kernel we can trust. Thank you to whoever at Red Hat decided that this labor-saving, security-enhancing move was the thing to do for CentOS Stream.

I hope CentOS Stream 8 continues to track the RHEL kernel. It’s the right thing to do, and it gives Stream 8 the gravitas it needs to assure users that the distribution is enterprise-ready.

Thank you Red Hat, thank you CentOS.

Kernels in CentOS Stream: I have noticed before now that RHEL kernels were in the CentOS Stream BaseOS repo, but I didn’t know whether or not those packages would update going forward. I also don’t know the mechanism by which the CentOS Project sent the RHEL 8.5 kernel to users who had been using the CentOS kernel, but I am still happy about it.