What’s New in CentOS 8? Features, Upgrade Guide, and Key Differences from RHEL 8

CentOS 8 Release Overview

Following Red Hat’s May announcement of RHEL 8, CentOS 8 is now officially available for download, providing a stable, secure, and consistent platform built on Fedora 28 and the Linux 4.18 kernel, suitable for both traditional and emerging workloads across hybrid cloud environments.

Key Advantages and Changes

Kernel: Based on Linux 4.18, offering production‑grade stability.

Package Management: Yum has been replaced by DNF (Dandified Yum), delivering modular content support, improved performance, and a familiar CLI/API for sysadmins and DevOps.

Version Control: Includes Git 2.18, Mercurial 4.8, and Subversion 1.10.

Programming Languages: Python 3.6 (limited Python 2.7 support), Node.js 10.1, PHP 7.2, Ruby 2.5, Perl 5.26, SWIG 3.0.

Compiler: GCC 8.2 with support for the latest C++ standards, better optimizations, and new hardware features.

Databases and Services: MariaDB 10.3, MySQL 8.0, PostgreSQL 10/9.6, Redis 5, Apache 2.4, nginx 1.14.

Container Tools: Red Hat’s buildah and podman replace Docker, compatible with existing Docker images.

Desktop: GNOME Shell updated to 3.28; GNOME session uses Wayland by default, while X.Org remains available.

Networking: nftables replaces iptables as the default firewall, with firewalld using nftables as its backend.

CentOS Stream Note

For developers seeking a more cutting‑edge platform, CentOS Stream sits between upstream Fedora development and downstream RHEL, providing early access to upcoming Red Hat features; its first release is expected in early October.

Upgrade Guidance

If you prefer to start from source, the CentOS source code and RPMs are hosted at git.centos.org. To download source packages for an installed package, run: yumdownloader --source <packagename> In‑place upgrades are supported on RHEL. The recommended approach for most environments is to back up data, inventory applications, perform a fresh installation of CentOS 8, and then migrate data and applications.

Important Links

CentOS 8 official release notes: https://lists.centos.org/pipermail/centos-announce/2019-September/023449.html

Full Red Hat 8 release notes: https://access.redhat.com/documentation/en-us/red_hat_enterprise_linux/8/html/8.0_release_notes/overview

Download CentOS 8: https://centos.org/download/ (mirrors: http://mirrors.neusoft.edu.cn/centos/)