Question
What is the future for cPanel moving forward after the recent announcement from RedHat about RHEL source code becoming private and only available for CentOS Stream moving forward?
Answer
This news was unexpected in both the open source and web hosting communities and has raised concerns regarding the feasibility of rebuilds and forks of Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) in the future. If you'd like to read that announcement, you find that at the RedHat site here:
Furthering the evolution of CentOS Stream
cPanel will continue to support RockyLinux, AlmaLinux, and CloudLinux, as they have promised continued service with no changes. For full details, please read their official announcements at the respective links:
- AlmaLinux response to RHEL:
Impact of RHEL changes to AlmaLinux - RockyLinux response to RHEL:
Rocky Linux Expresses Confidence Despite Red Hat's Announcement - CloudLinux response to RHEL:
CloudLinux OS 8 and 9 in post RedHat world
If you would like to migrate to a different Linux distribution cPanel currently supports Ubuntu 20.04 LTS. Support for the newer version, 22.04 LTS, is on our development roadmap and expected later this year. cPanel began working to add Ubuntu support two years ago after the CentOS Stream announcement as a way to protect our users from issues such as this.
If you wish to stay within the Red Hat ecosystem, we recommend using ELevate to update your existing CentOS 7 machine to a more recent and supported operating system:
You can view all supported OS for a cPanel installation here:
Installation Guide - System Requirements
We remain committed to finding solutions that address any concerns associated with these changes. By supporting different OS vendors, we aim to support a wide variety of avenues for your business to overcome any potential challenges from third-party vendors.