Red Hat Enterprise Linux Life Cycle

17 Jul 2021

Overview

Red Hat Enterprise Linux versions 6 and 7

Red Hat offers subscription services for each major release of Red Hat Enterprise Linux throughout four life-cycle phases—called Full Support, Maintenance Support 1, Maintenance Support 2, and an Extended Life Phase.

Red Hat Enterprise Linux versions 6, and 7 each deliver ten years of support (unless otherwise noted below under Exceptions) in Full Support, Maintenance Support 1 and Maintenance Support 2 Phases followed by an Extended Life Phase. In addition, for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6, customers may purchase annual Add-on subscriptions called Extended Life-cycle Support (ELS) to extend limited subscription services beyond the Maintenance Support 2 Phase.

Exception

During the life of Red Hat Enterprise Linux version 7, Red Hat only offers subscription services for each release of Red Hat Enterprise Linux for ARM, Red Hat Enterprise Linux for Power LE (POWER9) and Red Hat Enterprise Linux for IBM System z (Structure A) for Full Support Phase (Not Maintenance Support 1 or 2 Phases) support followed by an Extended Life Phase.
During the life of Red Hat Enterprise Linux version 7, Red Hat only offers subscription services for each release of Red Hat Enterprise Linux Atomic Host for the Full Support Phase and Maintenance Support 1 Phase (Not Maintenance Support 2 Phase) followed by an Extended Life Phase.

Red Hat Enterprise Linux Version 8

Red Hat understands the importance of life cycle planning for our customers, partners, ISVs, and the Red Hat Enterprise Linux ecosystem. With the introduction of Red Hat Enterprise Linux version 8, Red Hat is simplifying the RHEL product phases from four to three: Full Support, Maintenance Support, and Extended Life Phase. We are also providing information on anticipated release dates and minor releases that will offer extended support.

Red Hat Enterprise Linux Version 8 delivers a ten year life cycle in Full Support and Maintenance Support Phases followed by an Extended Life Phase. In addition, Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8, customers may purchase annual Add-on subscriptions called Extended Life-cycle Support (ELS) to extend limited subscription services beyond the Maintenance Support Phase.

The Red Hat Enterprise Linux life cycle phases are designed to reduce the level of change within each major releaseⁱ over time and make release availability and content more predictable.ⁱⁱ

Details

During the life cycle for each major version, software changes to Red Hat Enterprise Linux are delivered via individual updates known as errata advisories through the Red Hat Customer Portalⁱⁱⁱ or other authorized Red Hat portals. Errata advisories may be released individually on an as-needed basis or aggregated as a minor release. Errata advisories may contain security fixes (Red Hat Security Advisories or RHSAs), bug fixes (Red Hat Bug Fix Advisories or RHBAs), or feature enhancements (Red Hat Enhancement Advisories or RHEAs). Errata advisories are tested and qualified against the active Red Hat Enterprise Linux major release. (For example, a Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 RHSA will be applied cumulatively to the latest Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 version and patch set.) Released errata advisories remain accessible to active subscribers for the entire Red Hat Enterprise Linux life cycle. Within each major release of Red Hat Enterprise Linux, any errata advisory (including one released as part of a minor release) will be applied cumulatively to the latest release of Red Hat Enterprise Linux, including any patch sets.

During the life cycle of a major Red Hat Enterprise Linux release, Red Hat makes commercially reasonable efforts to maintain binary compatibility for the core runtime environment across all minor releases and errata advisories. If necessary, Red Hat may make exceptions to this compatibility goal for Critical impact security or other significant issues. Furthermore, major releases of Red Hat Enterprise Linux contain a limited set of backward-compatible libraries included in previous major releases to allow for the easy migration of applications. Typically, Red Hat applies changes in such a way as to minimize the amount of change and to maintain binary compatibility. Exceptions may apply for controlled package re-bases under certain circumstances. The binary compatibility goal is extended to Red Hat Enterprise Linux for use in an application container. However, this is not extended to Red Hat Enterprise Linux Atomic Host or application containers that may run on top of the host since both may include packages or package versions not shipped as part of the latest version of Red Hat Enterprise Linux. Additional details can be found in the Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7: Application Compatibility Guide or the Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8: Application Compatibility Guide.

Learn more: https://access.redhat.com/support/policy/updates/errata