EPEL data shows Rocky Linux has surpassed CentOS 8 Stream

EPEL data shows Rocky Linux has surpassed CentOS 8 Stream.

According to EPEL (Extra Packages for Enterprise Linux)-based usage statistics released by Fedora, the recent surge in usage in Rocky Linux distributions exceeds that of CentOS Stream, AlmaLinux, and even EPEL-enabled RHEL.

Brian Clemens, Program Manager at Rocky Enterprise Software Foundation, shared recent EPEL stats, noting the recent uptick in Rocky Linux usage.

Rocky Linux was developed as a downstream version of RHEL after CentOS Linux was announced to be discontinued and CentOS 8 entered EOL to focus on Red Hat’s new CentOS Stream development method.

Rocky Linux first gained fame as Gregory Kurtzer as the original CentOS founder, who started to pursue the original goals that CentOS had originally laid out.

It’s been almost a year since the first Rocky Linux 8 GA release and they are currently working on the upcoming Rocky Linux 9.0 release.

Judging by EPEL repository access log data, data sources indicate that Rocky Linux usage has risen significantly, putting it ahead of other popular RHEL-based enterprise Linux distributions on a weekly basis.

Of course, what enables the popular EPEL package repository is the subset of users running EL.

EPEL statistics also include “system age” as numbers 1 to 4, which indicate whether the system is 1 week or less, 2 to 4 weeks old, 5 to 24 weeks old, or 25 weeks old or older.

The following is the EPEL data of Rocky Linux system accessing EPEL era.