Amazon's Own Linux Distribution is Now Completely Based on Fedora

In case you did not know already, Amazon has its own general purpose Linux distribution, unsurprisingly called Amazon Linux.

It is intended to be used on AWS servers. When you are deploying a server, you have the choice to use Amazon Linux along with other popular choices of Ubuntu, Debian etc. Since it is from Amazon, there is no licensing fee and Amazon controls on repositories and packages. You can expect a tight integration with AWS tools and access to new AWS innovations with Amazon Linux.

Amazon Linux 2022 (AL2022) in the next release in the line of Amazon Linux 1 and 2 and it will be released in 2022 (you can guess that from the version number).

Upcoming Amazon Linux 2022 uses only Fedora

Until now, Amazon Linux releases were based on a combination of Red Hat and Fedora both. Starting with AL2022, it will be explicitly using Fedora as upstream.

The move intends to provide the AWS customers “with a wide variety of the latest software, such as updated language runtimes, as part of quarterly releases”.

In order to improve the security, reduce attack surface, AL2022 will also have SELinux enabled and enforced by default.

New release model similar to Ubuntu

Amazon Linux is also opting for a more predictable release schedule. A new major Amazon Linux version will be released every two years and will be supported for five years. This way users would know when and how to upgrade their operating system.

This “new LTS version every 2 years and 5 years support” is very similar to what Ubuntu features today.

What else?

AL2022 also has the ability to lock to a specific version of the Amazon Linux package repository. This gives the user control over how and when they absorb updates.

Amazon Linux 2022 is available as preview (read beta) in all geographical regions. You can visit their GitHub page for more information on AL2022.