In this article we shall teach you how to convert from AlmaLinux 8 to Rocky Linux 8 operating system. Rocky Linux is a community enterprise Linux distribution intended to become downstream and is a complete binary-compatible distribution with the RedHat Enterprise Linux.
After RedHat announced to discontinue the development of CentOS. This was done in favor of a new upstream development variant of CentOS known as CentOS Stream. From thereafter, the original founder of CentOS, Gregory Kurtzer announced to start a project (Rocky Project) that would achieve the original goals of CentOS. Rocky Linux was first released on April 30, 2021, and the general availability version was released on June 21, 2021.
To make the migration to Rocky Linux easier, the development team created a script that ensures fast and easy migration to Rocky Linux. Now we will plunge in and see how it works.
Getting Started
For this guide, you need the following:
- A hardware server or VPS with AlmaLinux 8 installed and running
- Sudo/root access to the AlmaLinux 8 system
If you want to convert a production server, it is recommended that you take a data backup or snapshot in case of anything.
Also, ensure that all the packages are updated to their latest stable versions on Alma Linux 8.
sudo dnf -y update
sudo rebootCheck your current OS details.
$ cat /etc/os-release
NAME="AlmaLinux"
VERSION="8.10 (Cerulean Leopard)"
ID="almalinux"
ID_LIKE="rhel centos fedora"
VERSION_ID="8.10"
PLATFORM_ID="platform:el8"
PRETTY_NAME="AlmaLinux 8.10 (Cerulean Leopard)"
ANSI_COLOR="0;34"
LOGO="fedora-logo-icon"
CPE_NAME="cpe:/o:almalinux:almalinux:8::baseos"
HOME_URL="https://almalinux.org/"
DOCUMENTATION_URL="https://wiki.almalinux.org/"
BUG_REPORT_URL="https://bugs.almalinux.org/"
ALMALINUX_MANTISBT_PROJECT="AlmaLinux-8"
ALMALINUX_MANTISBT_PROJECT_VERSION="8.10"
REDHAT_SUPPORT_PRODUCT="AlmaLinux"
REDHAT_SUPPORT_PRODUCT_VERSION="8.10"
SUPPORT_END=2029-06-01Step 1 – Prepare your Alma Linux 8 server
You will be required to download the actual script. The script can be downloaded using CURL as below.
curl https://raw.githubusercontent.com/rocky-linux/rocky-tools/main/migrate2rocky/migrate2rocky.sh -o migrate2rocky.shOnce downloaded, make the file executable.
chmod +x migrate2rocky.shThere is a help in case you are not sure of the commands to use.
$ sudo ./migrate2rocky.sh -h
migrate2rocky - Begin logging at Mon 27 Jan 2025 08:51:03 PM EAT.
Usage: migrate2rocky.sh [OPTIONS]
Options:
-h Display this help
-r Convert to rocky
-V Verify switch
!! USE WITH CAUTION !!Step 2 – Migrate from AlmaLinux 8 To Rocky Linux 8
Now with the bash script downloaded, migrating from AlmaLinux 8 To Rocky Linux 8 is easy. All we need to do is run the script with the -r flag as below.
$ sudo bash migrate2rocky.sh -r
migrate2rocky - Begin logging at Mon 27 Jan 2025 08:52:00 PM EAT.
Removing dnf cache
Preparing to migrate AlmaLinux 8.10 (Cerulean Leopard) to Rocky Linux 8.
Determining repository names for AlmaLinux 8.10 (Cerulean Leopard)......
Found the following repositories which map from AlmaLinux 8.10 (Cerulean Leopard) to Rocky Linux 8:
AlmaLinux 8.10 (Cerulean Leopard) Rocky Linux 8
appstream appstream
baseos baseos
extras extras
Getting system package names for AlmaLinux 8.10 (Cerulean Leopard)..........
Found the following system packages which map from AlmaLinux 8.10 (Cerulean Leopard) to Rocky Linux 8:
AlmaLinux 8.10 (Cerulean Leopard) Rocky Linux 8
almalinux-logos-ipa rocky-logos-ipa
almalinux-backgrounds rocky-backgrounds
almalinux-release rocky-gpg-keys
almalinux-logos rocky-logos
almalinux-indexhtml rocky-indexhtml
almalinux-release rocky-release
almalinux-logos-httpd rocky-logos-httpd
almalinux-release rocky-repos
Getting list of installed system packages.
We will replace the following AlmaLinux 8.10 (Cerulean Leopard) packages with their Rocky Linux 8 equivalents
Packages to be Removed Packages to be Installed
almalinux-release rocky-gpg-keys
almalinux-release rocky-release
almalinux-release rocky-repos..........
...Now sit back and patiently wait for the proceeds to complete. Once done, you will see the below notification.
.....
Complete!
Done, please reboot your system.
A log of this installation can be found at /var/log/migrate2rocky.logReboot your system.
sudo systemctl rebootOn successful reboot, check the OS details as below.
$ cat /etc/os-release
NAME="Rocky Linux"
VERSION="8.10 (Green Obsidian)"
ID="rocky"
ID_LIKE="rhel centos fedora"
VERSION_ID="8.10"
PLATFORM_ID="platform:el8"
PRETTY_NAME="Rocky Linux 8.10 (Green Obsidian)"
ANSI_COLOR="0;32"
LOGO="fedora-logo-icon"
CPE_NAME="cpe:/o:rocky:rocky:8:GA"
HOME_URL="https://rockylinux.org/"
BUG_REPORT_URL="https://bugs.rockylinux.org/"
SUPPORT_END="2029-05-31"
ROCKY_SUPPORT_PRODUCT="Rocky-Linux-8"
ROCKY_SUPPORT_PRODUCT_VERSION="8.10"
REDHAT_SUPPORT_PRODUCT="Rocky Linux"
REDHAT_SUPPORT_PRODUCT_VERSION="8.10"As seen from the output, we now have a Rocky Linux 8 system. You can also verify this as below.
$ cat /etc/redhat-release
Rocky Linux release 8.10 (Green Obsidian)Check the Kernel information.
$ uname -a
Linux AlmaLinux_8 4.18.0-553.36.1.el8_10.x86_64 #1 SMP Wed Jan 22 16:34:48 UTC 2025 x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 GNU/LinuxVoila!
The conversion from AlmaLinux 8 To Rocky Linux 8 was pretty easy! Thanks to the Rocky Linux development team. I hope you found this guide amazing.
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