Mohamed Elashri argues that retiring Scientific Linux was a mistake because CERN and Fermilab traded an independently maintained RHEL rebuild for CentOS, only for Red Hat to redefine CentOS around Stream in 2020 and then stop publishing RHEL-related sources the old way in 2023. He notes CERN’s accelerator controls group is moving more than 2,200 industrial computers and embedded systems to Debian 13 rather than replace hardware that cannot meet RHEL’s newer x86-64 CPU baselines, and that CERN is sponsoring Freexian to strengthen Debian’s long-term-support ecosystem, a contribution he compares to the independent capability Scientific Linux once provided.
Abandoning Scientific Linux Was a Mistake
Mohamed Elashri argues that retiring Scientific Linux was a mistake because CERN and Fermilab traded an independently maintained RHEL rebuild for CentOS, only for Red Hat to redefine CentOS around Stream in 2020 and then stop publishing RHEL-related sources the old way in 2023. He notes CERN's accelerator controls group is moving more than 2,200 industrial computers and embedded systems to Debian 13 rather than replace hardware that cannot meet RHEL's newer x86-64 CPU baselines, and that CERN is sponsoring Freexian to strengthen Debian's long-term-support ecosystem, a contribution he compares to the independent capability Scientific Linux once provided.
Source: Melashri