RHEL Overview

 
 

 
 
 

• Red Hat Enterprise Linux has a lifecycle of at least ten years for major releases and typically has a new major release every two to three years.
• A major release is a significant enhancement to RHEL, such as the base kernel version.  For example, RHEL 5 and RHEL 6 are separate major releases.
• Major releases require a reinstall of the OS.  There is usually no supported upgrade path between major releases, unless Red Hat Global Support Services is involved.
• A minor release consists of all the patches to a major release up to a certain point in time.  For example, RHEL 6.1 and RHEL 6.3.
• Minor releases are just like applying patches, so no reinstall is required.
• There are usually three supported Red Hat Enterprise Linux major releases available at any given time.
• Red Hat publishes the lifecycle of each release so customers can plan their environment and plan upgrades.
• Red Hat maintains stable interfaces within a major release.
• Customers can standardize around a major release, comfortable that they will be able to add new systems and maintain a consistent environment.
• Binary compatibility, defined with the Application Binary Interface (ABI), guarantees that a single compiled binary will work on multiple instances of RHEL that share the same architecture.