CentOS Stream expands to RISC-V as Linux distro adapts to new hardware era

The CentOS Project made waves at FOSDEM 2026 with the announcement that RISC-V support is coming to CentOS Stream, marking a significant expansion for the RHEL-based distribution. The news came during CentOS Connect 2026, which took place in Brussels ahead of the main FOSDEM festival.

The timing of this announcement is particularly noteworthy given CentOS's tumultuous history. When Red Hat discontinued CentOS Linux in 2020, many assumed the project was dead. However, CentOS Stream has not only survived but evolved into a distinct entity with its own active community. As one attendee noted, the general reaction to CentOS's continued existence was one of surprise.

Troy Dawson's presentation demonstrated CentOS Stream's versatility by successfully installing it on a Steam Deck live on stage, without external peripherals. This practical demonstration underscored the distribution's capabilities as a general-purpose operating system, despite being positioned as an upstream version of Red Hat Enterprise Linux.

The RISC-V announcement represents a strategic pivot for CentOS Stream. As Dawson explained, "We will offer an image for hardware that is buyable… although someone has to make hardware that the general public can buy first." This caveat highlights the current state of the RISC-V ecosystem, where hardware availability remains limited compared to established architectures.

Currently, the CentOS Project had announced a developer preview of RISC-V support in May 2025, but as of publication, the Downloads page still lacks official RISC-V images. This gap is particularly relevant given that Ubuntu 25.10 "Plucky Puffin" only supports QEMU RISC-V emulation, making CentOS Stream's upcoming support potentially valuable for developers working with the architecture.

The distribution's adaptability extends beyond hardware support. The Hyperscale Special Interest Group, with contributors from Meta, focuses on ultra-large-scale deployments. Meanwhile, the Kmods SIG provides non-FOSS kernel drivers, including Nvidia support, and maintains newer kernel versions with Fedora-flavored configurations. This allows CentOS Stream users to access kernel version 6.18, even though CentOS 10 shipped with kernel 6.12.

For users with older hardware, AlmaLinux offers a solution, as it maintains support for systems that CentOS Stream's x86-64-v3 requirement excludes. The EPEL SIG further expands CentOS Stream's capabilities by providing an optional-extras repository that brings the software selection close to Fedora's extensive package collection.

While CentOS Stream may not have the individual user base that CentOS Linux once commanded, its adoption by major organizations like Meta demonstrates its relevance in enterprise environments. The distribution's evolution from a RHEL clone to a versatile, community-driven project with specialized SIGs and broad hardware support suggests that CentOS is far from dead – it's simply transformed into something different and potentially more adaptable to the changing Linux landscape.

As the RISC-V ecosystem matures and more hardware becomes available, CentOS Stream's early support for the architecture could position it as a key player in the next generation of Linux distributions. The question remains whether the broader community will embrace this new direction or continue to view CentOS through the lens of its past iterations.