Rocky Linux Resources and You

Rocky Linux Tech Help Start Here
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Hello and welcome to the Rocky Linux general forums! This post is to hopefully serve as a starting point for resources and other information to make it easier for you to get your questions answered (such as frequently requested information), to help solve an issue you may be facing, or perhaps lead you to guides to help you on your Rocky Linux journey.

Rocky Linux General Information

General information about Rocky Linux can be found at our wiki pages. These pages answer some of the more general questions, such as the repositories that are available to Rocky Linux as well as supported community repositories (such as EPEL and RPM Fusion), including other relevant information such as images and version guides.

Rocky Linux Repositories and Community Supported Repositories

It is not uncommon for users of Rocky Linux or any Enterprise Linux to use a third party repository. Rocky Linux has plenty of available repositories but there are also community supported and trusted third party repositories readily available. The most common being EPEL and RPM Fusion. Remi is also common specifically for PHP related packages.

For repository information, see the following wiki page: Rocky Linux Repositories - Rocky Linux Wiki

Rocky Linux Version Information

You may have been confused on the multiple versions of Rocky Linux, how they work, how they’re supported, and how they’re updated over time. There are typically major versions and minor versions that accompany them.

The following wiki page aims to try to explain how the versions work based on upstream Red Hat information and Rocky’s own policies: Rocky Linux Release and Version Guide - Rocky Linux Wiki

Note: Only the latest available point release for a supported major version is supported. This is presented at the top of the linked wiki page above.

Rocky Linux Images and ISO’s

Rocky Linux generally has ISO’s and images that accompany a release, such as live images or even SIG supported raspberry pi images. You may have found the various download directories and were confused by the amount of files or what each file is for. You may want to also know what program you can use to write the images to a USB drive.

The following wiki page aims to clear this up: Rocky Linux ISOs and Images - Rocky Linux Wiki

Live Rocky Linux Images

If you are simply looking for just the live images with quick links, check out the Alternative Images page, which contains a variety of desktop environments:

  • GNOME (Workstation)
  • KDE
  • XFCE
  • MATE
  • Cinnamon

Rocky Linux Errata

If you are looking for errata information, check out the following resources:

Missing drivers or need a newer kernel?

Check at ELRepo first to see if a kmod or a DUD (or driver update disk) is available for you. They also have newer kernels available. One of the more common drivers is the kmod-nvidia package.

The repositories can be brought in by running dnf install elrepo-release.

Drivers / kmods

  • To find the right driver for your device, view the helpful FAQ Page to get started.
  • Driver Update Disks can be found in their web directories.
  • ELRepo also has various mirrors you can download from (recommended)
  • You can also view their Bug Tracker to see if your driver was requested, to request a new driver, or to report a bug with a driver they provide.

nvidia drivers

It is highly recommended to avoid using nvidia’s “official” driver and use rpmfusion or elrepo (for the case of EL8). This is due to how they package the precompiled driver and make it near impossible to run a newer kernel without waiting for a new package.

DKMS may also be available from nvidia’s repos. However, your mileage may vary.

Please see this thread for the general guide to installing nvidia drivers to your Rocky Linux system.

Kernels

There are two kernel versions:

  • kernel-mt → These are kernels built from the mainline stable branch. More information can be found here
  • kernel-lt → These are kernels built from the long term support branch. More information can be found here

Package Resources and Information

The website pkgs.org is an extremely helpful resource for finding package information or finding where a package is located or from.

Legacy / Older Releases

If you are looking for older images or releases, you can usually find them at our vault. Note that these releases are not supported. Please see our Version Guide for more information.

Useful Utilities

Below is a list of some useful utilities.

  • rpaste
    • Install using dnf install rpaste from the extras repository
    • Used in Mattermost/IRC/Matrix discussions typically
    • Provides a --sysinfo utility similar to and inspired by fpaste --sysinfo
  • sos report
    • Install using dnf install sos
    • Used in some bug reports and other support scenarios
  • xsos
    • Helps parse sosreport data
  • tmux
    • Install using dnf install tmux
    • Supersedes screen in Rocky Linux and other Enterprise Linux distributions.
    • Check out the tmux cheatsheet.
    • screen can still be installed from EPEL.

Documentation, Guides, and Others

While the below is not an all encompassing list, there are quite a few great resources out there that may not be listed. As we find them, they may be added over time. These are some resources that you may find useful through your Rocky Linux experience:

Note, while HowToForge has somewhat decent guides that will apply to any EL, it is recommended to steer clear of any guides that tell you to you disable SELinux, the primary security feature of Rocky Linux and other Enterprise Linux distributions.

Rocky Linux and RESF Git Services

  • Rocky Linux GitHub - Rocky Linux GitHub presence - Contains documentation repositories, some ansible repositories, assets, and other work.
  • Rocky Linux Git Service - Rocky Linux packaging, patching, and other work happens at this service.
  • RESF Git Service - Rocky Enterprise Software Foundation’s community projects contribute work here. Packaging generally does not happen here for Rocky Linux. There may be mirrors to the Rocky Linux GitHub projects.

General Development (eg RPM building, development for Enterprise Linux, and so on)

Rocky Linux Build Systems

  • Peridot - Used for building Rocky Linux 9 and packages for Special Interest Groups for Rocky Linux
  • Koji - Used for building Rocky Linux 8

Rocky Linux Community Chat

You may join us any time at our other community venues as well! We have members who visit here as well as maintain a present in other parts of our community.

Contact and bridge information for our Matrix/IRC/Mattermost channels can be found on our wiki.

Chat Clients

Depending on your venue of choice, there are some useful clients you may like to try for IRC:

  • Kiwi (web client)
  • Pidgin
    • Most distributions can install this through the package manager
  • WeeChat
    • Most distributions can install this through the package manager
  • irssi
    • Most distributions can install this through the package manager

For Matrix, there a quite a few options.

  • Element - This is the primary application recommended by matrix.org
  • nheko - This app aims to provide a native desktop application for Matrix that feels more like a “chat app” and less like an IRC client.

Mattermost has its own official client which can be used on the web or an installable client from flatpak or other methods depending on your operating system of choice.

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