Brief: Scientific Linux, a distributions focused on scientists in high energy physics field, will not be developed anymore. It’s creator, Fermilab, is replacing it by CentOS in its labs.

End Of Scientific Linux

Scientific Linux is one of the lesser known Linux distributions that is created to serve a niche user base. Scientific Linux is based on Red Hat Enterprise Linux and it’s been co-developed by Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory and the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN).

The goal of Scientific Linux is/was to provide a stable, scalable, and extensible operating system for scientific computing. It also intends to support “scientific research by providing methods and procedures for enabling the integration of scientific applications with the operating environment”.

Although its name and aim implies a distribution for all kind of science fields, Scientific Linux mainly focused and on high energy Physics.

Scientific Linux to be replaced by CentOS

Scientific Linux 7 Screenshot (Image Credit)

In a recent email, Fermilab announced that they are not going to develop the next version of Scientific Linux. In order to unify the computing platform with other collaborating labs and institutions, Scientific Linux will be replaced by CentOS, the community edition of Red Hat Linux.

we will deploy CentOS 8 in our scientific computing environments rather than develop Scientific Linux 8. We will collaborate with CERN and other labs to help make CentOS an even better platform for high-energy physics computing. James Amundson, Head, Scientific Computing Division

It’s not that Scientific Linux will see an immediate shutdown. Fermilab will continue to support Scientific Linux 6 and 7 through the remainder of their respective lifecycles.

Fermilab will continue to support Scientific Linux 6 and 7 through the remainder of their respective lifecycles. Thank you to all who have contributed to Scientific Linux and who continue to do so

A typical Red Hat release gets ten years of maintenance support. Since RHEL 7 was release in mid 2014, this means that Scientific Linux 7 will be supported till mid 2024.

Your thoughts

I’ll be honest. I never used Scientific Linux although I have had heard of it. I presume that it has a ultra-niche userbase, mainly in the science labs associated with Fermilab.

Have you ever used Scientific Linux? What you think of another niche Linux distribution being shutdown? Do share your views in the comment section below.