Rocky Linux 9.8 released with improved Image Builder

Rocky Linux 9.8 Image Builder now supports advanced disk partitioning for custom images and Kickstart injection during ISO builds.

David Uzondu Neowin · May 29, 2026 02:46 EDT with 1 comment

Rocky Linux

The Rocky Linux team recently released version 9.8, bringing tools like PostgreSQL, Grafana, and more.

The Image Builder in this release now allows you to create WSL2 images and inject Kickstart files when building ISOs while also handling advanced disk partitioning. It also removes the separate /boot partition for system images like AWS and KVM. The Image Builder in Rocky Linux is a really handy tool that compiles custom operating system images for various platforms. Red Hat first introduced it upstream during the RHEL 8 cycle, and Rocky Linux developers have marked it generally available since Rocky Linux 8.4.

Moving on to the system packages, this release introduces OpenSSH 9.9 to replace the older version 8.7, offering many security fixes. Developers also gain access to MariaDB 11.8, Node.js 24, Ruby 4.0, and PostgreSQL 18 for building modern web applications. Here's the rest of the software updates that ship with this release:

OpenSSH 9.9 patches security bugs and communication vulnerabilities.
GnuTLS 3.8.10 and p11-kit 0.26.1 resolve cryptographic weaknesses by adding post-quantum algorithms.
The fapolicyd 1.4.3 package resolves execution policy bypass bugs.
The upgraded crash and kdump utilities fix kernel debugging failures.
GCC Toolset 15 provides GCC 15.2 and Binutils 2.44, while Go Toolset 1.26.2 and Rust Toolset 1.92.0 update compiler features.
The PCP 6.37 and Grafana 10.2.6 integration fixes server monitoring bugs.

If you're on an older version of Rocky Linux 9 and want to upgrade, just run sudo dnf -y upgrade. You can also use desktop tools like GNOME Software or KDE Discover to apply the updates. The developers recommend a fresh installation for users moving from Rocky Linux 8 to Rocky Linux 9.

Rocky Linux is a community-developed open-source Enterprise Linux distro that companies can adopt when seeking the rock-solid stability of Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) but do not want (or need) to pay for Red Hat's commercial support licenses, because developers designed Rocky to be a 100% "bug-for-bug" compatible, drop-in replacement for RHEL.

Gregory Kurtzer (the original creator of CentOS) announced the project merely hours after Red Hat killed the traditional CentOS stable release model in December 2020. AlmaLinux, another Enterprise Linux distro, also shared a similar origin, as its creators announced it within days of the Red Hat decision to fill the massive void left by CentOS.