AlmaLinux has released its 10.1 Beta “Heliotrope Lion,” bringing major technical updates, expanded architecture support, and key deviations from Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10. The beta, available now for x86_64, x86_64_v2, ARM64 (aarch64), PowerPC (ppc64le), and IBM Z (s390x), ships with the 6.12.0-124.el10 kernel and can be downloaded directly from repo.almalinux.org.
This beta introduces official Btrfs filesystem support, allowing installations directly onto Btrfs volumes. That addition follows earlier work done in AlmaLinux OS Kitten and brings modern snapshot and integrity features to the distro’s core installer. The release also debuts an x86_64_v2 architecture build, which ensures continued support for older CPUs as Red Hat moves to x86_64_v3-only builds.
Toolchain updates are substantial, including GCC 14.3.1, LLVM 20.1.8, Rust 1.88.0, and GCC Toolset 15. Debugging and performance tools like GDB 16.3, Valgrind 3.25.1, and Bpftrace 0.23.5 are also refreshed. Networking tools see upgrades too, including NetworkManager 1.54.0, iproute 6.14.0, and ethtool 6.15.
Security enhancements arrive via OpenSSL 3.5.1, SELinux policy 42.1.7, SSSD 2.11.1, and updated crypto policies. On the container and virtualization side, AlmaLinux 10.1 Beta includes Podman 5.6.0, Buildah 1.41.3, Libvirt 11.5.0, and QEMU-KVM 10.0.0. Developers will also notice new versions of Python 3.12.11, Node.js 24, Samba 4.22.4, and Mesa 25.0.7.
Among its deviations from RHEL 10, AlmaLinux re-enables frame pointers for system-wide tracing, restores SPICE support, enables KVM for IBM POWER, and maintains RPM-based Firefox and Thunderbird. It also reintroduces PCI IDs for various hardware controllers that Red Hat previously disabled, ensuring extended hardware support for devices from Adaptec, Dell, HP, LSI, Mellanox, Emulex, and QLogic.
The release includes three downloadable ISO options: a network-based boot image, a minimal DVD, and a full DVD containing nearly all AlmaLinux packages. As always, this beta is not for production use, but it’s a strong preview of what users can expect in AlmaLinux 10.1’s final release.
