AlmaLinux 9.9 Beta is now available, giving users and administrators an early look at the next update to the Enterprise Linux 9-based operating system. Codenamed “Chartreuse Bobcat,” the beta is available for x86_64, ARM64, IBM PowerPC, and IBM Z systems.
There are plenty of package updates, but developers should immediately notice GCC Toolset 16. It includes GCC 16.2.1 and binutils 2.46, while LLVM moves to version 22.1.8 and the Rust toolset reaches 1.97.1.
AlmaLinux 9.9 Beta also introduces Node.js 26 and PHP 8.4 module streams. Other development and debugging updates include GDB 17.2, Valgrind 3.27.1, SystemTap 5.5, Bpftrace 0.26.1, and BCC 0.36.1. A preview of .NET 11 is included as well.
For administrators, however, one of the more important changes could be fapolicyd 2.0.1. The file access policy daemon previously sat at version 1.4.5, making this a major version jump rather than another incremental update.
AlmaLinux is specifically asking people who use fapolicyd to test this beta. Because the daemon can control which applications are allowed to execute, administrators should make sure existing rules and trust databases continue working as expected before AlmaLinux 9.9 reaches production systems.
There is another change that could catch administrators off guard. Authselect no longer merges groups by default. Group merging in nsswitch.conf, which arrived with AlmaLinux 9.8, is now optional through the with-group-merging feature. Anyone depending on local and remote groups being merged will need to explicitly enable it.
Virtualization and containers get updates too. QEMU-KVM moves to 10.1.0, Podman reaches 5.8.5, Buildah is updated to 1.43.2, and crun moves to 1.29.1. NetworkManager is now at 1.54.4, while the graphics stack gets Mesa 26.1.1.
Security-related packages have received updates across the distribution, including SELinux policies, SSSD, crypto-policies, Keylime, Clevis, audit, and OpenCryptoki. The distributed kernel remains on the 5.14 series, specifically 5.14.0-741.el9, as expected for an Enterprise Linux 9 distribution.
Interestingly, AlmaLinux continues to carry a kernel fix that differentiates it from RHEL 9.9. The project previously backported an upstream fix addressing excessive CPU consumption involving systemd and ps during task cleanup. AlmaLinux says RHEL 9.9 still has not incorporated that fix, so it remains part of AlmaLinux’s kernel.
That is a good reminder that AlmaLinux is not simply replacing logos and shipping whatever Red Hat provides. The project can make its own engineering decisions when its maintainers believe a change benefits users.
Hardware compatibility remains another area where AlmaLinux differs from RHEL. The distribution continues to support a lengthy collection of older storage, networking, Fibre Channel, and RAID hardware through drivers including aacraid, mpt3sas, megaraid_sas, qla2xxx, lpfc, and mlx4_core.
AlmaLinux 9.9 Beta ISOs are available now in boot, minimal, and full DVD variants. The AlmaLinux OS Foundation makes one thing very clear, though: this is beta software and should not be installed on production systems.
For administrators planning an eventual move to AlmaLinux 9.9, that warning is particularly worth taking seriously this time. The fapolicyd jump and authselect behavior change give administrators two good reasons to test existing configurations before the stable release arrives.
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