CentOS is an Enterprise Linux distribution based on a rebuild of the freely available sources from Red Hat Enterprise Linux. The rebuild process strives to remove encumbered trademarked images and make other minimal changes as to the binary update network, but should generally perform identically to the upstream's product, even to matching behaviors considered un-addressed bugs. Each CentOS version is supported for up to 10 years (by means of security updates -- the duration of the support interval has varied over time as the release policy as to upstream Source RPM changes). A new CentOS version is released approximately every 2 years and each CentOS version is periodically updated (roughly every 6 months) to support newer hardware. This results in a secure, low-maintenance, reliable, predictable and reproducible Linux environment.
