We are pleased to announce the immediate availability of CentOS Linux
6.9 and install media for i386 and x86_64 Architectures. Release Notes
for 6.9 are available at:

http://wiki.centos.org/Manuals/ReleaseNotes/CentOS6.9

CentOS Linux 6.9 is derived from source code released by Red Hat, Inc.
for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6.9. All upstream variants have been placed
into one combined repository to make it easier for end users.
Workstation, server, and minimal installs can all be done from our
combined repository. All of our testing is only done against this
combined distribution.

There are many fundamental changes in this release, compared with the
past CentOS Linux 6 releases, and we highly recommend everyone study the
upstream Release Notes as well as the upstream Technical Notes about the
changes and how they might impact your installation. (See the 'Further
Reading' section if the CentOS release notes link above).

All updates since the upstream 6.9 release are also on the CentOS
mirrors as zero day updates. When installing CentOS-6.9 (or any other
version) from any of our media, you should always run 'yum update' after
the install to apply these.

Users consuming our CentOS-CR repositories will already be running most
of the packages that make up CentOS-6.9, and all updates released since.
They will notice only the centos-release, anaconda, curl, tzdata, and
oracleasm updates today when moving to CentOS Linux 6.9. For more
information on the CR repository for future updates, see this link:
http://wiki.centos.org/AdditionalResources/Repositories/CR

Release Announcements for all updated packages are available here:
http://bit.ly/2n1H8Bf

+++++++++++++++++++++++
Upgrading From Prior Major CentOS Versions:

We recommend everyone perform a fresh reinstall rather than attempt an
inplace upgrade from other major CentOS versions (CentOS-2.1,
CentOS-3.x, CentOS-4.x, CentOS-5.x).

+++++++++++++++++++++++
Upgrading from CentOS-6.0 / 6.1 / 6.2 / 6.3 / 6.4 / 6.5 / 6.6 / 6.7 / 6.8

CentOS Linux is designed to automatically upgrade between releases
within a major version (in this case, CentOS-6). Unless you have edited
your yum default configuration, a 'yum update' should move your machines
seamlessly from any previous CentOS Linux 6.x release to 6.9. We also
test this in our QA cycles and have noticed no problems, any issues
would be mentioned in the Release Notes.

+++++++++++++++++++++++
Downloading CentOS Linux 6.9 for new installs:

When possible, consider using torrents to obtain our ISOs. Usually it is
also the fastest means to download the distro.

The install media is split into various formats. We have made efforts to
ensure that most install types and roles can be done from DVD-1 itself,
and the minimal install ISO is only tested to deliver a minimal install
set, when used as an ISO format ( either on cd or usb ). While other
forms of installs ( eg. pxe delivered ) might work from the minimal ISO,
they are neither tested not supported. The only format where we support
the entire set of install options and delivery mechanisms is via the
complete CentOS Linux 6.9 tree, which can also be created by
consolidating all content from DVD1 and DVD2.

We no longer produce CD size images for the entire CentOS Linux 6
distribution, however the minimal install and netinstall iso images are
small enough to fit on all CD grade media.

Torrent files for the DVD's are available at :

i386: http://bit.ly/2nDOzh8
x86_64: http://bit.ly/2naL2eY

If you download an ISO via torrent, leave it up for a couple hours to
share with other users who are downloading.

You can also use a mirror close to you to get any of our ISOs:
http://mirror.centos.org/centos/6.9/isos/

If you need to update a local mirror, you can choose from our mirror
network ( http://www.centos.org/download/mirrors/ ). Most mirrors will
allow downloads over http, ftp and rsync.

Note: The x86_64 ISOs (minimal, netinstall, DVD1) should install on UEFI
machines. Secure Boot must be disabled to install CentOS 6. The Live
ISOs and i386 ISOs will not boot with UEFI.

+++++++++++++++++++++++
sha256sum for the CentOS-6.9 ISOS:

x86_64:
CentOS-6.9-x86_64-bin-DVD1.iso:
d27cf37a40509c17ad70f37bc743f038c1feba00476fe6b69682aa424c399ea6

CentOS-6.9-x86_64-bin-DVD2.iso:
631b8640460f46a8139a6a7cbbac5f3594d08c32945449b6bbd65234929ce7a4

CentOS-6.9-x86_64-minimal.iso:
422af57b493b8af49d485885a730c5a1d955f803fac85aa51311c393168b9080

CentOS-6.9-x86_64-netinstall.iso:
6b2cbec908708476389b143841a8e73462506de0744bda8b4192d3655d5bb8d2

CentOS-6.9-x86_64-LiveDVD.iso
ae56f677786673ad476477ed2df84ce80cf5f9b90a44e25146e69ef3cfd02602

i386:
CentOS-6.9-i386-bin-DVD1.iso:
0724a468ec0c4ac46ac6a1daba0273be697a37bb7f4e9fed8ad84ad270cdee2f

CentOS-6.9-i386-bin-DVD2.iso
d95e427ca39588f4287f3bfdb080110c8dcbbfff76e1a6394395ec06858c8275

CentOS-6.9-i386-minimal.iso
e104b3bc2261e40c020e4047d31a4454a00435787c54fb0a376261f9348382b7

CentOS-6.9-i386-netinstall.iso
c498a47b5ec47ecc8423c96bb80e5dd530e4d98bb839c60476cf113d1e4de0d6

CentOS-6.9-i386-LiveDVD.iso
4f7cd0be1c223b22427830b101e3e1765a93d27ed668047d8183976247a8a427

+++++++++++++++++++++++
Cloud Images:

Images for various on-premise and off-premise Cloud environments are
currently under development for CentOS Linux 6.9 and will be released in
the coming days. Everyone looking to join and help with the CentOS Cloud
efforts is encouraged to join the CentOS-devel list where such issues
are discussed ( http://lists.centos.org/mailman/listinfo/centos-devel ).

+++++++++++++++++++++++
Getting Help:

The best place to start when looking for help with CentOS is at the wiki
( http://wiki.centos.org/GettingHelp ) which lists various options and
communities who might be able to help. If you think there is a bug in
the system, do report it at http://bugs.centos.org/ - but keep in mind
that the bugs system is *not* a support mechanism. If you need supported
software with Support Level Agreements, people to call and response
times then we recommend Red Hat Enterprise Linux.

If you have questions you would like to field at us in real time, come
join the office hours on Wed or Thu of every week. You can find details
on these at http://wiki.centos.org/OfficeHours

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Meet-ups and Events:

If you would like to get involved in helping organize, run, present or
sponsor a CentOS Dojo or even just want more details then join the
CentOS Promo list:
http://lists.centos.org/mailman/listinfo/centos-promo and drop an email
introducing yourself. We are very keen to find help to run events around
the world, and also to find people who can represent CentOS at various
community events around the world. (Current Events List:
https://wiki.centos.org/Events )

+++++++++++++++++++++++
Contributing and joining the project:

We are always looking for people to join and help with various things in
the project. If you are keen to help out a good place to start is the
wiki page at http://wiki.centos.org/Contribute . If you have questions
or a specific area you would like to contribute towards that is not
covered on that page, feel free to drop in on #centos-devel at
irc.freenode.net for a chat or email the centos-devel list
(http://lists.centos.org).

+++++++++++++++++++++++
Thanks to everyone who contributed towards making CentOS Linux 6.9,
especially the effort put in, as always, by the QA
(http://wiki.centos.org/QaGroup) and Build teams.

A special shout out to all the donors who have contributed hardware,
network connectivity, hosting and resources over the years. The CentOS
project now has a fairly well setup resource pool, solely thanks to the
donors.

Enjoy!

--
Johnny Hughes