CentOS 5.6 has been officially released. Here the announcement:

We are pleased to announce the immediate availability of CentOS-5.6 for
i386 and x86_64 Architectures.

CentOS-5.6 is based on the upstream release EL 5.6 and includes
packages from all variants including Server and Client. All upstream
repositories have been combined into one, to make it easier for end
users to work with.

This is just an announcement email, not the release notes. The Release
Notes for CentOS-5.6 can be found on-line at :
http://wiki.centos.org/Manuals/ReleaseNotes/CentOS5.6 and everyone is
encouraged to look through them once. Also worth browsing through are
the CentOS FAQs at http://wiki.centos.org/FAQ

+++++++++++++++++++++++
Upgrading from CentOS-5.5 ( or CentOS-5.0 / 5.1 / 5.2 / 5.3 / 5.5 ):

If you are already running CentOS-5.5 or an older CentOS-5 distro, all
you need to do is update your machine via yum by running :

'yum update'

Running 'yum list updates' before doing the update is recommended, so
you can get a list of packages that are going to be updated. To check
you are indeed on CentOS-5.6, run : 'rpm -q centos-release' and that
should return: 'centos-release-5-6.el5.centos.1'


+++++++++++++++++++++++
Live-CD:

The LiveCDs are meant to be used to run a CentOS 5.6 environment. The
LiveCDs are setup in a way so as to allow running from either optical
media like cds and dvds or from USB keys and other portable media.
Release Notes for the CentOS-5.6 LiveCD can be found at :
http://wiki.centos.org/Manuals/ReleaseNotes/CentOSLiveCD5.6

+++++++++++++++++++++++
Downloading CentOS-5.6 for new installs:

When possible, consider using torrents to run the downloads. Not only
does it help the community and keeps mirrors from running up high
bandwidth bills, in most cases you will find its also the fastest means
to download the distro. There are currently over three hundred people
seeding CentOS-5 and it's possible to get upto 100mbps downloads via
these torrents.

-- Via BitTorrent :
CD:
http://mirror.centos.org/centos/5.6/isos/i386/CentOS-5.6-i386-bin-1to7.torrent
http://mirror.centos.org/centos/5.6/isos/x86_64/CentOS-5.6-x86_64-bin-1to8.torrent

DVD:
http://mirror.centos.org/centos/5.6/isos/i386/CentOS-5.6-i386-bin-DVD.torrent
http://mirror.centos.org/centos/5.6/isos/x86_64/CentOS-5.6-x86_64-bin-DVD.torrent

LiveCD:
http://mirror.centos.org/centos/5.6/isos/i386/CentOS-5.6-i386-LiveCD.torrent
http://mirror.centos.org/centos/5.6/isos/x86_64/CentOS-5.6-x86_64-LiveCD.torrent

md5sum's for these torrent files:

5933c19cd9483ce29b785955249ecd7c CentOS-5.6-i386-bin-1to7.torrent
abb5949608423611e814a5d02325b6d2 CentOS-5.6-x86_64-bin-1to8.torrent

178a61311e7ee7ec2cd48a06cc84f80d CentOS-5.6-i386-bin-DVD.torrent
01eb97a833faf9bdfdac239c59e1b1cf CentOS-5.6-x86_64-bin-DVD.torrent

173948defd0661b0949c0c4badd050ff CentOS-5.6-i386-LiveCD.torrent
dfc0ac767ba42e55b7e05c5922f30c51 CentOS-5.6-x86_64-LiveCD.torrent


Note: we had to redo the x86_64 DVD and CD torrent files, so ensure you
only use torrent files that match these published md5sum's


-- Via direct download:
Due to bandwidth considerations the CentOS Project does not publish ISOs
directly from our network machines. However direct downloads are
available from external mirrors over http, ftp and rsync. A geoip
based list is available at http://isoredirect.centos.org/centos/5/isos/
to give you the best predictable match ( and only lists mirrors that are
updated already, so you don't need to waste time looking for a sync'd
mirror )

Some mirrors also publish DVD images that can be downloaded directly.
Refer to the mirrors list page at http://www.centos.org/mirrors for more
details Mirrors that offer DVDs are clearly marked on the page.

+++++++++++++++++++++++
sha1sum for these ISOS:

i386:
90bede4d0fd898b5c707c1286090e104c7549e65 CentOS-5.6-i386-bin-1of7.iso
55d2e6715f20321f3133260e00626275a04ce135 CentOS-5.6-i386-bin-2of7.iso
e2456baf35f444d8ae31656e7879b7bcf6b5ad80 CentOS-5.6-i386-bin-3of7.iso
165531a4dec87215379732c0ab8caa5689bf6044 CentOS-5.6-i386-bin-4of7.iso
ee084789533a5db41e96d064af2dc071976a09c6 CentOS-5.6-i386-bin-5of7.iso
7669dabc486450315ccce87ab945e508252b02ca CentOS-5.6-i386-bin-6of7.iso
ed9bf4539a68d7a86408e1cc56c37f68b1941df8 CentOS-5.6-i386-bin-7of7.iso
e44a55ef06293c3958a2b6aae3c3ce2d13580627 CentOS-5.6-i386-bin-DVD.iso
5ff43eb45051f804219d7e795b4f830dd2aa815c CentOS-5.6-i386-netinstall.iso
bfa3146fecbe5dd6820f8261851baa4951b80cb6 CentOS-5.6-i386-LiveCD.iso

x86_64:
2b16a64a0b4d68a6b4263bffdbc5f99c3daf9070 CentOS-5.6-x86_64-bin-1of8.iso
d7e112eae4ee24538d41ec7955747526c71329ad CentOS-5.6-x86_64-bin-2of8.iso
3c36e8d2b211455efb418f3b221395b39bbed9f4 CentOS-5.6-x86_64-bin-3of8.iso
68bfccf66bc0464ef4aded146320792ab22a2d3c CentOS-5.6-x86_64-bin-4of8.iso
9287112b062f4c26de2cf65eddfba121e485c852 CentOS-5.6-x86_64-bin-5of8.iso
f8fed9a75ff845a0a2b77126099ae9af9c24f29e CentOS-5.6-x86_64-bin-6of8.iso
0ccafbcfd28f71db18752d58ffe3b4efd97d6f0d CentOS-5.6-x86_64-bin-7of8.iso
4061355f409cab0f6c9cc4b4c52e6f4edb41b0c8 CentOS-5.6-x86_64-bin-8of8.iso
99d97759316b0bec729fc85fcb4df33310d9eeb3 CentOS-5.6-x86_64-bin-DVD-1of2.iso
e28d90718d591c833d07d0b86f0d3d3486dc454c CentOS-5.6-x86_64-bin-DVD-2of2.iso
6b8ff7f955ba9c0f86ab0a1d71aaee8e3b4c6976 CentOS-5.6-x86_64-netinstall.iso
1770511af5791256f9d87fb8f76bb02cd2bccd9c CentOS-5.6-x86_64-LiveCD.iso

+++++++++++++++++++++++
md5sum for these ISOS:

i386:
53e824442449765ff6ff9e0306537bb9 CentOS-5.6-i386-bin-1of7.iso
c92b574c8d1f4da6d8d2cafe4eeac449 CentOS-5.6-i386-bin-2of7.iso
39ffba169ec63d9a3671f69448280c84 CentOS-5.6-i386-bin-3of7.iso
e98609d3d292a8167e2ce4e889691ff2 CentOS-5.6-i386-bin-4of7.iso
ecbfaca3dd610b3a9be6de908872450d CentOS-5.6-i386-bin-5of7.iso
19ca4cbcf08aade0c9dd828f5dfd7f66 CentOS-5.6-i386-bin-6of7.iso
3e3a8a64e4a46b91f76f2b76ef46095c CentOS-5.6-i386-bin-7of7.iso
181142a5845586579d5d4d96e43a4827 CentOS-5.6-i386-bin-DVD.iso
a710105f7f9fe3516f08f6f8514ed2b0 CentOS-5.6-i386-netinstall.iso
02f1199de0e5a982af53e65fd6d69b00 CentOS-5.6-i386-LiveCD.iso

x86_64:
6dce642fb9b9158f9ce18411127399e6 CentOS-5.6-x86_64-bin-1of8.iso
73b16680a9411f5397b289b419b34b03 CentOS-5.6-x86_64-bin-2of8.iso
b0fdc4f0098a648ea5fc27e26b2f1b26 CentOS-5.6-x86_64-bin-3of8.iso
f71c1c0c3ca2d19a6c48a938252b631d CentOS-5.6-x86_64-bin-4of8.iso
09bb8351e4799c0c122d451c670359b3 CentOS-5.6-x86_64-bin-5of8.iso
c90a9de29c7c6708b396760007d0942e CentOS-5.6-x86_64-bin-6of8.iso
0456cb515be6f3f2a0fa6e8be45d66b5 CentOS-5.6-x86_64-bin-7of8.iso
83c61f38fea4f22033dedc746c2bb67b CentOS-5.6-x86_64-bin-8of8.iso
b37209879c0fb158fac25045527241ee CentOS-5.6-x86_64-bin-DVD-1of2.iso
3eb277f8ca8d49cc8fcaf76d647169c4 CentOS-5.6-x86_64-bin-DVD-2of2.iso
02cf3a5e32aaa5eed27af775ad292beb CentOS-5.6-x86_64-netinstall.iso
7449589dc0769d4e027832bfe3f6bfba CentOS-5.6-x86_64-LiveCD.iso

+++++++++++++++++++++++
Pending Updates:

Since upstream released their 5.6 media, a series of updates have been
issued. These updates are currently syncing to the CentOS mirrors.

+++++++++++++++++++++++
Sources and Debuginfo packages:

srpms and debuginfo packages are still making their way to the CentOS
mirrors and should be online by the 13th April 2011.

+++++++++++++++++++++++
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.

Some Friendly URLs :
http://www.centos.org/
http://wiki.centos.org/
http://lists.centos.org/
http://bugs.centos.org/
irc://#centos@irc.freenode.net


+++++++++++++++++++++++
A big thanks to everyone who contributed towards this release, including
the translation teams, the qa team, the artwork team, the CentOS
Developers and all the users out there. And a special shout out to all
the donors who have contributed machines, bandwidth and infrastructure
towards the CentOS Project. They make this possible.

Enjoy!

--
Karanbir Singh
The CentOS Project
irc: z00dax, #centos@irc.freenode.net