Fermi Linux


Fermi Linux is the generic name for Linux distributions that are created and used at Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory. These releases have gone through different names: Fermi Linux, Fermi Linux LTS, LTS, Fermi Linux STS, STS, Scientific Linux Fermi, SLF. For the purposes of this entry they can be used interchangeably to designate a version of Linux specific to Fermilab.
At the current time, the only officially supported Fermi Linux is Scientific Linux Fermi, which is based on Scientific Linux.

History

Fermi Linux started out as an extension of the PC Farms Pilot Project spearheaded by Connie Sieh. A Fermilab initiative to seek out cost effective computing for the Tevatron. Continuing to update the SGI and AIX hardware for the computing needs of that experiment was very expensive.
Initial builds of Fermi Linux were merely Red Hat Linux with some things turned off or some extra packages added. With the release of Scientific Linux, Fermi Linux became a 'site' specific build of Scientific Linux.

Releases

month-date yearNumber Name
August 31, 1998Fermi Linux 5.0.2n/a
August 16, 1999Fermi Linux 5.2.1Charm
April 7, 2000Fermi Linux 6.1.1Strange
August 29, 2001Fermi Linux 7.1.1Top
September 13, 2002Fermi Linux 7.3.1Bottom
April 7, 2003Fermi Linux 9.0.1Up
August 27, 2003Fermi Linux 7.1.2Top
January 26, 2004Fermi Linux LTS 3.0.1Feynman
February 27, 2004Fermi Linux 7.3.2Bottom
October 1, 2004Scientific Linux Fermi LTS 3.0.3Feynman
February 22, 2005Scientific Linux Fermi LTS 3.0.4Feynman
August 29, 2005Scientific Linux Fermi LTS 3.0.5Feynman
September 20, 2005Scientific Linux Fermi LTS 4.1Wilson
January 25, 2006Scientific Linux Fermi LTS 4.2Wilson
October 25, 2006Scientific Linux Fermi LTS 4.4Wilson
November 10, 2006Scientific Linux Fermi LTS 3.0.8Feynman
May 19, 2007Scientific Linux Fermi STS 6N/A
September 10, 2007Scientific Linux Fermi 5.0Lederman
October 25, 2007Scientific Linux Fermi LTS 3.0.9Feynman
August 20, 2007Scientific Linux Fermi LTS 4.5Wilson
February 21, 2008Scientific Linux Fermi 5.1Lederman
March 24, 2008Scientific Linux Fermi LTS 4.6Wilson
July 17, 2008Scientific Linux Fermi 5.2Lederman
September 18, 2008Scientific Linux Fermi LTS 4.7Wilson
April 1, 2009Scientific Linux Fermi 5.3Lederman
October 6, 2009Scientific Linux Fermi STS 10N/A
November 18, 2009Scientific Linux Fermi STS 11N/A
January 7, 2010Scientific Linux Fermi LTS 4.8Wilson
February 8, 2010Scientific Linux Fermi 5.4Lederman
May 20, 2010Scientific Linux Fermi STS 12N/A
June 18, 2010Scientific Linux Fermi 5.5Lederman
August 23, 2010Scientific Linux Fermi STS 13N/A
December 22, 2010Scientific Linux Fermi STS 14N/A
November 22, 2011Scientific Linux Fermi LTS 4.9Wilson
November 23, 2011Scientific Linux Fermi 5.7Lederman
December 14, 2011Scientific Linux Fermi 6.1Ramsey
May 7, 2012Scientific Linux Fermi 6.2Ramsey
June 11, 2012Scientific Linux Fermi 5.8Lederman
August 22, 2012Scientific Linux Fermi 6.3Ramsey
March 7, 2013Scientific Linux Fermi 5.9Lederman
April 22, 2013Scientific Linux Fermi 6.4Ramsey
December 3, 2013Scientific Linux Fermi 5.10Lederman
February 18, 2014Scientific Linux Fermi 6.5Ramsey
November 18, 2014Scientific Linux Fermi 6.6Ramsey
December 8, 2014Scientific Linux Fermi 5.11Lederman

Support policy

Fermi Linux follows the Scientific Linux life cycle regarding support and updates.
There is a vibrant Linux community at Fermilab. This includes dedicated email lists and regular meetings provided by the Scientific Linux development team.

Fermi Linux LTS

Fermi Linux LTS is in essence Red Hat Enterprise Linux, recompiled.
Workers in Fermilab took the source code from Red Hat Enterprise Linux in srpm form and recompiled them resulting in binaries in rpm form with the only restrictions being the license from the original source code. They are bundling these binaries into a Linux distribution that is as close to Red Hat Enterprise Linux as they can get. The goal is to ensure that if a program runs and is certified on Red Hat Enterprise Linux, then it will run on the corresponding Fermi Linux release.