Update Cycle

RH vs SUSE

We do not want to update all that often, so we are choosing RHEL/CentOS/Alma/etc. [in favor of SLE]

RHEL (and its derivatives) actually release a lot more service packs over time, and the service packs' individual lifetime is also shorter:

SP

Release

Last repo change

Lifetime

AlmaLinux 8.4

2021-05-26

2021-11-22

181 days

AlmaLinux 8.5

2021-11-12

2024-09-28

320 days

AlmaLinux 8.6

2024-05-12

2024-11-03

176 days

AlmaLinux 9.0

2024-05-26

2024-11-03

162 days

SP

Release

End of Support

Lifetime

SLE 15.1

2019-06-21

2021-01-31

591 days

SLE 15.2

2020-06-22

2021-12-31

558 days

SLE 15.3

2021-06-21

2024-12-31

559 days

For admins with an aversion to periodic invocation of the updater, the update cadence is in favor of a SUSE-based distribution.