Software Update: CentOS 6.5

CentOS is an open source operating system based on Red Hat Enterprise Linux that is designed for use in enterprise environments. The name is an abbreviation of Community Enterprise Operating System. Unlike RHEL, CentOS is free to use. In terms of popularity, CentOS has been on the top of the list in the last twelve months ninth place. A new version of CentOS appears every two years, which is then provided with updates for seven years. Version 6.5 of CentOS was released earlier this month and the full release notes are here to find. In short, these are the main changes:

Major changes:

• The Precision Time Protocol – previously a technology preview – is now fully supported. The following drivers support network time stamping: bnx2x, tg3, e1000e, igb, ixgbe, and sfc.
• OpenSSL has been updated to version 1.0.1.
• OpenSSL and NSS now support TLS 1.1 and 1.2.
• KVM received various enhancements. These include improved read-only support of VMDK- and VHDX-Files, CPU hot plugging and updated virt-v2v-/virt-p2v-conversion tools.
• Hyper-V and VMware drivers have been updated.
• Updates to Evolution (2.32) and Libre Office (4.0.4).