Release cadence - Amazon Linux 2023
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Release cadence

A new major version of Amazon Linux is released every two years and includes five years of support. Each release includes support in two phases. The standard support phase covers the first two years. Next, a maintenance phase continues support for an additional three years.

In the standard support phase, the release receives quarterly minor version updates. During the maintenance phase, a release receives only security updates and critical bug fixes that are published as soon as they're available.

Year Amazon Linux 2023 Amazon Linux 2025 Amazon Linux 2027 Amazon Linux 2029
2023 Standard support
2024 Standard support
2025 Maintenance Standard support
2026 Maintenance Standard support
2027 Maintenance Maintenance Standard support
2028 EOL Maintenance Standard support
2029 EOL Maintenance Maintenance Standard support
2030 EOL EOL Maintenance Standard support
2031 EOL EOL Maintenance Maintenance

Major and minor releases

With every Amazon Linux release (major version, minor version, or a security release), we release a new Linux Amazon Machine Image (AMI).

  • Major version release— Includes new features and improvements in security and performance across the stack. The improvements might include major changes to the kernel, toolchain, Glib C, OpenSSL, and any other system libraries and utilities. Major releases of Amazon Linux are based in part on the current version of the upstream Fedora Linux distribution. Amazon might add or replace specific packages from other non-Fedora upstreams.

  • Minor version release— A quarterly update that includes security updates, bug fixes, and new features and packages. Each minor version is a cumulative list of updates that includes security and bug fixes in addition to new features and packages. These releases might include latest language runtimes, such as PHP. They might also include other popular software packages such as Ansible and Docker.

Consuming new releases

Updates are provided through a combination of new Amazon Machine Image (AMI) releases and corresponding new repositories. By default, a new AMI and the repository that it points to are coupled. However, you can point your running Amazon EC2 instances to newer repository versions over time to apply updates on the running instances. You can also update by launching new instances of the latest AMIs.

Long-term support policy

Amazon Linux provides updates for all of your packages and maintains compatibility within a major version for your applications that are built on Amazon Linux. Core packages such as the glibc library, OpenSSL, OpenSSH, and the DNF package manager receive support for the lifetime of the major AL2023 release. Packages that aren't part of the core packages are supported based on their specific upstream sources. You can see the specific support status and dates of individual packages by running the following command.

$ sudo dnf supportinfo --pkg packagename

You can get information on all currently installed packages by running the following command.

$ sudo dnf supportinfo --show installed

The full list of core packages is finalized during the preview. If you want to see more packages included as core packages, tell us. We evaluate as we are collecting feedback. Feedback on AL2023 can be provided through your designated Amazon representative or by filing an issue in the amazon-linux-2023 repo on GitHub.