Amazon Linux 2023

2023-04-07 3 min read AWS

Earlier this month AWS has released Amazon Linux 2023, in short AL2023. Amazon Linux is a Linux distribution maintained by AWS. It is no suprise that the main purpose of this distribution is an optimized experience for running on AWS as it comes with features and intergration with AWS-specific tools. Besides an Amazon Linux Image the distribution is also offered as an container image.

AL2023 is the last generation of Amazon Linux, the successor of the initial version Amazon Linux and Amazon Linux 2. With the release of AL2023 AWS will release a new major version every two years. According to the cadence we can expect AL2025, AL2027 and so on. With every upcoming release the current release will go from Standard to Maintanance support (security patches only) to be retired after 3 years. This means that a major version has a supported lifespan of 5 years, which is fairly long in cloud. The new versioning and cadence is new for those that are familiar with the versions Amazon Linux and Amazon Linux 2. The previous versions were a rolling release, while from AL2023 (or in hindsight AL2) onwards a new major version will be released every 2 years.