Abandoning Scientific Linux Was a Mistake

In 2026, over 2,200 industrial computers and embedded systems at CERN's accelerator complex will run Debian 13. While CERN and Fermilab initially abandoned Scientific Linux, looking back, it may have been a mistake. Scientific Linux was not merely a duplicate of CentOS; it was a unique distribution designed for the scientific community's needs.

The scientific community required a stable Linux distribution that worked with enterprise software across various institutions, requiring a long lifecycle, free redistribution, and compatibility across different systems. Scientific Linux provided this, becoming an institutionally independent implementation of the Enterprise Linux platform.

When Red Hat and CentOS merged in 2014, moving to CentOS seemed logical. CERN started moving its next major release from Scientific Linux to CentOS 7, with Scientific Linux 5 and 6 still supported. However, this decision was hindsight-driven, as maintaining Scientific Linux had costs that were difficult to quantify. The independent distribution gave the community a credible exit, an option value in case the assumptions underlying the primary platform changed.

When CentOS changed its role in 2020, CERN and Fermilab had to reconsider their Linux strategy. While AlmaLinux is a good project, Scientific Linux's role was vital and should not be overlooked.