<?xml version="1.0"?> <!DOCTYPE article PUBLIC "-//OASIS//DTD DocBook XML V4.4//EN" "http://www.oasis-open.org/docbook/xml/4.4/docbookx.dtd"> <article> <articleinfo> <title>Welcome to CentOS-=RELEASE=</title> <corpauthor> <ulink url="http://www.centos.org/"> <inlinemediaobject> <imageobject> <imagedata fileref="file:///home/centos/artwork/trunk/Identity/Images/Brands/Logos/48/centos-violet.png" format="PNG" /> </imageobject> </inlinemediaobject> </ulink> </corpauthor> <copyright> <year>=COPYRIGHT_YEAR_LAST=</year> <holder>The CentOS Project</holder> </copyright> <legalnotice> <para> CentOS-=RELEASE= comes with no guarantees or warranties of any sorts, either written or implied. The Distribution is released as <ulink url="file:///usr/share/doc/centos-release-=MAJOR_RELEASE=/GPL">GPL</ulink> work. Individual packages in the distribution come with their own licences. </para> </legalnotice> </articleinfo> <sect1> <title>What is CentOS?</title> <para> <ulink url="http://www.centos.org/">CentOS</ulink> is an Enterprise-class Linux Distribution derived from sources freely provided to the public by a prominent North American Enterprise Linux vendor. CentOS conforms fully with the upstream vendors redistribution policy and aims to be 100% binary compatible. (CentOS mainly changes packages to remove upstream vendor branding and artwork.) </para> <para> CentOS is developed by a small but growing team of core developers. In turn the core developers are supported by an active user community including system administrators, network administrators, enterprise users, managers, core Linux contributors and Linux enthusiasts from around the world. </para> </sect1> <sect1> <title>Advantages</title> <para> CentOS has numerous advantages including: an active and growing user community, quickly rebuilt, tested, and QA'ed errata packages, an extensive <ulink url="http://http//www.centos.org//modules/tinycontent/index.php?id=15">mirror network</ulink>, developers who are contactable and responsive reliable Enterprise Linux class distribution, multiple free support avenues. </para> </sect1> <sect1> <title>Support</title> <para> The following free support avenues are available: </para> <itemizedlist> <listitem> <para> <ulink url="http://www.centos.org/">The CentOS Website</ulink> </para> </listitem> <listitem> <para> <ulink url="http://wiki.centos.org/">The CentOS Wiki</ulink> (includes a dynamic <ulink url="http://wiki.centos.org/FAQ">FAQ</ulink>) </para> </listitem> <listitem> <para> <ulink url="http://www.centos.org/modules/tinycontent/index.php?id=8">The CentOS IRC Chat</ulink> </para> </listitem> <listitem> <para> <ulink url="http://lists.centos.org/">The CentOS Mailing List</ulink> </para> </listitem> <listitem> <para> <ulink url="http://forums.centos.org/">The CentOS Forums</ulink> </para> </listitem> </itemizedlist> </sect1> </article>