CentOS
CentOS (Community Enterprise Operating System) is a free and open-source Linux distribution derived from the source code of Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL). It provides a stable, secure, and enterprise-grade operating system for servers and workstations, with long-term support and binary compatibility with RHEL. CentOS is widely used in production environments, particularly for web hosting, cloud infrastructure, and enterprise applications.
Developers should learn and use CentOS when deploying or managing enterprise servers that require a stable, secure, and well-supported Linux distribution, such as for web servers (e.g., Apache, Nginx), database servers (e.g., MySQL, PostgreSQL), or cloud platforms (e.g., OpenStack). It is ideal for environments where compatibility with RHEL is needed without the cost of commercial support, offering predictable release cycles and extensive community resources.