Upgrade to AlmaLinux 8.6 Beta – A No‑Nonsense Walkthrough
What you’ll actually get out of this guide
You’re looking at a step‑by‑step method to move an existing AlmaLinux 8 installation onto the 8.6 Beta (codenamed Sky Tiger). By the end you’ll have the new kernel, PHP 8.0 and all the “nice‑to‑have” packages without ending up with a broken system.
Check your current setup first
Before you start, open a terminal and run:
cat /etc/almalinux-release
uname -r
If the output shows 8.5 or earlier, you’re good to go. If you see anything older than 8.0, consider a fresh install instead – the upgrade path is only supported from the last stable minor release.
I’ve seen folks try to leap from 7.x straight to 8.6 and end up with “missing library” errors that take hours to untangle. Stay in the same major version.
Back up what matters
A quick rsync or snapshot will save you a lot of grief:
sudo rsync -aAXv / /mnt/backup/almalinux-$(date +%F) --exclude={"/proc/*","/sys/*","/dev/*","/run/*"}
Why? The beta can pull in newer dependencies that occasionally clash with third‑party repos. Having a fallback lets you roll back without reinstalling.
Disable third‑party repositories
sudo dnf config-manager --set-disabled epel* remi*
Those repos often ship packages built against older glibc versions. The upgrade will complain about unresolved dependencies if they stay enabled. You can re‑enable them after the system boots cleanly.
Pull in the beta repository
AlmaLinux provides a dedicated repo for testing releases:
sudo curl -o /etc/yum.repos.d/almalinux-beta.repo https://repo.almalinux.org/beta/8/BaseOS/x86_64/os/
Open the file and make sure enabled=1. This tells DNF where to fetch the 8.6 packages.
Run the upgrade
sudo dnf --enablerepo=almalinux-beta distro-sync -y
distro-sync forces all installed packages to match the versions in the enabled repos, effectively moving you onto Sky Tiger. The -y flag skips the endless “are you sure?” prompts that can make you stare at the screen for minutes.
Why not just dnf upgrade? Because upgrade only pulls newer packages; it won’t replace a package with an older version if the beta repo requires it. distro-sync handles that correctly.
Resolve any left‑over conflicts
After the main transaction finishes, DNF may list a few “skip broken” warnings. Run:
sudo dnf clean all
sudo dnf --enablerepo=almalinux-beta distro-sync -y
Often a second pass clears up dependency loops that appeared during the first run.
Verify the new version
cat /etc/almalinux-release
uname -r
php -v # should show PHP 8.0.x
If you see “AlmaLinux release 8 (Sky Tiger)” and a kernel version starting with 5.14, you’re officially on the beta.
Re‑enable your extra repos
sudo dnf config-manager --set-enabled epel* remi*
sudo dnf update -y # pull any packages that now match the new base
Just be ready for a couple of “package downgraded” messages; they’re normal when moving to a newer core.
Optional: Test your workloads
I ran my own LAMP stack on an old VPS after the upgrade. The only hiccup was a custom PHP extension that needed recompiling against PHP 8.0. A quick pecl install <extension> fixed it, so nothing dramatic.
Roll back if you must
If things go sideways, you can boot into the previous kernel (shown in GRUB) and then restore your backup with:
sudo rsync -aAXv /mnt/backup/almalinux-<date>/ /
That’s why I insisted on a snapshot earlier – it keeps the whole process reversible.
Enjoy the fresh kernels, newer toolchains, and the fact that you’re now testing Sky Tiger before anyone else gets their hands on it.
