Recommendations for modern, well-supported Linux flavor for filePro?

[Ross Salas]

Thank you everyone for the great feedback and valued input. The responses
were incredibly helpful! Choosing between Rocky and Alma was tough, as both
are excellent options.

I ultimately decided to go with *AlmaLinux 10* to take advantage of
security patches through 2035. I got burned back in November 2020 when I
installed CentOS 8 on our existing server, only for Red Hat to pivot to
CentOS Stream a month later. That left me hesitant to patch for fear of
breaking production. In the end, I slightly preferred Alma's governance
structure for long-term stability.

I really appreciate everyone taking the time to share their expertise!

On Mon, Jun 29, 2026 at 1:15 PM Josh Reader via Filepro-list <
filepro-list at mailman.celestial.com> wrote:

> We just migrated from a VM of CentOS 7.9 to Rocky Linux 9.7 two weeks ago.
> We are on filePro version 6.1.  I would have gone with Rocky Linux 10 but
> testing started, got put on the backburner, then resumed again.  I did not
> want to have to re-test everything in 10.  There was no upgrade path so a
> clean install on a fresh VM is the what we did.  I ran into a few issues
> but everything was fixable.  Here's a list of what I encountered:
>
> Things that were resolved during test:
> 1. SFTP connections for EDI document exchange using Linux needed updated
> from 128 bit to 256 bit
> 2. We have a lot of legacy code from before filePro could generate it's
> own PDF's that uses ps2pdf.  I had to install enscript and ghostscript to
> get those to work.
>
> Things that caused issues after migration:
> 1. Older versions of PuTTY would not connect using a key file.  Upgrading
> to the latest version of PuTTY fixed that issue.
> 2. I had used the filePro utilities menu to rebuild indexes and somehow it
> cleared all descending sorts.  This was fixed by contacting FP Tech and
> they provided a different docindex file.  I used our test filePro server
> with a backup from right before the migration, copied the new docindex
> file, generated rbldindex, and copied it to the live server.  Then I ran
> the filePro Utilities menu option 9 - Run 'rbldindex' script and that fixed
> everything.
>
> Josh
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Filepro-list <filepro-list-bounces+josh.reader=
> mercuryelectronics.com at mailman.celestial.com> On Behalf Of Mike Schwartz
> - PC Support & Services via Filepro-list
> Sent: Monday, June 29, 2026 12:46 PM
> To: 'filePro Mailing List' <filepro-list at lists.celestial.com>
> Subject: RE: Recommendations for modern, well-supported Linux flavor for
> filePro?
>
>     I have a couple of customers running filePro on Red Hat Enterprise
> Linux (RHEL).  They pay a small fee each year, but they can get Red Hat
> support any time they have a questions.  They opted for the $600.00 phone
> support the first year, but they didn't use it much after we got the
> installation done, so they dropped down to the "Website only" report for
> about $250.00 per year.    (The installation was my first "Virtual" RHEL
> installation.  Neither I nor their IT department had ever installed RHEL
> virtually, so we had more questions than a RHEL installation on physical
> hardware.)
>
>     There aren't any "gotchas" or other advice I can give you about RHEL.
> Installation usually goes smoothly and updates are automatic.
>
>      For training purposes, I've also installed test versions filePro on
> Rocky Linux as well as Alma Linux, and installation on both of those
> versions was easy enough, since they are clones of RHEL.
>
> Mike Schwartz
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Filepro-list <filepro-list-bounces+filepromike=
> gmail.com at mailman.celestial.com> On Behalf Of Ross Salas via Filepro-list
> Sent: Monday, June 29, 2026 10:03 AM
> To: filePro Mailing List <filepro-list at lists.celestial.com>
> Subject: Recommendations for modern, well-supported Linux flavor for
> filePro?
>
> Hi Everyone,
>
> I'm looking to run filePro on a modern and well-supported flavor of Linux,
> and I would love to get your insights and recommendations based on what is
> working well for you.
>
> Currently, I am running filePro version v5.8.03.24D6 on CentOS 8.  I'm
> looking to upgrade the server (hardware) and operating system. I'll keep
> the same version of filePro.
>
> Ideally, I am looking for a distribution that:
>
>    -
>
>    Integrates smoothly and works well with filePro.
>    -
>
>    Is modern, stable, and actively supported with regular updates.
>
> If you have any specific recommendations, setups, or experiences—including
> any "gotchas" or configuration tips you encountered along the way—please
> let me know.
>
> Thanks in advance for your help!
>
> Best regards,
>
> Ross Salas
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