# microsoft/azurelinux

General purpose Linux OS for Azure

Repository: https://github.com/microsoft/azurelinux
Canonical: https://ross.abutalabs.com/products/azurelinux
Language: Python
License: MIT
License Family: permissive
Last push: 2026-08-26T22:59:20+00:00

## Health v2 (maintenance only)
Score: 98/100 (v2, computed 2026-09-03T02:39:23.370411+00:00)
- activity 99, release rhythm 97, longevity 100
- inputs: {"age_days": 2233, "days_push": 7, "days_rel": 21, "gap_med": 13, "n_releases_24m": 50}
- flags: none
- formula: round(0.45*activity + 0.35*rhythm + 0.20*longevity); archived -> min(score, 10)

## Adoption (not part of the score)
Stars 5330, forks 695 (observed 2026-08-28T04:09:15.726155+00:00)

## What it is
Azure Linux is an open-source, general-purpose Linux distribution built and optimized for Microsoft Azure, with sources derived from Fedora Linux. It provides a secured, RPM-based operating system for virtual machines, containers, and bare-metal platforms, with an Azure-optimized kernel and supply chain security features.

## Use cases
- run a hardened Linux OS on Azure virtual machines
- use a minimal secure base image for containers
- build a custom Linux distro from RPM sources
- install a Fedora-derived OS on bare metal or local VMs
- get a predictable-lifecycle OS for cloud workloads
- run Azure Linux on ARM64 or x86_64 hardware

## When to choose
- you run workloads on Azure and want a Microsoft-supported, Azure-optimized OS
- you need a minimal, hardened base image for containers
- you want RPM package ecosystem familiarity with cloud-native security
- you need a distro with supply chain security and predictable lifecycle

## When to avoid
- you need broad third-party package availability like Ubuntu or Debian
- you want a general-purpose desktop Linux distribution
- you need a community-driven distro independent of a single cloud vendor
- you require non-RPM package management

## Facets
- artifact type: application
- maturity: active
- function: security, container-runtime, developer-tools
- domain: operating-systems, cloud-computing, security, self-hosted
- platform: cloud, self-hosted
- tags: linux-distribution, rpm, fedora-derived, azure, microsoft, operating-system, containers, linux, docker

## Member repositories
- microsoft/azurelinux (main) score 98

## Provenance
- Observed fields: from GitHub, fetched 2026-08-28T04:09:15.726155+00:00.
- Health v2: computed from the inputs above; adoption is never an input.
- Inferred fields (summary, facets, guidance): AI-extracted, prompt v1, taxonomy v1, on 2026-08-29T17:58:53.554063+00:00, confidence not recorded.
  - readme: https://github.com/microsoft/azurelinux (fetched 2026-08-28T04:09:15.726155+00:00, sha bf96efaeb6e2)
- Data as of 2026-08-30T08:39:29.467469+00:00.