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feat: Rocky Linux / AlmaLinux (RHEL-based) support #101

@davidwhittington

Description

@davidwhittington

Summary

Add support for Rocky Linux 9 and AlmaLinux 9 as a Phase 3 effort after Debian 12 support (Phase 2).

Scope of changes

RHEL-based distros require significant script changes — this is not a simple port.

Package management

  • apt-getdnf
  • unattended-upgradesdnf-automatic
  • Package names differ: ufw not available (use firewalld or nftables)

Firewall

  • ufw is not available; RHEL uses firewalld by default
  • Core hardening script 01-immediate-hardening.sh would need a firewalld code path
  • scripts/core/audit/firewall-check.sh is UFW-specific throughout

Security tooling

  • AppArmor not available; RHEL uses SELinux (fundamentally different model)
  • apparmor-check.sh would need a SELinux equivalent or be excluded from RHEL baseline
  • auditd is the same (already installed by default on RHEL — 05-auditd-setup.sh may need less setup)
  • fail2ban available via EPEL
  • rkhunter available via EPEL

Service names

  • ssh service is sshd on RHEL (most scripts handle both already)
  • Apache is httpd not apache2; mod_security package is mod_security

Recommended approach

Add a DISTRO_FAMILY detection variable (debian|rhel) and use it to branch within scripts, rather than maintaining separate script trees.

Prerequisites

Phase

Phase 3 — after core toolkit is stable and Debian 12 is tested.

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    area: devopsCI/CD, deploy pipeline, infrastructurepriority: mediumValuable — schedule ittype: featureNew capability or enhancement

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