Amazon Linux 2027 (Preview)

Amazon Linux 2027 (AL2027) is the next release of Amazon's Linux operating system, purpose-built for running workloads on AWS. It builds on AL2023's foundation. Once generally available, AL2027 provides five years of standard support and is available at no additional licensing cost.

AL2027 delivers improvements across security, toolchains, runtimes, hardware support, and architecture. Security is built into the default configuration: SELinux ships in enforcing mode, packages are built with compiler hardening that prevents common memory-initialization vulnerabilities at compile time, and AWS-LC is available alongside OpenSSL as a cryptographic library option, delivering faster TLS performance for workloads that adopt it. Toolchains are updated to GCC 16.1 and glibc 2.44, giving developers the latest compiler optimizations and C/C++ standards. Language runtimes ship with newer versions of Python, Ruby, PHP, .NET, Java, Golang, Node.js, Perl, and Rust. Hardware support is immediate: x86-64-v3 is the default instruction set baseline, with support including the latest Graviton instances. AL2027 ships with the latest LTS kernel at GA, with a new kernel launched every year, each supported for four years. AL2027 has overlapping kernel versions and at least one common language runtime version for each language, making migration easier. The package manager moves to DNF5, a rewrite that delivers faster operations and lower memory usage. A complete list of changes relative to AL2023 is published in the AL2027 documentation.

The Public Preview gives you early access to experiment with new AL2027 features and to test workloads in non-production environments. Preview is available in two phases.

Phase 1, available at preview launch, includes the core package set, kernel 7.1+, SELinux in enforcing mode, the DNF5 package manager, current toolchains and language runtimes, AWS-LC alongside OpenSSL, AWS Neuron drivers support for Trainium and Inferentia, and GNOME Desktop. If you build custom AMIs or maintain image pipelines, point existing non-production workflows at the AL2027 package repositories immediately. 

Phase 2, during the preview (Nov 2026), will add SPAL packages, DCV support, and EKS-optimized AMI recipes, so testing can be extended to additional workloads as these become available.

The Public Preview is a feedback mechanism, not a frozen release. Certain aspects of the release will evolve before GA based on your feedback. For example, packages may be updated, or added. Configurations may be adjusted. Bugs and compatibility that are reported will be resolved.

AL2027 Preview AMIs are available through the AWS Management Console, AWS CLI, and SSM public parameters. To get started, search for AMIs with the description 'Amazon Linux 2027 Preview AMI' or the name 'al2027-preview-ami-2027', launch an instance on any supported instance type, deploy an application, and validate its behavior. Both x86-64 and Graviton (aarch64) variants are available across all commercial AWS Regions, and container base images are published to Amazon ECR Public Gallery. No enrollment or sign-up is required, and standard EC2 instance charges apply with no additional cost for the operating system. For the full set of methods to find and launch AL2027 AMIs, see Amazon Linux 2027 on Amazon EC2.

The preview is designed to validate non-production workloads against AL2027's core changes. We recommend testing across three categories: 

1. Workloads: web applications and application servers under SELinux enforcing mode, database workloads (PostgreSQL, MariaDB, Redis) on kernel 7.1, container host behavior (containerd/Docker) and container image builds, application stacks on updated language runtimes (Python, Node, Java, Go, Ruby, PHP), and GNOME Desktop workflows.
2. New capabilities: AWS-LC performance for crypto-heavy workloads, and DNF5 compatibility with existing package management scripts.
3. Operational pipelines: infrastructure-as-code automation (Terraform, CloudFormation, CDK) with AL2027 AMI IDs, and CI/CD and custom AMI build pipelines pointing at AL2027 repos. 

Submit feedback through the AL2027 GitHub repository using the "AL2027 Public Preview" tag. When creating an issue, provide as much information as possible, including environment details, steps to reproduce the problem, expected versus actual behavior, and the workload affected. This helps us investigate and resolve issues faster. We respond directly on the posted GitHub issue with alternatives or resolutions, so you can track progress in a single location. For feature requests, we evaluate each one and prioritize based on demand, technical feasibility, and alignment with AL2027's roadmap.

AWS Support agreements do not cover the AL2027 Public Preview. The preview is a pre-release testing program and the feedback mechanism is GitHub. Production workloads requiring AWS Support should remain on AL2023 until AL2027 reaches general availability.

The Public Preview runs through the beginning of 2027. This window provides sufficient time for customers to test workloads and surface issues, and for the Amazon Linux team to resolve them before GA. During the preview, we release CVE and bug fixes on our standard bi-weekly cadence, with major feature additions (SPAL and EKS-optimized AMI recipes) delivered in Phase 2 in November. New AMI versions publish under the same naming convention, and updates can be monitored in the Amazon EC2 console.

We encourage customers to test and submit feedback via AL2027 GitHub repository as early as possible to maximize the likelihood that issues are addressed in the GA release. Issues raised late in the preview cycle, after January 2027, will be acknowledged but may not be resolved before GA. We continue to work on remaining items post-GA.

AL2027 runs on all current-generation instances across x86 and Graviton (ARM). To deliver better performance, AL2027 is built for modern processors, specifically x86 instances that support the AVX and AVX2 instruction sets (a baseline commonly referred to as x86-64-v3), which covers effectively all instances launched in roughly the last decade. A small number of the oldest instance families (c1, c3, i2, m1, m2, m3, r3, and t1) predate this baseline and are not supported. If you are running on an unsupported instance, we recommend moving to a current-generation instance, which typically improves both performance and cost efficiency.

When AL2027 reaches GA, preview AMIs will be deprecated and will no longer receive security patches, bug fixes, or updates. Customers should transition all workloads, including non-production, to the GA AMIs. When AL2027 reaches GA, we recommend that customers replace preview instances with GA AMIs.