Amazon Linux 2023 extended repository "SPAL" is now generally available
AWS has begun general availability of the extended repository "SPAL" for Amazon Linux 2023. It provides rebuilt versions of approximately 7,823 packages derived from EPEL 9. Major tools such as Docker, Nginx, and Zabbix can now be easily installed in Amazon Linux 2023 environments.
2025.11.20
This page has been translated by machine translation. View original
On November 18, 2025, the general availability (GA) of the Supplementary Packages for Amazon Linux (SPAL), an extended repository available for Amazon Linux 2023 (AL2023), was announced.
EPEL 9 (Extra Packages for Enterprise Linux 9) is an additional package repository for Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) 9 and compatible operating systems, maintained by the Fedora Project.
By enabling the newly introduced SPAL, you can use packages derived from EPEL 9 that have been rebuilt by AWS specifically for Amazon Linux 2023 (AL2023). This makes thousands of additional packages available for installation with a single dnf command.
In this article, I'll introduce some key packages currently available in SPAL that I had the opportunity to check.
Test Environment
I used the AL2023 release version 2023.9.20251117 AMI, which has SPAL available.
AMI Information
- AMI ID: ami-03852a41f1e05c8e4
- AMI Name: al2023-ami-2023.9.20251117.1-kernel-6.1-x86_64
system-release information
$ rpm -qi system-release
Name : system-release
Version : 2023.9.20251117
Release : 0.amzn2023
Architecture: noarch
Install Date: Mon Nov 17 07:07:41 2025
Group : Unspecified
Size : 17313
License : MIT
Signature : RSA/SHA512, Wed Nov 12 19:22:44 2025, Key ID e951904ad832c631
Source RPM : system-release-2023.9.20251117-0.amzn2023.src.rpm
Build Date : Wed Nov 12 19:21:00 2025
Build Host : koji.amazonlinux
Packager : Amazon Linux
Vendor : Amazon Linux
URL : https://amazonlinux.com/
Summary : Amazon Linux release files
Description :
Amazon Linux release files
Enabling SPAL
To use SPAL, I installed the spal-release package.
sudo dnf install spal-release
Installation log
$ sudo dnf install spal-release
Last metadata expiration check: 0:00:07 ago on Wed Nov 19 16:59:41 2025.
Dependencies resolved.
==============================================================================================
Package Architecture Version Repository Size
==============================================================================================
Installing:
spal-release noarch 2023-3.amzn2023 amazonlinux 12 k
Installing dependencies:
spal-repo-s3 noarch 2023-3.amzn2023 amazonlinux 8.9 k
Transaction Summary
==============================================================================================
Install 2 Packages
Total download size: 20 k
Installed size: 4.6 k
Is this ok [y/N]: y
Downloading Packages:
(1/2): spal-repo-s3-2023-3.amzn2023.noarch.rpm 171 kB/s | 8.9 kB 00:00
(2/2): spal-release-2023-3.amzn2023.noarch.rpm 201 kB/s | 12 kB 00:00
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Total 212 kB/s | 20 kB 00:00
Running transaction check
Transaction check succeeded.
Running transaction test
Transaction test succeeded.
Running transaction
Preparing : 1/1
Installing : spal-repo-s3-2023-3.amzn2023.noarch 1/2
Installing : spal-release-2023-3.amzn2023.noarch 2/2
Running scriptlet: spal-release-2023-3.amzn2023.noarch 2/2
SPAL SUPPORT STATEMENT
Supplementary Packages for Amazon Linux 2023 (SPAL) is a dedicated repository
that provides access to thousands of pre-built, EPEL9 derived packages compatible
for AL2023, beyond the existing packages in the core AL2023. With the availability
of SPAL repository, customers can migrate their workloads from Amazon Linux 2 to
Amazon Linux 2023, eliminating the time-consuming process of building packages
from source.
While SPAL packages facilitate easy migration from AL2 to AL2023 and expand their
software, SPAL packages are not supported like core AL2023 packages
(https://docs.aws.amazon.com/linux/al2023/release-notes/all-packages-AL2023.8.html)
that receive support for the entire life of AL2023. SPAL packages are offered
as-is and are not applicable for AWS Enterprise Support. Security Patches and bug
fixes will be provided for SPAL packages if and when available in EPEL9 upstream.
Prior to using SPAL, customers must carefully evaluate these considerations:
1. Packages in SPAL repository are not covered by AWS Enterprise Support
2. Packages in SPAL repository are provided 'as-is' with security patches if and
only when available from upstream EPEL9
3. Packages in SPAL repository will not receive AWS CVE security tracking
If you encounter an issue with a SPAL package, we recommend first testing whether
the same issue occurs with the corresponding package in the upstream EPEL9
repository. If the issue reproduces in EPEL9, report it via the standard Fedora
EPEL reporting process (https://docs.fedoraproject.org/en-US/epel/epel-faq/), as
this indicates an upstream issue that should be addressed by the EPEL maintainers.
However, if the issue does not reproduce in EPEL9, create an issue in the Amazon
Linux 2023 GitHub repository (https://github.com/amazonlinux/amazon-linux-2023/issues),
as this suggests the problem is specific to the SPAL package build or configuration.
Such issues will be handled on a best-effort basis. This approach helps ensure
issues are addressed by the appropriate maintainers and contributes to the overall
quality of both SPAL and upstream EPEL packages.
Verifying : spal-release-2023-3.amzn2023.noarch 1/2
Verifying : spal-repo-s3-2023-3.amzn2023.noarch 2/2
Installed:
spal-release-2023-3.amzn2023.noarch spal-repo-s3-2023-3.amzn2023.noarch
Complete!
Packages Provided by SPAL
Total Package Count
As of November 20, there are 7,823 packages available in the amazonlinux-spal repository.
$ dnf list --repo=amazonlinux-spal | grep amazonlinux-spal| wc -l
7823
I confirmed that LXC (Linux Containers) related packages, which were not previously provided in the official Amazon Linux 2023 repository, are now registered in SPAL.
$ dnf list --repo=amazonlinux-spal | grep amazonlinux-spal| grep lxc
lxc.x86_64 4.0.12-1.4.spal2023 amazonlinux-spal
lxc-devel.x86_64 4.0.12-1.4.spal2023 amazonlinux-spal
lxc-doc.noarch 4.0.12-1.4.spal2023 amazonlinux-spal
lxc-libs.x86_64 4.0.12-1.4.spal2023 amazonlinux-spal
lxc-templates.x86_64 4.0.12-1.4.spal2023 amazonlinux-spal
lxcfs.x86_64 5.0.4-1.2.spal2023 amazonlinux-spal
Top 100 Key Packages
Here are 100 key packages from SPAL that engineers and system administrators might frequently use:
| Category | Package Name | Version | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Container & Virtualization | moby-engine | 28.5.1 | Open source Docker engine |
| docker-cli | 28.5.1 | Docker command-line tool | |
| docker-compose | 2.40.1 | Define and run multi-container applications | |
| lxc | 4.0.12 | Linux Containers tools | |
| lxcfs | 5.0.4 | FUSE filesystem for containers | |
| distrobox | 1.8.1.2 | Run any Linux distribution inside a container | |
| helm | 3.19.0 | Kubernetes package manager | |
| tini | 0.19.0 | Lightweight init process for containers | |
| fuse-overlayfs | 1.13 | OverlayFS implementation for rootless containers | |
| flatpak-spawn | 1.0.6 | Run commands in Flatpak sandbox | |
| Monitoring & Measurement | zabbix-server | 6.0.36 | Integrated monitoring server (LTS version) |
| zabbix-agent | 6.0.36 | Agent for monitored hosts | |
| zabbix-web | 6.0.36 | Zabbix web frontend | |
| nagios | 4.4.14 | System and network monitoring tool | |
| nrpe | 4.1.2 | Nagios Remote Plugin Executor | |
| pcp | 7.0.2 | Performance Co-Pilot (system analysis framework) | |
| munin | 2.0.76 | Server resource monitoring and graphing | |
| monit | 5.35.2 | Automatic monitoring and repair of processes and files | |
| logwatch | 7.12 | Log analysis and report generation | |
| iptraf-ng | 1.2.1 | IP network monitoring tool | |
| syslog-ng | 3.35.1 | Advanced system log daemon | |
| Web & Communication | lighttpd | 1.4.67 | Lightweight, high-speed web server |
| varnish | 7.6.1 | HTTP accelerator (reverse proxy) | |
| nginx-mod-brotli | 1.0.0 | Brotli compression module for Nginx | |
| pgbouncer | 1.23.1 | Connection pooler for PostgreSQL | |
| mosquitto | 2.0.22 | MQTT broker (for IoT communications) | |
| exim | 4.98 | Mail Transfer Agent (MTA) | |
| mosh | 1.4.0 | Mobile shell (disconnect-resistant SSH alternative) | |
| noip | 2.1.9 | Dynamic DNS update client | |
| Security | trivy | 0.64.1 | Container/FS vulnerability scanner |
| pass | 1.7.4 | Password manager using standard Unix tools | |
| git-crypt | 0.7.0 | Transparent encryption for Git repositories | |
| yubikey-personalization | 1.20.0 | YubiKey configuration tool (ykpers) | |
| pam_yubico | 2.26 | PAM module for YubiKey | |
| testssl | 3.2~rc3 | SSL/TLS encryption strength checker | |
| Development (C/C++/Cobol) | clang17 | 17.0.6 | LLVM 17 series C/C++ compiler |
| llvm17 | 17.0.6 | LLVM compiler infrastructure | |
| gnucobol | 3.2 | Open source COBOL compiler | |
| nasm | (rust-nasm) | Assembler (related as Rust binding) | |
| ragel | 7.0.0 | State machine compiler | |
| Development (Haskell) | ghc | 8.10.7 | Glasgow Haskell Compiler |
| ghc-cabal | 3.2.1.0 | Haskell package build system | |
| ghc-pandoc | 2.14.0.3 | Document conversion tool (Haskell-based) | |
| ghc-shellcheck | 0.10.0 | Shell script static analysis (Haskell-based) | |
| Rust Ecosystem | rust-tokio | 1.47.1 | Asynchronous runtime (de facto standard) |
| rust-serde | 1.0.225 | Serialization framework | |
| rust-clap | 4.5.45 | Command-line argument parser | |
| rust-anyhow | 1.0.99 | Error handling library | |
| rust-regex | 1.11.1 | Regular expression engine | |
| rust-log | 0.4.27 | Logging facade | |
| rust-reqwest | 0.12.23 | Feature-rich HTTP client | |
| rust-hyper | 1.7.0 | Low-level HTTP library | |
| rust-h2 | 0.4.12 | HTTP/2 implementation | |
| rust-rustls | 0.23.32 | Modern TLS library (not dependent on OpenSSL) | |
| rust-crossbeam | 0.8.4 | Tools for concurrent programming | |
| rust-bytes | 1.10.1 | Byte buffer manipulation utilities | |
| rust-itertools | 0.14.0 | Iterator extensions | |
| rust-thiserror | 2.0.14 | Macros for error definition | |
| rust-flate2 | 1.1.2 | DEFLATE/Gzip/Zlib compression library | |
| Python Ecosystem | python3-requests | (dep) | HTTP library for humans |
| python3-jinja2 | 3.1.6 | Template engine | |
| python3-pylint | 2.13.7 | Source code analyzer | |
| python3-pytest | (multi) | Testing framework | |
| python3-marshmallow | 3.13.0 | Object serialization/validation | |
| python3-beautifulsoup4 | 4.10.0 | HTML/XML parsing library | |
| Utilities | ripgrep | 14.1.1 | Ultra-fast grep tool (Rust-based rg) |
| yq | 4.47.1 | YAML version of jq (command-line YAML processing) | |
| ncdu | 1.22 | Disk usage visualization in terminal | |
| neofetch | 7.1.0 | System information display tool | |
| cloc | 2.06 | Count Lines of Code | |
| stow | 2.4.0 | Symbolic link management (for dotfiles, etc.) | |
| zbar | 0.23.93 | Barcode/QR code reader | |
| xdotool | 3.2021 | X11 automation and manipulation tool | |
| xclip | 0.13 | Command-line clipboard operations | |
| lrzsz | 0.12.21 | ZMODEM file transfer (rz/sz) | |
| btrfs-progs | 6.12 | Btrfs filesystem management | |
| ntfs-3g | 2022.10.3 | NTFS driver with write support | |
| Image & Media | gimp | 3.0.4 | Image editing software (version 3 preview) |
| inkscape | 1.4.2 | Vector image editing software | |
| ffmpeg-free | 5.1.4 | Video/audio conversion (free codecs) | |
| libavif | 0.11.1 | AV1 Image File Format library | |
| libheif | 1.16.1 | HEIF image format library | |
| tesseract | 5.5.1 | OCR (Optical Character Recognition) engine | |
| vapoursynth | 57 | Video processing and compositing framework | |
| Science & Hardware | hdf5 | 1.12.1 | Hierarchical Data Format library (scientific computing) |
| netcdf | 4.8.1 | Array-oriented data access library | |
| openni | 1.5.7.10 | 3D sensor (Kinect, etc.) library | |
| openxr | 1.1.49 | Standard for VR/AR devices | |
| libgpiod | 2.2.2 | Linux GPIO character device operations | |
| gpsd | 3.26.1 | GPS sensor daemon | |
| jack-audio | 1.9.21 | Low-latency audio server (JACK) | |
| Documents & Fonts | pandoc | 2.14.0.3 | Universal document converter |
| libe-book | 0.1.3 | E-book format import | |
| libodfgen | 0.1.8 | OpenDocument generation library | |
| libwps | 0.4.14 | MS Works document import | |
| google-rubik-fonts | 2.100 | Google Rubik fonts | |
| vl-gothic-fonts | 20220612 | VL Gothic fonts (Japanese) | |
| wqy-zenhei-fonts | 0.9.46 | WenQuanYi Zen Hei (Chinese fonts) |
Conclusion
Previously, if you wanted to use EPEL9-derived packages with Amazon Linux 2023, you had to go through the trouble of rebuilding from source code. With the introduction of SPAL (Supplementary Packages for Amazon Linux), you can now easily use packages pre-built by AWS.
The availability of a rich set of tools that can be easily installed using the dnf command is expected to make migration from Amazon Linux 2 and development environment setup smoother.
However, it's important to note that packages provided through SPAL are not covered by AWS Enterprise Support, and you should be aware of their security patch policy. When introducing these packages into production environments with long-term operation or strict security requirements, please consider SPAL's limitations carefully.
- SPAL packages are NOT covered by AWS Enterprise Support.
- SPAL packages are provided 'as-is' from upstream EPEL9.
- SPAL packages will NOT receive AWS CVE security tracking.
- SPAL packages receive security patches and bug fixes exclusively from upstream EPEL9 when available.
