Linux distribution

AlmaLinux VMs on Apple Silicon Macs

Run mvz create alma dev and MacVisor downloads AlmaLinux 10's ARM64 GenericCloud image from repo.almalinux.org, checks it against AlmaLinux's CHECKSUM file, and makes a VM with your account and SSH keys. AlmaLinux 9 is almalinux-9. Every container runtime MacVisor offers works on both.

Apple Silicon (M1 or later)
macOS 27 on the Mac
AlmaLinux 10 or 9, ARM64

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A stylised MacVisor window with two AlmaLinux VMs, release 9 and release 10, side by side.

Create an AlmaLinux VM

In the app, choose New VM → Linux → Cloud Image → AlmaLinux 10. From Terminal:

mvz create alma dev                         # AlmaLinux 10 (aliases: alma, almalinux)
mvz create almalinux-9 el9                  # AlmaLinux 9
mvz shell dev --start

The images are AlmaLinux's GenericCloud-latest aarch64 builds from repo.almalinux.org, verified against the CHECKSUM file in the same folder. The catalogue tracks AlmaLinux's newest build, and mvz images pull alma fetches it for later VMs.

What you get

Your account has your Mac user name and UID, your SSH keys, bash and sudo without a password. The MacVisor Agent, Rosetta and automatic port forwarding are set up on the first boot.

AlmaLinux is a community rebuild of Red Hat Enterprise Linux. It fits when your servers or customers run AlmaLinux, or when you need an EL9 and an EL10 machine at once to build packages for both.

Two releases side by side

The first VM from each release makes a template, and the VMs after it are linked clones. That makes a matrix cheap:

mvz create almalinux-9 el9 --home
mvz create almalinux-10 el10 --home
mvz exec el9 --start --wait -- rpm -q glibc
mvz exec el10 --start --wait -- rpm -q glibc

--home shares your home folder read-only at the same path in both, so a build script on the Mac runs unchanged in each. Before a risky change, mvz snapshots take el9 --name before-upgrade keeps a point to revert to.

Containers

All four runtimes work on AlmaLinux 10 and 9.

Docker comes from Docker's repository for RHEL (docker-ce, with Buildx and Compose), since AlmaLinux ships Podman instead.
Podman comes from AlmaLinux's repositories, rootless, with its Docker-compatible API forwarded to the Mac.
containerd is a rootless nerdctl setup. MacVisor installs kernel-modules-extra when the kernel lacks the iptables modules containers use.
k3s runs as a single node with 4 GiB of memory or more.

Quirks

SELinux enforcing, as AlmaLinux ships it.
XFS root. The disk grows with mvz set <vm> --disk <GiB> and never shrinks.
Rocky and AlmaLinux behave alike in MacVisor. The Rocky Linux page has the same steps.

FAQ

Common questions

More in the documentation and known limitations.

What are the catalogue names for AlmaLinux?

almalinux-10, with the aliases alma and almalinux, and almalinux-9. So mvz create alma dev makes an AlmaLinux 10 VM, and mvz create almalinux-9 el9 an AlmaLinux 9 one.

Does Docker work on AlmaLinux 9 in MacVisor?

Yes. With --runtime docker, MacVisor adds Docker's repository for RHEL and installs Docker CE with Buildx and Compose. It was tested on AlmaLinux 9.

Should I pick AlmaLinux or Rocky Linux?

Pick the one your servers run. Both rebuild Red Hat Enterprise Linux, and MacVisor treats them the same way: the same account setup, the same runtimes, and SELinux left on.

Can I test an upgrade from AlmaLinux 9 to 10?

Yes. Make one VM from each release, take a snapshot of the 9 VM with mvz snapshots take before you change it, and revert if the change goes wrong. Each VM is a linked clone of its release's template, so a second VM costs only its own changes.

Also with MacVisor

Guest OS Linux VMs on Apple Silicon Macs Ubuntu, Debian, Fedora, Rocky, Alma, Oracle, CentOS Stream, openSUSE and Alpine from one command. Linux distribution Rocky Linux VMs on Apple Silicon Macs Rocky Linux 10 and 9, RHEL-compatible, SELinux on, every runtime. Linux distribution CentOS Stream VMs on Apple Silicon Macs CentOS Stream 10, a look at the next RHEL, with Podman built in.