Changes in OS support for Vespa

Vespa has announced a transition in its operating system support, moving from CentOS Stream 8 to AlmaLinux 8 for its open-source platform, due to the impending end-of-life of CentOS Stream 8 on May 31, 2024. This decision aligns with the internal migration of Vespa.ai to AlmaLinux 8 and Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8, as AlmaLinux is used in Vespa Cloud production systems and is available free of charge. While RPMs for Vespa will continue to be built on Copr and distributed through a new Cloudsmith-hosted repository, the change is expected to have minimal impact on users, as the new AlmaLinux 8 base for Vespa container images maintains compatibility with RHEL ABI standards. This transition allows Vespa to maintain an archive of releases and ensure forward compatibility for users still on CentOS Stream 8, with future support plans remaining adaptable to the evolving Linux distribution landscape.