ComplianceAsCode / ComplianceAsCode/content
Alma Linux Not Being Considered Part of RHEL Family?
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Description
#### Description of problem:
I run a fleet of Alma Linux 9 EC2 instances on AWS. As part of our hardening process we apply this playbook `almalinux9-playbook-cis_server_l1.yml` when creating gold AMI images. With recent updates to Alma (version 9.8) this playbook began failing trying to detect a cron package:
```
fatal: [localhost]: FAILED! => {"changed": false, "failures": ["No package cron available."], "msg": "Failed to install some of the specified packages", "rc": 1, "results": []}
```
If I modify the playbook to refer to the cronie package it works as expected:
```
--- /usr/share/scap-security-guide/ansible/almalinux9-playbook-cis_server_l1.yml 2026-08-13 09:29:58.165376965 -0700
+++ /tmp/almalinux9-playbook-cis_server_l1.yml 2026-08-13 09:29:51.501275061 -0700
@@ -169,7 +169,7 @@
- name: Configure Periodic Execution of AIDE - Install cron
ansible.builtin.package:
- name: cron
+ name: cronie
state: present
when: '"kernel" in ansible_facts.packages'
tags:
```
I did some searching on my end and I saw this recent issue that seems related, and I wonder if Alma should be included as part of the rhel family. Although maybe it's treated separately and there is something else that needs to be updated to reflect this change.
https://github.com/ComplianceAsCode/content/pull/14889
#### SCAP Security Guide Version:
scap-security-guide-0.1.81-1.el9_8.alma.1.noarch
#### Operating System Version:
```
$ cat /etc/redhat-release
AlmaLinux release 9.8 (Olive Jaguar)
```
#### Steps to Reproduce:
1. Boot Alma Linux 9 AMI
2. Ensure scap-security-guide is installed
3. Run ansible playbook for almalinux9-playbook-cis_server_l1.yml
4. Observe error
#### Actual Results:
Ansible errors with this error:
```
fatal: [localhost]: FAILED! => {"changed": false, "failures": ["No package cron available."], "msg": "Failed to install some of the specified packages", "rc": 1, "results": []}
```
#### Expected Results:
Playbook detects cronie as being the appropriate cron package
#### Additional Information/Debugging Steps:
Contributor guide
Research direction
Start with almalinux9-playbook-cis_server_l1.yml, especially the AIDE task that installs the cron package, and review the related pull request 14889 for the RHEL-family handling. Reproduce the failure on AlmaLinux 9.8, then verify the playbook completes and selects the available cronie package.
Written by the indexing model from the issue text.
Assessment
- Tech stack
- ansible, linux
- Domain
- operating-systems, security
- Issue type
- Bug
- Difficulty
- 2/5
- Estimated time
- 1-3 hours
- Activity status
- Quiet
- Clarity
- Clearly specified
- Newbie friendliness
- 68/100