FreePBX kernel and Centos end of life

After upgrade to latest FreePBX distro V13 I noticed that the kernel version is still 2.6.32, and OS is Centos 6.6.

Sinds Febr 2016 this kernel is end of life (ref. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linux_kernel) and the Centos 6 is still maintained until 2020 - although I assume it has to be 6,8 and not 6.6.

Are there plans for moving to new LTS OS and kernel versions in order to avoid end-of-life situation of FreePBX OS ?

Next version of the Distro will be based on Centos 7:

http://wiki.freepbx.org/display/PPS/FreePBX+Distro+SNG7

From our download page you can already install the BETA version, if you wish to do some testing, unless something goes sideways, once it goes stable we will have the option to upgrade your existing 10.13.66 system assuming you have installed the 64bit version.

It’s weird to have a stable FreePBX V13 running on an end of life Centos OS and Kernel. I was wondering why not upgrade to Centos 6.8 for the time being, because you can’t run a FreePBX beta version in production.

But on the other hand, it’s also weird that even Centos 6.8 (with EOL date november 2020 - ref https://wiki.centos.org/Download) still uses a 2.6.32 kernel (see https://linux.slashdot.org/story/16/05/25/2132241/centos-linux-68-released) - so I do not understand the 2020 EOL date of Centos 6.8 while it is using an EOL Kernel.

Because when CentOs 6.X came out the 2.6.32 kernel was the current stable verison. Red hat does this with all packages. Then Red Hat maintains all patching of those packages anytime a security vuln needs to be fixed so 2.6.32 will continue to get patches for any security issues from Red Hat. This is not new and how it works in Red Hat world.

Also these are PBXs so we take upgrades serious and if its not broke or has a major security issue why change it.

As far as why we are not going to 6.8 same reason why deal with yet another upgrade to something like the kernel that can break lots of other things if their is not a big reason to do so. So we have decided to just backport from 6.8 anything major needed and stay on the core of 6.6 since our EL7 version is in beta already and going RC in the next few weeks so no point in moving to 6.8 or anything else.

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As long as security fixes are still maintained on Centos 6.6 and Kernel 2.6.32 then upgrade is indeed not needed. I did not find an end of security fixes date in the above Centos EOL dates - that’s why I raised my concerns. Happy to hear their is still support if required.

My understanding is that the latest version of FreePBX-SNG7- is run on Centos 7.5, with kernel 3.10
Trying to run this on a Chromebox 3 and the advice is that anything less than 4.14 is too old.
Is it possible to update the kernel for my installation, or is that something that can only be done by you super-clever developer types (I mean that sincerely!)