Blog post about EPEL support in the ELevate

content/blog/2023-11-30-announcing-epel-support-in-elevate.md

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+---
+title: "Bringing EPEL support to the ELevate project"
+type: blog
+author: 
+ name: "Andrew Lukoshko"
+ bio: "Release Engineering Lead"
+ image: /users/alukoshko.jpg
+date: '2023-11-30'
+images:
+  - /blog-images/new-repos-announcement.png
+post:
+    title: "Bringing EPEL support to the ELevate project"
+    image: /blog-images/2023-11-30-epel-elevate.jpg
+---
+
+Hello, Community! Today, AlmaLinux OS Foundation is eager to share some big news concerning  our [ELevate project](https://almalinux.org/elevate/), an initiative to support migrations between major versions of RHEL-derivatives. 
+
+Previously, the project only provided support for official operating systems repositories, excluding external repositories. However, the AlmaLinux Team made significant improvements. We are thrilled to announce that EPEL support is now included in the ELevate project, enabling smooth migrations between CentOS7 and EL8 derivatives. Please be aware that at present, there is no EPEL support available for migrating between EL8 and EL9 derivatives.
+
+## Testing
+As of now, this enhancement is in testing and we'd like to invite our Community to help us test it. 
+
+Please, follow the [Testing Guide](https://wiki.almalinux.org/elevate/ELevate-testing-guide.html) and let us know how it goes.
+
+**An important reminder**, not to test the migration on your production machines, and follow system administration best practices and make sure you have backups and/or snapshots of your system before you proceed.
+
+Please report any issues encountered to the [AlmaLinux Bug Tracker](https://bugs.almalinux.org) and/or [AlmaLinux Chat Migration Channel](https://chat.almalinux.org/almalinux/channels/migration).
+
+## Contribute 
+
+If you are interested in contributing, please, check the [Migration/SIG](https://wiki.almalinux.org/sigs/Migration.html) wiki page.
+
+## Join us
+
+Join us in the [AlmaLinux Migration Community Chat](https://chat.almalinux.org/almalinux/channels/migration) to get any assistance you need and help others. Catch us on  [Reddit](https://reddit.com/r/almalinux), [Twitter](https://twitter.com/almalinux) and follow us on Mastodon [@almalinux@fosstodon.org](https://fosstodon.org/@almalinux).
+
+Please report any bugs you may see on the [Bug Tracker](https://bugs.almalinux.org/). 
+
+Thank you with all our hearts for your support and contributions! Any feedback and bug reports matter to us and engage us to become better.