diff --git a/Mk/bsd.default-versions.mk b/Mk/bsd.default-versions.mk
--- a/Mk/bsd.default-versions.mk
+++ b/Mk/bsd.default-versions.mk
@@ -88,7 +88,11 @@
 LIBRSVG2_DEFAULT?=	legacy
 .  endif
 # Possible values: c7 rl9
+.  if ${ARCH:Mi386}
 LINUX_DEFAULT?=		c7
+.  else
+LINUX_DEFAULT?=		rl9
+.  endif
 # Possible values: 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, -devel (to be used when non-base compiler is required)
 LLVM_DEFAULT?=		19
 # Possible values: 5.1, 5.2, 5.3, 5.4
diff --git a/UPDATING b/UPDATING
--- a/UPDATING
+++ b/UPDATING
@@ -5,6 +5,14 @@
 You should get into the habit of checking this file for changes each time
 you update your ports collection, before attempting any port upgrades.
 
+20250402:
+  AFFECTS: users of linux_base-c7 and any Linux application in Ports
+  AUTHOR: arrowd@FreeBSD.org
+
+  The LINUX_DEFAULT was switched to "rl9" corresponding to Rocky Linux 9 base.
+  All architectures except i386 are affected. To stay on the old base add
+  DEFAULT_VERSIONS=linux=c7 to /etc/make.conf
+
 20250327:
   AFFECTS: users of thunderbird
   AUTHOR: cmt@FreeBSD.org