Fedora Linux is a popular Linux distribution developed by the Fedora Project. Fedora attempts to maintain a six-month release schedule, offering new versions in May and November, although some releases have experienced minor delays.
Fedora Core 1 was the first version of Fedora and was released on November 6, 2003.[11] It was codenamed Yarrow. Fedora Core 1 was based on Red Hat Linux 9.
Some of the features in Fedora Core 1 included:[12]
SELinux was disabled by default due to concerns that it radically altered the way that Fedora Core ran.[14] XFree86 was replaced by the newer X.org, a merger of the previous official X11R6 release, which additionally included a number of updates to Xrender, Xft, Xcursor, fontconfig libraries, and other significant improvements.[14]
Fedora Core 4 was released on June 13, 2005, with the codename Stentz.[17] It shipped with Linux 2.6.11,[17] KDE 3.4 and GNOME 2.10.[18] This version introduced the new Clearlooks theme, which was inspired by the Red Hat Bluecurve theme.[18] It also shipped with the OpenOffice.org 2.0 office suite, as well as Xen, a high performance and secure open source virtualization framework.[18] It also introduced support for the PowerPC CPU architecture, and over 80 new policies for Security-Enhanced Linux (SELinux).[18]
This Core release introduced specific artwork that defined it. This is a trend that has continued in later Fedora versions.
Fedora Core 5 was released on March 20, 2006, with the codename Bordeaux, and introduced the Fedora Bubbles artwork.[19] It was the first Fedora release to include Mono and tools built with it such as Beagle, F-Spot and Tomboy.[19] It also introduced new package management tools such as pup and pirut (see Yellowdog Updater, Modified). It also was the first Fedora release not to include the long deprecated (but kept for compatibility) LinuxThreads, replaced by the Native POSIX Thread Library.[20]
Fedora Core 6 was released on October 24, 2006, codenamed Zod.[21] This release introduced the Fedora DNA artwork, replacing the Fedora Bubbles artwork used in Fedora Core 5.[22] The codename is derived from the villain, General Zod, from the Superman DC Comic Books.[23] This version introduced support for the Compizcompositing window manager and AIGLX (a technology that enables GL-accelerated effects on a standard desktop).[22] It shipped with Firefox 1.5 as the default web browser, and Smolt, a tool that allows users to inform developers about the hardware they use. Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 and other derivatives are based on Fedora Core 6.
Fedora Core 7, codenamed Moonshine, was released on May 31, 2007.[24] The biggest difference between Fedora Core 6 and Fedora 7 was the merging of the Red Hat "Core" and Community "Extras" repositories,[24] dropping "Core" from the name "Fedora Core," and the new build system put in place to manage those packages. This release used entirely new build and compose tools that enabled the user to create fully customized Fedora distributions via a package named Revisor that could also include packages from any third-party provider.[24]
There were three official spins available for Fedora 7:[25]
Live – two Live CDs (one for GNOME and one for KDE);
Fedora – a DVD that includes all the major packages available at shipping;
Everything – simply an installation tree for use by yum and Internet installations.
Fedora 7 featured GNOME 2.18 and KDE 3.5, a new theme entitled Flying High, OpenOffice.org 2.2 and Firefox 2.0.[25] This theme included a complete refresh of the various icons and symbols. Fast user switching was fully integrated and enabled by default.[25] Also, there were a number of updates to SELinux, including a new setroubleshoot tool for debugging SELinux security notifications, and a new, comprehensive system-config-selinux tool for fine-tuning the SELinux setup.[25]
Fedora 8, codenamed Werewolf, was released on November 8, 2007.[26]
Some of the new features and updates in Fedora 8 included:[27]
PulseAudio – a sound daemon that allows different applications to control the audio. Fedora was the first distribution to enable it by default.[27]
system-config-firewall – a new firewall configuration tool that replaces system-config-security level from previous releases.
Codeina – a tool that guides users using content under proprietary or patent-encumbered formats to purchase codecs from fluendo; it is an optional component that may be uninstalled in favor of GStreamer codec plug-ins which are free of charge.
IcedTea – a project that attempts to bring OpenJDK to Fedora by replacing encumbered code.
NetworkManager – faster, more reliable connections;[27] better security (through the use of the keyring); clearer display of wireless networks; better D-Bus integration.
Better laptop support – enhancements to the kernel to reduce battery load, disabling of background cron jobs when running on the battery, and additional wireless drivers.
Due to criticism regarding inconsistent UI in Fedora 7 and its previous versions, Fedora 8 also included a new desktop artwork entitled Infinity and a new desktop theme named Nodoka, replacing the Flying High theme in the predecessor. A unique feature of Infinity was that the wallpaper could change to reflect the time of day.[27]
In February 2008, a new Xfce Live CD "spin" was announced for the x86 and x86-64 architectures.[28] This Live CD version uses the Xfce desktop environment, which aims to be fast and lightweight, while still being visually appealing and easy to use. Like the GNOME and KDE spins, the Xfce spin can be installed to the hard disk.[28]
PackageKit is included as a front-end to yum, and as the default package manager.
One Second X allows the X Window System to perform a cold start from the command line in nearly one second; similarly, shutdown of X should be as quick.[32]
Many improvements to the Anaconda installer;[33] among these features, it now supports resizing ext2, ext3 and NTFS file systems, and can create and install Fedora to encrypted file systems.
Firefox 3.0 beta 5 is included in this release, and the 3.0 package was released as an update the same day as the general release.
Perl 5.10, which features a smaller memory footprint and other improvements.
Fedora 10, codenamed Cambridge, was released on November 25, 2008.[35] It flaunts the new Solar artwork. Its features include:[36]
Faster startup using one Plymouth splash screen for all future releases (instead of the Red Hat Graphical Boot specific for each version used in previous versions) Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 and other derivatives are based on Fedora 10.
Fedora 11, codenamed Leonidas, was released on June 9, 2009.[37] This was the first release whose artwork is determined by the name instead of by users voting on themes.
Fedora 13, codenamed "Goddard", was released on May 25, 2010.[44] During early development, Fedora project leader Paul Frields anticipated "looking at the fit and finish issues. We have tended to build a really tight ship with Fedora, but now we want to make the décor in the cabins a little more sumptuous and to polish the deck chairs and railings."[45]
Fedora 14, codenamed Laughlin, was released on October 29, 2010.[48] It was the last to use the GNOME 2 desktop environment (now forked as MATE). GNOME 2 had been the desktop environment of the operating system since its inception in 2003.
Fedora 16, codenamed "Verne", was released on November 8, 2011. Fedora 16 was also dedicated to the memory of Dennis Ritchie, who died about a month before the release.[55]
ARM as primary architecture in addition to x86 and x86_64[64]
Replacement of the gnome-packagekit frontends with a new application installer, tentatively named gnome-software[65]
Shortly after the release of Fedora 20, the Fedora project team decided to abolish the codename system completely due to inconvenience, which meant that future Fedora releases would only be referred to by their version number.
Fedora 21, the first version without a codename,[66] was released on December 9, 2014.[67]
GNOME desktop 3.14 with several minor visual enhancements
Due to concerns regarding lack of direction, Fedora introduced three flavors providing different specialized set of preinstalled packages depending on use purpose: Workstation, Server, and Cloud
Fedora 25 was released on November 22, 2016.[74] Some notable changes (see [75] for more)
are the use of the Wayland display system, Unicode 9, PHP 7.0, Node.js 6 and IBus Emoji typing.
The Workstation edition of Fedora 27 features GNOME 3.26. Both the Display and Network configuration panels have been updated, along with the overall Settings panel appearance improvement. The system search now shows more results at once, including the system actions. This release also features LibreOffice 5.4.
Notable new features: Fedora Modularity[81] across all variants, a new optional package repository called Modular (also referred to as the "Application Stream" or AppStream), Gnome 3.30, ZRAM for ARM images, Fedora Scientific Vagrant images
Fedora 33 was released on October 27, 2020.[85] Its change set is here.
Fedora 33 Workstation Edition was the first version of the operating system to default to using Btrfs as its default file system, and replacement of a swap partition with zram.[86] It featured version 3.38 of the GNOMEdesktop environment, and Linux kernel 5.8.15. For the first time since version 7, Fedora defaulted to a slideshow background (four png images of the Earth, from space) that changes hue according to the time of day. GNU nano became the default text editor for the command-line interface in place of vi. Fedora IoT, while previously available as a "Fedora Spin", was promoted to an official edition of the operating system.[87]
Fedora 34 was released April 27, 2021.[88] Its change set is here.
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9 and other derivatives are based on Fedora 34. Its change set includes GNOME 40, filesystem compression by default, exclusive use of Pipewire, and defaulting KDE Plasma to Wayland.
^Wade, Karsten (March 13, 2008). "OpenJDK in Fedora 9!". redhatmagazine.com. Retrieved April 5, 2008. Thomas Fitzsimmons updated the Fedora 9 release notes source pages to reflect that Fedora 9 would ship with OpenJDK 6 instead of the IcedTea implementation of OpenJDK 7. Fedora 9 (Sulphur) is due to release in May 2008.
