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Fedora Linux is a
Linux distribution A Linux distribution (often abbreviated as distro) is an operating system made from a software collection that includes the Linux kernel and, often, a package management system. Linux users usually obtain their operating system by downloading one ...
developed by the
Fedora Project The Fedora Project is an independent project to co-ordinate the development of Fedora Linux, a Linux-based operating system, operating with the vision of "''a world where everyone benefits from free and open source software built by inclusive, w ...
. Fedora contains software distributed under various
free and open-source Free and open-source software (FOSS) is a term used to refer to groups of software consisting of both free software and open-source software where anyone is freely licensed to use, copy, study, and change the software in any way, and the source ...
licenses and aims to be on the leading edge of open-source technologies. Fedora is the
upstream Upstream may refer to: * Upstream (bioprocess) * ''Upstream'' (film), a 1927 film by John Ford * Upstream (networking) * ''Upstream'' (newspaper), a newspaper covering the oil and gas industry * Upstream (petroleum industry) * Upstream (software ...
source for
Red Hat Enterprise Linux Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) is a commercial open-source Linux distribution developed by Red Hat for the commercial market. Red Hat Enterprise Linux is released in server versions for x86-64, Power ISA, ARM64, and IBM Z and a desktop version ...
. Since the release of Fedora 35, six different editions are made available tailored to
personal computer A personal computer (PC) is a multi-purpose microcomputer whose size, capabilities, and price make it feasible for individual use. Personal computers are intended to be operated directly by an end user, rather than by a computer expert or tec ...
,
server Server may refer to: Computing *Server (computing), a computer program or a device that provides functionality for other programs or devices, called clients Role * Waiting staff, those who work at a restaurant or a bar attending customers and su ...
,
cloud computing Cloud computing is the on-demand availability of computer system resources, especially data storage ( cloud storage) and computing power, without direct active management by the user. Large clouds often have functions distributed over mul ...
,
container A container is any receptacle or enclosure for holding a product used in storage, packaging, and transportation, including shipping. Things kept inside of a container are protected on several sides by being inside of its structure. The term ...
and
Internet of Things The Internet of things (IoT) describes physical objects (or groups of such objects) with sensors, processing ability, software and other technologies that connect and exchange data with other devices and systems over the Internet or other comm ...
installations. A new version of Fedora Linux is released every six months. , Fedora Linux has an estimated 1.2 million users, including
Linus Torvalds Linus Benedict Torvalds ( , ; born 28 December 1969) is a Finnish software engineer who is the creator and, historically, the lead developer of the Linux kernel, used by Linux distributions and other operating systems such as Android. He also c ...
(), creator of the
Linux kernel The Linux kernel is a free and open-source, monolithic, modular, multitasking, Unix-like operating system kernel. It was originally authored in 1991 by Linus Torvalds for his i386-based PC, and it was soon adopted as the kernel for the GNU ope ...
.


Features

Fedora has a reputation for focusing on innovation, integrating new technologies early on and working closely with
upstream Upstream may refer to: * Upstream (bioprocess) * ''Upstream'' (film), a 1927 film by John Ford * Upstream (networking) * ''Upstream'' (newspaper), a newspaper covering the oil and gas industry * Upstream (petroleum industry) * Upstream (software ...
Linux communities. Making changes upstream instead of specifically for Fedora Linux ensures that the changes are available to all
Linux distribution A Linux distribution (often abbreviated as distro) is an operating system made from a software collection that includes the Linux kernel and, often, a package management system. Linux users usually obtain their operating system by downloading one ...
s. Fedora Linux has a relatively short life cycle: each version is usually supported for at least 13 months, where version is supported only until 1 month after version +2 is released and with approximately 6 months between most versions. Fedora users can upgrade from version to version without reinstalling. The default
desktop environment In computing, a desktop environment (DE) is an implementation of the desktop metaphor made of a bundle of programs running on top of a computer operating system that share a common graphical user interface (GUI), sometimes described as a graphica ...
in Fedora Linux is
GNOME A gnome is a mythological creature and diminutive spirit in Renaissance magic and alchemy, first introduced by Paracelsus in the 16th century and later adopted by more recent authors including those of modern fantasy literature. Its characte ...
and the default user interface is the
GNOME Shell GNOME Shell is the graphical shell of the GNOME desktop environment starting with version 3, which was released on April 6, 2011. It provides basic functions like launching applications, switching between windows and is also a widget engine. ...
. Other desktop environments, including
KDE Plasma Plasma is a desktop environment by KDE, and can refer to: * KDE Plasma 5 (2014–today) * KDE Plasma 4 (2008–2015) * Plasma Mobile for smartphones * Plasma Bigscreen Plasma Bigscreen is a software project from KDE which contains an interface op ...
, Xfce,
LXQt LXQt is a free and open source lightweight desktop environment. It was formed from the merger of the LXDE and Razor-qt projects. Like its GTK predecessor LXDE, LXQt does not ship or develop its own window manager, instead LXQt lets the user de ...
,
LXDE LXDE (abbreviation for Lightweight X11 Desktop Environment) is a free desktop environment with comparatively low resource requirements. This makes it especially suitable for use on older or resource-constrained personal computers such as netb ...
,
MATE Mate may refer to: Science * Mate, one of a pair of animals involved in: ** Mate choice, intersexual selection ** Mating * Multi-antimicrobial extrusion protein, or MATE, an efflux transporter family of proteins Person or title * Friendship ...
,
Cinnamon Cinnamon is a spice obtained from the inner bark of several tree species from the genus ''Cinnamomum''. Cinnamon is used mainly as an aromatic condiment and flavouring additive in a wide variety of cuisines, sweet and savoury dishes, breakfa ...
, and i3 are available and can be installed. A
live media Livestreaming is streaming media simultaneously recorded and broadcast in real-time over the internet. It is often referred to simply as streaming. Non-live media such as video-on-demand, vlogs, and YouTube videos are technically streamed, but ...
drive can be created using
Fedora Media Writer Fedora Media Writer is an open source tool designed to create live media for Fedora Linux. Features *Cross-platform (available for Linux, macOS, and Windows) *Destructive installer - "overwrites the drive's partition layout though so it also pro ...
or the dd command. It allows users to try Fedora Linux without making changes to the hard disk.


Package management

Most Fedora Linux editions use the
RPM Revolutions per minute (abbreviated rpm, RPM, rev/min, r/min, or with the notation min−1) is a unit of rotational speed or rotational frequency for rotating machines. Standards ISO 80000-3:2019 defines a unit of rotation as the dimensionl ...
package management system A package manager or package-management system is a collection of software tools that automates the process of installing, upgrading, configuring, and removing computer programs for a computer in a consistent manner. A package manager deals w ...
, using DNF as a tool to manage the RPM packages. DNF uses libsolv, an external dependency resolver.
Flatpak Flatpak, formerly known as xdg-app, is a utility for software deployment and package management for Linux. It is advertised as offering a sandbox environment in which users can run application software in isolation from the rest of the system. ...
is also included by default, and support for Snap packages can be added. Fedora Linux uses
Delta RPM A Delta ISO is used to update an ISO image which contains RPM Package Manager files. It makes use of DeltaRPMs (a form of Delta compression) for RPMs which have changed between the old and new versions of the ISO. Delta ISOs can save disk space ...
when updating installed packages to provide
delta update A delta update is a software update that only requires the user to download those parts of the software's code which are new, or have been changed from their previous state, in contrast to having to download the entire program. The use of del ...
s. A Delta RPM contains the difference between an old and new version of a package. This means that only the changes between the installed package and the new one are downloaded, reducing
network traffic Network traffic or data traffic is the amount of data moving across a network at a given point of time. Network data in computer networks is mostly encapsulated in network packets, which provide the load in the network. Network traffic is the main c ...
and bandwidth consumption. The Fedora CoreOS and Silverblue editions use rpm-ostree, a hybrid transactional image/package system to manage the host. Traditional DNF (or other systems) should be used in containers.


Security

Fedora Linux uses
Security-Enhanced Linux Security-Enhanced Linux (SELinux) is a Linux kernel security module that provides a mechanism for supporting access control security policies, including mandatory access controls (MAC). SELinux is a set of kernel modifications and user-space t ...
by default, which implements a variety of security policies, including mandatory access controls, which Fedora adopted early on. Fedora provides a hardening wrapper, and does hardening for all of its packages by using compiler features such as
position-independent executable In computing, position-independent code (PIC) or position-independent executable (PIE) is a body of machine code that, being placed somewhere in the primary memory, executes properly regardless of its absolute address. PIC is commonly used for ...
(PIE).


Software

Fedora Linux comes preinstalled with a wide range of software such as
LibreOffice LibreOffice () is a free and open-source productivity software, office productivity software suite, a project of The Document Foundation (TDF). It was fork (software development), forked in 2010 from OpenOffice.org, an open-sourced version of t ...
and
Firefox Mozilla Firefox, or simply Firefox, is a free and open-source web browser developed by the Mozilla Foundation and its subsidiary, the Mozilla Corporation. It uses the Gecko rendering engine to display web pages, which implements current and ...
. Additional software is available from the
software repositories A software repository, or repo for short, is a storage location for software packages. Often a table of contents is also stored, along with metadata. A software repository is typically managed by source control or repository managers. Package ...
and can be installed using the DNF package manager or
GNOME Software GNOME Software is a utility for installing applications and updates on Linux. It is part of the GNOME Core Applications, and was introduced in GNOME 3.10. It is the GNOME front-end to the PackageKit, in turn a front-end to several package manage ...
. Additionally, extra repositories can be added to the system, so that software not available in Fedora Linux can be installed easily. Software that is not available via official Fedora repositories, either because it does not meet Fedora's definition of
free software Free software or libre software is computer software distributed under terms that allow users to run the software for any purpose as well as to study, change, and distribute it and any adapted versions. Free software is a matter of liberty, no ...
or because its distribution may violate US law, can be installed using third-party repositories. Popular third-party repositories include
RPM Fusion RPM Fusion is a software repository, providing add-on Package (package management system), packages for Fedora Linux. It was born as a merge of the older repositories Livna, Dribble and Freshrpms. They distributed software that Fedora will not, eit ...
free and non-free repositories. Fedora also provides users with an easy-to-use build system for creating their own repositories called Copr. Since the release of Fedora 25, the operating system defaults to the Wayland
display server In computing, a windowing system (or window system) is software that manages separately different parts of display screens. It is a type of graphical user interface (GUI) which implements the WIMP (windows, icons, menus, pointer) paradigm for ...
protocol, which replaced the
X Window System The X Window System (X11, or simply X) is a windowing system for bitmap displays, common on Unix-like operating systems. X provides the basic framework for a GUI environment: drawing and moving windows on the display device and interacting wit ...
.


System installer

Fedora Linux uses
Anaconda Anacondas or water boas are a group of large snakes of the genus ''Eunectes''. They are found in tropical South America. Four species are currently recognized. Description Although the name applies to a group of snakes, it is often used to re ...
as the
system installer Installation (or setup) of a computer program (including device drivers and plugins), is the act of making the program ready for execution. Installation refers to the particular configuration of a software or hardware with a view to making it us ...
.


Editions

Beginning with Fedora version 30, it is available in five editions, three editions are primary and two editions are secondary as of version 35.


Primary


Workstation

It targets users who want a reliable, user-friendly, and powerful operating system for their laptop or desktop computer. It comes with
GNOME A gnome is a mythological creature and diminutive spirit in Renaissance magic and alchemy, first introduced by Paracelsus in the 16th century and later adopted by more recent authors including those of modern fantasy literature. Its characte ...
by default but other desktops can be installed or can be directly installed as
Spins The spins (as in having "the spins")Diane Marie Leiva. ''The Florida State University College of Education''Women's Voices on College Drinking: The First-Year College Experience"/ref> is an adverse reaction of intoxication that causes a state of v ...
.


Server

Its target usage is for servers. It includes the latest
data center A data center (American English) or data centre (British English)See spelling differences. is a building, a dedicated space within a building, or a group of buildings used to house computer systems and associated components, such as telecommunic ...
technologies. This edition doesn't come with a desktop environment, but one can be installed. From Fedora 28, Server Edition will deliver Fedora Modularity, adding support for alternative update streams for popular software such as
Node.js Node.js is an open-source server environment. Node.js is cross-platform and runs on Windows, Linux, Unix, and macOS. Node.js is a back-end JavaScript runtime environment. Node.js runs on the V8 JavaScript Engine and executes JavaScript code ou ...
and Go.


IoT

Images of Fedora Linux tailored to running on
Internet of Things The Internet of things (IoT) describes physical objects (or groups of such objects) with sensors, processing ability, software and other technologies that connect and exchange data with other devices and systems over the Internet or other comm ...
devices. It supports
x86_64 x86-64 (also known as x64, x86_64, AMD64, and Intel 64) is a 64-bit version of the x86 instruction set, first released in 1999. It introduced two new modes of operation, 64-bit mode and compatibility mode, along with a new 4-level paging mod ...
,
aarch64 AArch64 or ARM64 is the 64-bit extension of the ARM architecture family. It was first introduced with the Armv8-A architecture. Arm releases a new extension every year. ARMv8.x and ARMv9.x extensions and features Announced in October 2011, AR ...
and armhfp processors.


Secondary


CoreOS

The successor of ''Fedora Atomic Host'' (Project Atomic) and
Container Linux Container Linux (formerly CoreOS Linux) is a discontinued open-source lightweight operating system based on the Linux kernel and designed for providing infrastructure to clustered deployments, while focusing on automation, ease of application ...
after Fedora 29, it provides a minimal image of Fedora Linux which includes just the bare essentials. This is not to be confused with Fedora Core. It is meant for deployment in
cloud computing Cloud computing is the on-demand availability of computer system resources, especially data storage ( cloud storage) and computing power, without direct active management by the user. Large clouds often have functions distributed over mul ...
. It provides Fedora CoreOS images which are optimized minimal images for deploying containers. CoreOS replaced the established Container Linux when it was merged with Project Atomic after its acquisition by Red Hat in January 2018.


Silverblue

Silverblue is an immutable desktop operating system. Every Silverblue installation is identical to every other installation of the same version, and it never changes as it is used. The immutable design is intended to make the operating system more stable, less prone to bugs, easier to test and develop, and create a platform for containerized applications as well as container-based software development. Applications and containers are kept separate from the host system. OS updates are fast and there is no installation stage. With Silverblue, it is also possible to roll back to the previous version of the operating system, if something goes wrong. Fedora Silverblue was previously known as Fedora Atomic Workstation. The descriptive name for this product is ​image-mode container-based Fedora Workstation based on rpm-ostree, which is clear but unsuitable for branding. The team preferred the project name Silverleaf, but could not secure that name for various reasons. Therefore, it was named Silverblue, though the logo still retains the impression of a leaf. The long-term goal for this effort is to transform Fedora Workstation into an image-based system where applications are separate from the OS, and updates are atomic. Red Hat engineers have built most of the pieces for this new desktop over the last few years:
OSTree libostree (previously OSTree) is a system for versioning updates of Linux-based operating systems. It can be considered as "Git for operating system binaries". It operates in userspace, and will work on top of any Linux file system. At its core ...
,
flatpak Flatpak, formerly known as xdg-app, is a utility for software deployment and package management for Linux. It is advertised as offering a sandbox environment in which users can run application software in isolation from the rest of the system. ...
,
flathub Flatpak, formerly known as xdg-app, is a software utility, utility for software deployment and package management for Linux. It is advertised as offering a Sandbox (computer security), sandbox environment in which users can run application softw ...
, rpm-ostree, and
gnome-software GNOME Software is a utility for installing applications and updates on Linux. It is part of the GNOME Core Applications, and was introduced in GNOME 3.10. It is the GNOME front-end to the PackageKit, in turn a front-end to several package manag ...
. The ultimate goal of this effort always was to create an image-based variant of the Workstation that is at feature-parity and better suited for certain use cases than the traditional variant. Until the end of 2017, the Silverblue team slowly completed necessary pieces for the vision of an immutable image-based OS with independent applications: Wayland, flatpak, and rpm-ostree support in GNOME Software, etc. During the same time, Project Atomic has added new features like package layering to rpm-ostree and added rpm-ostree support to anaconda.


Labs

Similar to Debian blends, the Fedora Project also distributes custom variations of Fedora Linux called Fedora Labs. These are built with specific sets of software packages, targeting specific interests such as gaming, security, design, robotics, and scientific computing (that includes
SciPy SciPy (pronounced "sigh pie") is a free and open-source Python library used for scientific computing and technical computing. SciPy contains modules for optimization, linear algebra, integration, interpolation, special functions, FFT, signal ...
,
Octave In music, an octave ( la, octavus: eighth) or perfect octave (sometimes called the diapason) is the interval between one musical pitch and another with double its frequency. The octave relationship is a natural phenomenon that has been refer ...
,
Kile Kile or KILE may refer to: * Darryl Kile, a Major League Baseball player * Kile, a TeX/LaTeX text editor * Kile, Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship, Poland * Kile (surname) * Kile (unit), an Ottoman unit of volume * KWCC-FM, a radio station (89.5 FM) li ...
,
Xfig Xfig is a free and open-source vector graphics editor which runs under the X Window System on most UNIX-compatible platforms. In Xfig, figures may be drawn using objects such as circles, boxes, lines, spline curves, text, etc. It is also possib ...
and
Inkscape Inkscape is a free and open-source vector graphics editor used to create vector images, primarily in Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG) format. Other formats can be imported and exported. Inkscape can render primitive vector shapes (e.g. rectang ...
). The Fedora AOS (Appliance Operating System) was a specialized spin of Fedora Linux with reduced memory footprint for use in
software appliance A software appliance is a software application combined with just enough operating system (JeOS) to run optimally on industry-standard hardware (typically a server) or in a virtual machine. It is a software distribution or firmware that impleme ...
s. Appliances are pre-installed, pre-configured, system images. This spin was intended to make it easier for anyone (developers,
independent software vendor An independent software vendor (ISV), also known as a software publisher, is an organization specializing in making and selling software, as opposed to computer hardware, designed for mass or niche markets. This is in contrast to in-house software, ...
s (ISV),
original equipment manufacturer An original equipment manufacturer (OEM) is generally perceived as a company that produces non-aftermarket parts and equipment that may be marketed by another manufacturer. It is a common industry term recognized and used by many professional or ...
s (OEM), etc.) to create and deploy
virtual appliance A virtual appliance is a pre-configured virtual machine image, ready to run on a hypervisor; virtual appliances are a subset of the broader class of software appliances. Installation of a software appliance on a virtual machine and packaging that i ...
s.


Spins and Remixes

The Fedora project officially distributes different variations called "Fedora Spins" which are Fedora Linux with different desktop environments (GNOME is the default desktop environment). The current official spins, as of Fedora 34, are
KDE KDE is an international Free software movement, free software community that develops free and open-source software. As a central development hub, it provides tools and resources that allow collaborative work on this kind of software. Well-know ...
, Xfce,
LXQt LXQt is a free and open source lightweight desktop environment. It was formed from the merger of the LXDE and Razor-qt projects. Like its GTK predecessor LXDE, LXQt does not ship or develop its own window manager, instead LXQt lets the user de ...
,
MATE Mate may refer to: Science * Mate, one of a pair of animals involved in: ** Mate choice, intersexual selection ** Mating * Multi-antimicrobial extrusion protein, or MATE, an efflux transporter family of proteins Person or title * Friendship ...
,
Cinnamon Cinnamon is a spice obtained from the inner bark of several tree species from the genus ''Cinnamomum''. Cinnamon is used mainly as an aromatic condiment and flavouring additive in a wide variety of cuisines, sweet and savoury dishes, breakfa ...
,
LXDE LXDE (abbreviation for Lightweight X11 Desktop Environment) is a free desktop environment with comparatively low resource requirements. This makes it especially suitable for use on older or resource-constrained personal computers such as netb ...
,
SoaS SOAS University of London (; the School of Oriental and African Studies) is a public research university in London, England, and a member institution of the federal University of London. Founded in 1916, SOAS is located in the Bloomsbury are ...
, and i3. In addition to Spins, which are official variants of the Fedora system, the project allows unofficial variants to use the term "Fedora Remix" without asking for further permission, although a different logo (provided) is required.


Architectures

x86-64 x86-64 (also known as x64, x86_64, AMD64, and Intel 64) is a 64-bit version of the x86 instruction set, first released in 1999. It introduced two new modes of operation, 64-bit mode and compatibility mode, along with a new 4-level paging mod ...
, ARM AArch64 and ARM-hfp are the primary architectures supported by Fedora. As of release 35, Fedora also supports IBM Power64le,
IBM Z IBM Z is a family name used by IBM for all of its z/Architecture mainframe computers. In July 2017, with another generation of products, the official family was changed to IBM Z from IBM z Systems; the IBM Z family now includes the newest mo ...
("s390x"), MIPS-64el, MIPS-el and
RISC-V RISC-V (pronounced "risk-five" where five refers to the number of generations of RISC architecture that were developed at the University of California, Berkeley since 1981) is an open standard instruction set architecture (ISA) based on estab ...
as secondary architectures. Fedora 28 was the last release that supported
ppc64 ppc64 is an identifier commonly used within the Linux, GNU Compiler Collection (GCC) and LLVM open-source software communities to refer to the target architecture for applications optimized for 64-bit big-endian PowerPC and Power ISA processor ...
and users are advised to move to the little endian
ppc64le ppc64 is an identifier commonly used within the Linux, GNU Compiler Collection (GCC) and LLVM open-source software communities to refer to the target architecture for applications optimized for 64-bit big-endian PowerPC and Power ISA processors. ...
variant. Fedora 36 will be the last release with support for ARM-hfp.


Alternatives

The Fedora Project also distributes several other versions with less use cases than mentioned above, like network installers and minimal installation images. They are intended for special cases or expert users that want to have custom installations or configuring Fedora from scratch. In addition, all acceptable licenses for Fedora Linux (including copyright, trademark, and patent licenses) must be applicable not only to Red Hat or Fedora, but also to all recipients downstream. This means that any "Fedora-only" licenses, or licenses with specific terms that Red Hat or Fedora meets but that other recipients would not are not acceptable (and almost certainly non-free, as a result).


History

The name of Fedora derives from the original "Fedora Linux", a
volunteer Volunteering is a voluntary act of an individual or group freely giving time and labor for community service. Many volunteers are specifically trained in the areas they work, such as medicine, education, or emergency rescue. Others serve ...
project that provided extra software for the
Red Hat Linux Red Hat Linux was a widely used Commercial software, commercial Open-source software, open-source Linux distribution created by Red Hat until its discontinuation in 2004. Early releases of Red Hat Linux were called Red Hat Commercial Linux. R ...
distribution, and from the characteristic
fedora A fedora () is a hat with a soft brim and indented crown.Kilgour, Ruth Edwards (1958). ''A Pageant of Hats Ancient and Modern''. R. M. McBride Company. It is typically creased lengthwise down the crown and "pinched" near the front on both sides ...
hat used in Red Hat's "Shadowman" logo. Warren Togami began Fedora Linux in 2002 as an undergraduate project at the
University of Hawaii A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, th ...
, intended to provide a single
repository Repository may refer to: Archives and online databases * Content repository, a database with an associated set of data management tools, allowing application-independent access to the content * Disciplinary repository (or subject repository), an ...
for well-tested third-party software packages so that non-Red Hat software would be easier to find, develop, and use. The key difference between Fedora Linux and Red Hat Linux was that Fedora's repository development would be collaborative with the global volunteer community. The original Fedora Linux was eventually absorbed into the Fedora Project, carrying with it this collaborative approach. The Fedora Project is sponsored primarily by
Red Hat Red Hat, Inc. is an American software company that provides open source software products to enterprises. Founded in 1993, Red Hat has its corporate headquarters in Raleigh, North Carolina, with other offices worldwide. Red Hat has become ass ...
with additional support and sponsors from other companies and organizations. Fedora Linux, then known as "Fedora Core" was a fork of
Red Hat Linux Red Hat Linux was a widely used Commercial software, commercial Open-source software, open-source Linux distribution created by Red Hat until its discontinuation in 2004. Early releases of Red Hat Linux were called Red Hat Commercial Linux. R ...
launched in 2003, when Red Hat Linux was discontinued so the team can focus on their paid version for servers
Red Hat Enterprise Linux Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) is a commercial open-source Linux distribution developed by Red Hat for the commercial market. Red Hat Enterprise Linux is released in server versions for x86-64, Power ISA, ARM64, and IBM Z and a desktop version ...
.
Red Hat Enterprise Linux Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) is a commercial open-source Linux distribution developed by Red Hat for the commercial market. Red Hat Enterprise Linux is released in server versions for x86-64, Power ISA, ARM64, and IBM Z and a desktop version ...
was to be Red Hat's only officially supported Linux distribution, while Fedora was to be a community distribution. Red Hat Enterprise Linux branches its releases from versions of Fedora. Before Fedora 7, Fedora was called Fedora Core after the name of one of the two main software repositories - Core and Extras. Fedora Core contained all the base packages that were required by the operating system, as well as other packages that were distributed along with the installation CD/DVDs, and was maintained only by Red Hat developers. Fedora Extras, the secondary repository that had been included since Fedora Core 3, was community-maintained and not distributed along with the installation CD/DVDs. Upon the release of Fedora 7, the distinction between Fedora Core and Fedora Extras was eliminated. Since the release of Fedora 21, as an effort to modularize the Fedora distribution and make development more agile, three different versions are available: ''Workstation'', focused on the
personal computer A personal computer (PC) is a multi-purpose microcomputer whose size, capabilities, and price make it feasible for individual use. Personal computers are intended to be operated directly by an end user, rather than by a computer expert or tec ...
, ''Server'' and ''Atomic'' for
server Server may refer to: Computing *Server (computing), a computer program or a device that provides functionality for other programs or devices, called clients Role * Waiting staff, those who work at a restaurant or a bar attending customers and su ...
s, ''Atomic'' being the version meant for
cloud computing Cloud computing is the on-demand availability of computer system resources, especially data storage ( cloud storage) and computing power, without direct active management by the user. Large clouds often have functions distributed over mul ...
. Fedora is a trademark of Red Hat, Inc. Red Hat's application for trademark status for the name "Fedora" was disputed by
Cornell University Cornell University is a private statutory land-grant research university based in Ithaca, New York. It is a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1865 by Ezra Cornell and Andrew Dickson White, Cornell was founded with the intention to teach an ...
and the
University of Virginia Library The University of Virginia (UVA) is a public research university in Charlottesville, Virginia. Founded in 1819 by Thomas Jefferson, the university is ranked among the top academic institutions in the United States, with highly selective adm ...
, creators of the unrelated
Fedora Commons Fedora (or Flexible Extensible Digital Object Repository Architecture) is a digital asset management (DAM) content repository architecture upon which institutional repositories, digital archives, and digital library systems might be built. Fedor ...
digital repository management software. The issue was resolved and the parties settled on a co-existence agreement that stated that the Cornell-UVA project could use the name when clearly associated with open source software for digital object repository systems and that Red Hat could use the name when it was clearly associated with open source computer operating systems. In April 2020, project leader Matthew Miller announced that Fedora Workstation would be shipping on select new
ThinkPad ThinkPad is a line of business-oriented laptop computers and tablet computers, tablets designed, developed and marketed by Lenovo, and formerly by IBM until 2005, when IBM's Personal computer, PC business was acquired by Lenovo. ThinkPads have ...
laptops, thanks to a new partnership with
Lenovo Lenovo Group Limited, often shortened to Lenovo ( , ), is a Chinese Multinational corporation, multinational technology company specializing in designing, manufacturing, and marketing consumer electronics, Personal computer, personal computers, ...
.


Development and community

Development of the operating system and supporting programs is headed by the Fedora Project, which is composed of a community of developers and volunteers, and also
Red Hat Red Hat, Inc. is an American software company that provides open source software products to enterprises. Founded in 1993, Red Hat has its corporate headquarters in Raleigh, North Carolina, with other offices worldwide. Red Hat has become ass ...
employees. The Council is the top-level community leadership and governance body. Other bodies include the Fedora Engineering Steering Committee, responsible for the technical decisions behind the development of Fedora, and Fedora Mindshare Committee which coordinates outreach and non-technical activities, including representation of Fedora Worldwide e.g.: Ambassadors Program, CommOps team and Marketing, Design and Websites Team.


Releases

Fedora has a relatively short life cycle: version is supported only until 1 month after version +2 is released and with approximately 6 months between most versions, meaning a version of Fedora is usually supported for at least 13 months, possibly longer. Fedora users can upgrade from version to version without reinstalling. The current release is Fedora 37, which was released on 15 November 2022.


Rawhide

Rawhide is the development tree for Fedora. This is a copy of a complete Fedora distribution where new
software Software is a set of computer programs and associated documentation and data. This is in contrast to hardware, from which the system is built and which actually performs the work. At the lowest programming level, executable code consists ...
is added and tested, before inclusion in a later stable release. As such, Rawhide is often more feature rich than the current stable release. In many cases, the software is made of
CVS CVS may refer to: Organizations * CVS Health, a US pharmacy chain ** CVS Pharmacy ** CVS Caremark, a prescription benefit management subsidiary * Council for Voluntary Service, England * Cable Video Store, former US pay-per-view service * CVS F ...
,
Subversion Subversion () refers to a process by which the values and principles of a system in place are contradicted or reversed in an attempt to transform the established social order and its structures of power, authority, hierarchy, and social norms. Sub ...
or
Git Git () is a distributed version control system: tracking changes in any set of files, usually used for coordinating work among programmers collaboratively developing source code during software development. Its goals include speed, data inte ...
source code snapshots which are often actively developed by programmers. Although Rawhide is targeted at advanced users, testers, and package maintainers, it is capable of being a primary operating system. Users interested in the Rawhide branch often update on a daily basis and help troubleshoot problems. Rawhide users do not have to upgrade between different versions as it follows a
rolling release Rolling release, also known as rolling update or continuous delivery, is a concept in software development of frequently delivering updates to applications. This is in contrast to a ''standard'' or ''point release'' development model which uses so ...
update model.


See also

*
Fedora Project The Fedora Project is an independent project to co-ordinate the development of Fedora Linux, a Linux-based operating system, operating with the vision of "''a world where everyone benefits from free and open source software built by inclusive, w ...
*
Fedora Media Writer Fedora Media Writer is an open source tool designed to create live media for Fedora Linux. Features *Cross-platform (available for Linux, macOS, and Windows) *Destructive installer - "overwrites the drive's partition layout though so it also pro ...
*
Rocky Linux Rocky Linux is a Linux distribution developed by Rocky Enterprise Software Foundation, which is a privately owned benefit corporation that describes itself as a "self imposed not-for-profit". It is intended to be a Downstream (software development ...
*
Red Hat Enterprise Linux Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) is a commercial open-source Linux distribution developed by Red Hat for the commercial market. Red Hat Enterprise Linux is released in server versions for x86-64, Power ISA, ARM64, and IBM Z and a desktop version ...
*
Anaconda Anacondas or water boas are a group of large snakes of the genus ''Eunectes''. They are found in tropical South America. Four species are currently recognized. Description Although the name applies to a group of snakes, it is often used to re ...
, the system installer used by Fedora *
ABRT A crash reporter is usually a system software whose function is to identify reporting crash details and to alert when there are crashes, in production or on development / testing environments. Crash reports often include data such as stack traces ...


References


External links

*
Fedora Magazine
* {{Authority control ARM Linux distributions Fedora Project IA-32 Linux distributions Linux distributions LXDE Power ISA Linux distributions PowerPC Linux distributions RPM-based Linux distributions X86-64 Linux distributions