Fedora Linux is a

Linux distribution A Linux distribution, often abbreviated as distro, is an operating system that includes the Linux kernel for its kernel functionality. Although the name does not imply product distribution per se, a distro—if distributed on its own—is oft ...

developed by the Fedora Project. It was originally developed in 2003 as a continuation of the

Red Hat Linux Red Hat Linux was a widely used commercial 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. Red Hat published the first non-beta release ...

project. It contains software distributed under various

free and open-source Free and open-source software (FOSS) is software available under a Software license, license that grants users the right to use, modify, and distribute the software modified or not to everyone free of charge. FOSS is an inclusive umbrella term ...

licenses and aims to be on the leading edge of open-source technologies. It is now the upstream source for

CentOS Stream CentOS Stream is a community enterprise Linux distribution that exists as a midstream between the upstream development in Fedora Linux and the downstream development for Red Hat Enterprise Linux. CentOS Stream is being used by Meta Platforms (kn ...

and

Red Hat Enterprise Linux Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) is a commercial Linux distribution developed by Red Hat. Red Hat Enterprise Linux is released in server versions for x86-64, Power ISA, ARM64, and IBM Z and a desktop version for x86-64. Fedora Linux and ...

. Since the release of Fedora 21 in December 2014, three editions have been made available:

personal computer A personal computer, commonly referred to as PC or computer, is a computer designed for individual use. It is typically used for tasks such as Word processor, word processing, web browser, internet browsing, email, multimedia playback, and PC ...

, server and

cloud computing Cloud computing is "a paradigm for enabling network access to a scalable and elastic pool of shareable physical or virtual resources with self-service provisioning and administration on-demand," according to International Organization for ...

. This was expanded to five editions for

containerization Containerization is a system of intermodal freight transport using intermodal containers (also called shipping containers, or International Organization for Standardization, ISO containers). Containerization, also referred as container stuf ...

and

Internet of Things Internet of things (IoT) describes devices with sensors, processing ability, software and other technologies that connect and exchange data with other devices and systems over the Internet or other communication networks. The IoT encompasse ...

(IoT) as of the release of Fedora 37 in November 2022. A new version of Fedora Linux is released every six months. , Fedora Linux has an estimated 1.2 million users, and is also the distribution used by

Linus Torvalds Linus Benedict Torvalds ( , ; born 28 December 1969) is a Finnish software engineer who is the creator and lead developer of the Linux kernel. He also created the distributed version control system Git. He was honored, along with Shinya Yam ...

, creator of the

Linux kernel The Linux kernel is a Free and open-source software, free and open source Unix-like kernel (operating system), kernel that is used in many computer systems worldwide. The kernel was created by Linus Torvalds in 1991 and was soon adopted as the k ...

().

Features

Fedora has a reputation for focusing on innovation, integrating new technologies early on and working closely with upstream Linux communities. Making changes upstream instead of specifically for Fedora Linux ensures that the changes are available to all

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 graphi ...

GNOME A gnome () is a mythological creature and diminutive spirit in Renaissance magic and alchemy, introduced by Paracelsus in the 16th century and widely adopted by authors, including those of modern fantasy literature. They are typically depict ...

, and the default user interface is the GNOME Shell. Other desktop environments are available, including

KDE Plasma KDE Plasma is a Shell (computing), graphical shell developed by the KDE community for Unix-like operating systems. It serves as the interface layer between the user and the operating system, providing a graphical user interface (GUI) and workspa ...

, COSMIC,

Xfce Xfce or XFCE (pronounced as four individual letters, ) is a Free and open-source software, free and open-source desktop environment for Linux and other Unix-like operating systems. Xfce aims to be fast and Lightweight software, lightweight whil ...

LXQt LXQt is a free and open-source software, 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 ...

LXDE LXDE (abbreviation for Lightweight X11 Desktop Environment) is a Free and open-source software, free desktop environment with comparatively low resource requirements. This makes it especially suitable for use on older or resource-constrained pe ...

, MATE,

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, biscuits, b ...

, and Budgie as well as window managers including i3, and Sway. A live media drive can be created using Fedora Media Writer or the dd command, allowing users to try Fedora Linux without writing any changes to their hard drives.

Package management

Most Fedora Linux editions use the

RPM Revolutions per minute (abbreviated rpm, RPM, rev/min, r/min, or r⋅min−1) is a unit of rotational speed (or rotational frequency) for rotating machines. One revolution per minute is equivalent to hertz. Standards ISO 80000-3:2019 def ...

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 wi ...

and DNF as a tool to manage installed software. DNF uses libsolv, an external dependency resolver. Flatpak is also included by default. The CoreOS and Silverblue editions are designed for

operating system-level virtualization OS-level virtualization is an operating system (OS) virtualization paradigm in which the Kernel (operating system), kernel allows the existence of multiple isolated user space and kernel space, user space instances, including containers (LXC, Sol ...

. These editions use

rpm-ostree libostree (previously OSTree) is a system for versioning updates of Linux-based operating systems. It can be considered " Git for operating system binaries". It operates in userspace, and will work on top of any Linux file system. At its core is ...

(a hybrid transactional image/package system), and traditional RPM (or other package management systems) can 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 to ...

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 In computing, a compiler is a computer program that Translator (computing), translates computer code written in one programming language (the ''source'' language) into another language (the ''target'' language). The name "compiler" is primaril ...

features such as position-independent executable (PIE). Fedora also ships with firewalld as a default firewall.

Software

Fedora Workstation comes preinstalled with a wide range of software such as

LibreOffice LibreOffice () is a free and open-source office productivity software suite developed by The Document Foundation (TDF). It was created in 2010 as a fork of OpenOffice.org, itself a successor to StarOffice. The suite includes applications ...

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 curr ...

. Additional software is available from the software repositories 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 mana ...

. 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, libre software, libreware sometimes known as freedom-respecting software is computer software distributed open-source license, under terms that allow users to run the software for any purpose as well as to study, change, distribut ...

or because its distribution may violate

US law The law of the United States comprises many levels of Codification (law), codified and uncodified forms of law, of which the supreme law is the nation's Constitution of the United States, Constitution, which prescribes the foundation of the ...

, can be installed using third-party repositories. Popular third-party repositories include RPM Fusion 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 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 originated as part of Project Athena at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in 1984. The X protocol has been at ...

. As of Fedora 41, both the GNOME and KDE editions do not ship with X.Org Server session support by default.

System installer

Fedora Linux uses Anaconda as the system installer.

Editions

Beginning with Fedora 21, was available in three editions, expanded to six editions as of version 42.

Workstation

The Fedora Workstation editions target users who want a reliable, user-friendly, and powerful operating system for their laptop or desktop computer while still being on the cutting edge of new technologies. They come with

by default but other desktops can be installed, including

, which was promoted to a regular edition on the same level as Fedora Workstation with GNOME starting with Fedora 42.

Spins and remixes

The Fedora project officially distributes different variations called "Fedora Spins" which are Fedora Linux with different desktop environments. The current official spins, as of Fedora 42, are

, MATE (with

Compiz Compiz () is a compositing window manager for the X Window System, using 3D graphics hardware to create fast compositing desktop effects for window management. Effects, such as a minimization animation or a cube workspace, are implemented as loa ...

SoaS The School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS University of London; ) 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 area ...

, i3, Phosh (for use on PinePhone), Budgie, Sway, and COSMIC. 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.

Atomic desktops

Fedora offers immutable editions known as "Atomic Desktops". Separate editions are offered per desktop environment, currently there are editions for Budgie, COSMIC,

(Silverblue),

(Kinoite) and Sway. Every atomic desktop 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. It is possible to roll back to the previous version of the operating system, if something goes wrong. 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. Fedora developers, Red Hat engineers, along with independent contributors have been developing and/or contributing to software used in the atomic desktops. Such as:

OSTree libostree (previously OSTree) is a system for versioning updates of Linux-based operating systems. It can be considered "Git Git () is a distributed version control system that tracks versions of files. It is often used to control source ...

, Wayland, Flatpak, and

support in

, etc. Project Atomic added new features like package layering to rpm-ostree and added rpm-ostree support to Anaconda.

Server

Its target usage is for servers. It includes the latest

data center A data center is a building, a dedicated space within a building, or a group of buildings used to house computer systems and associated components, such as telecommunications and storage systems. Since IT operations are crucial for busines ...

technologies. This edition does not come with a

, 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 and Go.

IoT

Images of Fedora Linux tailored to running on

devices. It supports x86_64,

aarch64 AArch64, also known as ARM64, is a 64-bit version of the ARM architecture family, a widely used set of computer processor designs. It was introduced in 2011 with the ARMv8 architecture and later became part of the ARMv9 series. AArch64 allows ...

and armhfp processors.

CoreOS

The successor of ''Fedora Atomic Host'' (Project Atomic) and Container Linux 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

. 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.

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, fast Fourier ...

Octave In music, an octave (: eighth) or perfect octave (sometimes called the diapason) is an interval between two notes, one having twice the frequency of vibration of the other. The octave relationship is a natural phenomenon that has been referr ...

, Kile, Xfig and

Inkscape Inkscape is a vector graphics editor. It is used for both artistic and technical illustrations such as cartoons, clip art, logos, typography, diagrams, and flowcharts. It uses vector graphics to allow for sharp printouts and renderings at ...

). The Fedora AOS (Appliance Operating System) was a specialized spin of Fedora Linux with reduced memory footprint for use in software appliances. 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, in contrast to computer hardware, designed for mass or niche markets. This is in contrast to in-house softwa ...

s (ISV), original equipment manufacturers (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 ...

Architectures

x86-64 x86-64 (also known as x64, x86_64, AMD64, and Intel 64) is a 64-bit extension of the x86 instruction set architecture, instruction set. It was announced in 1999 and first available in the AMD Opteron family in 2003. It introduces two new ope ...

and ARM AArch64 are the primary architectures supported by Fedora. As of release 38, 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 will soon include the newes ...

("s390x"), MIPS-64el, MIPS-el and

RISC-V RISC-V (pronounced "risk-five") is an open standard instruction set architecture (ISA) based on established reduced instruction set computer (RISC) principles. The project commenced in 2010 at the University of California, Berkeley. It transfer ...

as secondary architectures. Fedora 28 was the last release that supported ppc64 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 free software communities to refer to the target architecture for applications optimized for 64-bit big-endian PowerPC and Power ISA processors. ppc64 ...

variant. Fedora 36 was the last release with support for ARM-hfp.

Alternatives

The Fedora Project also distributes several other versions with fewer 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 project that provided extra software for the

distribution, and from the characteristic fedora 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 educational institution, institution of tertiary education and research which awards academic degrees in several Discipline (academia), academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase , which roughly ...

, intended to provide a single repository 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. (formerly Red Hat Software, Inc.) is an American software company that provides open source software products to enterprises and is a subsidiary of IBM. Founded in 1993, Red Hat has its corporate headquarters in Raleigh, North ...

with additional support and sponsors from other companies and organizations. Fedora Linux, then known as "Fedora Core", was a fork of

launched in 2003, when Red Hat Linux was discontinued so the team could focus on their paid version for servers:

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 Linux 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/

DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for digital video disc or digital versatile disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any ki ...

s, 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 bring modularization to the Fedora distribution and make development more agile, three different versions are available: ''Workstation'', focused on the

, ''Server'' and ''Atomic'' for servers, ''Atomic'' being the version meant for

. Fedora is a

trademark A trademark (also written trade mark or trade-mark) is a form of intellectual property that consists of a word, phrase, symbol, design, or a combination that identifies a Good (economics and accounting), product or Service (economics), service f ...

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 university, private Ivy League research university based in Ithaca, New York, United States. The university was co-founded by American philanthropist Ezra Cornell and historian and educator Andrew Dickson W ...

and the University of Virginia Library, creators of the unrelated Fedora Commons 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 and Tablet computer, tablet computers produced since 1992. It was originally designed, created and manufactured by the American IBM, International Business Machines (IBM) Corporation. IBM Acquisit ...

laptops, thanks to a new partnership with

Lenovo Lenovo Group Limited, trading as Lenovo ( , zh, c=联想, p=Liánxiǎng), is a Chinese multinational technology company specializing in designing, manufacturing, and marketing consumer electronics, personal computers, software, servers, conv ...

. Framework officially supports Fedora Workstation on their laptops.

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

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 42, which was released on 15 April 2025.

Rawhide

Rawhide is the development tree for Fedora. This is a copy of a complete Fedora distribution where new

software Software consists of computer programs that instruct the Execution (computing), execution of a computer. Software also includes design documents and specifications. The history of software is closely tied to the development of digital comput ...

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,

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 sabotage the established social order and its structures of Power (philosophy), power, authority, tradition, h ...

Git Git () is a distributed version control system that tracks versions of files. It is often used to control source code by programmers who are developing software collaboratively. Design goals of Git include speed, data integrity, and suppor ...

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 ...

update model.

References

External links

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