The beta version of the Fedora Linux 42 distribution has been released, marking the transition to the final testing phase, during which only critical bug fixes are allowed. The release is scheduled for April 22. This version covers Fedora Workstation, Fedora KDE Plasma Desktop, Fedora Server, Fedora IoT, Fedora CoreOS, Fedora Cloud Base, Fedora IoT Edition, Fedora Silverblue, Fedora Kinoite, and Live releases available in the form of spins with custom environments such as Xfce, MATE, Cinnamon, LXDE, Phosh, Miracle, LXQt, Budgie, Sway, and Cosmic. Builds are available for the x86_64, Power64, and ARM64 (AArch64) architectures.
The most significant changes in Fedora Linux 42:
- The Fedora KDE Plasma Desktop build has achieved the status of a base edition of the distribution, on par with Fedora Workstation in terms of support level. Thus, the GNOME and KDE variants of the distribution now have equal status and are presented as such. KDE-specific serious issues will now be treated as release blockers, just as serious issues in GNOME previously did. Additionally, Fedora KDE Plasma Desktop has added support for the Power architecture (ppc64le), which includes the full stack of KDE applications, including KDE PIM. Live builds with KDE, which support installation, have been prepared for OpenPOWER systems such as Talos Workstation.
- Official Spin builds of the distribution with the COSMIC desktop environment, developed by System76 in Rust, have been added. COSMIC offers hybrid mosaic window layouts and window stacking modes (grouping windows similarly to tabs in a browser) that can be toggled in conjunction with virtual workspaces.
- The desktop in Fedora Workstation has been updated to the GNOME 48 branch, with its release scheduled for tomorrow. The Xfce 4.20 and LXQt 2.1 desktops have been updated.
- Fedora Workstation now defaults to a new version of the Anaconda installer, which replaces the GTK-based interface with a web interface. The web interface is built using the React JavaScript framework, PatternFly design components, and components from the Cockpit project, which is already used in Red Hat products for server configuration and management.Instead of a main screen with a list of actions, the new interface organizes work in the form of a Wizard, which involves sequentially completing specific steps without returning to the main screen. The web interface allows interaction through a web browser for remote management of the installation.
The proposed interface eliminates complications and is more user-friendly for beginners. An automated (guided) disk partitioning mode is suggested as the default, where the installer selects the parameters for creating or modifying partitions based on the settings chosen by the user. An option has been added for reinstalling the distribution (for example, to restore functionality when some system files are damaged), as well as the ability to install in dual-boot mode to use multiple operating systems on one computer.
- The classic Anaconda installer has been transitioned to use the Wayland protocol, allowing the elimination of X11 dependencies from installation media. The remote installation process has been moved from the TigerVNC client to the grd (Gnome Remote Desktop) application using the RDP protocol. By default, partitioning using GPT is enabled for all supported architectures.
- The contents of the directories /usr/bin and /usr/sbin have been merged. The /usr/sbin directory has been replaced with a symbolic link pointing to /usr/bin. The separation of executable files into bin and sbin directories has been recognized as an outdated practice that has lost its relevance in modern distributions. Unifying bin and sbin will simplify the work of package maintainers, eliminating the need to guess which directory to place the executable file in; it will make the system more predictable and understandable for users; increase compatibility with other distributions; and reduce the number of directory checks during execvp() and similar calls.
- New flatpak and diskadmin groups have been added to provide unprivileged users with access to system package management features in the Flatpak format and external drives. This change eliminates the need to add users to the wheel group, allowing them to work with flatpak and external disks without granting access to other administrative operations. For users in the wheel group, the ability to unlock (LUKS) and mount external drives without prompting for a password has also been provided.
- It is now permitted to include additional executable file options in packages, compiled with optimizations for microarchitectures x86-64-v2, x86-64-v3, and x86-64-v4. In most cases, the performance gain when building for such architectures does not exceed 10%, but in certain situations, it can lead to a noticeable increase in performance (up to 120%). The decision to include additionally optimized executables is made by maintainers based on performance testing results of specific packages.
- Live builds of the distribution that use a system image in read-only mode have been transitioned from SquashFS to the EROFS filesystem. Reasons for this transition include the more active development of EROFS (the last release of the SquashFS tools was in spring 2023) and the availability of extended features in EROFS that may be utilized in the future. Compared to SquashFS, EROFS has a lower compression level (image size of 2.7 GiB in EROFS versus 2.0 GiB in SquashFS using the XZ compression algorithm and 3.9 GiB versus 3.1 GiB using LZ4), but offers higher random access speed and throughput (7.1 MiB/s in EROFS compared to 5.0 MiB/s in SquashFS for XZ and 30.9 MiB/s compared to 26.3 MiB/s for LZ4).
- Atomically updatable editions of the distribution for desktop systems (Fedora Atomic Desktops), such as Fedora Silverblue (GNOME), Fedora Kinoite (KDE), Fedora Sway Atomic, and Fedora Budgie Atomic, are by default translated to the Composefs file system, allowing these builds to use a root partition that operates in read-only mode, as well as engage integrity verification tools for the system partition to identify emerging issues during operation. The /etc and /var directories continue to be mounted with write access. The Composefs file system is implemented as an overlay on existing kernel filesystems OverlayFS and EROFS, optimized for efficient shared storage of the content of several mounted disk images.
- In the Fedora Kinoite edition (atomically updatable variant with KDE), automatic updates are enabled by default.
- Official Fedora builds for the WSL (Windows Subsystem for Linux) are provided, included in the list of Linux distributions offered for quick installation in WSL. The builds are formatted in a new way that allows distributing the distribution without servers downloading to the Microsoft Store directory, without packaging in appx format, and without including Windows-specific code in the build.
- A new branch of the SDL 3 multimedia library is involved. For SDL-based applications, the Wayland protocol is used by default. SDL 2 libraries are replaced with the sdl2-compat layer that runs on top of SDL 3.
- The DNF5 package manager has added support for removing outdated or expired repository PGP keys from the system, which automates key management when installing and updating programs.
- The RPM package manager has added support for creating users and groups based on configuration files provided in packages, located in the Sysusers.d directory used in systemd.
- A dependency generator for GNOME Shell extensions has been added, allowing the binding of rpm packages with extensions to versions of GNOME Shell.
- In DNF and RPM, the 'Copy on Write' mode is enabled by default, implemented using reflink in Btrfs.
- Package versions updated: LLVM 20, GCC 15-test, binutils 2.44, glibc 2.41, gdb 15, Go 1.24, Tcl/Tk 9.0, Ruby 3.4, Zlib-ng 2.2.x, Setuptools 74, Django 5.x, Ansible 11, PHP 8.4, numpy 2.1.3.
- An emulator FEX has been added to the AArch64 architecture repository, allowing executable files compiled for x86 and x86-64 architectures to run in an ARM64 (AArch64) environment. FEX-based components for running x86 programs are integrated into Fedora builds with the KDE desktop environment.
- Support for web cameras using the MIPI (Mobile Industry Processor Interface) has been expanded, which are increasingly used on laptops and tablets instead of UVC (USB Video Class).
- Support for virtual machine memory encryption using AMD SEV-SNP and Intel TDX technologies has been added.
- Packages that used only the Git executable have been transitioned to depend on git-core rather than the full Git package.
- The Plymouth boot splash has been transitioned to use the simpledrm kernel module, eliminating the wait for GPU driver initialization.
- In Firewalld in workstation builds, the rpfilter (Reverse Path Filter) mode for IPv6 is enabled by default in 'loose' rather than 'strict'.
At the same time, the beta testing of the Fedora Asahi Remix 42 distribution has been announced, designed for installation on Mac computers equipped with ARM chips developed by Apple. Fedora Asahi Remix 42 is based on the Fedora Linux 42-beta package base and features the Calamares installer. It supports Apple MacBook Air, MacBook Pro, Mac Mini, Mac Studio, and iMac systems equipped with Apple's M1 and M2 ARM chips.
Fedora Asahi fully supports: the audio subsystem of Apple computers, camera, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, input devices, USB Type C (USB 3.0), and MagSafe wireless charging. Currently not supported: display connection via USB-C, Thunderbolt/USB4, microphone, and Touch ID. Graphics drivers support OpenGL 4.6, OpenGL ES 3.2, and Vulkan 1.4. The muvm toolkit and FEX-based emulation layer are used to run applications compiled for x86_64 systems.
Source: opennet.ru
