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Fedora Linux release history

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Fedora, a popular Linux distribution developed by the community-supported Fedora Project and sponsored by Red Hat, attempts to maintain a six month release schedule, offering new versions in May and November, although many releases can experience delays.

Fedora Core 1–4

Fedora Core 1 with Gnome
Fedora Core 2 with Gnome
Fedora Core 3 with Gnome
Fedora Core 4 using GNOME and the Bluecurve theme

Fedora Core 1 was the first version of Fedora and was released on November 6, 2003.[1] It was codenamed Yarrow. Fedora Core 1 was based on Red Hat Linux 9 and shipped with version 2.4.19 of the Linux kernel, version 2.4 of the GNOME desktop environment, and K Desktop Environment 3.1.[2]

Fedora Core 2 was released on May 18, 2004, codenamed Tettnang.[3] It shipped with Linux 2.6, GNOME 2.6, KDE 3.2, and SELinux[3] (SELinux was disabled by default due to concerns that it radically altered the way that Fedora Core ran).[4] 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.[4]

Fedora Core 3 was released on November 8, 2004, codenamed Heidelberg.[5] This was the first release of Fedora Core to include the Mozilla Firefox web browser, as well as support for the Indic scripts.[5] This release also saw the LILO boot loader deprecated in favour of GRUB.[5] SELinux was also enabled by default, but with a new targeted policy, which was less strict than the policy used in Fedora Core 2.[5] Fedora Core 3 shipped with GNOME 2.8 and KDE 3.3.[5] It was the first release to include the new Fedora Extras repository.[6]

Fedora Core 4 was released on June 13, 2005, with the codename Stentz.[7] It shipped with Linux 2.6.11,[7] KDE 3.4 and GNOME 2.10.[8] This version introduced the new Clearlooks theme, which was inspired by the Red Hat Bluecurve theme.[8] It also shipped with the OpenOffice.org 2.0 office suite, as well as Xen, a high performance and secure open source virtualization framework.[8] It also introduced support for the PowerPC CPU architecture, and over 80 new policies for SELinux.[8]

Fedora Core 5–6

Fedora Core 5
Fedora Core 6 with the DNA theme

The last two Core releases introduced specific artwork that defined them. 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.[9] It was the first Fedora release to include Mono and tools built with it such as Beagle, F-Spot and Tomboy.[9] 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.[10]

Fedora Core 6 was released on October 24, 2006, codenamed Zod.[11] This release introduced the Fedora DNA artwork, replacing the Fedora Bubbles artwork used in Fedora Core 5.[12] The codename is derived from the infamous villain, General Zod, from the Superman DC Comic Books.[13] This version introduced support for the Compiz compositing window manager and AIGLX (a technology that enables GL-accelerated effects on a standard desktop).[12] 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.

Fedora 7

Fedora 7 with the Flying High theme

Fedora 7, codenamed Moonshine, was released on May 31, 2007.[14] The biggest difference between Fedora Core 6 and Fedora 7 was the merging of the Red Hat "Core" and Community "Extras" repositories,[14] 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 that could also include packages from any third party provider.[14]

There were three official spins available for Fedora 7:[15]

  • 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.[15] Fast user switching was fully integrated and enabled by default.[15] 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.[15]

Fedora 8

Fedora 8 with the Infinity theme

Fedora 8, codenamed Werewolf, was released on November 8, 2007.[16]

Some of the new features and updates in Fedora 8 included:[17]

  • PulseAudio – a sound daemon that allows different applications to control the audio. Fedora was the first distribution to enable it by default.[17]
  • system-config-firewall – a new firewall configuration tool that replaces system-config-securitylevel 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 from Livna which are free of charge.
  • IcedTea – a project that attempts to bring OpenJDK to Fedora by replacing encumbered code.
  • NetworkManager – faster, more reliable connections;[17] 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.

Fedora 8 also included a new desktop artwork entitled Infinity, and a new desktop theme called Nodoka. A unique feature of Infinity is that the wallpaper can change during the day to reflect the time of day.[17]

In February 2008, a new Xfce Live CD "spin" was announced for the x86 and x86-64 architectures.[18] 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.[18]

Fedora 9

Fedora 9 with the Waves theme

Fedora 9, codenamed Sulphur, was released on May 13, 2008.[19]

Some of the new features of Fedora 9 included:[20]

  • 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.[22]
  • Upstart introduced
  • Many improvements to the Anaconda installer;[23] 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.
  • Data Persistence in USB images.[24]

Fedora 9 featured a new artwork entitled Waves which, like Infinity in Fedora 8, changes the wallpaper to reflect the time of day.

Fedora 10

Fedora 10 with the Solar theme

Fedora 10, codenamed Cambridge, was released on November 25, 2008.[25] It flaunts the new Solar artwork. Its features include:[26]

  • Faster startup using Plymouth (instead of Red Hat Graphical Boot used in previous versions)
  • Support for ext4 filesystem
  • Sugar Desktop Environment
  • LXDE Desktop Environment (LXDE Spin)
  • GNOME 2.24
  • KDE 4.1 (KDE Spin)
  • OpenOffice.org 3.0

Fedora 11

Fedora 11 with the bird theme

Fedora 11, codenamed Leonidas, was released on June 9, 2009.[27] This was the first release whose artwork is determined by the name instead of by users voting on themes.

Some of the features in Fedora 11 are:

Fedora 12

Fedora 12

Fedora 12, codenamed Constantine, was released on November 17, 2009.[31]

Some of the features in Fedora 12 are:

  • Optimized performance. All software packages on 32-bit (x86_32) architecture have been compiled for i686 systems
  • Improved Webcam support (Cheese)
  • Better video codec with a newer version of Ogg Theora
  • Audio improvements
  • Automatic bug reporting tool (abrt)
  • Bluetooth on demand
  • Enhanced NetworkManager to manage broadband
  • Many virtualization enhancements (KVM, libvirt, libguestfs)
  • ext4 used even for the boot partition
  • Moblin interface
  • Yum-presto plugin providing Delta RPMs for updates by default
  • New compression algorithm (XZ, the new LZMA format) in RPM packages for smaller and faster updates
  • Experimental 3D support for ATI R600/R700 cards
  • GCC 4.4
  • SystemTap 1.0 with Eclipse integration
  • GNOME 2.28
  • GNOME Shell preview
  • KDE 4.3, KDE 4.4 was pushed to updates repository on February 27, 2010[32][33] (KDE Spin)
  • 2.6.31 Linux kernel, Kernel 2.6.32 was pushed to updates repository on February 27, 2010[32]
  • X server 1.7 with Multi-Pointer X (MPX) support
  • NetBeans 6.7
  • PHP 5.3
  • Rakudo Perl 6 compiler

Fedora 13

Fedora 13

Fedora 13, codenamed "Goddard", was released on May 25, 2010.[34] 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."[35]

Features of Fedora 13 include:[36][37]

  • Automatic printer-driver installation
  • Automatic language pack installation
  • Redesigned user-account tool
  • Color management to calibrate monitors and scanners
  • Experimental 3D support for NVIDIA video cards
  • A new way to install Fedora over the Internet
  • SSSD authentication for users
  • Updates to NFS
  • Inclusion of Zarafa Open Source edition
  • System rollback for the Btrfs file system
  • Better SystemTap probes
  • Support for the entire Java EE 6 spec in Netbeans 6.8
  • KDE PulseAudio Integration
  • New command-line interface for NetworkManager

Fedora 14

Fedora 14

Fedora 14, codenamed Laughlin, was released on November 2, 2010.[38]

Features of Fedora 14 include:[39][40]

Fedora 15

Fedora 15 and the GNOME Shell

Fedora 15, codenamed Lovelock, was released on May 24, 2011. Features of Fedora 15 include:[41][42][43][44]

Fedora 16

Fedora 16

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.[45]

Some of the features of Fedora 16 included:

Fedora 17

Fedora 17

The next release of the operating system was Fedora 17, codenamed "Beefy Miracle", which was released on May 29, 2012.[45]

Some of the features of Fedora 17 include:

  • kernel 3.3.4
  • Integrated UEFI support. [46] [47]
  • Inclusion of Gnome 3.4 desktop, offering software rendering support for GNOME Shell
  • Updated to latest KDE Software Compilation 4.8.3
  • A new filesystem structure moving more things to /usr
  • Removable disks are now mounted under /run/media due to a change in udisks
  • systemd-logind replaces ConsoleKit, offering multiseat improvements
  • Inclusion of the libvirt sandbox; virt-manager now supports USB pass-through
  • Services now use private temp directories to improve security

Fedora 18

Fedora 18

Fedora 18, codenamed "Spherical Cow", was released on January 15, 2013.

Some of the features of Fedora 18 include:

Fedora 19

Fedora 19

Fedora 19, codenamed "Schrödinger's Cat", was released on July 2, 2013. Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 and other derivatives are based on Fedora 19.

Some of the features of Fedora 19 include:

Fedora 20

Fedora 20

Fedora 20, codenamed "Heisenbug",[50] was released on December 17, 2013.[51]

Some of the features of Fedora 20 include:[52]

  • ARM as primary architecture[53]
  • Replacement of the gnome-packagekit frontends with a new application installer, tentatively named gnome-software[54]

Fedora 21

Fedora 21, first distribution without a codename,[55] was released on December 9, 2014.[56]

Version history

Releases of Fedora Linux
Version[57] Release[57] End-of-life[58] Kernel[59][a] GNOME[59]
Old version, not maintained: 1 (Yarrow) 2003-11-05 2004-09-20 2.4.22 2.4
Old version, not maintained: 2 (Tettnang) 2004-05-18 2005-04-11 2.6.5 2.6
Old version, not maintained: 3 (Heidelberg) 2004-11-08 2006-01-16 2.6.9 2.8
Old version, not maintained: 4 (Stentz) 2005-06-13 2006-08-07 2.6.11 2.10
Old version, not maintained: 5 (Bordeaux) 2006-03-20 2007-07-02 2.6.15 2.14
Old version, not maintained: 6 (Zod) 2006-10-24 2007-12-07 2.6.18 2.16
Old version, not maintained: 7 (Moonshine) 2007-05-31 2008-06-13 2.6.21 2.18
Old version, not maintained: 8 (Werewolf) 2007-11-08 2009-01-07 2.6.23 2.20
Old version, not maintained: 9 (Sulphur) 2008-05-13 2009-07-10 2.6.25 2.22
Old version, not maintained: 10 (Cambridge) 2008-11-25 2009-12-17 2.6.27 2.24
Old version, not maintained: 11 (Leonidas) 2009-06-09 2010-06-25 2.6.29 2.26
Old version, not maintained: 12 (Constantine) 2009-11-17 2010-12-02 2.6.31 2.28
Old version, not maintained: 13 (Goddard) 2010-05-25 2011-06-24 2.6.33 2.30
Old version, not maintained: 14 (Laughlin) 2010-11-02 2011-12-09 2.6.35 2.32
Old version, not maintained: 15 (Lovelock) 2011-05-24 2012-06-26 2.6.38 3.0
Old version, not maintained: 16 (Verne) 2011-11-08 2013-02-12 3.1 3.2
Old version, not maintained: 17 (Beefy Miracle) 2012-05-29 2013-07-30 3.3 3.4
Old version, not maintained: 18 (Spherical Cow) 2013-01-15 2014-01-14 3.6 3.6
Old version, not maintained: 19 (Schrödinger's Cat) 2013-07-02 2015-01-06 3.9 3.8
Old version, not maintained: 20 (Heisenbug) 2013-12-17 2015-06-23 3.11 3.10
Old version, not maintained: 21[61] 2014-12-09 2015-12-01 3.17 3.14
Old version, not maintained: 22 2015-05-26 2016-07-19 4.0 3.16
Old version, not maintained: 23 2015-11-03 2016-12-20 4.2 3.18
Old version, not maintained: 24 2016-06-21 2017-08-08 4.5 3.20
Old version, not maintained: 25 2016-11-22 2017-12-12 4.8 3.22
Old version, not maintained: 26 2017-07-11 2018-05-29 4.11 3.24
Old version, not maintained: 27 2017-11-14 2018-11-30 4.13 3.26
Old version, not maintained: 28 2018-05-01 2019-05-28 4.16 3.28
Old version, not maintained: 29 2018-10-30 2019-11-26 4.18 3.30
Old version, not maintained: 30 2019-04-30 2020-05-26 5.0 3.32
Old version, not maintained: 31 2019-10-29 2020-11-24 5.3 3.34
Old version, not maintained: 32 2020-04-28 2021-05-25 5.6 3.36
Old version, not maintained: 33 2020-10-27 2021-11-30 5.8 3.38
Old version, not maintained: 34 2021-04-27 2022-06-07 5.11 40
Old version, not maintained: 35 2021-11-02 2022-12-13 5.14 41
Old version, not maintained: 36 2022-05-10 2023-05-16 5.17 42
Old version, not maintained: 37 2022-11-15 2023-12-05 6.0 43
Old version, not maintained: 38 2023-04-18[62] 2024-05-21[62] 6.2 44
Old version, not maintained: 39 2023-11-07[63] 2024-11-26[63] 6.5 45
Old version, still maintained: 40 2024-04-23[64] 2025-05-28[64] 6.8 46
Old version, still maintained: 41 2024-10-29[65] 2025-11-19[65] 6.11 47
Latest version: 42 (Adams) 2025-04-15[66] 2026-05-13[66] 6.14 48
Future version: 43 2025-11-11[67] 2026-12-02[67] [to be determined] 49
Legend:
Old version, not maintained
Old version, still maintained
Latest version
Latest preview version
Future version
  1. ^ At the time of release. Supported releases are often updated to the latest stable version of the Linux kernel.[60]

Releases of Red Hat Linux are listed here.

References

  1. ^ Red Hat (November 6, 2003). "Announcing Fedora Core 1". Retrieved October 18, 2007.
  2. ^ "Fedora Core 1 Release Notes". Retrieved October 19, 2007.
  3. ^ a b Red Hat (May 18, 2004). "Presenting Fedora Core 2". Retrieved October 18, 2007.
  4. ^ a b "Fedora Core 2 Release Notes". Retrieved October 19, 2007.
  5. ^ a b c d e Red Hat (November 8, 2004). "Announcing the release of Fedora Core 3". Retrieved October 18, 2007.
  6. ^ "Fedora Core 3 Release Notes". Retrieved October 19, 2007.
  7. ^ a b Fedora Project (June 13, 2005). "The Amazing Fedora Core 4!". Retrieved November 18, 2007.
  8. ^ a b c d "Fedora Core 4 Release Notes". Fedora Project. Retrieved November 18, 2007.
  9. ^ a b "Announcing the release of Fedora Core 5". March 20, 2006. Retrieved October 18, 2007.
  10. ^ "Fedora Core 5 Release Notes". Retrieved October 18, 2007.
  11. ^ Fedora Project (October 24, 2006). "Announcing Fedora Core 6 (Zod)". Retrieved October 18, 2007.
  12. ^ a b Fedora Project. "Fedora Core 6 Release Notes". Retrieved October 18, 2007.
  13. ^ Red Hat. "Fedora status report: Announcing Zod". Retrieved October 18, 2007.
  14. ^ a b c Fedora Project (May 31, 2007). "Announcing Fedora 7 (Moonshine)". Retrieved November 7, 2007.
  15. ^ a b c d Fedora Project. "Fedora 7 Release Highlights". Retrieved November 18, 2007.
  16. ^ "Fedora Project Release Schedule". Retrieved October 7, 2007.
  17. ^ a b c d "Fedora 8 Release Summary". November 7, 2007. Retrieved November 7, 2007.
  18. ^ a b Rahul Sundaram (February 13, 2008). "Announcing Fedora 8 Xfce Spin". Fedora Project. Retrieved May 17, 2008.
  19. ^ Jesse Keating (May 13, 2008). "The Prophecy of the 9 comes true (Fedora 9 walks the earth!)". Fedora Project. Retrieved May 13, 2008.
  20. ^ "Fedora 9 Release Notes". Fedora Project. Retrieved May 13, 2008.
  21. ^ 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.
  22. ^ "One Second X". Fedora Project. Retrieved May 9, 2008.
  23. ^ "Fedora 9 (Beta) Release Notes". Fedora Project. Retrieved January 4, 2008.
  24. ^ "How to create and use Live USB—FedoraProject". Fedoraproject.org. Retrieved December 1, 2008.
  25. ^ "Fedora 10 Release Schedule". The Fedora Project. September 24, 2008. Retrieved September 25, 2008.
  26. ^ "Fedora 10 Feature List". The Fedora Project. Retrieved November 30, 2008.
  27. ^ "Red Hat Fedora 11 Focuses on the Linux Desktop". internetnews.com. April 28, 2009. Retrieved April 30, 2009. {{cite news}}: |first= missing |last= (help)CS1 maint: extra punctuation (link)
  28. ^ "Fedora 11 File systems". fedoraproject.org. Retrieved July 4, 2009.
  29. ^ "Fedora 11 - Eclipse". Fedora Project. Retrieved June 15, 2009.
  30. ^ "Fedora 11 Accepted Features". Fedora Project. Retrieved May 18, 2009.
  31. ^ "Announcing Fedora 12". Redhat.com. Retrieved April 30, 2013.
  32. ^ a b ftp://download.fedora.redhat.com/pub/fedora/linux/updates/12/SRPMS/
  33. ^ kkofler (February 27, 2010). "kdebase-4.4.0-5.fc13 bugfix update". Red Hat, Inc. Retrieved May 31, 2010.
  34. ^ Fedora 13 Is Set To Premiere Today Phoronix, May 25, 2010
  35. ^ Fedora 12 debuts after Halloween slippage The Regester, November 17, 2009
  36. ^ Fedora 13 Release Notes Fedora Project, May 25, 2010
  37. ^ Fedora 13 – See What’s New! April 6, 2010
  38. ^ Fedora 14 Officially Released With New Features Phoronix, November 2, 2010
  39. ^ Fedora gets nips and tucks with 14 release The Register, November 2, 2010 (Article by Timothy Prickett Morgan)
  40. ^ Fedora 14 FeatureList Fedora Project, November 2, 2010
  41. ^ "Alpha version of Fedora 15 released - The H Open: News and Features". H-online.com. March 8, 2011. Archived from the original on September 18, 2012. Retrieved April 30, 2013.
  42. ^ "Fedora 15 Released – Includes Dynamic Firewall, GNOME 3 Among Other Features". Digitizor.com. May 24, 2011. Retrieved April 30, 2013.
  43. ^ LLVMpipe Gallium3D Is Used In Fedora 15 Phoronix, March 10, 2011 (Article by Michael Larabel)
  44. ^ "Fedora 15 Boosts Linux Security". eSecurity Planet. May 20, 2011. Retrieved April 30, 2013.
  45. ^ a b Phoronix. "Red Hat Releases Fedora 16 "Verne"". Retrieved November 8, 2011. Cite error: The named reference "F16Phoronix" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
  46. ^ "Anatomy of a Fedora 17 ISO image".
  47. ^ "Fedora 17 on Macbook Air Native EFI Boot".
  48. ^ "Fedora 18 features: IPAv3".
  49. ^ "Fedora 19 features: checkpoint restore".
  50. ^ "Results of Fedora 20 Release Name Voting ". FedoraProject. September 3, 2013. Retrieved September 4, 2013.
  51. ^ "Releases/20/Schedule - FedoraProject". FedoraProject. November 12, 2013. Retrieved November 12, 2013.
  52. ^ "Fedora 20 features". FedoraProject. Retrieved October 5, 2013.
  53. ^ "Fedora 20 features: ARM as primary architecture". FedoraProject. Retrieved October 5, 2013.
  54. ^ "Fedora 20 features: Application Installer". FedoraProject. Retrieved October 5, 2013.
  55. ^ Boyer, Josh (October 2, 2013). "Release Name process ended". Fedora community advisory board (Mailing list). Retrieved May 11, 2014. {{cite mailing list}}: Unknown parameter |mailinglist= ignored (|mailing-list= suggested) (help)
  56. ^ "Releases/21/Schedule". Fedora Project. Retrieved March 25, 2014.
  57. ^ a b "Releases/HistoricalSchedules". Fedora Project. Retrieved August 11, 2015.
  58. ^ "End of life". Fedora Project. Retrieved May 11, 2014.
  59. ^ a b "Fedora Linux". DistroWatch. Retrieved May 15, 2014.
  60. ^ "KernelRebases". Fedora Project. Retrieved May 18, 2014.
  61. ^ Boyer, Josh (October 2, 2013). "Release Name process ended". Fedora community advisory board mailing list. Retrieved May 11, 2014.
  62. ^ a b "Fedora Linux 38 Schedule". Fedora Project.
  63. ^ a b "Fedora Linux 39 Schedule". Fedora Project.
  64. ^ a b "Fedora Linux 40 Schedule". Fedora Project.
  65. ^ a b "Fedora Linux 41 Schedule". Fedora Project.
  66. ^ a b "Fedora Linux 42 Schedule". Fedora Project.
  67. ^ a b "Fedora Linux 43 Schedule". Fedora Project.

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