Announcing the Release of Fedora 25 Beta

The Fedora Project is pleased to announce the immediate availability of Fedora 25 Beta, the next big step on our journey to the exciting Fedora 25 release in November.

Download the prerelease from our Get Fedora site:

Looking for Cloud edition? Check out the section on Fedora Atomic below. Or, check out one of our popular variants:

Fedora’s journey is not simply about updating one operating system with the latest and greatest packages. It’s also about innovation for the many different platforms represented in the Fedora Project: Workstation, Server, Atomic, and the various Spins. Coordinating the efforts across the many working groups is no small task, and serves as a testament to the talent and professionalism found within the Fedora community.

As we move into this Beta phase of the Fedora 25 release cycle, what can users expect?

Fedora-Wide Changes

Some of the changes that will be seen across all aspects of Fedora include:

  • Docker updated to version 1.12
  • Support for weaker certificate authorities (i.e., 1024-bit) has been removed
  • Node.js updated to version 6.x
  • “Secondary architectures” now known as “alternate architectures”
  • Rust: Fedora 25 brings the support for the Rust programming language. Rust is a system programming language which runs blazingly fast, and prevents almost all crashes, segfaults, and data races.
  • Pythons: Alongside the “standard” Python versions included in Fedora 25 (3.5 and 2.7), Python programmers can now install Python 3.4, 3.3, and 2.6 from the repositories to help them run test suites on multiple Python versions, as well as on PyPy, PyPy3, and Jython, which were already there.

Fedora Workstation

The Workstation edition of Fedora 25 Beta is going to show off its stuff, too:

  • GNOME 3.22: Fedora 25 includes GNOME 3.22 in its pre-release and in the Final version, coming soon. Helpful new features include multiple file renaming, a redesigned keyboard settings tool, and many other UI improvements across the environment. For full details, refer to the GNOME 3.22 release notes.
  • New Fedora media writer: The new Fedora Media Writer is a tool that downloads the latest stable Fedora for you. It then helps you write it to media such as a USB stick, so you can take Fedora for a spin on your system. If you like what you see, you can install to your system from the live environment. The Fedora Media Writer is available for Windows, Mac OS, and Linux.
  • Wayland by default
    • Wayland is the replacement for the legacy X11 display system. Wayland has been under development for several years. While like most software it still has some bugs, we believe it’s ready to serve as a default that works for many users.
    • Users can still select the old X11 system if necessary to avoid a problem that affects them.
  • Improved Flatpak support in the Software tool: The Software tool has the ability to install, update, and remove Flatpak software where a Fedora system is configured to point to a repo that offers it.
  • GNOME Shell extensions are no longer checked for compatibility with the current version of the Shell. This was originally required because the GNOME interfaces were changing rapidly during the early days of GNOME 3. Now these interfaces have stabilized, and extensions can generally be expected to work with new releases. Any problems with an extension should be reported to the author through the homepage, as listed on the Extensions site.

Fedora Server

Fedora 25 Server is also going to see some interesting changes in this cycle, particularly in the Cockpit tool:

  • SELinux Troubleshooter module: Cockpit now has a SELinux Troubleshooter module similar to Fedora Workstation.
    • If a system encounters an SELinux denial, will display information about the issue as well as suggestions for correcting the issue if it was unexpected.
    • Without the module, an administrator has to notice a denial occurred, dig through log files for the denial, and search for workarounds. The SELinux Troubleshooter presents information clearly and to the point all from the convenience of Cockpit.
  • Displays host SSH keys in the system dashboard: Easy to see and understand what SSH keys are added to the system for connecting to the machine.
  • Includes support for network teaming, Docker volume, and storage management, as well as the creation of systemd timer units
  • Supports multi-step (including two-factor) authentication

FreeIPA identity management system has also been upgraded to 4.4 series:

  • Topology management: FreeIPA web UI can now be used to visually manage topology graph for large deployments
  • DNS sites: DNS management in FreeIPA now supports location-specific placement of services
  • Subordinate Certificate Authorities: FreeIPA Certificate Authority now is able to create subordinate CAs to issue certificates with a specific scope
  • Kerberos Authentication Indicators: Kerberos KDC now takes Authentication Indicators into account when issuing service tickets. This allows, for example, to require two-factor authenticated Kerberos credentials prior to obtaining tickets to a VPN service (supported by OpenConnect Server).
  • Client certificate authentication in Web UI: FreeIPA Web UI and API end-points now can be configured to log-in with client certificates and smart cards.
  • Active Directory integration improvements: a number of features were added for enterprise environments
    • FreeIPA now supports alternative user principal names and suffixes from Active Directory and allows FreeIPA users to have Kerberos aliases
    • Active Directory users can now manage own details through the command line interface (CLI), including public SSH keys and certificates
    • In case of trusting multiple Active Directory forests, FreeIPA is now capable to automatically solve DNS namespace routing conflicts
  • FreeIPA framework gained support for external plugins
  • Performance of FreeIPA has been optimized for large environments

Fedora Atomic

Fedora Atomic includes a base image suitable for creating virtual machines, the Fedora Atomic Host image for creating hosts for container deployment, and a Docker image. This aspect of Fedora represents some of the most exciting changes, as we build more cloud- and container-ready tools into Fedora to create a fantastic developer platform. While Fedora 25 Atomic Host will not be a part of this beta release, the Fedora Project plans to change Fedora Atomic Host to be on Fedora 25 base when generally available.

Fedora Atomic Host images have new persistent download points:

Fedora Atomic has a two-week refresh release cycle with major releases every six months. It has an easy upgrade path to accommodate rapid development for supporting the latest applications. It can also be run as a desktop for those requiring a lightweight and highly reconfigurable environment.

Still undergoing active development, once stable, Fedora Atomic should allow the typical Fedora user to easily provision cloud services. User contributions and experience reports are particularly welcome in preparing the upcoming version.

Fedora Atomic will replace Fedora Cloud as one of our three Fedora Editions. The Fedora Cloud Base image will continue to be available for users wanting to build on a more traditional rpm-based foundation in a cloud environment.

Spins and More

These are not the only iterations of Fedora that are seeing changes in the Beta release today. Our KDE spin features new and improved packages for music, video, and personal information management. Xfce includes improvements to the terminal, notifications, and power management. Mate-Compiz features an update to Mate 1.16 and a complete switch to the GTK+3 toolkit.

You can download the new Fedora 25 Beta starting today!

What is the Beta Release?

A Beta release is code-complete and bears a very strong resemblance to the third and final release. The final release of Fedora 25 is expected in November. If you take the time to download and try out the Beta, you can check and make sure the things that are important to you are working. Every bug you find and report doesn’t just help you, it improves the experience of millions of Fedora users worldwide! Together, we can make Fedora rock-solid. We have a culture of coordinating new features and pushing fixes upstream as much as we can, and your feedback improves not only Fedora, but Linux and Free software as a whole.

Issues and Details

Since this is a Beta release, we expect that you may encounter bugs or missing features. To report issues encountered during testing, contact the Fedora QA team via the mailing list or in #fedora-qa on Freenode. As testing progresses, common issues are tracked on the Common F25 Bugs page.

For tips on reporting a bug effectively, read how to file a bug report.

Fedora Project community

25 Comments

  1. Jose

    Downloading NetInstall!

  2. Solid

    Hello Dear Community. Does Plasma 5.8 LTA is included in F25 for KDE Spin?

    • It does not, as the update was too late to make the Beta freeze. However, it is in the updates-testing repository for the beta; if you install, make sure that repo is enabled, and update, you’ll get it. New kde-apps is landing soon too. Assuming all goes well, that will all be in the final.

      • Leslie Satenstein

        Its been many years since I used KDE. When Gnome3 was released I switched over to it. Now that the KDE 5.8 version 5.8 will be runnable with Wayland, I look forward to testing it once more.

  3. Aivis

    Why there are no any word about Plasma 5.8 LTS release included or not in F25 release. This information is very important for KDE Spin users, especially because 5.8 contains fixes for multi monitor configurations.

    • We decided to list the things that are in the beta rather than the things that aren’t quite yet. 🙂 But see above — should be available soon.

    • 5.8 is already available in updates-testing, it was too late for Beta release. And yes, it helps a lot for multi monitor experience.

  4. Arvind

    Does the KDE spin also come with Wayland or the usual X11?

    • The KDE spin defaults to X11. It’s my memory that they’ll look at Wayland for F26, but don’t quote me on that — someone in the KDE SIG can update with current plans.

      • Markus S

        Well, Plasma has a three-months release cycle. That means F26 will launch with Plasma 5.10. I don’t think even core KDE developers have concrete plans for two releases ahead.

        I’ve heard that 5.8 is a pretty good Wayland early adopter’s release (can’t test myself because F24’s GDM can’t launch the Plasma Wayland session).

    • It’s already possible to test Wayland session but it’s not yet default. 5.27/5.8 support is already shaping up and upstream calls (at the moment internally within the project) for testing. From my experience 5.8 Wayland session is somehow usable with single screen setup, not working very well with multiscreen. Looking on recent progress, 5.9 should be usable for end users/early adopters on Wayland but I’d say it will take more than one Fedora releases to turn it on as default option, same as it took some time for GNOME.

  5. L-Ray

    A short question: One of the highlights of Gnome 3.22 seems to be gnome games. It does not seem to be in any of the standard repositories. Do you know what the best way is to give it a try?

  6. lemc

    Under Fedora 24, some programs, such as Nautilus, LibreOffice, Gnome Calendar, and System Monitor, memorized window position, so that when they were launched, they allways opened at the same place in the desktop. This is not occurring under Fedora 25 Beta (fully updated as of Oct12). Is this a bug or a planned modification ?

    • Leslie Satenstein

      While on this quirk with F25. Gnome Tweak was not included with the Live workstation ISO. It would be nice if it was included by default.

      After installing the tweaktool, I tried to enable the “mounted drives”, and the “Trashcan” to make them visible on the desktop. No luck. As well gparted did not launch under wayland

      But all was fine by selecting to log into the Beta with the xorg option.

  7. ifoolb

    I’ll upgrade to 25 beta soon! Though I think some codecs aren’t available, RMS tells us that we shouldn’t use non free software, so I think I can live without them.

  8. Rodney

    I haven’t been able to find much of a feature list for KDE spin of fedora 25. I know from installing that it initializes with 5.7, but after an update it goes to 5.8. Is there any feature list out there that shows what is planned to go into the KDE version? So far I love the beta, it shows just what I’ve always seen with Fedora, stability and personality.

  9. Robert Smol

    I’m writting from F25, coold thanks! I am just curious, are there any plans to somehow improve the rotation of displays? I’ve got Thinkpad Yoga 260, but this thing does not rotate when I turn the lid around. Any plans on how this cna be fixed?

  10. ifoolb

    I’m surprised that gnome shell runs much less smoothly on my low end hp x360 stream 11 (2GB ram, Intel atom Z3600 soc). It uses most of CPU and makes the desktop almost unusable. I wonder how it will work on some aged but completely free laptops, like libreboot’s x60. But I can feel that most visual and functional bugs have been fixed. I’m glad to see Linux desktop go forth.

  11. Leslie Satenstein

    I installed the F25 Desktop beta and tried much of the software therein. I found the beta snappy in execution, and well thought out. I used the network installation version. Relative to my needs, I actually launched each program that was provided. Fedora meets my needs at 100%.

    I have set a count down timer to remind me to download and reinstall the final release some time in November after the release date.

    My installation method is to retain /home and to reinstall all the rest. I do that because I often install programs to evaluate, and then fail to uninstall them at the conclusion of my evaluation effort. A new release allows me to do a “spring cleaning”.

    Keep it up. Fedora is great!.

  12. Stefan

    When is Fedora going to release a LXQt spin instead of LXDE?

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