Fedora 24 Alpha released!

The Fedora 24 Alpha is here, right on schedule for our planned June final release. Download the prerelease from our Get Fedora site:

What is the Alpha release?

The Alpha release contains all the features of Fedora 24’s editions in a form that anyone can help test. This testing, guided by the Fedora QA team, helps us target and identify bugs. When these bugs are fixed, we make a Beta release available. A Beta release is code-complete and bears a very strong resemblance to the third and final release. The final release of Fedora 24 is expected in June.

If you take the time to download and try out the Alpha, 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.

Fedora-Wide Changes

Under the hood, glibc has moved to 2.23. The update includes better performance, many bugfixes and improvements to POSIX compliance, and additional locales. The new library is backwards compatible with the version of glibc that was shipped in Fedora 23, and includes a number of security and bug fixes.

We’ve also updated the system compiler to GCC 6 and rebuilt all packages with that, providing greater code optimization and catching programming errors which had slipped past previous compilers.

Workstation

  • Workstation features a preview of GNOME 3.20, which was released just after the Alpha was cut. The GNOME 3.20 release is already available in the Fedora 24 update stream. Once you install Fedora 24 Alpha, you can use Software or dnf to update. GNOME 3.20 will of course be part of Fedora 24 Beta and the Final release.
  • We have decided not to make Wayland, the next generation graphic stack, the default in Fedora 24 Workstation. However, Wayland remains available as an option, and the Workstation team would greatly appreciate your help in testing. Our goal is one full release where the non-default Wayland option works seamlessly, or reasonably close thereto. At that point we will make Wayland the default with X11 as the fallback option.
  • There have been many changes to theming in GTK+ 3, where a stable API has not been declared. As a result, applications that use custom CSS theming, for example, may show issues with their appearance. This may include default applications that come with Fedora 24 Alpha Workstation. Users are asked to try out their favorite GTK+ 3 based applications and report bugs upstream so they might be addressed in time for the final release.

Server

  • FreeIPA 4.3 (Domain Controller role) is included in Fedora 24. This version helps streamline installation of replicas by adding a replica promotion method for new installs. A new topology plugin has also been added that automatically manages new replication segment creation. An effective replica topology visualization tool is also available in the webUI.
  • More packages have been removed from the default Server edition to make the footprint of the default installation smaller.

Cloud

  • For Fedora 24, we’re working hard to make Fedora the best platform for developing containers, from the base Fedora container images to a full-featured PaaS to run and manage them.
  • We’re packaging OpenShift Origin for Fedora to make it easy to run on Fedora. OpenShift Origin is a distribution of Kubernetes optimized for enterprise application development and deployment. Origin embeds Kubernetes and adds powerful additional functionality to deliver an easy to approach developer and operator experience for building applications in containers.

Spins and Labs

Fedora Spins are alternative desktops for Fedora that provide a different desktop experience than the standard Fedora Workstation edition. Fedora Workstation is built on the GNOME desktop environment and aims to provide a compelling, easy-to-use operating system for software developers, while also being well-suited to other users. Our spins showcase KDE Plasma, Xfce, LXDE, Mate-Compiz, Cinnamon, and Sugar on a Stick (Soas) on the same Fedora Base.*

Fedora Labs are collections of software for specific purposes — Games, Design, Robotics, and so on. They are pre-selected sets of Fedora software and are ideal for events or audiences with the corresponding specific interest. Fedora 24 comes with a new lab, the Astronomy Spin, a set of tools for astronomers and astrophysicists.

*: Note that the SoaS spin and Security, Games, and Design Suite labs are missing from the Fedora 24 Alpha release. We plan to fix this for the Beta release.

ARM

ARM images are available as usual for several usecases. Fedora 24 ships Desktop images, such as Spins and Workstation, but also provides a Server image. A minimal Fedora image completes the wide set of install options for you ARM board.

Atomic Host

Fedora Atomic Host releases on a two-week schedule, and each release is built on the latest overall Fedora OS. This schedule means the Atomic Host is currently built on Fedora 23, but will switch to Fedora 24 when we’re out of Beta. There currently is no Fedora Atomic Host built on Fedora 24 Alpha, but we plan to have that for the Beta.

However, you can try one of the newer features with recent Fedora Atomic Host builds today. Since Fedora 23 was released, Atomic Host has added a “developer mode” that gives a better developer experience overall. When running in DEVELOPER MODE, the host will download and start Cockpit and fire up a TMUX session to make it easier to work at the console and obtain necessary information (like the root password, IP address, etc.).

Issues and Details

This is an Alpha release. As such, 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 F24 Bugs page.

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

Release Schedule

The full release schedule is available on the Fedora wiki:

The current schedule calls for a beta release towards the beginning of May, and the final release in early June.

Be aware that these dates are development targets. Some projects release on a set date regardless of feature completeness or bugs; others wait until certain thresholds for functionality or testing are met. Fedora uses a hybrid model, with milestones subject to adjustment. This allows us to make releases with new features and newly-integrated and updated upstream software while also retaining high quality.

Flock 2016: Krakow, Poland

If you’re a contributor to Fedora, or interested in getting more involved, one way to engage with our community is through Fedora premier events.

The annual North American/European conference for Fedora contributors is Flock, which takes place August 2-5, 2016 in Krakow, Poland. Registration is now open at https://register.flocktofedora.org.

For more information about our Latin American and Asia-Pacific Conferences, stay tuned for announcements on the Fedora Community Blog:

New in Fedora

30 Comments

  1. wkgames

    How to Upgrade the Internet with “DNF” and FedUp? It is already available? I explain all the steps, please! If not available Upgrade this way, when you will be?

  2. Ryan

    Will font rendering still look horrible?

  3. yuer

    Great!

  4. Flock will be in Polish?
    I live in Poland and using fedora evry day.
    Great

  5. icywind

    Will it be possible to upgrade to 24 via Gnome Software or do I have to wait until 24->25 upgrade?
    I have nothing against terminal but GUI for upgrading Fedora to another release after so many years is exciting 🙂

    • Kamil Páral

      It should be available, if everything goes well.

  6. Dns

    “we’re working hard to make Fedora the best platform for developing containers, from the base Fedora container images to a full-featured PaaS to run and manage them.”

    Does this mean that lxd will be included in fedoras repos?

    • Jonathan

      There’s no reason that LXD shouldn’t be in the Fedora repos – all it needs is for someone to do the packaging work and put them up for review.

  7. Rodney

    Fedora Jam! Finally >) I’ve been eagerly waiting patiently for it, since it didn’t a release for Fedora 23 ;), can’t wait for it now! Downloading the Alpha to test it now! Thanks all the ones involved with Fedora and especially Fedora Jam!!! Definitely the best OS for me ever!

  8. timepatrol

    I found Fedora 23 cannot be installed on my new pc with Core i7 6700K and ASRock Z170 PRO4. But Fedora 24 alpha is working well. Thanks!

  9. Mark

    Hi,

    Is there any way how can I add RPMFusion repo to Fedora 24 Alpha ?
    Can You help me ?

    tia

    Mark

    • @Mark: I’m not sure the rpmfusion repos exist for F24 yet. You may need to go on without them. If you use

      dnf system-upgrade

      to move from Fedora 23 to Fedora 24 Alpha, you can use the

      --allowerasing

      switch to let it remove packages for which it can’t find an update, such as rpmfusion material. Obviously that will mean you could lose some capabilities. One solution may be for more people like yourself to contribute to rpmfusion.

  10. Just updated with dnf!

    Works smoothly, no issues so far. Some apps (i.e. Software) becomes times faster than before.

    Like it!

  11. Ragnar

    It is awesome and pretty! Much less crashy than 23 on Skylake with integrated graphics only.

  12. I have always veered off Alpha releases. Question: Does updating using dnf eventually result in a stable release in the long run ?

    • @Mumo: Yes, if you keep up with the update stream, you’ll end up riding directly into the stable release. This used to be a bit trickier before we started branching the releases earlier, although even back then you could do it. Now it’s essentially a “set and forget” operation.

  13. arehtykitna

    An ‘under the hood’ change not referred to here, has 32-bit been deprecated for F24? There doesn’t appear to have been any Alpha i386 ISOs uploaded to the servers. Just curious as I don’t have any 32-bit installations.

    • arehtykitna

      I’ve had confirmation of this via the fedoraforum courtesy of Rahul Sundaram:

      “That’s correct. The Fedora kernel team in particular didn’t have the resources to handle bug reports for 32-bit arch and there is far less interest in it these days.”

      So, if you still need 32-bit kernels etc. my advice would be to stay put with what you currently have. Failing that take a look at CentOS 6.X branch as that will continue to receive support until 30th November 2020 by which time any remaining hardware incapable of supporting a 64-bit OS will no doubt be long expired.

  14. Rory

    I upgraded as per the instructions from 23-24 on an old Fujitus Laptop. Worked perfectly. Feels much faster. No problems so far. Trying wayward now.

  15. Quazi Mujawez

    Hi,
    I have HP Envy X360 15-w002nx. Fedora 23 is not supporting Wi-Fi and Bluetooth.
    When I am making Wi-Fi or Bluetooth on automatically it is going to off. My request to add drivers support for HP Envy X360 15-w002nx in Fedora 24
    Specially RealTek Semiconductor RTL8723BE PCI-E Wireless Network Adapter and RealTek Bluetooth 4.0 Adapter.

    • arehtykitna

      That’s an upstream kernel issue rather than anything specific to Fedora. A quick search proves the same issues in Debian based Ubuntu for example. There are fixes for that specific OS over on github though.

      Realtek wireless support in my experience has always been hit and miss with Linux.

  16. Krystian

    It would be great, if Fedora will had a better font rendering by default…

    At this point without additional font rendering like Infinality, Fedora fonts hurt my eyes. It’s not only my opinion, just google “fedora fonts rendering”.

    No, freetype-freeworld is not a cure, it’s not a big improve. Technical aspects of Fedora are great, but basic user experience like font rendering – is very neglected.

    • arehtykitna

      Agreed, I apply the Russian Fedora Fixes which help a little but still have to tweak them further.

      I’m dual-booting with UbuntuMATE 15.10 at present and find that iteration of font rendering much more pleasing to the eye out of the box.

      One massive advantage Ubuntu has over Fedora is that they have perfected the SecureBoot EUFI shim. It works flawlessly unlike Fedora’s which just dumps me back to GRUB each time. So I use that for a boot menu on that machine.

  17. Edward

    Hi Guys,
    But, What about gnome 3.20 on current stable release (F23) ?

  18. Lovely. Will love to see Jboss Dedveloper Studio Added to Fedora workstation or Server at some point.

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