Fedora community and the COVID-19 crisis

[This message comes directly from the desk of Matthew Miller, the Fedora Project Leader.  — Ed.] 

Congratulations to the Fedora community for the upcoming on-time release of Fedora 32 Beta. While we’ve gotten better at hitting our schedule over the years, it’s always nice to celebrate  a little bit each time we do. But that may not be what’s on your mind this week. Like you, I’ve been thinking a lot about the global COVID-19 pandemic. During the Beta period, many of us were unaffected by this outbreak, but as the effects intensify around the world, the month between now and the final release will be different.

“Friends” is the first of our Four Foundations for a reason: Fedora is a community. The most important Fedora concerns right now are your health and safety. Many of you are asked to work from home, to practice social distancing, or even to remain under quarantine. For some of you, this will mean more time to contribute to your favorite open source projects. For others, you have additional stress as partners, kids, and others in your life require additional care. For all of us, the uncertainty weighs on our minds.

I want to make one thing very clear: do not feel bad if you cannot contribute to the level you want to. We always appreciate what you do for the Fedora community, but your health — both physical and mental — is more important than shipping a release. As of right now, we’re planning to continue on schedule, but we understand that the situation is changing rapidly. We’re working on contingency plans and the option of delaying the Fedora 32 release remains on the table.

As you may already know, the Fedora Council has decided to refrain from sponsoring events through the end of the May. We will continue to re-evaluate this as the global situation changes. Please follow the directions of your local public health authorities and keep yourself safe.

Fedora Project community

22 Comments

  1. Keti Zilgish

    Ever since Fedora community has been making this OS i have used it. Prior to that I tried Microsoft for quite a while. All I do is an organized study of two disciplines: Numerology & Homeopathy. I am well aware of all the ups and downs of Fedora but it is still better than Microsoft. I regret I cannot compare it to other versions of Linux. To do that I do not have the resources to tackle which I would have to have a lot more knowledge of the publishing industry.

    • Andrej

      If this is not an joke you should add Astrology to the two disciplines as it match perfectly together.

  2. jordan

    the evolution of homo sapiens

  3. Alex

    In Italy where i live,the risk is very high. Stay at home, to preserve your health and your family.
    I hope to back to normal life.
    See ya.

  4. Lukas Piekarski

    Very important words. We should stick together, help each other and do not panic. Since yesterday I’ve been sitting at home and sharing my time between looking after my son (kindergartens are closes), working, contributing to Fedora and learning Python. I realized how short the days are. Planning is crucial here, but don’t feel bad if you fail. After all, someone has to watch the new season of Westworld and Picard series. 😉
    I’m still learning how to effectively contribute to Fedora. I think I will start with the release notes. There’s a little bit to do there, and I feel fairly confident in making research.
    I wish you all the best. Stay safe and healthy.

    • I appreciate your willingness to watch “Picard”, since I haven’t had a chance to do that yet. The Release Notes are a great place to start.

  5. bhagwat kshirsagar

    great !
    keep the innovation ahead .

  6. svsv sarma

    As a caution, I am self quarantined for summer and Fedora keeping me company at home. I wish we all enjoy ahead ” Happy days are here again “. The Fedora team can work on ‘Budgie’ to make the most of the isolation.

  7. tockar

    Hello!

    Can you make a guide how to setup folding@home to help to find a cure? I’m on amdgpu and I don’t really know how to setup my Fedora correctly so f@h could detect my GPU.

  8. Scott Wilson

    Just want to say that I appreciate everything you all have been doing with Fedora.
    I have been around since the beginning, just a user, since Fedora Core and Red Hat 6.
    I have using Fedora as my main desktop since v28, each release is getting better and more polished. I now on my home PC and on my Surface Pro (minus the touch screen and battery monitor).
    I love Fedora, thank you all of such a fantastic distrubition!

  9. Randall Rodriguez Walsh

    I am using Fedora since version 5

    I love it

    But I love even more the ideals of the community

    Best regards to everyone, stay as safe as you can, don’t panic, be smart

  10. DMH

    Thank you for the thoughtful and measured response.

  11. baoboa

    As European in confinement, i worry about US who don’t acknowledge the gravity of the situation ( as Europe was 1 week ago ). Number of case will not go down until full confinement, at the date of this decision which is unavoidable, the number of case will still grow exponentially by a factor 4 to 10 for 2 weeks. That’s a lot of sick people and a lot of death, so please fellow member of fedora put yourself in confinement as soon as possible.

    hope the best for you all

  12. leslie Satenstein

    Some advice to many countries. Your capacity to create emergency hospitals with beds is going to be overwhelming.

    Do what one innovative country has done. They took over a large hotel. Each room has at least one, if not two beds.

    In an emergency, that decision will solve today’s problem. Later, decontamination and it’s costs will be addressed

  13. Jacky.Peng

    Keep health & safety !!注意安全!

  14. E.G. O'Connor

    Have been using Fedora since you were at release version 12!! And have stayed with you throughout all this time. Your latest offering is eagerly awaited!….At this time?…I just want to thank all who contribute to this distro on a daily basis. Because of you?…my SON (who’s watched me use your distro through all his years!) is now working on a college degree in Computer Science, and guess what’s running on his ThinkPad?…Fedora 30!…(he says he’ll update after he gets through this COVID-19 thing) While there are other versions of this?..(KDE…XFCE..etc) I feel there’s no REAL way to enjoy Fedora than by using GNome! Please…all of you…..everyone. take care of yourselves and be safe. I have never been to any Fedora convention or meet-up….but as soon as all this quarantine stuff is over?…and they’ve got a working vvaccine in place?…I will try to get to one…(hopefully you guys will try to aim for the East COast?….NY?…PA?..N?…CT?…heck…even Maine..[ummm…LOBSTER!…Hahah!!] or Boston….someplace I can take a Greyhound Bus to without having to take off a whole week to go cross country!

    Be Excellent Everyone.

  15. Joyy

    how create backup whole fedora?
    where are torrent of all packages?

  16. @Ravens

    Fedora is the best linux distro I tried , I am using it since 2008 after kicking windows out and very happy with it. Also installed fedora on many PC’s around friends, family and needed users. Wish the best for the Fedora Community stay happy, strong and healthy!

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