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Fedora Linux

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Fedora
Fedora 10 running GNOME
DeveloperFedora Project
OS familyUnix-like / Linux
Working stateCurrent, Fedora 11 Leonidas scheduled to be published June 2nd
Source modelVarious
Initial release2003-11-16[1]
Latest release10 / November 25, 2008 (2008-11-25)[2]
Update methodYum (Anaconda)
Package managerRPM Package Manager
Platformsx86, x86-64, PowerPC
Kernel typeMonolithic
Default
user interface		GNOME
LicenseGNU GPL & Various others.
Official websitewww.fedoraproject.org

Fedora (Template:Pron-en) is a RPM-based, general purpose operating system built on top of the Linux kernel, developed by the community-supported Fedora Project and sponsored by Red Hat. Fedora's mission statement is: "Fedora is about the rapid progress of Free and Open Source software."[4]

One of Fedora's main objectives is not only to contain free and open source software, but also to be on the leading edge of such technologies.[4][5] Fedora developers prefer to make upstream changes instead of applying fixes specifically for Fedora—this ensures that updates are available to all Linux distributions.[6]

Fedora has a comparatively short life cycle: version X is maintained until one month after version X+2 is released. With 6 months between releases, the maintenance period is about 13 months for each version.[7]

Linus Torvalds, author of the Linux kernel, says he uses Fedora because it had fairly good support for PowerPC when he used that processor architecture. He became accustomed to the operating system and continues to use it.[8]

History

The Fedora Project was created in late 2003, when Red Hat Linux was discontinued.[9] Red Hat Enterprise Linux was to be Red Hat's only officially supported Linux distribution, while Fedora was to be a community distribution.[9] Red Hat Enterprise Linux branches its releases from versions of Fedora.[10]

The name of Fedora derives from Fedora Linux, a volunteer project that provided extra software for the Red Hat Linux distribution, and from the characteristic fedora used in Red Hat's "Shadowman" logo. Fedora Linux was eventually absorbed into the Fedora Project.[11] Fedora is a trademark of Red Hat. Although this has previously been disputed by the creators of the Fedora repository management software, the issue has now been resolved.[12]

Features

Distribution

PackageKit, the default package manager on Fedora

The Fedora Project distributes Fedora in several different ways:[13]

  • Fedora DVD/CD set – a DVD or CD set of all major Fedora packages at time of shipping;
  • Live images – CD or DVD sized images that can be used to create a Live CD or boot from a USB flash drive and optionally install to a hard disk;
  • Minimal CD  – used for installing over HTTP, FTP or NFS;[14]

The Fedora Project also distributes custom variations of Fedora which are called Fedora spins.[15] These are built from a specific set of software packages and have a combination of software to meet the requirements of a specific kind of end user. Fedora spins are developed by several Fedora special interest groups.[16] It is also possible to create Live USB versions of Fedora using Fedora Live USB creator or UNetbootin.

Extra Packages for Enterprise Linux (EPEL) is a volunteer-based community effort from the Fedora project to create a repository of high-quality add-on packages that complement the Fedora-based Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) and its compatible spinoffs such as CentOS or Scientific Linux.[17]

Software package management is primarily handled by the yum utility.[18] Graphical interfaces, such as pirut and pup are provided, as well as puplet, which provides visual notifications in the panel when updates are available.[18] apt-rpm is an alternative to yum, and may be more familiar to people used to Debian or Debian-based distributions, where Advanced Packaging Tool is used to manage packages.[19] Additionally, extra repositories can be added to the system, so that packages not available in Fedora can be installed.[20]

Software repositories

Before Fedora 7, there were two main repositories – Core and Extras. Fedora Core contained all the base packages that were required by the operating system, as well as other packages that were distributed along with the installation CD/DVDs, and was maintained only by Red Hat developers. Fedora Extras, the secondary repository that was included from Fedora Core 3, was community-maintained and not distributed along with the installation CD/DVDs. Since Fedora 7, the Core and Extras repositories have been merged, hence the distribution dropping Core from its name.[21] That also allowed for community submissions of packages that were formerly allowed only by Red Hat developers.

Also prior to Fedora 7 being released, there was a third repository called Fedora Legacy. This repository was community-maintained and was mainly concerned with extending the life cycle of older Fedora Core distributions and selected Red Hat Linux releases that were no longer officially maintained.[22] Fedora Legacy was shut down in December 2006.[23]

Third party repositories exist that distribute more packages that are not included in Fedora either because it does not meet Fedora's definition of Free Software, or because distribution of that software may violate US law. The primary third party repository and the only fully compatible ones are RPM Fusion and Livna. RPM Fusion is a joint effort by many third party repository maintainers. Livna is still maintained separately as an extension of RPM Fusion for legal reasons and only hosts the libdvdcss package for encrypted DVD playback support.

Security features

Security is one of the most important features in Fedora. One of the security features in Fedora is Security-Enhanced Linux, a Linux feature that implements a variety of security policies, including mandatory access controls, through the use of Linux Security Modules (LSM) in the Linux kernel. Fedora is one of the distributions leading the way with SELinux.[24] SELinux was introduced in Fedora Core 2. It was disabled by default, as it radically altered how the operating system worked, but was enabled by default in Fedora Core 3 and introduced a less strict, targeted policy.[25][26]

Fedora also has methods in place to prevent some buffer overflow exploits and root kits from functioning. Compile time buffer checks, Exec Shield and restrictions on how kernel memory in /dev/mem can be accessed help to prevent this.[27]

Secondary architectures

Fedora has also been ported to a number of secondary architectures. These architecture ports are not critical to a general release, inasmuch a package build failure will not be considered fatal. The ports currently available are for ARM, IA64, S390 and SPARC.[28]

Releases

Fedora Core 1–4

Fedora Core 1
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 version 3.1.4 of KDE (the K Desktop Environment).[27]

Fedora Core 2 was released on May 18, 2004, codenamed Tettnang.[29] It shipped with Linux 2.6, GNOME 2.6, KDE 3.2.2, and SELinux[29] (SELinux was disabled by default due to concerns that it radically altered the way that Fedora Core ran).[25] 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.[25]

Fedora Core 3 was released on November 8, 2004, codenamed Heidelberg.[30] This was the first release of Fedora Core to include the Mozilla Firefox web browser, as well as support for the Indic languages.[30] This release also saw the LILO boot loader deprecated in favour of GRUB.[30] SELinux was also enabled by default, but with a new targeted policy, which was less strict than the policy used in Fedora Core 2.[30] Fedora Core 3 shipped with GNOME 2.8 and KDE 3.3.[30] It was the first release to include the new Fedora Extras repository.[26]

Fedora Core 4 was released on June 13, 2005, with the codename Stentz.[31] It shipped with Linux 2.6.11,[31] KDE 3.4 and GNOME 2.10.[32] This version introduced the new Clearlooks theme, which was inspired by the Red Hat Bluecurve theme.[32] It also shipped with the OpenOffice.org 2.0 office suite, as well as Xen, a high performance and secure open source virtualization framework.[32] It also introduced support for the PowerPC CPU architecture, and over 80 new policies for SELinux.[32]

None of these distributions are maintained by the Fedora Project.[33]

Fedora Core 5–6

Fedora Core 6 with the DNA theme

The last two cores 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.[34] It was the first Fedora release to include Mono and tools built with it such as Beagle, F-Spot and Tomboy.[34] It also introduced new package management tools such as pup and pirut (see Yellow dog 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.[35]

Fedora Core 6 was released on October 24, 2006, codenamed Zod.[36] This release introduced the Fedora DNA artwork, replacing the Fedora Bubbles artwork used in Fedora Core 5.[37] The codename is derived from the infamous villain, General Zod, from the Superman DC Comic Books.[38] This version introduced support for the Compiz compositing window manager and AIGLX (a technology that enables GL-accelerated effects on a standard desktop).[37] 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.

Neither of these distributions are maintained by the Fedora Project.[33]

Fedora 7

Fedora 7, codenamed Moonshine, was released on May 31, 2007.[39] The biggest difference between Fedora Core 6 and Fedora 7 was the merging of the Red Hat "Core" and Community "Extras" repositories,[39] 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.[39]

There are three official spins available for Fedora 7:[40]

  • 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 features GNOME 2.18 and KDE 3.5.6, a new theme entitled Flying High, OpenOffice.org 2.2 and Firefox 2.0.[40] Fast user switching is, for the first time, fully integrated and enabled by default.[40] 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.[40] As of 2008-06-13, Fedora 7 was no longer supported by the Fedora Project.[33][41]

Fedora 8

Fedora 8 with the Infinity theme

Fedora 8, codenamed Werewolf, was released on November 8, 2007.[42]

Some of the new features and updates in Fedora 8 include:[43]

  • PulseAudio – a sound daemon that allows different applications to control the audio. Fedora was the first distribution to enable it by default.[43]
  • 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;[43] 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 includes 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.[43]

In February 2008, a new Xfce Live CD "spin" was announced for the x86 and x86-64 architectures.[44] 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.[44]

Fedora 9

Fedora 9 with the Waves theme

Fedora 9, codenamed Sulphur, was released on May 13, 2008.[45]

Some of the new features of Fedora 9 include:[46]

  • GNOME 2.22.
  • KDE 4, which is the default interface as part of the KDE spin.
  • OpenJDK 6 has replaced IcedTea.[47]
  • 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.[48]
  • Many improvements to the Anaconda installer;[49] 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 5.10.0, which features a smaller memory footprint and other improvements.
  • Data Persistence in USB images[50]

Fedora 9 features 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 new Solar theme

Fedora 10, codenamed "Cambridge", was released on November 25, 2008.[2] It flaunts the new Solar artwork. Its features include:[51]

  • Faster startup using Plymouth (instead of Red Hat Graphical Boot used in previous versions)
  • Support for ext4 filesystem
  • Sugar Desktop Environment
  • GNOME 2.24
  • KDE 4.1.2
  • OpenOffice.org 3.0

Fedora 11

Fedora 11, codenamed Leonidas, is set to be released on June 2, 2009.[52] This is the first release whose artwork is determined by the name instead of by users voting on themes. This was done in an effort to make the art in Fedora even better.

The planned features in Fedora 11 are: ext4 as the default file system, Faster Bootup, KDE 4.2 and Gnome 2.26, Netbeans 6.5 and nVidia kernel modesetting through the nouveau open source driver.[53]

Version history

Color Meaning
Red Old release; not supported
Yellow Old release; still supported
Green Current release
Blue Future release
Project Name Version Code name Release date Linux version
Fedora Core 1 Yarrow 2003-11-05 2.4.19
2 Tettnang 2004-05-18 2.6.5
3 Heidelberg 2004-11-08 2.6.9
4 Stentz 2005-06-13 2.6.11
5 Bordeaux 2006-03-20 2.6.15
6 Zod 2006-10-24 2.6.18
Fedora 7 Moonshine 2007-05-31 2.6.21
8 Werewolf 2007-11-08 2.6.23.1
9 Sulphur 2008-05-13 2.6.25
10 Cambridge 2008-11-25 2.6.27
11 Leonidas planned for 2009-06-02[54] 2.6.29-3
  • Fedora Core 1
    Fedora Core 1
  • Fedora Core 2
    Fedora Core 2
  • Fedora Core 3
    Fedora Core 3
  • Fedora Core 4
    Fedora Core 4
  • Fedora Core 5
    Fedora Core 5
  • Fedora Core 6
    Fedora Core 6
  • Fedora 7
    Fedora 7
  • Fedora 8
    Fedora 8
  • Fedora 9
    Fedora 9
  • Fedora 10
    Fedora 10

Fedora-based distributions

Source: DistroWatch
  • ASPLinux – a Russian Fedora based distribution. ASPLinux also includes closed source NVIDIA and ATI drivers, and supports proprietary audio and video codecs.[55]
  • Aurora SPARC Linux – for the SPARC platform
  • Berry Linux – a medium-sized Fedora based distribution that provides support for Japanese and English.
  • BLAG Linux and GNU – a stripped down 1-CD Fedora with Debian's APT system
  • Eeedora – for the Asus Eee PC
  • Ekaaty – from Brazil
  • Fox Linux – made in Italy, designed for basic home computing tasks such as browsing the Web, writing and printing documents, using multimedia and burning discs.
  • Linpus - made by Taiwanese company Linpus Technologies for the Asian market.
  • Linux XP – a commercial Linux distribution aimed at replacing Windows XP as a home-use desktop operating system.
  • MythDora – based around MythTV's media center capabilities.
  • Nusantara – a Linux distribution supported by the Indonesian ministry of technology as a desktop operating system. It is a part of IGOS program (Indonesia Goes Open Source).[citation needed]
  • Omega — Rahul Sundaram, Red Hat's Community Engineer, has created a Fedora remix with full multimedia support including MP3 and DVD playback support by adding software from RPM Fusion and Livna software repositories by default.[56]
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux – enterprise Linux offering from Red Hat, which branches from the current Fedora baseline.
  • Yellow Dog Linux – for the PowerPC platform.
  • Simplis – focuses on easy-to-use Linux, with a custom KDE interface that resembles Windows Vista.
  • Fedora Colinux - an easy to install and fully functional coLinux distribution based on Fedora Core 6.[57]

Security intrusion

In August 2008 several Fedora servers were compromised. Upon investigation it was found that one of the compromised servers was used for signing Fedora Update packages. The Fedora Project claimed that the attacker(s) did not get the package signing key which could be used to introduce malicious software onto Fedora users' systems through the update process. Project Administrators performed checks on the software and did not find anything to suggest that a Trojan horse had been introduced into the software. As a precaution the Project converted to new package signing keys.[58][59]

Fedora published the full details on 30 March 2009.[60]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b Red Hat (2003-11-06). "Announcing Fedora Core 1". Retrieved 2007-10-18.
  2. ^ a b "Fedora 10 Release Schedule". The Fedora Project. 2008-09-24. Retrieved 2008-09-25.
  3. ^ Jesse Keating. "Announcing Fedora 11 Beta". Retrieved 2009-03-31.
  4. ^ a b Max Spevack. "Fedora Project Leader Max Spevack Responds". Retrieved 2006-12-17.
  5. ^ "Fedora Project Objectives". 2006-12-19. Retrieved 2007-02-12.
  6. ^ Paul W. Frields (2008-05-12). "Fedora 9". Fedora Project. Retrieved 2008-07-27.
  7. ^ Fedora Project life cycle and maintenance, accessed 2009-04-07.
  8. ^ Nikesh Jauhari (2008-06-22). "Linus Torvalds uses Fedora 9". Retrieved 2008-09-10.
  9. ^ a b "Fedora Project: Announcing New Direction". 2003-09-22. Retrieved 2007-10-18.
  10. ^ "The Fedora Project and Red Hat Enterprise Linux, part 4". 2006-08-22. Retrieved 2007-10-18.
  11. ^ "Fedora Network Proposal". Retrieved 2006-07-28.
  12. ^ "Red Hat Inc.'s Use of The Fedora Name". Retrieved 2006-07-28.
  13. ^ Fedora Project. "New Users – How Do I Download Installation Files?". Retrieved 2009-04-03.
  14. ^ Fedora Project. "Alternative Install Methods". Retrieved 2009-04-03.
  15. ^ CustomSpins - Fedora Project Wiki.
  16. ^ Fedora Project (2007-11-19). "Custom Spins". Retrieved 2007-11-19.
  17. ^ Extra Packages for Enterprise Linux (EPEL), accessed 2009-05-15.
  18. ^ a b Stuart Ellis. "Software Management Tools in Fedora Core". Retrieved 2007-11-18.
  19. ^ Fedora Project. "APT and Fedora". Retrieved 2007-11-18.
  20. ^ Stuart Ellis. "Using Repositories". Retrieved 2007-11-18.
  21. ^ "Fedora 7". Retrieved 2007-01-17.
  22. ^ Fedora Project. "Fedora Legacy". Retrieved 2007-11-18.
  23. ^ David Eisenstein (2006-12-29). "Fedora Legacy shutting down". Retrieved 2007-11-18.
  24. ^ "Mandatory Access Control with SELinux" (PDF). Retrieved 2007-10-07.
  25. ^ a b c "Fedora Core 2 Release Notes". Retrieved 2007-10-19.
  26. ^ a b "Fedora Core 3 Release Notes". Retrieved 2007-10-19.
  27. ^ a b "Fedora Core 1 Release Notes". Retrieved 2007-10-19.
  28. ^ "Architectures — FedoraProject". Retrieved 2009-02-16.
  29. ^ a b Red Hat (2004-05-18). "Presenting Fedora Core 2". Retrieved 2007-10-18.
  30. ^ a b c d e Red Hat (2004-11-08). "Announcing the release of Fedora Core 3". Retrieved 2007-10-18.
  31. ^ a b Fedora Project (2005-06-13). "The Amazing Fedora Core 4!". Retrieved 2007-11-18.
  32. ^ a b c d "Fedora Core 4 Release Notes". Fedora Project. Retrieved 2007-11-18.
  33. ^ a b c Fedora Project. "Releases". Retrieved 2008-06-23.
  34. ^ a b "Announcing the release of Fedora Core 5". 2006-03-20. Retrieved 2007-10-18.
  35. ^ "Fedora Core 5 Release Notes". Retrieved 2007-10-18.
  36. ^ Fedora Project (2006-10-24). "Announcing Fedora Core 6 (Zod)". Retrieved 2007-10-18.
  37. ^ a b Fedora Project. "Fedora Core 6 Release Notes". Retrieved 2007-10-18.
  38. ^ Red Hat. "Fedora status report: Announcing Zod". Retrieved 2007-10-18.
  39. ^ a b c Fedora Project (2007-05-31). "Announcing Fedora 7 (Moonshine)". Retrieved 2007-11-07.
  40. ^ a b c d Fedora Project. "Fedora 7 Release Highlights". Retrieved 2007-11-18.
  41. ^ Paul W. Frields (2008-04-29). "Fedora 7 End of Life". Fedora Project. Retrieved 2008-06-23.
  42. ^ "Fedora Project Release Schedule". Retrieved 2007-10-07.
  43. ^ a b c d "Fedora 8 Release Summary". 2007-11-07. Retrieved 2007-11-07.
  44. ^ a b Rahul Sundaram (2008-02-13). "Announcing Fedora 8 Xfce Spin". Fedora Project. Retrieved 2008-05-17.
  45. ^ Jesse Keating (2008-05-13). "The Prophecy of the 9 comes true (Fedora 9 walks the earth!)". Fedora Project. Retrieved 2008-05-13.
  46. ^ "Fedora 9 Release Notes". Fedora Project. Retrieved 2008-05-13.
  47. ^ Wade, Karsten (2008-03-13). "OpenJDK in Fedora 9!". redhatmagazine.com. Retrieved 2008-04-05. 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.
  48. ^ "One Second X". Fedora Project. Retrieved 2008-05-09.
  49. ^ "Fedora 9 (Beta) Release Notes". Fedora Project. Retrieved 2008-01-04.
  50. ^ "How to create and use Live USB — FedoraProject". Fedoraproject.org. Retrieved 2008-12-01.
  51. ^ "Fedora 10 Feature List". The Fedora Project. Retrieved 2008-11-30.
  52. ^ "Red Hat Fedora 11 Focuses on the Linux Desktop". internetnews.com. April 28, 2009. Retrieved 2009-04-30. {{cite news}}: |first= missing |last= (help)CS1 maint: extra punctuation (link)
  53. ^ "Fedora 11 Accepted Features". Fedora Project. Retrieved 2009-05-18.
  54. ^ Fedora 11 Release Schedule
  55. ^ ASPLinux website, accessed 2009-05-15.
  56. ^ Omega Linux, accessed 2009-05-15.
  57. ^ Fedora coLinux, accessed 2009-05-15.
  58. ^ "Security Breach — securityfocus.com".
  59. ^ "Security Breach — Red Hat Mailing list".
  60. ^ "Update and Report on Fedora August 2008 Intrusion — Red Hat Mailing list".

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