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Fedora 38 End of Life On May 21, 2024: Upgrade Now!

Important! Fedora 38 End of Life Approaches (May 21st). Upgrade to Latest Fedora Release Right Away.

By sk
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Fedora Linux 38 will reach its end of life on May 21, 2024 and no longer receive updates or support of any kind. This includes security patches, bug fixes, and software upgrades.

After this date, the Fedora Project team will cease pushing updates to the Fedora 38 stable release.

However, the Fedora Linux 39 version will continue getting updates until approximately one month after Fedora Linux 41 becomes available. You can find the full maintenance schedule for Fedora releases on the project's official wiki.

Upgrade Fedora Linux 38 to Latest Release

If you are currently using Fedora 38, we recommend upgrading to a latest version actively receiving updates to ensure your system remains secure and performs optimally.

We have published a step-by-step guide to help you upgrade from your current Fedora installation to a latest release, which is Fedora Linux 40 at the time of writing this guide.

Fedora Release Cycle

The Fedora Project releases a new version approximately every six months. Each release then receives package updates and maintenance for about 13 months.

This schedule allows users the flexibility to upgrade to every other new release while still running a system that is actively maintained and patched.

For example, if you install Fedora Linux 39 today, you can choose to upgrade to Fedora Linux 41 when it becomes available in about a year, skipping version 40 if desired.

Your Fedora 39 install will continue receiving updates until around a month after version 41's release.

Fedora EOL Releases

When a Fedora Linux version reaches its final maintenance period and no longer receives any updates or patches from the Fedora Project team, it is considered to have reached End of Life (EOL). At this point, the release has completed its full supported life cycle.

Specifically, once a new Fedora version N+2 becomes available (e.g. Fedora 41 when you're on 39), a few key events occur for the N release (Fedora 39):

  • No new software package branches are allowed in the source code repositories,
  • No new rebuilds of existing packages are permitted,
  • All update and security patching comes to a halt,

Essentially, at the EOL stage, a Fedora release exists in a frozen, stagnant state with no further development or updates happening.

The following are unsupported Fedora Linux releases:

ReleaseEOL sinceMaintained for
Fedora Linux 372023-12-05385 days
Fedora Linux 362023-05-16371 days
Fedora Linux 352022-12-13406 days
Fedora Linux 342022-06-07399 days
Fedora Linux 332021-11-30399 days
Fedora Linux 322021-05-25392 days
Fedora Linux 312020-11-24392 days
Fedora Linux 302020-05-26393 days
Fedora Linux 292019-11-26392 days
Fedora Linux 282019-05-28393 days
Fedora Linux 272018-11-30381 days
Fedora Linux 262018-05-29333 days
Fedora Linux 252017-12-12386 days
Fedora Linux 242017-08-08413 days
Fedora Linux 232016-12-20413 days
Fedora Linux 222016-07-19420 days
Fedora Linux 212015-12-01357 days
Fedora Linux 202015-06-23553 days
Fedora Linux 192015-01-06553 days
Fedora Linux 182014-01-14364 days
Fedora Linux 172013-07-30427 days
Fedora Linux 162013-02-12462 days
Fedora Linux 152012-06-26399 days
Fedora Linux 142011-12-09402 days
Fedora Linux 132011-06-24395 days
Fedora Linux 122010-12-02380 days
Fedora Linux 112010-06-25381 days
Fedora Linux 102009-12-17387 days
Fedora Linux 92009-07-10423 days
Fedora Linux 82009-01-07426 days
Fedora Linux 72008-06-13379 days
Fedora Core 62007-12-07409 days
Fedora Core 52007-07-02469 days
Fedora Core 42006-08-07420 days
Fedora Core 32006-01-16434 days
Fedora Core 22005-04-11328 days
Fedora Core 12004-09-20320 days
Table: Unsupported Fedora Linux releases (Source)

Using an EOL Fedora release puts your system at risk, as it will have unfixed vulnerabilities, bugs, and incompatibilities with newer software and services.

To maintain a secure, high-performing system, it's important to upgrade from an EOL Fedora version before reaching that final cut-off window where you miss the opportunity to migrate to a currently supported release.

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