Fedora Linux 41 is officially released with a plethora of updates and improvements. Fedora Linux 41 ships with Linux Kernel 6.11, GNOME 47 on Workstation edition, KDE Plasma 6.2 on Fedora KDE edition, DNF 5 and many new features.
In this blog post, we will discuss the key changes and additions in Fedora Linux 41.
Table of Contents
Key Features of Fedora 41
This release introduces a multitude of features and enhancements:
DNF 5
Fedora 41 boasts a new major release of DNF, the command-line package management tool. DNF 5 is faster, smaller, and requires fewer supporting packages, making it suitable for use across various environments, from containers to desktops.
Desktop Updates
Fedora Workstation 41 is built upon GNOME 47, bringing accent colour customisation, enhanced small screen support, and new-style dialogue windows.
Ptyxis replaces GNOME Terminal as the default terminal application, offering features like a terminal inspector, native light/dark mode support, and customizable keyboard shortcuts.
KDE Plasma 6.2
Fedora KDE Plasma Desktop ships with the latest KDE Plasma 6.2 release, accompanied by a new spin featuring KDE Plasma Mobile.
Fedora Miracle
A brand new desktop environment, Miracle, is built on Mir and Wayland, offering tiling window management, smooth animations, and eye-catching graphics.
Image Mode Advancements
Image-based Fedora variants, like Atomic Desktops, CoreOS, and Fedora IoT, now include "bootc", a successor to rpm-ostree. This tool offers greater flexibility, allowing users to define their Fedora experience using container patterns.
A transition from rpm-ostree to bootc is easily achievable with a simple command, such as sudo bootc switch quay.io/fedora/fedora-iot:41 for Fedora IoT.
Future plans include DNF 5 integration for managing locally-installed packages in image-mode systems. The inclusion of bootupd simplifies bootloader updates, including updates to the Secure Boot database.
Secure Boot for Nvidia Users
Fedora 41 restores Secure Boot support for systems requiring the proprietary Nvidia driver. This change makes it easier for users to utilise their hardware, as GNOME Software now creates a Machine Owner Key when installing the driver, allowing manual enablement.
MIPI and Pipewire Camera Support
Integrated support for Intel IPU6 attached MIPI cameras, commonly found in newer laptops, addresses previous challenges in getting these cameras to function properly. Firefox also ships with default PipeWire support for video, enabling a clearer indicator in the GNOME top bar for camera activation.
Traditional Chinese Input Method
ibus-chewing becomes the default input method for Traditional Chinese (Taiwan) users, enhancing user-friendliness and providing features like multi-dictionary support.
System-wide Changes in Fedora 41
Beyond the user-facing features, several system-wide changes have been implemented:
Programming Languages and Development Tools
- Python 2.7 was retired. This means that any packages that require Python 2.7 will need to be updated or retired as well.
- The default package manager was changed from dnf to dnf5.
- The Python stack was updated from Python 3.12 to Python 3.13.
- Perl was updated to version 5.40.
- Golang was updated to version 1.23.
- Node.js 22.x became the default interpreter. Node.js versions 20.x and 18.x are still available.
- RPM was updated to version 4.20.
- The GNU Toolchain was updated, including gcc 14.1+, binutils 2.42+, glibc 2.40, and gdb 14+.
Security and System Management
- Support for ifcfg format in NetworkManager was removed, along with the network-scripts package. This means that legacy ifup/ifdown network scripts are no longer supported.
- OpenSSL no longer trusts SHA-1 signatures by default.
- Support for OpenSSL engine was deprecated.
- Tuned became the default power profile management daemon in Fedora Workstation, KDE Plasma, and Budgie.
- Reproducible package builds were implemented using a post-build cleanup process integrated into RPM. This makes most Fedora packages reproducible.
- Redis was replaced with Valkey due to Redis's licence change.
- Java libraries no longer require Requires on JREs.
- Systems were upgraded to createrepo_c 1.0, and repository metadata settings were changed.
- The final phase of the transition from using Fedora’s short names for licenses to SPDX identifiers was implemented.
Other Notable Changes
- PyTorch 2.4: The popular deep learning library, PyTorch, is updated to version 2.4.
- ROCm 6.2: This latest ROCm release aligns with AMD's upstream release and incorporates packages for AI workloads, integrating with Fedora's PyTorch.
- LXQt 2.0: Fedora's LXQt desktop environment gets an upgrade to version 2.0.
- Self-Encrypting Drive Support: The installer now includes optional support for native hardware encryption on TCG OPAL2 compliant drives.
- Taskwarrior 3: The task management tool, Taskwarrior, is updated to version 3.
- GIMP 3: Fedora 41 introduces the major release, GIMP 3, to its users.
- Python Built with gcc -O3: CPython is now built with the -O3 compiler flag, boosting performance.
- Fedora KDE AArch64 deliverables were marked as release-blocking.
- Big endian support was removed from the acpica-tools package and s390x was removed from the list of supported architectures.
These changes are specific to the individual packages and do not affect the system as a whole.
Download Fedora Linux 41
New users can opt for a fresh installation by downloading the installation media for their preferred edition, including Workstation, Cloud, Server, CoreOS, and IoT. Options for Atomic Desktops, like Silverblue and Kinoite, and alternate desktop spins are also available.
Upgrade Fedora Linux 40 to 41
Users with existing Fedora systems can easily upgrade to Fedora 41.
The above guide is written for upgrading to Fedora 40 from 39, but the procedure is exactly same for the latest version.
Install Fedora Linux 41
If you want to try out the latest features in Fedora 41, the following guide will walk you through the steps to install Fedora Linux 41 Workstation Edition on your computer.
