Announcing the release of Fedora 23 Beta!

Tue Sep 22 15:16:39 UTC 2015

On Tue, Sep 22, 2015 at 9:46 AM, Dennis Gilmore <dennis at ausil.us> wrote:

> Fedora 23 Beta Release Announcement
> ===================================
>
> The Fedora 23 Beta is here, right on schedule for our planned
> October final release! Want to help make Fedora 23 be the best
> release ever, or just want to get a sneak peek? Download the
> prerelease from our Get Fedora site and give it a whirl:
>
> -   Get Fedora 23 Beta Workstation — a reliable, user-friendly, and
>     powerful operating system for your laptop or desktop computer
>     https://getfedora.org/en/workstation/prerelease/
>
> -   Get Fedora 23 Beta Server — make use of the very latest
>     server-based technologies available in the open source community
>     https://getfedora.org/en/server/prerelease/
>
> -   Get Fedora 23 Beta Cloud — build scale-out computing and utilize
>     the next generation of container deployment technology
>     https://getfedora.org/en/cloud/prerelease/
>
> -   Get Fedora 23 Beta Spins — alternative desktops for Fedora
>     https://spins.fedoraproject.org/prerelease
>
> -   Get Fedora 23 Beta Labs — curated bundles of purpose-driven
>     software and content
>     https://labs.fedoraproject.org/prerelease
>
>
> What is the Beta release?
> -------------------------
>
> The Beta release contains all the exciting features of Fedora 23'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 23 is expected
> in October.
>
> We need your help to make Fedora 23 the best yet, so please take
> some time to download and try out the Beta and make sure the things
> that are important to you are working. If you find a bug, please
> report it – every bug you uncover is a chance to improve the
> experience for 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
> feasible, and your feedback will help improve not only Fedora but
> Linux and free software on the whole.
>
>
> Fedora-Wide Changes
> -------------------
>
> Fedora 23 includes a number of changes that will improve all of the
> editions. For example, Fedora 23 makes use of compiler flags to
> improve security by "hardening" the binaries against memory
> corruption vulnerabilities, buffer overflows, and so on. This is a
> "behind the scenes" change that most users won't notice through
> normal use of a Fedora edition, but will help provide additional
> system security.
>
> Likewise, Fedora 23 has disabled SSL3 and RC4 by default due to
> known vulnerabilities in the protocols. This means all applications
> that use GNUTLS and OpenSSL libraries have had the SSL3 protocol
> and RC4 cipher disabled.
>
> Fedora 23 comes with the latest version of Mono 4. This means a big
> improvement because we were stuck with an ancient version of Mono
> (2.10) for too long. All packages within Fedora that are based on
> Mono have been adjusted and rebuilt, to target the 4.5 version of
> the .Net framework. Mono 4 does not support solutions targeting
> v1.0, v2.0 or v3.5 of .Net, but usually they can be easily upgraded
> to v4.5.
>
> Fedora 23 Beta also includes support for Unicode 8.0, which
> includes new emojis, and improvements in sorting Unicode text and
> processing non-ASCII URLs.
>
>
> Fedora Server
> -------------
>
> The Fedora Server release includes a number of interesting changes
> and additions.
>
> The rolekit service now supports setting up three roles. In
> addition to the previously supported Domain Controller (powered by
> FreeIPA abd Database Server (powered by PostgreSQL) roles, Fedora
> Server 23 features a cache server for web applications (powered by
> memcached).
>
> Rolekit can also now be used from the anaconda kickstart by passing
> the `--deferred` arguments to `rolectl`. For example: `rolectl
> deploy domaincontroller --name=example.com --deferred` will
> instruct the system to deploy the Domain Controller role on the
> next boot.
>
> The Cockpit Admin Interface in Fedora Server has several big
> improvements as well.
>
> -   Support for SSH key authentication
> -   Support for configuring user accounts with their authorized keys.
> -   Basic cluster dashboard for driving Kubernetes on Fedora Server
>     and Fedora Atomic Host.
> -   Set the imezone for your Fedora Server from the Cockpit User
>     Interface (UI).
> -   Cockpit has also been made safe to use with multipath disks.
>
>
> Fedora Workstation
> ------------------
>
> While there's a lot going on under the hood, desktop users are also
> going to find Fedora 23 Beta pretty exciting for all the obvious
> goodness coming to the desktop. The easiest way to experience the
> preview of these technologies is to download and try the Fedora 23
> Beta Workstation edition.
>
> Naturally, GNOME is getting an upgrade, with Fedora 23 containing a
> preview of the upcoming GNOME 3.18 release, which is easier to use
> than ever. There are also many enhancements on the way, such as:
>
> -   Improvements to next-generation graphics stack Wayland,
>     preparing it to be the default graphical server in a future release.
>     This includes mixed HiDPI support, to provide a better experience
>     when moving apps between HiDPI and non-HiDPI monitors
> -   Support for ambient backlight drivers, so brightness responds to
>     the environment on laptops with the required hardware
> -   The Software application is smarter about metered Internet
>     connections, and can now update system firmware
> -   Refreshed support for Google APIs to provide access to user data
>     through GNOME apps (including Google Drive integration)
>
> Users trying to get a little work done on Fedora will be happy to see
> LibreOffice 5 in Fedora 23. The new release includes a lot of new
> features and improvements:
>
> -   Style previews in the sidebar
> -   Microsoft Word-compatible text highlighting
> -   Built-in image crop
> -   UI for data bars in Calc
> -   Support for Time-Stamp Protocol in PDF export
> -   Support for Adobe Swatch Exchange color palettes
> -   Import of Apple Pages files
> -   Improved support for HiDPI screens
> -   Significantly improved support for MS Office formats
>
>
> Fedora Cloud
> ------------
>
> Fedora 23 Cloud Base image includes many updates and enhancements to the
> underlying Fedora base packages. For example, Fedora 23 now has the
> latest Docker release, docker 1.8. We can now verify the publisher
> of an image before running. This gives the users the power to identify
> that the image publisher published has not been tampered with.
>
> Stay tuned for news about Fedora Atomic Host in the not too distant
> future!
>
>
> Other notable changes in Fedora
> -------------------------------
>
> ### Spins
>
> Fedora Spins are alternative desktops for Fedora that provide a
> different experience than the standard Fedora Workstation edition.
> For instance, the Fedora KDE and Fedora Xfce spins provide popular
> alternatives to GNOME for Fedora users who enjoy the KDE or Xfce
> experience.
>
> There's a new spin in town for Fedora 23. Want a classic take on a
> modern desktop? If so, the Cinnamon spin may just be what you're
> hoping to find. Fedora 23 includes a spin that tries to emulate the
> GNOME 2 experience using GNOME Shell from GNOME 3.x.
>
> Sugar on a Stick is a stand-alone implementation of the desktop
> environment originally designed for the One Laptop per Child
> project. Fedora's SoaS spin has been updated to Sugar 0.106, for
> better performance, updated activities, and a new "social help"
> feature for collaborative learning.
>
>
> ### Labs
>
> Fedora Labs are curated software collections. You can find updated
> live media focused on Games, Design, Robotics, and more.
>
>
> Issues and Details
> ------------------
>
> This is an Beta 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 F23
> Bugs page. https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Common_F23_bugs
>
> For tips on reporting a bug effectively, read "how to file a bug
> report." https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/How_to_file_a_bug_report
>
>
> Release Schedule
> ----------------
>
> The full release schedule planned is available on the Fedora wiki.
> The current schedule calls for a beta release towards the end of
> September, and the final release scheduled towards the end of October.
> https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Releases/23/Schedule
>
> These dates are subject to change, pending any major bugs or issues
> found during the development process.
>
>
Looks like Fedora 23 is shaping up to be an exciting release!

Of note though, Cinnamon isn't using GNOME Shell. It is *forked* from it
and reuses much of the GTK+/GNOME 3 stack, but it is very much its own
environment.

-- 
真実はいつも一つ！/ Always, there's only one truth!
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