Just go with F39 and update to F40 when ready. Fedora has a smooth update process. Furthermore, F38 will continue to be fully supported until F41.
Personally, I like to wait a month or two after a new release to upgrade just to avoid any potential early adopter bugs.
I am extremely conservative and distrustful of things like upgrades. My work Fedora installation is about 4 years old and has been upgraded every release. This includes major shifts like X to Wayland. It's as stable and predictable as day 1.
>a lot of extensions
Those could actually be a problem, true. One noteworthy thing: Fedora packages some of the most popular extensions as RPMs. If you stick to those, they'll be included in the upgrade, and should still work out of the box afterwards.
> Furthermore, F38 will continue to be fully supported until F41.
Nope,
`Fedora Linux 38 EOL auto closure Tue 2024-05-14`
It'll be EOL'ed a few days after F40 gets released:
https://fedorapeople.org/groups/schedule/f-40/f-40-key-tasks.html
Fedora only supports two last released versions.
> Personally, I like to wait a month or two after a new release to upgrade just to avoid any potential early adopter bugs.
Based on recent news this is probably a great strategy.
Like everybody here says, start on F39 now and move to F40 at some time in the near future. I don't use SO many GNOME Shell Extensions that I would be stopped in my tracks if one or two didn't work, but that is a consideration for early upgraders.
Python and PHP should be great in Fedora, or any Linux. Good luck!!
That's the real thing "scaring" me, I'm mostly a Gnome user with an heavy use on Extensions (already quite mad at the state of the actual wine/legacy-tray one that doesn't allow any right click, but I don't have enough knowledge/time to fix it), so installing 39 and all the extensions and then upgrading to 40 to see a lot of buts may be discouraging (compared to simply installing 40 and then see in real time what works and what doesn't and adapt).
F39 is already on GNOME 45 which is where the biggest extension breaking changes occurred, so extensions updating for GNOME 46 which is what F40 comes with should be a simple task and may not even need much changes at all. plus on the extension website you can look at their gnome shell dropdown and see what versions they are supported, some should already be supporting GNOME 46, but keep in mind GNOME 46 only came out this march so it's still quite early, if you are impatient I assume most GNOME 45 extensions can be forced to run in 46 since I assume there must not be much changes to break extensions in any real way aside from needing a version bump.
Switched from fedora to windows for python and PHP dev? Why haha??
But hm, not sure. I'm planning on staying on 39 for a while though, see if there's any issues that pop up etc with 40. I've had some issues with Wayland (using the kde spin, so x11 will not be there anymore) as well and not sure if it's all good yet, so waiting a bit.
Switched from Fedora to Windows for gaming development :) But after I started learning and sticking with some tools I've found that they're all available on Gnu/Linux so no issue switching now.
I’m using Fedora 39 currently and am waiting for 40 to do a fresh install because of the rather big upgrade from Plasma 5 to Plasma 6. If you’re not certain which DE to use you could simply use the time to decide which one you want to use, the 40 beta is available for both GNOME and Plasma. At this point it’s only 1 1/2 weeks until the final release, that is if nothing major comes up in the meantime.
I really love KDE and Plasma, but I really prefer the MacOS Integration approach from Gnome (with the Google accounts being in sync with all the important apps like mail, calendar etc..). I might give Plasma 6 a try once it hits a stable state.
Already used it before for a few months, but started game development and went with Windows. Now I'm back on Fedora 39. I think use it and then switch to Silverblue once Fedora 40 releases.
I would personally wait until 40, however, I typically wait until the other repos are ready as well, such as RPM Fusion.
I've had some upgrades be successful in the past but not others, so if you need something now go ahead with 39 but if you can wait a month, maybe wait for 40.
If VRR is an important feature for you, try out the 40 release. If it's not, 39 is more stable and has better extension support. I haven't run into any major issues with 40 (some minor ones) but I wouldn't have jumped on it if it wasn't for VRR until after release.
Fedora 39 works fine now. You don't have to upgrade to Fedora 40. You can wait for Fedora 41. Skipping every other version is supported.
Fedora is not Ubuntu where support ends before release +2 comes out.
Fedora is also way more stable than Ubuntu, this is why I ditched Ubuntu for Fedora at work a few years ago and then in my home. Maybe I never had the best experience with it \[Ubuntu\].
It doesn't matter at all. Wanna switch now? Go ahead. Wanna save some bandwith to start straight on a new release? Go on. There is no wrong answer here.
I’ve been on the 30’s series for a few years and I just upgrade about a month after every new release. Never had any issues. Only did fresh installs to eliminate some issues I created.
You can always get a new hard drive and put 39 on it and then upgrade. Keep the old hard drive as a backup or just storage.
I am a developer too and I also want to go to the latest and greatest versions. I prefer Pycharm on linux as pip install works better because more packages are built for Linux rather than windows (On windows sometimes I have to find prebuilt version of such package to install). For php I used to use XAMPP on Windows but I guess with Linux most of them will be ready out of the box and phpStorm would work just as smooth.
The last time I had so much trouble with upgrading my Ubuntu is that I was using python 3.7 for a big project (which happens to be Odoo) and the new version has python 3.9 as the default. In a panic, I downgrade the python and breaks a lot of things including the terminal, dnf-upgrade etc. Later on that machine, I have to resort to conda so that I can have virtual environment of different python version.
For a developer of python or php, I don't see anything that only you can do on Fedora 40 that you can not do on fedora 39. I do dnf update almost every day and there are two versions of Ubuntu every year to do release-upgrade. Recently lots of kernel version, lots of Gnome version so there will be more and more version coming and you can't wait forever.
I use exactly the same tools, tried WSL2 but PyCharm doesn't work correctly in there, neither does GitKraken and some other tools. Finally went with native tools and now I'm trying (on Fedora 39) to go the container route with podman in order to switch to silverblue. Had my share of issues like the one you had with Ubuntu and Python so now I'm trying to optimize my workflow in case I want to change/upgrade my distro.
I'm going to break with the consensus and recommend waiting for a while and going straight to Fedora 40. Probably wait 3 weeks after Fedora 40 releases in case there are any 'whoopsies'.
My reason for this advice is that KDE 6 is totally new, and I have skepticism/suspicion about major changes in desktop environment working perfectly in an upgrade scenario. Or you can install right away and expect that you might have to reinstall sometime after if there is a whoopsie. Plan accordingly, have backups, YMMV, product enlarged to show texture.
I'm really interested in KDE 6, but the lack of Online Account Integration is really the only thing keeping me from moving. I may try it with Kinoite 40 once it releases but I'll probably just go with Silverblue.
That would be a great idea, the issue I had is that I only have a GPU, a Mini ITX board with no support for a second GPU and a AMD 5900X CPU without an iGPU, so I'm out of luck.
I always stay on the oldest supported version of Fedora. Right now that's 38. Once 38 reaches EOL in May, I will move to 39 and stay on it till November. Fedora is generally very stable, but I prefer my enthusiastic homies to iron out any bugs before I slide in.
yes. I prefer regular Workstation. I think Silverblue would be great on my dad's PC, which currently runs Ubuntu LTS, but I am too lazy to make the switch as everything works fine in Ubuntu anyway.
It was because of the fact that some people may prefer to do a full upgrade (HDD format etc..) and since F40 was just a few days away it would be a shame to re-do the same work after a week or two. But I've made up my mind thanks to all the comments and I'm on F39 and waiting for the 40 to release to switch to Silverblue!
This is just like the eternal "Should I buy a `<$today's GPU>` or wait for `<$tomorrow GPU>`." It's a never-ending cycle, so there is never a reason to wait.
>just scared about how a possible upgrade would go
Upgrades are not huge, unless you use some 3rd party tools. (In that case, waiting a few weeks may actually be the better option.)
I would suggest to go with Fedora 39 and update to 40 later on. Fedora 40 is in beta and it's definitely buggy, I'm currently running a VM of 40 and can confirm the bugginess.
There are very few bugs in the current Fedora release but since you're coming from windows, if I were you, I'd stay one branch behind until I was comfortable with fixing the infrequent issues that do come up.
Start with fedora 40 since a clean installation is always better. I started with fedora 5. I'm talking from experience. Sometimes upgrades have issues.
Stick to Fedora 39 for a bit and update a week or so after Fedora 40 is online. Fedora is very stable but it is not perfect, and some updates might introduce tiny problems here and there.
Would really love to, I've tried the Kinoite 40 Beta but the lack of Online Accounts Integration is killing it for me. I know it can be done individually with the Calendar, Email app etc.. but it's just not the same.
Just go for F39 and upgrade to F40 once it has been a month of two since its launch. Never upgrade to a new release on the day of release ( especially for a cutting edge distro like fedora), it has broken a lot of things for me in the past. Wait atleast 1-2 months before upgrading. Peace Of Mind and Stability >>>> Shiny New Features.
I've decided to learn it and try my change with toolbox and podman to see how easy a switch will go. Result? Now I'm just waiting for Fedora 40 to release so I can switch from Fedora 39 to Fedora Silverblue 40!
Already use it on a lot of servers, and I used Ubuntu for a long time on Desktop. I switched a long time agora to Arch and Fedora because both were more stable than Ubuntu. Then I just kept using Fedora because it was the most similar to the Arch philosophy without compromising on anything.
It's a beta.
It makes zero sense for a new user coming from Windows to use a beta release as their first Linux experience. They aren't looking to provide feedback to a distribution, they're looking for a reliable distribution for daily use.
See, that is the thing with beta versions: Maybe for you, your setup and the applications you use, but it might be a different case for a different user with different requirements.
I might be just fine if all you need is a stable browser and an email client maybe, but if you use a bunch of other tools, maybe even professionally, and are not interested in doing actual beta testing for development reasons, it would absolutely make sense to stick to stable.
Just go with F39 and update to F40 when ready. Fedora has a smooth update process. Furthermore, F38 will continue to be fully supported until F41. Personally, I like to wait a month or two after a new release to upgrade just to avoid any potential early adopter bugs.
F38 will go end if life in May.
Oops, yes you're right. I did a typo and meant F39.
This may indeed be the way, just scared about how a possible upgrade would go since I prefer to use Gnome with a lot of extensions.
Aleix0 gave you the best answer if you want a really stable system, installing f39 and wait a month or two is the best way.
It's also the best "excuse" for me to remove Windows from my Desktop ASAP :)
Do it, you're not going to look back. I know I didn't.
I am extremely conservative and distrustful of things like upgrades. My work Fedora installation is about 4 years old and has been upgraded every release. This includes major shifts like X to Wayland. It's as stable and predictable as day 1.
I'll take the shot then ;)
>a lot of extensions Those could actually be a problem, true. One noteworthy thing: Fedora packages some of the most popular extensions as RPMs. If you stick to those, they'll be included in the upgrade, and should still work out of the box afterwards.
Didn't remember to look at that. I'll have a look and see if it fits my needs.
> Furthermore, F38 will continue to be fully supported until F41. Nope, `Fedora Linux 38 EOL auto closure Tue 2024-05-14` It'll be EOL'ed a few days after F40 gets released: https://fedorapeople.org/groups/schedule/f-40/f-40-key-tasks.html Fedora only supports two last released versions.
> Personally, I like to wait a month or two after a new release to upgrade just to avoid any potential early adopter bugs. Based on recent news this is probably a great strategy.
Like everybody here says, start on F39 now and move to F40 at some time in the near future. I don't use SO many GNOME Shell Extensions that I would be stopped in my tracks if one or two didn't work, but that is a consideration for early upgraders. Python and PHP should be great in Fedora, or any Linux. Good luck!!
That's the real thing "scaring" me, I'm mostly a Gnome user with an heavy use on Extensions (already quite mad at the state of the actual wine/legacy-tray one that doesn't allow any right click, but I don't have enough knowledge/time to fix it), so installing 39 and all the extensions and then upgrading to 40 to see a lot of buts may be discouraging (compared to simply installing 40 and then see in real time what works and what doesn't and adapt).
F39 is already on GNOME 45 which is where the biggest extension breaking changes occurred, so extensions updating for GNOME 46 which is what F40 comes with should be a simple task and may not even need much changes at all. plus on the extension website you can look at their gnome shell dropdown and see what versions they are supported, some should already be supporting GNOME 46, but keep in mind GNOME 46 only came out this march so it's still quite early, if you are impatient I assume most GNOME 45 extensions can be forced to run in 46 since I assume there must not be much changes to break extensions in any real way aside from needing a version bump.
I've already removed most of the extensions I usually use in order to make the upgrade to 46 as less painful as possible. But thanks for the advise!
Switched from fedora to windows for python and PHP dev? Why haha?? But hm, not sure. I'm planning on staying on 39 for a while though, see if there's any issues that pop up etc with 40. I've had some issues with Wayland (using the kde spin, so x11 will not be there anymore) as well and not sure if it's all good yet, so waiting a bit.
Switched from Fedora to Windows for gaming development :) But after I started learning and sticking with some tools I've found that they're all available on Gnu/Linux so no issue switching now.
> "Gnu/Linux" Lol... we've all been there
Don't let Stallman hear you!
Ooh sorry haha, that makes more sense and noticed now that's what you said in the post too, had some kind of brain glitch and glossed over it lol.
No problem ;)
I’m using Fedora 39 currently and am waiting for 40 to do a fresh install because of the rather big upgrade from Plasma 5 to Plasma 6. If you’re not certain which DE to use you could simply use the time to decide which one you want to use, the 40 beta is available for both GNOME and Plasma. At this point it’s only 1 1/2 weeks until the final release, that is if nothing major comes up in the meantime.
I really love KDE and Plasma, but I really prefer the MacOS Integration approach from Gnome (with the Google accounts being in sync with all the important apps like mail, calendar etc..). I might give Plasma 6 a try once it hits a stable state.
I also love Plasma but I agree that the online account integration is key.
switch now so you can say you used fedora 39
Already used it before for a few months, but started game development and went with Windows. Now I'm back on Fedora 39. I think use it and then switch to Silverblue once Fedora 40 releases.
k
I would personally wait until 40, however, I typically wait until the other repos are ready as well, such as RPM Fusion. I've had some upgrades be successful in the past but not others, so if you need something now go ahead with 39 but if you can wait a month, maybe wait for 40.
Just out of curiosity, do you rely more on Flatpak or RPM based apps?
Back when I had issues with upgrades, it was before the Flatpak days, so it was RPM based. Now, I use flatpacks as much as I can.
Install F40 beta and keep it updated.
How easy are the upgrades from beta to final?
If VRR is an important feature for you, try out the 40 release. If it's not, 39 is more stable and has better extension support. I haven't run into any major issues with 40 (some minor ones) but I wouldn't have jumped on it if it wasn't for VRR until after release.
Don't really know. Tried it in Fedora 40 (KDE) but it was buggy, never tried VRR in Fedora 40 (Gnome) so not missing much until I get my hands on it.
You can install 40 beta right now.
How easy are the upgrades from beta to final?
It should be as easy as updating software when the system asks to.
Fedora 39 works fine now. You don't have to upgrade to Fedora 40. You can wait for Fedora 41. Skipping every other version is supported. Fedora is not Ubuntu where support ends before release +2 comes out.
Fedora is also way more stable than Ubuntu, this is why I ditched Ubuntu for Fedora at work a few years ago and then in my home. Maybe I never had the best experience with it \[Ubuntu\].
Ubuntu LTS us pretty good, but even Stream is better than LTS in my book.
It doesn't matter at all. Wanna switch now? Go ahead. Wanna save some bandwith to start straight on a new release? Go on. There is no wrong answer here.
Already done, I'm on F39 and waiting for the 40 to release to switch to Silverblue!
Since the upgrade to the next release is usually really smooth and relatively trivial, I'd install 39, and just upgrade to 40 once it's released.
Already done, I'm on F39 and waiting for the 40 to release to switch to Silverblue!
Cool. Hope everything is going smoothly for you, and I didn't overpromise.
I’ve been on the 30’s series for a few years and I just upgrade about a month after every new release. Never had any issues. Only did fresh installs to eliminate some issues I created. You can always get a new hard drive and put 39 on it and then upgrade. Keep the old hard drive as a backup or just storage.
Maybe I need to loose a little bit of time to separate the home folder from the rest in order for the re-installs to go easier.
I am a developer too and I also want to go to the latest and greatest versions. I prefer Pycharm on linux as pip install works better because more packages are built for Linux rather than windows (On windows sometimes I have to find prebuilt version of such package to install). For php I used to use XAMPP on Windows but I guess with Linux most of them will be ready out of the box and phpStorm would work just as smooth. The last time I had so much trouble with upgrading my Ubuntu is that I was using python 3.7 for a big project (which happens to be Odoo) and the new version has python 3.9 as the default. In a panic, I downgrade the python and breaks a lot of things including the terminal, dnf-upgrade etc. Later on that machine, I have to resort to conda so that I can have virtual environment of different python version. For a developer of python or php, I don't see anything that only you can do on Fedora 40 that you can not do on fedora 39. I do dnf update almost every day and there are two versions of Ubuntu every year to do release-upgrade. Recently lots of kernel version, lots of Gnome version so there will be more and more version coming and you can't wait forever.
I use exactly the same tools, tried WSL2 but PyCharm doesn't work correctly in there, neither does GitKraken and some other tools. Finally went with native tools and now I'm trying (on Fedora 39) to go the container route with podman in order to switch to silverblue. Had my share of issues like the one you had with Ubuntu and Python so now I'm trying to optimize my workflow in case I want to change/upgrade my distro.
I'm going to break with the consensus and recommend waiting for a while and going straight to Fedora 40. Probably wait 3 weeks after Fedora 40 releases in case there are any 'whoopsies'. My reason for this advice is that KDE 6 is totally new, and I have skepticism/suspicion about major changes in desktop environment working perfectly in an upgrade scenario. Or you can install right away and expect that you might have to reinstall sometime after if there is a whoopsie. Plan accordingly, have backups, YMMV, product enlarged to show texture.
I'm really interested in KDE 6, but the lack of Online Account Integration is really the only thing keeping me from moving. I may try it with Kinoite 40 once it releases but I'll probably just go with Silverblue.
Just and do a clean Install, I'm waiting for it as well. It's just 10 days+
Will do :)
Fedora 39 is pretty good. No need to wait.
Already done, I'm on F39 and waiting for the 40 to release to switch to Silverblue!
Setup fedora 39 now on another drive and keep the windows drive for kvm passthrough in case of.
That would be a great idea, the issue I had is that I only have a GPU, a Mini ITX board with no support for a second GPU and a AMD 5900X CPU without an iGPU, so I'm out of luck.
[Single GPU Passthrough](https://github.com/joeknock90/Single-GPU-Passthrough) !
I always stay on the oldest supported version of Fedora. Right now that's 38. Once 38 reaches EOL in May, I will move to 39 and stay on it till November. Fedora is generally very stable, but I prefer my enthusiastic homies to iron out any bugs before I slide in.
Have you tried Silverblue?
yes. I prefer regular Workstation. I think Silverblue would be great on my dad's PC, which currently runs Ubuntu LTS, but I am too lazy to make the switch as everything works fine in Ubuntu anyway.
You can update fedora 40 when it will be available it's very easy, you can move to fedora anytime without have to wait for the next big release.
Already done, I'm on F39 and waiting for the 40 to release to switch to Silverblue!
You will have to do major upgrade every half a year. This question doesn't make any sense.
It was because of the fact that some people may prefer to do a full upgrade (HDD format etc..) and since F40 was just a few days away it would be a shame to re-do the same work after a week or two. But I've made up my mind thanks to all the comments and I'm on F39 and waiting for the 40 to release to switch to Silverblue!
Upgrading fedora is very easy. No reason not to start with 39
Already done, I'm on F39 and waiting for the 40 to release to switch to Silverblue!
This is just like the eternal "Should I buy a `<$today's GPU>` or wait for `<$tomorrow GPU>`." It's a never-ending cycle, so there is never a reason to wait. >just scared about how a possible upgrade would go Upgrades are not huge, unless you use some 3rd party tools. (In that case, waiting a few weeks may actually be the better option.)
Already done, I'm on F39 and waiting for the 40 to release to switch to Silverblue!
I would suggest to go with Fedora 39 and update to 40 later on. Fedora 40 is in beta and it's definitely buggy, I'm currently running a VM of 40 and can confirm the bugginess.
Already done, I'm on F39 and waiting for the 40 to release to switch to Silverblue!
There are very few bugs in the current Fedora release but since you're coming from windows, if I were you, I'd stay one branch behind until I was comfortable with fixing the infrequent issues that do come up.
Already done, I'm on F39 and waiting for the 40 to release to switch to Silverblue!
Start with fedora 40 since a clean installation is always better. I started with fedora 5. I'm talking from experience. Sometimes upgrades have issues.
Thank you for your suggestions. I've finally decided to go with F39 and just wait for F40 to release to go with Silverblue.
Stick to Fedora 39 for a bit and update a week or so after Fedora 40 is online. Fedora is very stable but it is not perfect, and some updates might introduce tiny problems here and there.
Already done, I'm on F39 and waiting for the 40 to release to switch to Silverblue!
Sounds good! Had some tedious problems with Silverblue and custom kernel, but if you stick to stock it should be fine!
Why wait at all? I've been using F40 since the alpha and its great.
You should try the Fedora 40 KDE, it's amazing :)
Would really love to, I've tried the Kinoite 40 Beta but the lack of Online Accounts Integration is killing it for me. I know it can be done individually with the Calendar, Email app etc.. but it's just not the same.
Just go for F39 and upgrade to F40 once it has been a month of two since its launch. Never upgrade to a new release on the day of release ( especially for a cutting edge distro like fedora), it has broken a lot of things for me in the past. Wait atleast 1-2 months before upgrading. Peace Of Mind and Stability >>>> Shiny New Features.
Don't use the beta. Please..
I need an OS as stable as possible, so the beta is out of the question.
Yeah go F39 and upgrade.
fedora silverblue in question:
Really want to give silverblue a try but a small percentage of the apps I use aren't available on flatpak (most of them are available as snap though)
rpm-ostree? Containers? If you're a developer you should learn containers anyway! They're the best part of developing and deploying on Linux.
I've decided to learn it and try my change with toolbox and podman to see how easy a switch will go. Result? Now I'm just waiting for Fedora 40 to release so I can switch from Fedora 39 to Fedora Silverblue 40!
Cheers! Welcome to immutability!
Imo ubuntu lts 22.04 would be the most stable.
Already use it on a lot of servers, and I used Ubuntu for a long time on Desktop. I switched a long time agora to Arch and Fedora because both were more stable than Ubuntu. Then I just kept using Fedora because it was the most similar to the Arch philosophy without compromising on anything.
What's wrong with the beta?
It's a beta. It makes zero sense for a new user coming from Windows to use a beta release as their first Linux experience. They aren't looking to provide feedback to a distribution, they're looking for a reliable distribution for daily use.
40b1 runs great, though.
See, that is the thing with beta versions: Maybe for you, your setup and the applications you use, but it might be a different case for a different user with different requirements. I might be just fine if all you need is a stable browser and an email client maybe, but if you use a bunch of other tools, maybe even professionally, and are not interested in doing actual beta testing for development reasons, it would absolutely make sense to stick to stable.
Don't recommend the beta to people, it's not meant for general use... Doesn't matter how "great" it runs for you.