Fedora Linux 43: Goodbye X11, Hello WebUI
Fedora 43 makes the new installer the default and sweeps X11 out of the desktop: The main editions with Gnome 49 and KDE Plasma 6.5 now only work with Wayland.
(Image: Screenshot David Wolski)
While Fedora is never shy about making extensive changes to its Linux distribution, the two significant changes for the now-released version 43 have required further development, and in the case of the removed X11 support in Gnome, led to internal discussions. With Fedora Linux 43, the Gnome session is now only available with Wayland as the display protocol—there is no longer an optional package to retrofit an X11 session. This is because Gnome and its components are now compiled entirely without X11—a possibility of this desktop environment from Gnome version 47 onwards. The reduction to Wayland was initially expected to affect the display manager GDM for login, which, without X11 support, would no longer be able to start other additionally installed desktop environments with this protocol. Like Ubuntu, Fedora therefore refrained from the final step and keeps X11 in GDM until Fedora 49, so that users with multiple installed desktops alongside Gnome do not have to switch to another display manager like LightDM for now.
Anaconda in a new guise
Fedora's installer, called Anaconda, has always stood out with its unusual user interface, which does not present linear menus but rather submenus for individual steps such as partitioning, user accounts, and network connections. Most recently, Anaconda received a major addition in Fedora 26 with the alternative partitioner Blivet, which offered advanced users detailed settings when creating new partitions. Now Fedora, with the new installer WebUI, is smoothing over the long-known problems of the Anaconda interface. WebUI is based on HTML, Javascript, and Python and provides a linear, more intuitive frontend for Anaconda, which is more similar to the familiar installation paths of other Linux distributions.
(Image:Â Screenshot David Wolski)
With a new option for reinstallation, WebUI can also reinstall the system over an existing one while retaining the already existing data in the home directories. The new installer, which has been in development since Fedora 37, had its debut in the previous edition. However, only in Fedora's Gnome version, while now the new installer is also the default for KDE Plasma and the Fedora Spins. There are minor differences in the installer of the Gnome edition: the creation of the first user account in Gnome occurs after the first boot of the installed system, while in the other Fedora editions it happens directly in the WebUI. In upcoming editions, WebUI will also install the server edition, the network installation media, and the immutable editions and will completely replace the previous GTK4 frontend for Anaconda from Fedora 46 onwards. Its structure as an app using web technologies should also facilitate the installation of Fedora in cloud instances via remote connections in the browser.
Boot partition and initial ramdisk
Automatic partitioning has also become simpler, with Fedora by default creating btrfs volumes with the home directory as subvolumes, with compression enabled via Zstandard and a very low compression level. This method is not intended to save disk space but to measurably reduce write operations for flash storage devices. In EFI mode, Fedora now always requires a disk with GPT as the partition table and no longer accepts a Master Boot Record. While this combination is possible according to the EI specification, it has repeatedly caused problems in practice with UEFI implementations from various manufacturers. Those who have updated Fedora to new versions via the DNF package manager for several versions are familiar with the error message about a too small /boot partition when unpacking new kernel packages. Fedora therefore expands the separate boot partition to 2Â GByte during new installations to accommodate larger initial ramdisks, the still experimental Unified Kernel Images (UKIs), and more firmware. For initial ramdisks, Fedora no longer uses the XZ packer but Zstandard to make a reboot a few seconds faster. Fedora updates the package format to RPM 6.0, which allows multiple signatures per package, simplifies the management of OpenPGP keys from repositories, and can automatically sign locally built custom RPM packages.
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Desktops: Fedora in many variants
The kernel is in version 6.17, as expected from Fedora, and is very young here again. During the support period until December 2026, the developers will also provide at least the upcoming kernel version 6.18. The GNU toolchain has been upgraded by Fedora to Gcc 15.2 and Glibc 2.42. Python developers will get the interpreter in version 3.14 pre-installed, which again has marked some methods as deprecated or already removed. For backward compatibility, Python 3.13 is still available in the package repositories. As always, there are Fedora also with other desktops as the main versions with Gnome 49 and KDE Plasma 6.4.5.
(Image:Â Screenshot David Wolski)
Installable Live systems are available as “Spins” are also available again with the leaner desktop environments of XFCE, LXQT, LXDE, and Mate. In addition, as an alternative to Gnome, there is also Cinnamon, known from Linux Mint, Budgie, and also a preview version of the new Rust desktop Cosmic, which is currently being developed by System76. These versions are not only available for the x86-64 architecture but also for ARM.
(mack)
