Upgrading

Using the DVD to upgrade
The process of using Anaconda installer to upgrade is the recommended and supported method and detailed in the Fedora Installation Guide. The Release Notes also have some useful information.

PreUpgrade
PreUpgrade is an application you can use to upgrade Fedora while continuing to use it. PreUpgrade downloads the packages required for the upgrade. Once everything is downloaded and set up, you will be notified that you can reboot at any time to start the Fedora upgrade. This method of upgrading is explicitly tested and supported by Fedora. To read more, refer to PreUpgrade.

Upgrading directly using Yum
Upgrading directly from one release to the next using is not explicitly tested by Fedora QA and issues with them are not considered blockers for a release, but in practise works for many users due to our packaging guidelines providing detailed information on maintaining upgradability. To learn more, refer to Upgrading Fedora using yum.

Upgrading from a pre-release (alpha, beta, release candidate or other development snapshot) to the final release
If you are using a pre-release of Fedora, and want to know more about upgrading to the final release, refer to Upgrading from pre-release to final.

Tips

 * It's a good idea to have a backup of your system before performing an upgrade. Keeping in a separate logical volume or partition makes backing up user data easier. This is a feature requested for the Fedora Installer. Refer to Bug 150670 for more on this issue. This is the default from Fedora 13 onwards.


 * Doing a clean installation and then restoring user data from backups may work better for some users. Future releases may include features to assist in this process. Refer to  AnacondaWorkItems  for more information.


 * You can do an upgrade using the regular installation DVDs. Live media only performs fresh installations, not upgrades. The installation overrides any third party packages which conflict with the default installation set. Applications within the Fedora repository are easily upgradeable. Refer to the Installation Guide for more information.


 * Make sure you read the Release Notes carefully before attempting an upgrade.

Rawhide
Rawhide is a development version of Fedora that is updated daily. It is suitable for people who are developing or testing Fedora before broad public release.


 * To move from Rawhide to a stable release, refer to Upgrading from pre-release to final.
 * To move from a stable release to Rawhide, refer to Releases/Rawhide.