Fedora 11 FAQ

This is a Fedora 11 specific FAQ. If you are looking for general answers on Fedora, take a look at the generic FAQ instead.

What's new in Fedora 11?
Fedora 11 has a large number of new major features.

A feature list is provided at http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Releases/11/FeatureList

Highlights include


 * Presto (delta RPM updates reducing bandwidth usage over 80% typically). Yum install yum-presto to enable it.


 * Automatic font and mime installer via PackageKit


 * Nouveau as the default driver for Nvidia cards (3D support is not mature and disabled however)


 * Simplified Anaconda text mode installation and minimal installation support


 * Automatic Bug Reporting tool


 * Native access to Microsoft Exchange using OpenChange


 * Firefox 3.5 and ThunderBird 3.0 (pre-releases)


 * Openoffice.org 3.1


 * Windows Cross Compiler (MinGW and a comprehensive set of cross compiled libraries)


 * Ext4 as the default filesystem


 * Experimental support for the next generation Btrfs filesystem (hidden by default)


 * Improved I18N with the switch to IBus input system by default


 * Much improved Kernel Mode Support Setting with flicker free and fast bootup


 * Many virtualization and security improvements,


 * RPM 4.7, GNOME 2.26, KDE 4.2, Xfce 4.6, Linux Kernel 2.6.29, Python 2.6. GCC 4.4 and several other changes.

Where Can I download it?
Get it at http://get.fedoraproject.org

Make sure you read the release notes and installation guide from http://docs.fedoraproject.org for important information about new installations and upgrades.

Are there any notes on upgrading from a previous release?
Yes. Refer http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Fedora_11_FAQ and http://docs.fedoraproject.org/release-notes/f11preview/en-US/ar01s02.html

Should I upgrade to Fedora 11?
Following the Fedora lifecycle policy, two general releases are maintained at any given time. Fedora 9 will be EOL'ed a month after the Fedora 11 release. If you are using Fedora 9 or a older release, you are strongly urged to upgrade to continue getting security updates.

If you are using Fedora 10, you have the flexibility to skip Fedora 11 and go directly to Fedora 12. This is your personal choice to make. Use the live cd or virtualization if you want to try out Fedora 11.

Is it possible to upgrade to Fedora 11 from a previous release using yum?
Yes. See Upgrading_Fedora_using_yum

I was using a pre-release (alpha/beta/snapshot/preview) of Fedora 11. How do I upgrade to the general release?
Questions on upgrading from a pre-release is answered at

https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Upgrading_from_pre-release_to_final

Is there a list of common issues in Fedora 11 specifically?
Yes. Refer http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Common_F11_bugs

Where can I report bugs or request enhancements?
You can do that via http://bugzilla.redhat.com. See Bugs and feature requests for more details. Posting bug reports to fedora-list or other end user forums are not very useful for developers as they might not be able to keep track of the issues easily.

Where can I find answers on Ext4 ?
All you wanted to know about Ext4 and more at

https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Ext4_in_Fedora_11

Control + Alt + Backspace key (zapping) doesn't work?
Upstream Xorg has disabled this by default. Read the release notes if you want to enable this again.

My Synaptics touchpad won't tap-to-click or scroll
The new upstream Synaptics driver disables tapping by default. You can trivially enable this in GNOME. System => Preferences = Mouse. Go to the third tab called "Touchpad" and click on the checkbox "Enable mouse clicks with touchpad".

Settings in /usr/share/hal/fdi/policy/20thirdparty/10-synaptics.fdi (which should be copied to /etc/hal/fdi/policy/ before changing) will operate at the gdm login screen but will be over-ridden by the gnome settings once logged in. For other desktops where there is no synaptics gui interface, use the policy file to enable features or you can just enable basic tapping from a command line with: "synclient TapButton1=1", see "man synaptics" for further options.

Similar workarounds are available to enable scrolling with finger drag.

My sound doesn't work?
Run alsamixer -c0 in the command line and turn up the controls and check again. If that fixes your issue, please help us provide a better out of box solution by filing a bug report as detailed in

http://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2009-April/msg02321.html

If the application you are running depends on the old and deprecated OSS interface, sound won't work anymore in Fedora 11 since it has been disabled in the Fedora kernel. ALSA has superseded OSS for more than a few years now and long standing holdouts like the Adobe Flash player has switched to using ALSA in their latest release. If you are using a old and unmaintained application that depends on OSS, you won't get sound anymore. If it is currently maintained application, it should support ALSA already. Otherwise, let the developers know.

I can't login as root in GNOME. What can I do?
GNOME Display Manager does not allow root users to directly login for security reasons and to prevent accidental data loss from Fedora 10 release. Refer

https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Enabling_Root_User_For_GNOME_Display_Manager

Why does ls show a dot (.) or a plus (+) at the end on the file modes for some files?
Example,

-rw-r--r--. 1 root root 1626054 Apr 20 15:44 System.map-2.6.29.1-102.fc11.x86_64 -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 1626169 Apr 24 11:08 System.map-2.6.29.1-111.fc11.x86_64

It is a new feature introduced in the latest version of coreutils included in Fedora 11. The info page on ls (# info ls) has the answer

Following the file mode bits is a single character that specifies whether an alternate access method such as an access control list applies to the file. When the character following the file mode bits is a space, there is no alternate access method. When it is a printing character, then there is such a method.

GNU `ls' uses a `.' character to indicate a file with an SELinux security context, but no other alternate access method.

A file with any other combination of alternate access methods is marked with a `+' character.

I know answers to questions I want to add to this FAQ. How can I do that?
If you have wiki access just edit this page and add them. If not contact Rahul Sundaram (sundaram AT fedoraproject.org) who is the FAQ maintainer. Avoid mailing the FAQ maintainer for end user help. Refer to the next answer.

My question is not in this FAQ. Where can I find answers?
If you are looking for help, ask in http://fedoraforum.org or ask in fedora-list. If it is a question to developers, ask in fedora-devel list. See Communicate for more information.