Extras/FedoraUsersFAQ

= Fedora Users FAQ =

I have Red Hat Linux 9 (Shrike) installed now. How can I update to Fedora Core?
That is an excellent question. Of course you want to avoid the need to burn CDs, and would like to do a simple and reliable online install. And obviously you want to know how to make it work from behind your authenticating proxy that requires a userid and a password. You might be wondering whether it is as simple as pasting the right lines into your /etc/yum.conf file, and running yum -y update. It could be you are on the right track, or maybe not. Hopefully someone in the know will update this page soon to answer your excellent and insightful question.

Hint 1: There are online resources on doing an unsupported and untested upgrade with Yum:


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It will be necessary to clean up some parts of the system configuration, because normally the Fedora Core Installer Anaconda would do that during a regular upgrade.

What is Fedora Extras?
Fedora Extras is the authoritative community project for the development of high quality Extras add-on packages for Fedora Core (and previously Red Hat Linux). This community volunteer development of package development is much like the spirit of the Debian community.

What is the difference between fedora.us and the Fedora Extras?
Fedora Project at fedora.redhat.com is Red Hat's new community distribution development project. What used to be Red Hat Linux is now the Fedora Project, with the long term goal of creating a community volunteer developed Linux distribution somewhat like Debian, however moving at a faster pace of innovation. During September 2003 fedora.us, using the name Fedora Linux, agreed to merge with Red Hat's announced and planned Red Hat Linux Project to become the new Fedora Project. This alliance of corporate engineering and enthused community contributors work together to improve the overall quality of the entire distribution.

Currently the merge is still progressing, with the goal of a full project merge before the release of Fedora Core 4 scheduled for May 2005. Meanwhile, Fedora Extras for Fedora Core 3 is available already on Red Hat's Fedora Download Server.

In the mean time fedora.us continues to operate as an independent project. Our package submission & QA testing procedures strives for the highest level of package quality. fedora.us repositories continue to serve add-ons and upgrades for those add-ons for Red Hat Linux 8.0, 9, and Fedora Core 1 and 2. Meanwhile, Fedora Legacy supplies security updates to the older distributions no longer supported by Red Hat, Inc.

Why use Fedora Extras?

 * Fedora saves time by making additional software installation very easy. In many cases new users would be able to read through Fedora's catalog and simply choose packages that sound good. In other cases they may ask experienced users for suggestions. In these cases the answer would be "Install foo from Fedora." rather than three hours of explaining tarball building and installation. This saves times and energy for everyone.
 * Furthermore, Fedora Extras stands for the highest quality add-on packages for RHL and FC, and this package set will continue well into the future.

How do I use Fedora Extras?
Read the Fedora Extras HOWTO.

How does Fedora Extras differ from FreshRPMS or other repositories?
Many other repositories like FreshRPMS are made by a single person. Fedora can have a lot more packages, and of higher quality, because we have many package developers working together on a common authoritative repository. It is our belief that collaboratively developed package repositories tend to produce higher quality and reduce the chance of clashes. Other examples of high quality collaborative developed repositories that do not conflict with Fedora Extras are rpm.livna.org and jpackage.org.

Who started all this Fedora stuff and when?
Founded December 2002 by University of Hawaii Computer Science student Warren Togami, the previous Fedora Linux Project is an international team of volunteer software developers united for the development of high quality 3rd party RPM packages for the Red Hat Linux platform.

The new combined project will bring these benefits of open collaborative development to a larger mainstream audience, with much greater community involvement in the development process.