This page documents common bugs in Fedora 16 and, if available, fixes or workarounds for these problems. If you find your problem in this page, do not file a bug for it, unless otherwise instructed. Where appropriate, a reference to the current bug(s) in Bugzilla is included.
Release Notes
Read the F16 Alpha release announcement and the Fedora 16 release notes for specific information about changes in Fedora 16 and other general information.
My bug is not listed
Not every bug is listed in this page, but Bugzilla should be a comprehensive database of known bugs. This page is a sampling of the bugs most commonly discussed on our mailing lists and forums.
To see if your bug has already been reported, you can search Bugzilla. If it has not yet been reported, we encourage you to do so to help improve Fedora for yourself and others. A guide to Bugs and feature requests has been prepared to assist you.
If you believe an already-reported bug report should be added to this page because it is commonly encountered, you can:
- Add it yourself, if you have wiki access. Please follow the style and guidelines explained in the comments in the page source.
- Or, add the CommonBugs keyword to the bug report. Someone from the QA team will then inspect the issue to determine whether the bug should be listed as a common bug. To expedite your request, please add a comment to the bug that includes
- a summary of the problem
- any known workarounds
- an assessment on the impact to Fedora users
For reference, you can query Bugzilla for bugs tagged CommonBugs:
- CommonBugs? (bugs with CommonBugs keyword, but do not yet have a link to this page)
- CommonBugs+(bugs with CommonBugs keyword and contain a link to this page)
Installation issues
Attempting to upgrade a system with /var on a different partition or LV to / will fail
link to this item - Bugzilla: #748119
If you have your system set up with /var on a separate logical volume or partition to that used for the root filesystem (/), then anaconda will not find the RPM db in /var/lib/rpm/ and fail to offer the option to upgrade. This happens with preupgrade as well as upgrade from install media. One workaround is to copy the contents of /var/lib/rpm/ to the root filesystem volume. Anaconda will then detect your current installation and be able to upgrade it.
Cannot install with /boot partition on a software RAID array
link to this item - Bugzilla: #729640
Attempting to install Fedora 16 with the /boot partition on a software RAID array will cause the installer to fail, with an error of the form IOException: Partition(s) X, Y on /dev/ZZZ have been written, but we have been unable to inform the kernel of the change, probably because it/they are in use. As a result, the old partition(s) will remain in use. You should reboot now before making further changes. Having the /boot partition on a RAID array has never been a recommended configuration for Fedora, but up until Fedora 16 it has usually worked.
To work around this issue, do not put the /boot partition on the RAID array. Create a simple BIOS boot partition and a /boot partition on one of the disks, and place the other system partitions on the RAID array.
Upgrade from Fedora 14 to Fedora 16 with preupgrade leaves bootloader in previous configuration
link to this item - Bugzilla: #737731
If you use the preupgrade utility to upgrade from Fedora 14 to Fedora 16, the bootloader configuration will be left in its previous state. This is due to preupgrade not recognizing that anaconda cannot 'update' the bootloader configuration in such an upgrade, due to the migration from grub to grub2 that should occur as part of the upgrade. This will result either in the system attempting to boot with a Fedora 15 kernel, or failing to boot entirely (depending on whether the previously-installed kernel is still present following the upgrade).
This issue should be resolved with an update to the Fedora 14 preupgrade shortly. We recommend waiting for this update or upgrading via the DVD or network install image, rather than using a non-fixed preupgrade package. You may also pre-upgrade first to Fedora 15, and from there to Fedora 16.
No workable bootloader action in text mode upgrade
link to this item - Bugzilla: #742207
If you use the text mode of the Fedora installer to perform an upgrade from Fedora 15 to Fedora 16, there is no usable option at the stage where you are asked what to do with the bootloader. The update option cannot be used due to the switch from grub to grub2, and the skip option will often result in an unbootable system as the kernel(s) referenced in the bootloader configuration will no longer be installed.
The easiest workaround for this issue is to avoid using the installer's text mode, if you can. If you cannot avoid this, you should select Skip bootloader and then manually update the bootloader configuration from the installer shell (available on VT2) or from another OS (such as a live boot) following the upgrade process.
Hardware issues
Software issues
Glibc may cause applications to crash with large groups
link to this item - Bugzilla: #750361
Groups with either a large number of users or simply a large number of characters forming the user list may have problems with the glibc shipped in the release. The symptoms of this will vary depending on how you store your group information. If using a file in /etc/group programs which attempt to access group information for a user in that group will crash. If using a local nss db, the group will simply fail to be added to the user's list of groups when the user logs in. The latter may be worked around by running "newgrp groupname". At this time, it's unknown how these bugs affect other nss backends.