Release notes

This document describes major installer-related changes in Fedora releases.

Fedora 37

General changes

GPT is the default disk label type

Fedora Linux systems installed on legacy x86 BIOS systems will get GPT partitioning by default instead of legacy MBR partitioning. This should be a new default for all products. See the Fedora Change for more info.

Read-only /sysroot on RPM OSTree systems

The RPM OSTree installations set the /sysroot mount point as read-only instead of read-write to make the newly installed systems more robust. Users and administrators are not expected to directly interact with the content available there and should use the available interfaces to manage their system. See the pull request and the Fedora Change.

Anaconda doesn’t copy /etc/resolv.conf to systems

Anaconda does not copy the /etc/resolv.conf file from the installation environment to the installed system anymore. Creating the file is a business of systemd-resolved or the Network Manager. Anaconda is not going to interfere into this process anymore. Currently the file is created by systemd-resolved package during the installation. See the pull requests #3814 and #3818.

Correct SELinux contexts on existing home directories

Previously, the installer set incorrect SELinux contexts on home directory contents when reusing home directory from previous installation. The contexts are now set correctly. See the pull request.

Enabled hibernation on arm64 with swap

Previously, the installer enabled resume from hibernation by adding kernel command line option resume=swap_device only on the x86 architecture family. With this change, the same is done also for the arm64 architecture. As a result, devices of the arm64 architecture are now able to correctly resume from hibernation. See the pull request.

Changed default swap size for large-memory systems

The default swap size on systems with 64 GiB or more RAM is 32 GiB now. Previously, it was 4 GiB. See the pull request.

Removed some scripts provided by Anaconda

The following undocumented installed scripts were removed from anaconda packages:

/usr/bin/analog
/usr/bin/restart-anaconda

The following unused development scripts were removed from the Anaconda repository:

run_boss_locally.py
anaconda-read-journal
list-screens
make-sphinx-docs

See the pull requests #3839 and #3838.

Changes in the graphical interface

The media verification dialog is improved

Previously, the media verification dialog indicated a good or bad media check result using the same sentence, differing only in presence of a single “not”. Additionally, the dialog did not visually change much upon completion of the check. Consequently, it was not easy to interpret the result of the media check, or even see if it was finished.

The dialog now uses a large icon to signal whether the media is good or not, and while the check is running, this icon is absent. As a result, it is now possible to easily tell the state of the media check. See the pull request and the screenshot.

Improved calculation of the space estimation

During automatic partitioning the disk spoke estimates the space required for the installation and if there isn’t enough free space it display a warning dialog suggesting more space should be reclaimed. This estimate included the recommended swap size even when swap wasn’t configured to be created. See the bug 2068290.

The zFCP dialog supports NPIV-enabled devices

The “Add zFCP” dialog supports NPIV-enabled zFCP devices. NPIV-enabled devices are activated just by using the device ID. The kernel module will detect the WWPNs and LUNs and bring all the devices up automatically. This means the user doesn’t have to provide the WWPN and LUN IDs. See the pull request.

The timezone map doesn’t show borders

Anaconda is not showing timezone borders in the Time & Date spoke. The map is white now. See the bug 2103657

Changes in the kickstart support

Prompt for a missing passphrase in GUI

If the kickstart file defines a partitioning that requires a passphrase, the graphical user interface shows a dialog that allows users to provide the missing passphrase. The installation automatically continues after the passphrase is provided. It works the same way in the text user interface. See the pull request.

`rootpw --allow-ssh` is supported

Use the --allow-ssh option of rootpw kickstart command to allow remote logins of the root user via SSH using only the password. This is disabled by default for the security reasons, so be aware of risks. See the pull request and the Fedora Change for the default behaviour.

`zfcp --devnum=` is supported

The zfcp kickstart command supports NPIV-enabled zFCP devices. NPIV-enabled devices are activated just by using the device ID. The kernel module will detect the WWPNs and LUNs and bring all the devices up automatically. This means the user doesn’t have to provide the WWPN and LUN IDs:

zfcp --devnum=<device_number>

See the pull request for more info.

Changes in Anaconda options

`inst.gpt` is deprecated

Use the inst.disklabel boot option to specify a preferred disk label type. Specify gpt to prefer creation of GPT disk labels. Specify mbr to prefer creation of MBR disk labels if supported. The inst.gpt boot option is deprecated and will be removed in future releases. See the pull request.

Changes in Anaconda configuration files

The `gpt` option is replaced

The default value of the preferred disk label type is specified by the disk_label_type option in the Anaconda configuration files. The gpt configuration option is no longer supported. See the pull request.

The `decorated_window` option is removed

The decorated_windows option is removed from Anaconda’s configuration files. It was never requested and we have no evidence that it was used. See the pull request.

The `enable_ignore_broken_packages` option is removed

The enable_ignore_broken_packages option in Anaconda’s configuration files is removed. The pykickstart decides whether the %packages --ignorebroken feature is supported or not. See the pull request.

The `blivet_gui_supported` option is removed

The support for Blivet-GUI will be disabled automatically if it is not installed. Use the hidden_spokes option of the User Interface section to disable it explicitly. See the pull request.

The `can_detect_unsupported_hardware` and `can_detect_support_removed` options were removed

The support for detection of unsupported hardware is no longer available. See the pull request for more info.

Fedora 36

General changes

The help support is unified

The help support on RHEL and Fedora uses new mapping files with a unified format. The mappings files are located in the root of the help directory. For example for RHEL, they are expected to be at:

/usr/share/anaconda/help/rhel/anaconda-gui.json
/usr/share/anaconda/help/rhel/anaconda-tui.json

The mapping files contain data about the available help content. The UI screens are identified by a unique screen id returned by the get_screen_id method, for example installation-summary. The help content is defined by a relative path to a help file and (optionally) a name of an anchor in the help file.

For example:

{
  "_comment_": [
    "This is a comment",
    "with multiple lines."
  ],
  "_default_": {
    "file": "default-help.xml",
    "anchor": "",
  },
  "installation-summary": {
    "file": "anaconda-help.xml",
    "anchor": "",
  },
  "user-configuration": {
    "file": "anaconda-help.xml",
    "anchor": "creating-a-user-account"
  }
}

The default_help_pages configuration option is removed. The helpFile attribute is removed from the UI classes. See the pull request for more info.

Changes in the graphical interface

Users are administrators by default

In the User spoke, the “Make this user administrator” checkbox is now checked by default. This improves installation experience for users who do not know and need to rely on the default values to guide them. See the Users are admins by default change.

Keyboard configuration is disabled on Live media with Wayland

The keyboard switching in the Anaconda installer on the Live media did not behave as expected on Wayland based environments (#2016613). When users changed the keyboard layout configuration that configuration was reflected in the Live environment. However, if users pressed modifier keys (CTRL or SHIFT) the keyboard specified by the Anaconda installer was changed back for the Live environment. That is the result of how the Wayland protocol handles keyboard layout.

To avoid this unexpected behavior Anaconda will no longer control keyboard layout configuration of the Live systems on Wayland Live environment. The keyboard configuration set by Anaconda on the Live environment will be reflected only to the installed system. This means that users have to pay attention that their passwords are written by the correct layout in the installer running inside the Live environment to be able to use the password in the system after installation.

Changes in the kickstart support

The %anaconda section is removed

The support for the deprecated %anaconda section is removed. Use Anaconda configuration files instead.

ANA_INSTALL_PATH is deprecated

The ANA_INSTALL_PATH environment variable is deprecated. The support for this variable will be removed in future releases. Use the /mnt/sysroot path in your kickstart scripts instead. See the Installation mount points documentation.

Changes in Anaconda options

inst.nompath is deprecated

The inst.nompath boot option is deprecated. It has not been doing anything useful for some time already.

Changes in Anaconda configuration files

Saving Anaconda’s data to target system

Anaconda configuration file format now includes additional options to control what is saved to the target system.

The options are:

# Should we copy input kickstart to target system?
can_copy_input_kickstart = True

# Should we save kickstart equivalent to installation settings to the new system?
can_save_output_kickstart = True

# Should we save logs from the installation to the new system?
can_save_installation_logs = True

The default values above cause no change in behavior, the new options are only another way to configure the behavior.

Fedora 35

General changes

Limited support for braille devices

The Server image (boot.iso) now contains the brltty accessibility software. This means that some braille output devices can be automatically detected and used. This feature works only in text mode, started with the inst.text boot option. See the bug.

Visible warnings in initrd

Installation shows critical warnings raised in Dracut/initrd again when Anaconda is starting or when Dracut starts to timeout. This should help users to resolve installation issues by avoiding that the important message was scrolled out too fast. See the bug.

Changes in the graphical interface

New look of the NTP server dialog

The NTP server dialog has been redesigned. The new look uses more traditional approach to management of lists (such as in hexchat). See the pull request.

The set of controls to add a new server is no longer present. Instead, a “blank” new server is added by clicking an “add” button. The details can be filled in by editing the server in the list, as was already possible.
The method to remove a server is now more intuitive. Users can simply click the “remove” button and the server is instantly removed from the list. Previously, users had to uncheck the “Use” checkbox for the server in the list and confirm the dialog.

New look of the root configuration screen

The root configuration screen has been redesigned and is no longer ambiguous. All root account options are visible only if root account is enabled. The new layout also contains text to let users understand their choices. See the pull request.

Changes in the text interface

The packaging log in `tmux` tabs

Add a new tab to the tmux session starting the Anaconda installer. This new tab will follows the /tmp/packaging.log log file. This change should make it easier for users to spot software installation errors. See the pull request.

Changes in Anaconda configuration files

Replacement of product configuration files

The support for the product configuration files was removed and replaced with profiles. See the Fedora change and the documentation.

Each profile can be identified by a unique id and it can define additional options for the automated profile detection. The profile will be chosen based on the inst.profile boot option, or based on the ID and VARIANT_ID options of the os-release files. The profile configuration files are located in the /etc/anaconda/profile.d/ directory.

The inst.product and inst.variant boot options are deprecated.

Options for Anaconda DBus module activation

We have introduced new configuration options that affect the detection and activation of the Anaconda DBus modules. Use the activatable_modules option to specify Anaconda DBus modules that can be activated. Use the forbidden_modules option to specify modules that are not allowed to run. Use the optional_modules to specify modules that can fail to run without aborting the installation.

The DBus modules can be specified by a DBus name or by a prefix of the name that ends with an asterisk. For example:

org.fedoraproject.Anaconda.Modules.Timezone
org.fedoraproject.Anaconda.Addons.*

The addons_enabled and kickstart_modules options are deprecated and will be removed in the future.

See the pull request.

Release notes

Fedora 37

General changes

GPT is the default disk label type

Read-only /sysroot on RPM OSTree systems

Anaconda doesn’t copy /etc/resolv.conf to systems

Correct SELinux contexts on existing home directories

Enabled hibernation on arm64 with swap

Changed default swap size for large-memory systems

Removed some scripts provided by Anaconda

Changes in the graphical interface

The media verification dialog is improved

Improved calculation of the space estimation

The zFCP dialog supports NPIV-enabled devices

The timezone map doesn’t show borders

Changes in the kickstart support

Prompt for a missing passphrase in GUI

rootpw --allow-ssh is supported

zfcp --devnum= is supported

Changes in Anaconda options

inst.gpt is deprecated

Changes in Anaconda configuration files

The gpt option is replaced

The decorated_window option is removed

The enable_ignore_broken_packages option is removed

The blivet_gui_supported option is removed

The can_detect_unsupported_hardware and can_detect_support_removed options were removed

Fedora 36

General changes

The help support is unified

Changes in the graphical interface

Users are administrators by default

Keyboard configuration is disabled on Live media with Wayland

Changes in the kickstart support

The %anaconda section is removed

ANA_INSTALL_PATH is deprecated

Changes in Anaconda options

inst.nompath is deprecated

Changes in Anaconda configuration files

Saving Anaconda’s data to target system

Fedora 35

General changes

Limited support for braille devices

Visible warnings in initrd

Changes in the graphical interface

New look of the NTP server dialog

New look of the root configuration screen

Changes in the text interface

The packaging log in tmux tabs

Changes in Anaconda configuration files

Replacement of product configuration files

Options for Anaconda DBus module activation

`rootpw --allow-ssh` is supported

`zfcp --devnum=` is supported

`inst.gpt` is deprecated

The `gpt` option is replaced

The `decorated_window` option is removed

The `enable_ignore_broken_packages` option is removed

The `blivet_gui_supported` option is removed

The `can_detect_unsupported_hardware` and `can_detect_support_removed` options were removed

The packaging log in `tmux` tabs