Fedora Linux 40 beta features GNOME 46, KDE Plasma 6, and improved AMD GPU support

Fedora Linux 40 Beta is now available, running on Linux Kernel 6.8. The Workstation edition uses GNOME 46, while the KDE Spin edition features KDE Plasma 6. The KDE Spin now defaults to the Plasma Wayland session, discontinuing X11 support, but X11 apps will still be functional.

The new Beta version offers improvements in networking and security, including default IPv4 address conflict detection and stable-ssid mode for Wi-Fi connections. System services have been strengthened with systemd service hardening features. Changes in package management include the cessation of default filelists downloads and the replacement of Zlib, minizip, wget, and iotop packages. Fedora Linux 40 has also deprecated several libraries and packages.

The Beta version has an updated GNU toolchain and is built with DNF 5. It supports unified kernels and has made improvements in selinux-policy entries. Support for AMD GPUs has been improved, and the default software includes LibreOffice 24.2 and Mozilla Firefox 124. Fedora Linux 40 also offers specialized spins and variants like Fedora Cinnamon Spin and Fedora IoT. Features like the DNF5 package manager and Anaconda WebUI installer are planned for future releases. The final release of Fedora Linux 40 is expected in late April or early May 2024.