f-m-a-e
(first last)
1
Is there an option to track only the old stable version of fedora, so for the upgrade banner that appears in gnome-software it will show me only the oldstable version not the latest version
What do you mean by the stable version of Fedora?
What is stability for your usecase?
Note that if stable means no new kernels then note that both f41 and f42 both get the same kernels.
1 Like
lendenu
(Lorenzo Celsi)
4
I think the point is not “stable” but “old”, meaning some version of Fedora that pre-dates current Fedora.
Problem is, each release has got a life cycle of about one year, so when v. 42 is released you can stay on v.41 for six months, more or less and v.40 reaches “end of life”.
So I guess the final answer would be Debian.
Yes, every version has a Gnome upgrade. The older version in your case F41 keeps on the older Gnome version till EOL.
In other words F41 will not upgrade to Gnome 48 in its live cicle. The same with some applications which have dependencies which not can be upgraded to a higher version.
However the Kernel in general is following the stable versions one.
With flatpak you sometimes can use the the Gnome 47/48 Apps as fare you have the Gnome-Application-Platform available.
You could try CentOS Stream 9 or 10, Alma Linux or Rocky Linux.
They have muxh longer release cycles and are more stable than Fedora (on which they are based)
1 Like
I don’t think there’s an option for that.
Most of the time, there are only two active releases: the newest release and the previous release. However, there is a one-month period at the beginning of each release during which there are three active releases: the newest one, the previous one (which will be maintained for another 7 months), and the one before that (which will be maintained for one month).
It sounds like you want to run the oldest active release at all times, and upgrade to N-1 during the one-month period after the release of N.
The easiest way to approximate that would be to upgrade to the newest release shortly before a new release appears. That is, if you’re running Fedora 41 and you know that Fedora 43 is going to be available in a couple of weeks, then just go ahead and upgrade to Fedora 42.
If you really want to do that upgrade strictly after the release of Fedora 43, while 41, 42, and 43 are all maintained, then your best option is probably to use DNF to do the upgrade, where you can specify which release you want to upgrade to.
2 Likes
f-m-a-e
(first last)
8
Old stable (fedora 41 now) is very important release to follow (from my point of view), as it has more stable Desktop and features, it has less bugs and more reliable for my everyday work, many time I had many bugs in gnome specifically that has been solved after 2 3 monthes after the release, so from long time ago I follow old stable release, but if I missed the release of the new stable, there will be no graphical option to upgrade to the old stable, I can not even see why even there is no banners for the new stable and the old stable to choose from, that will make my life easier
How long your system is supported you can see in
hostnamect
Operating System: Fedora Linux 42 (Workstation Edition)
OS Support End: Wed 2026-05-13
OS Support Remaining: 9month 5d
As yours is ca 6 month less, it will be around 3month and 5days supported.
I not do understand what exactly you mean? You can not choose if you updated once. If you do not see the upgrade banner, then something is not working as it should.
It is possible to upgrade with dnf
in the terminal and check if everything is fine (see link above).
Just remember, if you use the normal Workstation, then it is possible to upgrade but not to go back to the lower version of fedora.
f-m-a-e
(first last)
10
I just wanted a GUI solution (some option in gnome-software that I could check to only follow old stable, same line ubuntu has an option to only follow LTS for upgrade), usually I use dnf for upgrade if I have 2 new releases (that will happen if I’m on fedora 41 and fedora 43 has been release) that means It will ONLY show me the newest release, and nothing about the old stable one, same for the main page of fedora, there is nothing about old stable version if I want to download
jspaleta
(Jef Spaleta)
11
Just to clarify… based on what you just said about skipping releases…
Are you currently running Fedora 40 (or older) right now?
And you want to upgrade to Fedora 41 (old stable)?
and you are being advertised to upgrade to Fedora 42 (new stable)?
Is that an accurate statement of the situation you are in?
f-m-a-e
(first last)
12
currently I’m running fedora 41, I don’t want (need) to upgrade to fedora 42 for now, I want to upgrade to fedora 42 when fedora 43 get released from gnome-software graphically, and I wan to keep doing that (like if I’m currently on fedora 42, I don’t want to upgrade to fedora 43 yet, untill fedora 44 get released, etc)
gnwiii
(George N. White III)
13
Or RHEL/RHEL derivatives that are more closely related to old Fedora.
jspaleta
(Jef Spaleta)
14
So just ignore the banner until Fedora 43 becomes available? I’m confused by why the banner is problematic. If you are on Fedora 41, just continue to do normal updates until Fedora 41 EOLs and ignore the banner offering you to upgrade to F42.
I have an old Fedora 39 laptop havent booted it in a long time… just booted it now..
gnome software banner shows Fedora Linux 41 Available… which is what I expect to see because Fedora only supports upgrades from N to N+1 or N+2, so its not offering me Fedora 42.
Moreover, this old F39 laptop its actually offering me old F39 updates that I never installed before I switched laptops. I can continue to ignore the upgrade banner as long as I want. I just wont get any new updates…ever. Which means I should depower this laptop again and put it away.
straycat
(straycat)
15
You should have no issue’s waiting to upgrade to Fedora 42 after 43 is released.You can check this out it is very simple.
DNF system upgrade - Fedora Project Wiki
f-m-a-e
(first last)
16
I don’t want to make my current version EOL, this is not what I meant
the banner has 2 missing feature (for me), first it is pointing only to the latest version of fedora, even though fedora support 2 versions (some time it is 3 versions!) at the same time, so it make sense for me to choose which one to upgrade to (stable or old stable), this could be happen if I would have 2 banners indicating the current 2 supported versions of fedora, or have an option to choose which version I want to follow same like ubuntu do for LTS versions, I’m not planning to neither use EOL version of fedora or planning to do so, I just want to use old stable version and upgrade only if there is new old version of fedora.
straycat
(straycat)
18
I don’t know how gnome software or discover works with Fedora I use the terminal and after a new version is released or when beta gets pretty stable I upgrade.
lendenu
(Lorenzo Celsi)
19
Problem is you misunderstood the basics about Fedora.
Fedora does not have any “stable” version in the sense of “Debian Stable” or Ubuntu LTS.
In Debian the “Stable” release does not get any version update, only security fixes. All system components and applications stay the same version till the next “Stable”. Unless you install “backports” from a limited repository.
Ubuntu “middle releases” are based on Debian Testing and Unstable, so a LTS is needed because Testing and Unstable are a moving target and they aren’t intended for “production” use.
In Fedora you get the “current” release and the “previous” release, then as soon as a new release comes out, the “current” becomes “previous” and the “previous” gets dropped (meaning it is not supported any more). V.41 reaches End Of Life as soon as v.43 is released. Please note, like said above, v.41 and v.42 gets both version updates, v.41 is not “fixed”.
In short, if you need a distribution that stays “stable” (no version update of anything) for years, it is not Fedora, it is Debian.
jspaleta
(Jef Spaleta)
20
Sorry, while I understand your usecase. I do not believe your usecase is worth adding additional banner complexity.
Your basically saying that you are delibrately choosing to upgrade every 6 months, but only to the release that has 6 months of updates left instead of the release with the longer available lifespan. That’s not the use case Fedora as a project prioritizes. It serves the best interst of the project collectively to advertise the latest release and to encourage users to move to the latest release when it becomes available.
I think the fundamental problem here is that you are looking at a feature that makes sense from a distribution that offers an LTS option to follow and trying to apply it to Fedora. Fedora doesn’t have an LTS release model so there is no LTS release to point to as a slow option… it just doesn’t map over as a feature that makes sense.
f-m-a-e
(first last)
21
I know how ubuntu/debian works, and they are too old to me, my point of view is simple, gnome has support for 12 months, fedora follow the same with 1 extra month for transition, I like this paradigm alot, the first 6 months of gnome (and fedora) it will receive full support, the next 6 months will be for bug/security fixing, I like being on these last 6 months, this a middle ground for me, I will have a more stable supported release (at this point I would have most of major bugs been solved this is also true for fedora itself) I see at this point is a good point for upgrade between version and another version, debian and ubuntu are missing so many important upgrade from gnome (like fractional scaling for example), so they are not suitable for me