The Fedora 21 Alpha release has arrived, with a preview of the latest
free and open source technology under development. Take a peek inside!

http://fedoraproject.org/get-prerelease

*** What is the Alpha release? ***

The Alpha release contains all the exciting features of Fedora 21's
products in a form that anyone can help test. This testing, guided by
the Fedora QA team, helps us target and identify bugs. When these bugs
are fixed, we make a Beta release available. A Beta release is
code-complete and bears a very strong resemblance to the third and
final release. The final release of Fedora 21 is expected in December.

We need your help to make Fedora 21 the best release yet, so please
take some time to download and try out the Alpha and make sure the
things that are important to you are working. If you find a bug, please
report it – every bug you uncover is a chance to improve the experience
for millions of Fedora users worldwide. Together, we can make Fedora a
rock-solid distribution. We have a culture of coordinating new features
and pushing fixes upstream as much as feasible and your feedback will
help improve not only Fedora but Linux and free software on the whole.
At the end of this announcement you can find more information on how to
help.

*** Changes ***

Fedora prides itself on bringing cutting-edge technologies to users of
open source software around the world, and this release continues that
tradition. No matter what you do, Fedora 21 has the tools you need to
help you get things done.

To see how Fedora 21 is evolving from Fedora 20, see the accepted
changes here:

http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Releases/21/ChangeSet


== Fedora.Next and Fedora 21 Products ==

As part of the Fedora.next initiative, Fedora 21 will boast three
products: cloud, server, and workstation. Note that for the Alpha
release, the network installers act as generic, 'universal' installers,
offering the entire set of Fedora package groups by default, rather
than only the groups associated with the Product they are meant to
represent.


=== Fedora 21 Base ===
Each of the products will build on the "base" set of packages for
Fedora. For instance, each product will use the same packages for the
kernel, RPM, yum, systemd, Anaconda, and so forth.

The Base Working Group develops the standard platform for all Fedora
products, which includes the installer, compose tools, and basic
platform for the other products. Base is not a full product intended
for use on its own, but to be kept as a small, stable platform for
other products to build on.


=== Fedora 21 Cloud ===
The Fedora Cloud Working Group and Special Interest Group (SIG) has
been busy leading up to Fedora 21. Cloud is now a top-level product for
Fedora 21, and will include images for use in private cloud
environments like OpenStack, as well as AMIs for use on Amazon, and a
new image streamlined for running Docker containers.

==== Modular Kernel Packaging for Cloud ====
Space is precious, and there's little reason to include any kernel
modules that aren't used in the cloud. As part of the work for Fedora
21, the cloud SIG and kernel team split the kernel into two packages.
One package contains the minimum modules for running in a virtualized
environment, the other contains the larger set of modules for a more
general installation.

==== Fedora Atomic Host ====
In early April, Red Hat announced Project Atomic, an effort to provide
the tools and patterns for a streamlined operating system to run Docker
containers. The Fedora 21 release will be the first to offer an
"Atomic" host for Fedora, which includes a minimal set of packages and
an image composed with rpm-ostree. While using the same RPMs as other
Fedora offerings, the Atomic host will allow users to roll back updates
(if necessary) as one atomic unit -- making update management much
easier. For users and organizations looking to run Docker containers,
the Atomic host will be ideal.


=== Fedora 21 Server ===
The Fedora Server product is a common base platform that is meant to
run featured application stacks, which are produced, tested, and
distributed by the Server Working Group. Want to use Fedora as a Web
server, file server, database server, or platform for an
Infrastructure-as-a-Service? Fedora 21 Server is for you.

==== Fedora Server Management Features ====
The Fedora Server product introduces new Server management features
aimed at making it easier to install discrete infrastructure services.
The Fedora Server will introduce three new technologies in Fedora to
handle this task, rolekit, Cockpit and OpenLMI.

* Rolekit is a Role deployment and management toolkit that provides a
consistent interface to administrators to install and configure all
the packages needed to implement a specific server role. Rolekit is
at an early stage of development in Fedora 21 Alpha.

* Cockpit is a user interface for configuring and monitoring your
server or servers. It is accessible remotely via a web browser.

* OpenLMI is a remote management system built atop DMTF-CIM. It can be
used for scripting management functions across many machines as well
as querying for capabilities and monitoring for system events.

==== Domain Controller Server Role ====

As part of the server role offerings available for Fedora 21, the
server product ships with a role deployment mechanism. One of the roles
offered in 21 is the Domain Controller Service.

* The Domain Controller Service packages up the freeIPA integrated
Identity and Authentication solution for Linux/UNIX networked
environments. A FreeIPA server provides centralized authentication,
authorization and account information by storing data about user,
groups, hosts and other objects necessary to manage the security
aspects of a network of computers. As with Rolekit itself, this role
is at an early stage of development in Fedora 21 Alpha.


=== Fedora 21 Workstation ===

The Fedora Workstation product is a reliable, user-friendly, and
powerful operating system for laptops and PC hardware. Fedora 21
Workstation is aimed at providing a platform for development of server
side and client applications that is attractive to developers of all
stripes. Whether you're a student or hobbyist, or a developer working
in a corporate environment, Fedora Workstation is for you.

==== Latest GNOME ====

Fedora 21 Workstation includes the latest GNOME desktop. Fedora 21 is
tracking GNOME 3.14, which is due to be released in late September.
GNOME 3.14 includes many new features such as integration of Picasaweb
and DNLA media server support in GNOME Photos, a new game called Hitori
similar to Sudoku, and much more.

==== DevAssistant ====

Fedora 21 Worsktation includes the new DevAssistant tool by default.
DevAssistant helps developers set up environments for their projects,
so they can concentrate on writing code. For more information on
DevAssistant, visit the website at http://devassistant.org.


== Issues and Details ==

This is an Alpha release. As such, we expect that you may encounter
bugs or missing features. To report issues encountered during testing,
contact the Fedora QA team via the test mailing list or in #fedora-qa
on freenode.

As testing progresses, common issues are tracked on the Fedora wiki:
https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Common_F20_bugs

For tips on reporting a bug effectively, read "How to File a Bug
Report:" http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/How_to_file_a_bug_report .

You can join the Fedora QA team mailing list here:
https://lists.fedoraproject.org/mailman/listinfo/test

== Release Schedule ==

The full release schedule is available on the Fedora wiki. The current
schedule calls for a beta release in the end of October, and a final
release in early December.

These dates are subject to change, pending any major bugs or issues
found during the development process.

== Contributing ==

There are many ways to contribute beyond bug reporting. You can help
translate software and content, test and give feedback on software
updates, write and edit documentation, design and do artwork, help with
all sorts of promotional activities, and package free software for use
by millions of Fedora users worldwide. To get started, visit:
http://join.fedoraproject.org today!