Fedora 45 introduces several system-level changes that deserve testing on real hardware. The first test day focuses on GNOME 51, kicking off on August 17, with additional events planned for RPM 6.1, installation media, and more. For most tests you can use a virtual machine, but hardware-specific testing is often more meaningful on an actual physical machine.
Full details are below.
Fedora 45 includes a number of changes that warrant testing beyond CI and automated suites. Some of the biggest ones include:
- RPM 6.1: an update to 6.1, enforcement of signature checking, and relocation of DNF repository configuration to /usr.
- OpenSSL 4.0 — a major version bump that could affect anything doing TLS.
- Boot and live media are being rebuilt from scratch with image-builder. This changes how the images are produced, so we want to make sure they still boot and install correctly across a range of hardware and virtualization setups.
- kmscon replaces the kernel VT console (fbcon) as the default.
- Python 3.15, GRUB EFI for Confidential Computing, and more.
Why we need community testing
Automated tests are great at catching regressions in predictable scenarios, but they can’t tell us whether the new boot.iso works on your specific laptop, or whether enforced RPM signature checking breaks a workflow nobody on the team anticipated. That’s why we need people testing on real hardware and in real-world situations.
That’s exactly what test days are for: a few days dedicated to a particular change, with developers available on Matrix to help debug, and anyone is welcome to join and work through the test cases. You don’t need to be a Fedora QA expert—if you can install Fedora, reproduce an issue, and report what happened, you can contribute.
What we’re planning for F45
During the July 20 Quality meeting (transcript), we reviewed the ChangeSet and identified the changes that would benefit most from community testing. That resulted in a planning ticket on Forge with separate tickets for each event.
GNOME 51 Desktop — August 17-21 is the first test day of this cycle and it’s happening right now. We’ll cover the desktop environment, graphics, peripherals, and core applications. If you’re reading this in time, don’t hesitate to join. (#GNOME_51_Desktop)
I18n test week —September 7-13: input methods, locales, keyboard layouts. (#924)
RPM 6.1 — NSS support for user/group lookups has been restored, queries work correctly during transactions, new macro modifiers are available for packagers, and rpmkeys verification output is improved. While this appears to be a smooth update, RPM underpins nearly everything, so it’s worth verifying that nothing slipped through. (#917)
Installation media — boot.iso and live images on physical hardware and virtual machines. Try booting the new images on whatever hardware you have. Does the installer work? Does the live environment behave as expected? (#918)
KDE — likely focusing on KDE 6.7. (#922)
Cockpit — it’s been quite a while since the last Cockpit test day. (#920)
GRUB EFI / Confidential Computing — most relevant to specific hardware and virtual machine environments. (#919)
The list isn’t final yet. We’re still evaluating kmscon, OpenSSL 4.0, CoreOS, and Kernel 7.2. Check testdays.fedoraproject.org for the most up-to-date schedule.
What kind of testing helps most
Try upgrading your system to the latest packages. Boot the new boot.iso on physical hardware. Test suspend and resume, Wi-Fi, external displays, NVIDIA/AMD/Intel graphics, or any other hardware you rely on. Each test day has a wiki page with specific test cases, but your own everyday workflows are often where the most interesting bugs hide.
You need a Fedora Account to report results. Choose a test day from the schedule, follow the wiki instructions, and report through the test day app. If you encounter something unusual, join us on Matrix in #test-day:fedoraproject.org.
The test day app is open source and available at quality/testdays-web on Forge. If you find something that bothers you or have an idea for improvement, please file a ticket.
Propose a test day
You don’t have to wait for us to organize everything. If you maintain a package that’s undergoing a major change in Fedora 45, or you spot something in the ChangeSet that you believe deserves broader testing, go ahead and propose a test day. Create a ticket at forge.fedoraproject.org/quality/tickets, tag it with “test days”, and tell us what you’d like to test. You don’t need to have test cases or wiki pages prepared—the QA team will help with that.
Testing beyond test days
Test days are focused events centered on specific changes, but you can test Fedora any day of the week. fedora-easy-karma is a command-line tool that identifies test updates already installed on your system and allows you to submit karma to Bodhi directly from your terminal. Check the installation instructions to get started. Like the test day app, it’s an open source project hosted on Forge—feel free to report issues or suggest new features.
Links
- Test day schedule and results
- Fedora 45 ChangeSet
- F45 test day planning ticket
- Test Days wiki
- Matrix: #test-day:fedoraproject.org
- Mailing list: test@lists.fedoraproject.org
See you in #test-day on Matrix.
Note about AI usage: I wrote this article myself. I used Claude (Anthropic) to significantly refine grammar, wording, and sentence structure; the technical content and all claims are my own.
