Fedora 28 released [LWN.net]

The Fedora 28 release has been announced. "The headline feature for Fedora 28 Server is the inclusion of the new Modular repository. This lets you select between different versions of software like NodeJS or Django, so you can chose the stack you need for your software." Some users will also appreciate that proprietary blobs (such as the NVIDIA drivers) are now easier to obtain and install.

to post comments

Fedora 28 released

Posted May 2, 2018 13:43 UTC (Wed) by cdamian (subscriber, #1271) [Link] (5 responses)

It is a bit sad to see binary blobs like nvidia and Chrome being easier in Fedora.

But I guess they / we have to compete with Ubuntu who have been doing this since the beginning.

Fedora 28 released

Posted May 2, 2018 16:06 UTC (Wed) by alfille (subscriber, #1631) [Link] (2 responses)

You can argue making binary blogs easier both ways. If opensource is about freedom rather than religion, then creating artificial friction for less pure code is wrong. Rather the user should be able to make an informed decision and able to make the "right" choice (either choice) easily.

On the other hand, if you feel binary blobs are immoral, then forbid them as best you can. You do run into the problems that all religions face: there is never agreement on what is pure enough. Open code, open compilation, open specs, open standards, open hardware, open foundries, open coding processes...

Fedora 28 released

Posted May 2, 2018 16:29 UTC (Wed) by cdamian (subscriber, #1271) [Link]

Yes, I am quite undecided myself.
But I like that we had 27 releases avoiding this.

Fedora 28 released

Posted May 3, 2018 1:11 UTC (Thu) by sgallagh (guest, #80524) [Link]

I will point out that "easier" is not the same thing as "trivial". The process prompts the user to make a decision and advises them on why Fedora recommends against the use of these proprietary blobs.

I personally think that's a very reasonable compromise between "holding fast to our beliefs" and "meeting the needs of our users".

Fedora 28 released

Posted May 5, 2018 16:50 UTC (Sat) by flussence (guest, #85566) [Link] (1 responses)

I'd like to see some malicious complian-^W^W extra transparency - users are free to put binary blobs on their system using the distro package manager, but the installation process also shows them the number of open bugs and CVEs issued in the past $x months.

Fedora 28 released

Posted May 6, 2018 10:49 UTC (Sun) by NAR (subscriber, #1313) [Link]

I think most users don't care about generic bugs or "security vulnerabilities". They care about bugs that affect them (e.g. can't play DVDs or MP3s or that Flash game). They don't care if they can be hacked as long as they are not actually hacked. So this would be just yet an other warning to click through.