Fedora Linux 44 Final Is Go: April 28 Release Date Set With RC 1.7 Compose
Fedora Linux 44 Final is officially cleared for launch, and the release train leaves on Tuesday, April 28, 2026. The development team locked in RC 1.7 as the final candidate after sorting out critical security blockers and deciding to push some installer edge cases to version 45. If you are planning an upgrade or fresh install, here is what actually matters for your system without the usual release meeting fluff.
Fedora Linux 44 Final Compose and Security Fixes
RC 1.7 survived the gauntlet while earlier candidates like RC 1.5 and RC 1.6 got tossed because they lacked essential updates. The chosen compose includes Firefox 150, which addresses a massive pile of security issues that would have otherwise blocked the release. It also ships with a fix for PackageKit to stop a local privilege escalation race condition. A package manager allowing random processes to run as root just by existing is a nightmare scenario, so getting that patched before launch is non-negotiable. The team verified these fixes and confirmed RC 1.7 is the only viable path forward.
Installer Quirks Waived to Fedora 45
Not every issue gets fixed in time, and Fedora Linux 44 carries two notable waivers that users should know about before clicking install. The Anaconda installer will still fail to enforce minimum partition sizes for /boot and /boot/efi when using the Cockpit-based webui flow. This got waived to Fedora 45 Beta under the difficult to fix provision, which mirrors what happens after a rushed driver update where the team decides the risk of breaking more things outweighs fixing a niche edge case. The installer will likely still work for standard setups, but manual partitioning with specific size constraints via the webui might behave unexpectedly. Another waiver involves non-ASCII keyboard layouts not automatically selecting US English as a second layout. Upstream developers could not commit to a fix in time, so this moves to Fedora 45 Final. The practical impact is low because recent changes make users less likely to click around on that specific page, but complex layout setups might still trigger the issue.
Test Coverage and Dual Boot Reality
Test coverage sits close to 100 percent, which is impressive for a release this size given the resource constraints. There are gaps in advanced storage tests and Windows 11 dual boot scenarios, but the team considers that acceptable given the circumstances. Red Hat lost an employee recently, and that hit the testing capacity hard. The missing Windows 11 dual boot test is annoying if you run both operating systems side by side, but Windows 10 coverage remains solid. Users running a dual boot setup should perform their own sanity check after upgrading to ensure everything boots correctly. Fedora CoreOS and IoT variants are ready to ship alongside the desktop release with no reported issues.
The official ISOs are already available, so they can be downloaded today straight from the RC 1.7 announcement instead of waiting for Tuesday. There is no reason to sit around when the bits are ready. Just verify the checksums before flashing anything to a drive. Mark calendars for April 28 if a staged rollout fits better, but the files are live now for anyone who wants to test them immediately.
Fedora Linux 44 RC 1.7 released
Fedora 44 RC-1.7 is now open for validation testing across desktop, server, cloud, and security lab environments. Volunteers need to boot clean images, run full system checks, and report results directly on the official Fedora wiki.
Grab the update when ready and enjoy a secure release. Let the community know how the partition size quirk behaves on Tuesday.
