Fedora 39 was recently released with tons of new features and improvements. By Switching to Fedora 39, not only will you get newer versions of different applications, but also take advantage of performance improvements and better drivers compatibility for varying types of hardware. In this article we show you how to easily upgrade from Fedora 38 to Fedora 39.
We’ve also created an installation article for Fedora 39 for those not interested in an in-place OS upgrade. The process discussed here should be application to Server and Workstation editions of Fedora. The environment you’re running the OS doesn’t really matter provided standard applications are the only ones installed. If you have applications manually compiled, or other third party apps installed, kindly check with the vendors for compatibility issues before doing an upgrade.
Pull details about your current Fedora OS release;
$ cat /etc/os-release
NAME="Fedora Linux"
VERSION="38 (Thirty Eight)"
ID=fedora
VERSION_ID=38
VERSION_CODENAME=""
PLATFORM_ID="platform:f38"
PRETTY_NAME="Fedora Linux 38 (Thirty Eight)"
ANSI_COLOR="0;38;2;60;110;180"
LOGO=fedora-logo-icon
CPE_NAME="cpe:/o:fedoraproject:fedora:38"
DEFAULT_HOSTNAME="fedora"
HOME_URL="https://fedoraproject.org/"
DOCUMENTATION_URL="https://docs.fedoraproject.org/en-US/fedora/f38/system-administrators-guide/"
SUPPORT_URL="https://ask.fedoraproject.org/"
BUG_REPORT_URL="https://bugzilla.redhat.com/"
REDHAT_BUGZILLA_PRODUCT="Fedora"
REDHAT_BUGZILLA_PRODUCT_VERSION=38
REDHAT_SUPPORT_PRODUCT="Fedora"
REDHAT_SUPPORT_PRODUCT_VERSION=38
SUPPORT_END=2024-05-14Upgrade to Fedora 39 from Fedora 8
Upgrade of Fedora system can be performed from the command line or from Desktop graphical interface. I prefer command line upgrade since it is easy to troubleshoot any errors that may arise.
Step 1: Backup System
Backup your important files before doing upgrade – Recommend you do this to an external drive or another system in your Network.
You can check the backup series on the Fedora Magazine.
Step 2: Update System
Let’s make sure we have the latest versions of packages installed.
sudo dnf upgrade --refreshWait for the upgrade process to complete then reboot the system.
sudo rebootStep 3: Upgrade to Fedora 39
Install tmux and start new session.
sudo dnf -y install tmux -y && tmuxInstall the required dnf-plugin-system-upgrade package.
sudo dnf install dnf-plugin-system-upgradeHit the y key when prompted to proceed with the installation.
....
Transaction Summary
======================================================================================================================================================================================================
Install 6 Packages
Total download size: 513 k
Installed size: 1.8 M
Is this ok [y/N]: yWith everything done as instructed, begin the upgrade process from Fedora 38 to Fedora 39.
sudo dnf system-upgrade download --releasever=39You’ll get a warning that system upgrade should have been done before running the command.
Before you continue ensure that your system is fully upgraded by running "dnf --refresh upgrade". Do you want to continue [y/N]: yThis command will download all of the upgrades for your machine locally as it prepares for the actual upgrade.
...
Upgrading Groups:
Core
Transaction Summary
======================================================================================================================================================================================================
Install 22 Packages
Upgrade 414 Packages
Downgrade 3 Packages
Total download size: 277 M
DNF will only download packages, install gpg keys, and check the transaction.
Is this ok [y/N]: yNB: If you have broken dependencies or retired packages blocking the upgrade, the use the following command to force upgrade.
sudo dnf system-upgrade download --releasever=39 --allowerasingConfirm upgrade is successful by waiting for below message.
....
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Total 25 MB/s | 277 MB 00:10
Fedora 39 - x86_64 1.6 MB/s | 1.6 kB 00:00
Importing GPG key 0x18B8E74C:
Userid : "Fedora (39) <[email protected]>"
Fingerprint: E8F2 3996 F232 1864 0CB4 4CBE 75CF 5AC4 18B8 E74C
From : /etc/pki/rpm-gpg/RPM-GPG-KEY-fedora-39-x86_64
Is this ok [y/N]: y
Key imported successfully
Running transaction check
Transaction check succeeded.
Running transaction test
Transaction test succeeded.
Complete!
Transaction saved to /var/lib/dnf/system-upgrade/system-upgrade-transaction.json.
Download complete! Use 'dnf system-upgrade reboot' to start the upgrade.
To remove cached metadata and transaction use 'dnf system-upgrade clean'
The downloaded packages were saved in cache until the next successful transaction.
You can remove cached packages by executing 'dnf clean packages'.Step 4: Start Upgrade to Fedora 38 from Fedora 39
Once the command is executed successfully, reboot and finish the upgrade of Fedora.
sudo dnf system-upgrade rebootWait for the upgrade to complete:
Check your Fedora version on the command below.
$ cat /etc/redhat-release
Fedora release 39 (Thirty Nine)
$ cat /etc/os-release
NAME="Fedora Linux"
VERSION="39 (Thirty Nine)"
ID=fedora
VERSION_ID=39
VERSION_CODENAME=""
PLATFORM_ID="platform:f39"
PRETTY_NAME="Fedora Linux 39 (Thirty Nine)"
ANSI_COLOR="0;38;2;60;110;180"
LOGO=fedora-logo-icon
CPE_NAME="cpe:/o:fedoraproject:fedora:39"
DEFAULT_HOSTNAME="fedora"
HOME_URL="https://fedoraproject.org/"
DOCUMENTATION_URL="https://docs.fedoraproject.org/en-US/fedora/f39/system-administrators-guide/"
SUPPORT_URL="https://ask.fedoraproject.org/"
BUG_REPORT_URL="https://bugzilla.redhat.com/"
REDHAT_BUGZILLA_PRODUCT="Fedora"
REDHAT_BUGZILLA_PRODUCT_VERSION=39
REDHAT_SUPPORT_PRODUCT="Fedora"
REDHAT_SUPPORT_PRODUCT_VERSION=39
SUPPORT_END=2024-05-14Neofetch output will also display system specific information. It can be installed by executing the commands:
sudo dnf -y install neofetchThe neofetch output should look similar to this:
Enjoy using the latest stable release of Fedora Workstation / Server and check for other guides available in our blog.
