The installer for Fedora Linux is not perfect. Now, the Fedora team is working on a replacement that aims to be less confusing and more useful.

The developers behind it Fedora Linux is working on a new interface for the Anaconda operating systems installer, replacing the current design that has remained for 25 years. A blog post explains: “We wanted to rethink the installation process to create a more streamlined experience where people are guided through the installation process step-by-step in a linear fashion so they don’t have to search for the right things to configure. all possible settings.

The new installer is designed around four common tasks: using the entire drive for a fresh installation, sharing the drive with another operating system, reinstalling Fedora, or setting up a custom partition scheme. Simplified dual boot and reinstall options are new.

The Fedora team also decided to use web technologies for the new installer instead of porting it to GTK 4, which would have required a massive effort to rewrite much of the frontend, especially since Anaconda has many custom GTK widgets. It’s a bit like the new installer created by Canonical for Ubuntuwhich is written in the cross-platform Flutter framework from Google. Fedoras installer is based on work from Cockpitand the interface is rendered with Firefox, not Chromium or Electron.

The developers hope that the new installer will make it easier for people to try Fedora Linux, and the updated technical base will simplify updates and encourage more community contributions. There are more improvements in the works, including better mobile screen support, a log viewer, and improved light and dark mode switching.

The new installer will roll out in stages, starting with the Fedora Workstation live image and following later to other desktop installations. It’s still limited to testers for now, though once the bugs are worked out, it will appear in the Fedora Linux 42 live images.

Source: Fedora Magazine