Fedora 43 Beta has officially landed, opening the door for the community to shape the next stable release. Released on September 16, 2025, this beta brings notable updates, including GNOME’s full move to Wayland, Python 3.14 support, tighter security via RPM 6.0, Golang 1.25, and a new default wallpaper celebrating astronaut Sally Ride.
New Default Wallpaper: Sally Ride Tribute
Fedora 43 features a new default wallpaper honoring Sally Ride, the first American woman in space. The design includes a rocket and space shuttle in a children’s book style, with both day and night versions. This continues Fedora’s practice of naming wallpapers alphabetically, with F43 representing “R.”
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GNOME Desktop Moves to Wayland
Fedora 43 Beta removes the X11 session from GNOME. Users upgrading from previous versions will be switched to the Wayland session. This follows the upstream GNOME plan to disable X11 in version 49 and remove it in version 50.
Legacy X11 applications will continue to run through Xwayland. The change provides security and performance improvements from the Wayland protocol.
Updated Programming Languages and Tools
Python 3.14
Fedora 43 Beta includes Python 3.14. The update required rebuilding over 4,100 packages. Changes include:
- Improved free-threaded mode with a 5-10% performance reduction
- New remote debugging option with
-p PID - Simplified exception handling syntax without parentheses
Golang 1.25
Golang 1.25 is included, offering:
- Faster builds using the Go proxy
- Improved supply chain security
- More reproducible builds
GNU Toolchain Updates
Fedora 43 Beta includes updated versions of the GNU toolchain:
| Tool | Version | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| GCC | 15.2 | Updated optimizations and features |
| Binutils | 2.45 | Improvements to binary utilities |
| glibc | 2.42 | Updated GNU C Library |
| GDB | 17.1 | New debugging features |
LLVM 21
LLVM 21 adds Profile-Guided Optimization (PGO) and improves Clang compilation speed for C and C++.
Installation Changes
Anaconda WebUI for All Spins
The web-based Anaconda installer is now default for all Fedora spins, providing a consistent installation experience across editions.
DNF5 in Installer
The installer now uses DNF5 instead of DNF4 for package management, improving performance and reliability during installation.
Security and System Updates
RPM 6.0
RPM 6.0 introduces several security changes:
- Enforced signature verification by default
- Support for multiple signatures per package
- Use of OpenPGP key fingerprints instead of short IDs
- Support for OpenPGP v6 and Post-Quantum Cryptography
- Alternative signing with Sequoia-sq
Database and Server Updates
- PostgreSQL 18 is the new default
- 389 Directory Server now uses LMDB instead of BerkeleyDB (requires data migration)
- MySQL 8.4 replaces MySQL 8.0 as the default
Other Changes
- Noto Color Emoji fonts now use COLR format for scalable vector emojis
- Greenboot health check system has been rewritten in Rust (Greenboot-RS)
- Free Pascal cross-compilers added for multi-architecture development
- Node.js module path management improved
Testing and Availability
Fedora 43 Beta is available for testing on x86_64, aarch64, ppc64le, and s390x architectures, with the final release expected in late October or early November 2025. The beta can be downloaded from official sources, and users can upgrade to the final release using standard dnf commands.
This beta release offers a glimpse into the future of the Fedora platform, showcasing advancements in display protocols, programming language support, and system security. Community testing and feedback will be crucial in refining these features and ensuring a polished final release. Users are encouraged to test and report findings through official Fedora channels.
For a complete list of changes, see the official Fedora 43 ChangeSet on the Fedora Project Wiki.
