How to upgrade to Fedora 36 from Fedora 35

How can I perform an upgrade from Fedora 35 to Fedora 36 Workstation / Server?. If this is a question you have in mind, then you’re in the right place. The official release of Fedora 36 Linux distribution is expected around June, 2022. If you’re a Fedora die-hard fan, then you can take the Beta release for a spin. In this article we shall cover the steps that are required to upgrade from Fedora 35 to Fedora 36 Linux. The process should work on both Server and Workstation editions.

For most users, it makes sense to perform an in-place upgrade of the OS and all packages installed as opposed to a clean installation. Retaining files and Documents on your system is key, to enjoy new features while being productive. We shall also highlight key features in Fedora 36 release.

Fedora 36 New Features

Some key features shipped in Fedora 36 release are as listed below.

GNOME 42 Desktop Environment – This is the product of 6 months’ work by the GNOME project. It includes a significant number of new features, as well as many enhancements.
New Desktop Wallpapers – After installation you’ll notice a number of new wallpapers that were not in 35 release. These wallpapers are beautifully crafted to give Fedora Desktop an amazing look.
Linux Kernel 5.17 – Among great features baked in Linux Kernel 5.17 release is a new AMD P-State driver, Intel AMX support for kVM virtualisation, Xen USB virtual host driver passes USB devices to to Xen guests, new x86 Android Tablet driver, BTRFS and EXT4 filesystem performance boosts, among many other features.
Dark/Light GNOME 42 Wallpapers – New dark/light mode wallpaper collection available on Gnome 42. Easily change the whole desktop appearance from these available wallpapers.
Package Updates – Key software applications also got major updates. Mainly Golang, openJDK, Wayland, GCC, e.t.c.
And many other new features and enhancements

Upgrade to Fedora 36 from Fedora 35 Workstation / Server

Now that we’ve captured key highlights on what’s new, we can now put our attention on the actual upgrade from Fedora 35 to Fedora 36.

1) Update Fedora 35 system

Before we initiate upgrade, ensure all system packages are up-to-date

sudo dnf -y upgrade

Once it has been updated, reboot your machine.

sudo systemctl reboot

Validate the system you’re working on is Fedora 35 🙂

$ cat /etc/redhat-release
Fedora release 35 (Thirty Five)

2) Backup System

It is highly recommended you perform a system backup of your Documents and files before a major upgrade. Backups can be done to an external drive or another system in your Network.

Refer to the official backup series on Fedora Magazine.

3) Upgrade from Fedora 35 to Fedora 36

Check if any new updates are available

sudo dnf upgrade --refresh

Apply any updates that maybe available then install DNF plugin.

sudo dnf -y install dnf-plugin-system-upgrade

With dnf-plugin-system-upgrade installed, begin an upgrade of Fedora 35 to Fedora 36 Workstation. Execute commands below in your terminal as root or user with sudo privileges.

sudo dnf system-upgrade download --releasever=36

Change the --releasever= number if you want to upgrade to a different release of Fedora.

Press to y to accept upgrade of the system.

Before you continue ensure that your system is fully upgraded by running "dnf --refresh upgrade". Do you want to continue [y/N]: y

The command we just executed will download all of the upgrades for your machine locally as it prepares for the actual upgrade.

NB: If you have broken dependencies or retired packages blocking the upgrade, the use the command.

sudo dnf system-upgrade download --releasever=36 --allowerasing

A number of packages are downloaded, ensure you have a stable internet connection.

Transaction Summary
===================================================================================================================================================================================================
Install      37 Packages
Upgrade    1674 Packages
Remove        5 Packages
Downgrade    88 Packages

Total download size: 1.7 G
DNF will only download packages, install gpg keys, and check the transaction.
Is this ok [y/N]: y

After the packages are downloaded locally trigger the upgrade process with the following commands:

sudo dnf system-upgrade reboot

The system will be rebooted and upgrade process is finalized.

Once the upgrade process completes, the system is rebooted a second time into the new OS release of Fedora.

4) Updating configuration files (optional)

The rpmconf command line tool can help you to search for .rpmnew, .rpmsave and .rpmorig files and asks you what to do with them. You can choose to;

Keep the current version (new package maintainer’s version)
Replace with the previous version (return original file), or
Review the differences between the versions

Install rpmconf package by entering the commands;

sudo dnf -y install rpmconf

Then use it to check changed configuration files

sudo rpmconf -a

The -a, --all command options allow you to check configuration files of all packages updated.

See example below:

Configuration file '/boot/efi/EFI/fedora/grub.cfg'
-rwx------. 1 root root 6696 Oct 26 05:39 /boot/efi/EFI/fedora/grub.cfg.rpmsave
-rwx------. 1 root root  143 Oct 26 05:39 /boot/efi/EFI/fedora/grub.cfg

 ==> Package distributor has shipped an updated version.
 ==> Maintainer forced upgrade. Your old version has been backed up.
   What would you like to do about it?  Your options are:
    Y or I  : install (keep) the package maintainer's version
    N or O  : return back to your original file
      D     : show the differences between the versions
      M     : merge configuration files
      Z     : background this process to examine the situation
      S     : skip this file
 The default action is to keep package maintainer's version.
*** aliases (Y/I/N/O/M/D/Z/S) [default=Y] ?
Your choice: Y

5) Deleting retired packages (optional)

With any major release of Fedora, a few packages are retired for a number of reasons. It is highly recommend to remove these packages.

Install remove-retired-packages package

sudo dnf install remove-retired-packages

Run the command to remove retired packages

sudo remove-retired-packages

Enjoy your new Fedora 36 Workstation / Server release. We have more guides you can check on Fedora system.