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What is the difference between Fedora and Red Hat Linux? I believe many inexperienced people don't know what to do about it. Therefore, this paper summarizes the causes and solutions of the problem. Through this article, I hope you can solve this problem.

Fedora and Red Hat Linux. Both Linux distributions belong to the same organization, both use the RPM package manager, and both offer desktop and server versions. Both Linux distributions have a great impact on the operating system world.

This is why it is easy to get confused between these two similar distributions. In this article, I will discuss the similarities and differences between Red Hat Linux and Fedora.

If you want to choose between the two, or just want to understand the concept of two distributions from the same organization, this will help you.

The difference between Fedora and Red Hat Linux

Let's first talk about the difference between the two distributions.

Community Edition and Enterprise Edition

As early as 1995, Red Hat Linux had its first official version, which was sold as a boxed product. It is also known as the Red Hat Commercial LinuxRed Hat Commercial Linux.

Then, in 2003, Red Hat turned Red Hat Linux into a completely corporate customer-centric Red Hat Enterprise LinuxRed Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL). Since then, Red Hat Linux has been an enterprise Linux release.

What it means is that you must subscribe and pay to use Red Hat Linux because it is not a free operating system. Even all software, bug fixes and security support are available only to those with Red Hat subscriptions.

When Red Hat Linux became RHEL, it also led to the establishment of the Fedora project, which is responsible for the development of Fedora Linux.

Unlike Red Hat, Fedora is a community version of Linux that everyone can use for free, including bug fixes and other services.

Although Red Hat sponsored the Fedora project, Fedora Linux is mainly maintained by an independent open source community.

Free and paid

Well, you'll find that most Linux distributions are available for free. Fedora Linux is also a distribution, and its desktop, server, and all other versions and Spin versions are free downloads.

There are also some Linux distributions that you have to pay for. Red Hat enterprise Linux is such a popular Linux-based operating system, which requires a fee.

In addition to the $99 RHEL developer version, you must pay more than $100 to buy other RHEL versions for servers, virtual data centers and desktops.

However, if you happen to be an individual developer rather than an organization or team, you can join the Red Hat developer program. Under the plan, you can get free access to Red Hat Linux and other products within 12 months.

Upstream or downstream

Fedora is the upstream of RHEL and RHEL is the downstream of Fedora. This means that when a new version of Fedora is released, Red Hat will use the source code of Fedora to add the required features to its next version.

Of course, Red Hat also tests the pulled code before merging it into its own RHEL code base.

In other words, Fedora Linux, as a proving ground for Red Hat, first checks the function and then integrates it into the RHEL system.

Release cycle

In order to provide regular updates to all components of the operating system, RHEL and Fedora follow a standard fixed-point release pattern.

Fedora releases a new version about every six months (mainly in April and October) and provides 13 months of maintenance support.

Red Hat Linux releases a new targeted version of a specific series every year, and a major version about five years later. Each major version of Red Hat Linux goes through four life cycle stages, from 5 years of support to a 10-year life extension with additional subscriptions.

Try the fresh Linux distribution

When it comes to innovation and new technologies, Fedora is more proactive than RHEL. Even if Fedora does not follow the rolling release model, it is a release known for providing early taste technology.

This is because Fedora regularly updates the package to the latest version in order to provide an up-to-date operating system every six months.

If you know, GNOME 40 is the latest version of the GNOME desktop environment, which was released only last month. Fedora's latest stable version 34 does include it, while RHEL's latest stable version 8.3 still comes with GNOME 3.32.

File system

When choosing an operating system, do you put the organization and retrieval of data in the system in a very important position? If so, you should know about the XFS and Btrfs file systems before you decide to choose Red Hat and Fedora.

That was in 2014, when RHEL 7.0 replaced Ext4 with XFS as its default file system. Since then, Red Hat has had a XFS 64-bit journaling file system by default in each version.

Although Fedora is the upstream of Red Hat Linux, Fedora continued to use Ext4 until last year when Fedora 33 introduced Btrfs as the default file system.

Interestingly, Red Hat included Btrfs as a "technology preview" in the initial release of RHEL 6. Later, Red Hat abandoned plans to use Btrfs, so it was completely removed from RHEL 8 and later major releases in 2019.

Available variants

Compared with Fedora, the number of versions of Red Hat Linux is very limited. It is mainly suitable for desktops, servers, academia, developers, virtual servers and IBM Power LE.

In addition to the official versions of desktops, servers, and the Internet of things, Fedora also provides immutable desktop Silverblue and container-focused Fedora CoreOS.

Not only that, Fedora also has a custom variant for a specific purpose, called Fedora Labs. Each ISO has a package of software for professionals, neurosciences, designers, gamers, musicians, students and scientists.

Do you want a different desktop environment in Fedora? You can also check out the official Fedora Spins, which is pre-configured with several desktop environments, such as KDE, Xfce, LXQT, LXDE, Cinnamon and i3 tile window manager.

Fedora Cinnamon Spin

In addition, if you want to get the new software before the stable version of Fedora, Fedora Rawhide is another version based on the rolling release mode.

Similarities between Fedora and Red Hat Linux

Apart from the differences, Fedora and Red Hat Linux also have several things in common.

Parent company

Red Hat is a joint company that supports Fedora projects and RHEL, with development and financial support.

Even if Red Hat financially sponsors the Fedora project, Fedora has its own board to oversee its development without Red Hat's intervention.

Open source product

Before you think Red Hat Linux is free, so how can it be an open source product, I suggest reading our article, which analyzes everything about FOSS and open source.

As an open source software, it doesn't mean you can get it for free. Sometimes it may cost money. Red Hat is an open source company that has established its business in open source.

Fedora and Red Hat Linux are both open source operating systems. The source code and packaged software are available for all Fedora packages here.

However, in the case of Red Hat Linux, the source code is also available to anyone free of charge. But unlike Fedora, you have to pay for runnable code, or you're free to build it yourself.

The subscription fee you pay to Red Hat is actually used for system maintenance and technical support.

Desktop environment and initial system

The flagship desktop versions of Fedora and Red Hat Linux use a GNOME graphical interface. So, if you're already familiar with GNOME, you won't have much of a problem starting with any distribution.

GNOME Desktop

Are you one of the few people who hate SystemD initialization systems? If so, neither Fedora nor Red Hat Linux is right for you because they both support and use SystemD by default.

In short, it's not impossible if you want to replace it with another initialization system such as Runit or OpenRC, but I don't think it's a good idea.

RPM-based distribution

If you are already proficient in using YUM, RPM, or DNF command-line tools to deal with RPM packages, a compliment! You can choose one of these two RPM-based distributions.

By default, Red Hat Linux uses RPM (Red Hat packet Manager Red Hat Package Manager) to install, update, remove, and manage RPM packages.

Fedora used YUM (yellow dog updater modified Yellowdog Updater Modified) before Fedora 21 in 2015. Starting with Fedora 22, it now uses DNF (trendy YumDandified Yum) instead of YUM as the default package manager.

Fedora or Red Hat Linux: which one should you choose?

Frankly, it really depends on who you are and why you use it. If you are a beginner, developer, or an ordinary user who wants to use it to improve productivity or learn Linux, Fedora can be a good choice.

It can help you easily set up the system, experiment, save money, and become a member of the Fedora project. Let me remind you that Linus Torvalds, the creator of Linux, uses Fedora Linux on his main workstation.

However, this definitely does not mean that you should also use Fedora. If you happen to be an enterprise, considering that the support life cycle of Fedora will end within a year, you may reconsider choosing it.

And if you don't like the rapid changes in each new version, you may not like to try the fresh Fedora to meet your server and business needs.

With the enterprise version of Red Hat, you can get high stability, security and the quality of support that Red Hat expert engineers provide for your large enterprises.

After reading the above, have you mastered the difference between Fedora and Red Hat Linux? If you want to learn more skills or want to know more about it, you are welcome to follow the industry information channel, thank you for reading!

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