This page documents common bugs in Fedora 18 and, if available, fixes or workarounds for these problems. If you find your problem in this page, do not file a bug for it, unless otherwise instructed. Where appropriate, a reference to the current bug(s) in Bugzilla is included.
Fedora 18 has not yet been released. During this pre-release period, this page will cover known issues in the Fedora 18 pre-releases. Issues that are fixed will be removed from the page once a fix is available (for instance, an issue that affects the Beta but is fixed in the final release will be removed at the time of that release).
Release Notes
Read the F18 Alpha release announcement and the Fedora 18 Alpha Release Notes for specific information about changes in Fedora 18 and other general information.
My bug is not listed
Not every bug is listed in this page, but Bugzilla should be a comprehensive database of known bugs. This page is a sampling of the bugs most commonly discussed on our mailing lists and forums.
To see if your bug has already been reported, you can search Bugzilla. If it has not yet been reported, we encourage you to do so to help improve Fedora for yourself and others. A guide to Bugs and feature requests has been prepared to assist you.
If you believe an already-reported bug report should be added to this page because it is commonly encountered, you can:
- Add it yourself, if you have wiki access. Please follow the style and guidelines explained in the comments in the page source.
- Or, add the CommonBugs keyword to the bug report. Someone from the QA team will then inspect the issue to determine whether the bug should be listed as a common bug. To expedite your request, please add a comment to the bug that includes
- a summary of the problem
- any known workarounds
- an assessment on the impact to Fedora users
For reference, you can query Bugzilla for bugs tagged CommonBugs:
- CommonBugs? (bugs with CommonBugs keyword, but do not yet have a link to this page)
- CommonBugs+(bugs with CommonBugs keyword and contain a link to this page)
Installation issues
Installer reformats target disks without warning
link to this item - Bugzilla: #855976
The Anaconda installer for Fedora 18 will format the entire disk unless custom partitioning is selected.
In Fedora 18 Alpha, if you select a disk or disks to which to install Fedora in the Installation destination screen and hit 'Continue' at the 'INSTALLATION OPTIONS' dialog without checking Let me review & customize the partitioning of the disks anyway, then complete the installation, the installer will reformat all disks selected without any further warning. There is no option presented to use free space on the disks or resize existing partitions, all existing data on the disks will be lost.
Checking the Let me review & customize the partitioning of the disks anyway box allows you to enter the custom partitioning screen, where you may be able to create a viable layout without destroying existing data. Be aware, however, that the custom partitioning screen is far from complete and known to be buggy. We strongly advise you to install Fedora 18 Alpha only on systems or virtual machines which contain no data of value to you.
This is not the final design of the partitioning process for Fedora 18, and it will be improved for the Beta and Final releases.
Installer crashes instead of presenting an error dialog when disk is too small (or other errors)
link to this item - Bugzilla: #854856
If you try to install Fedora 18 Alpha to a very small disk, the installer will likely crash with an error PartitioningError: not enough free space on disks. In general, there are several cases where there is code in the installer to catch errors, but no 'error handling' code to present a dialog to the user with appropriate options when one of these errors occurs.
There is no workaround for this kind of problem, but in any case where this happens, it indicates some kind of problem in your installation attempt. You may be able to tell from the error message and traceback what the error is, and correct it in another attempt to install. For this specific error, the problem is that the target disk is too small.
Error handling code will be implemented in the installer for Fedora 18 Beta.
Reboot fails after live installation
link to this item - Bugzilla: #857076
Multiple testers reported that, after completing a live installation of Fedora 18 Alpha, rebooting fails. If you hit Esc to see the console messages, you will see 'Dependency failed for Reboot.' and, at the end, 'Reached target Shutdown.'
Once the system has reached this point it is quite safe to hit the physical reset button or turn the power off. There is no known workaround for the issue besides simply rebooting or powering off manually.
Hardware issues
Problems with start or display of login manager or desktop on NVIDIA graphics adapters
link to this item - Bugzilla: #857300
There is a problem in the nouveau kernel module in Fedora 18 Alpha which can cause various symptoms that ultimately prevent you from reaching a usable desktop, when booting the live image or an installed system. The login manager and/or desktop may fail to appear at all (though ps and systemctl will show that they are running), or they may appear but with the cursor missing and/or visual corruption issues.
To work around this issue for live system boot or first boot of an installed system, edit the kernel parameters at boot time and remove 'rhgb'. This should result in a fully working boot.
An updated kernel package has been submitted to the updates-testing repository for testing. Users experiencing this problem are encouraged to test this update and report to Bodhi whether it solves the problem. To test the update, run this command:
su -c 'yum --enablerepo=updates-testing update kernel'
Software issues
GNOME crashes when unlocking screen (usually in a KVM)
link to this item - Bugzilla: #856256
When running Fedora 18 Alpha in a KVM virtual machine using the 'qxl' video adapter and 'xorg-x11-drv-qxl' video driver, using the GNOME desktop, if the screen is locked either by the user or after an inactivity timeout, GNOME will crash back to the login screen a few seconds after the screen is unlocked.
Note that a few reporters have reported similar behaviour with other video adapters and drivers (on real machines, not virtual ones), but these issues likely have different causes and should be reported separately.
To workaround this issue you can disable screen locking, or - if you require screen locking - use a different video adapter and/or driver in the virtual machine, which will allow you to use screen locking but give you poorer video performance. The combination of the 'cirrus' adapter and the 'xorg-x11-drv-modesetting' driver also has problems, so if you are going to use an alternative combination, we recommend the 'vga' adapter.
Some testing suggests that updating to the latest GNOME packages from the updates-testing repository may resolve this issue.
PackageKit-based package management tools cannot import Fedora GPG key
link to this item - Bugzilla: #856225
After installing Fedora from the traditional installer, the Fedora GPG key is not included in the RPM keyring: the first time you perform any package operation, the tool you are using should prompt you to import the Fedora GPG key. (When installing from a live image, the key is already imported and this problem does not occur).
In Fedora 18 Alpha, PackageKit-based tools, such as the GNOME and KDE package installer and update applications, are not able to import the key. They will prompt you, but will not actually manage to import the key. This will mean you cannot complete any package management operation, such as installing a package or updating the system, with these tools.
The workaround for this is simply to perform any package install or update with the yum tool. This will prompt you to import the Fedora GPG key, and via yum, the import will be successful. After this, you can use PackageKit-based tools successfully.
A fix for this issue has been identified, but not yet incorporated into a Fedora package. This should be done soon.