Changes/DeprecateYASM

Deprecate YASM

Summary

This Change proposes to deprecate YASM and build packages with NASM instead.

Owner

• Name: Dominik Mierzejewski
• Email: dominik@greysector.net

Current status

• Targeted release: Fedora Linux 43
• Last updated: 2025-08-22
• Announced
• Discussion thread
• FESCo issue: #3457
• Tracker bug: #2388199
• Release notes tracker: #257

Detailed Description

YASM is unmaintained upstream currently, but it's still listed as a build dependency in 8 Fedora packages, including critical ones like Firefox. Last release was in July 2019 and last commit was in June 2024. Issues are left unresolved and pull requests unreviewed. It is getting dropped from other distributions already. In contrast, NASM is still maintained, with last release in April 2024 and last commit in November 2024 with no indication of upstream abandoning development. Most, if not all upstreams support building using NASM already, so the proposal is to switch their build dependency to NASM instead.

Benefit to Fedora

Switching to compiling assembly sources with NASM ensures (critical) applications are built with a maintained assembler.

Scope

• Proposal owners:
  • Open pull requests to switch BuildRequires: yasm to nasm or make the changes directly where permitted.
  • Mark yasm as deprecated by adding Provides: deprecated()
  • Work with affected package maintainers and upstreams to ensure they build with nasm correctly.

• Other developers: Affected package maintainers are encouraged (but not required) to ensure their packages build with nasm instead of yasm.

• Release engineering: N/A (not a System-wide Change)

• Policies and guidelines: N/A (not needed for this Change)

• Trademark approval: N/A (not needed for this Change)

• Alignment with the Fedora Strategy: N/A (not needed for this Change)

Upgrade/compatibility impact

No new packages should require yasm to build as it will be marked as deprecated. Existing packages will be built using nasm going forward. The change should be transparent to users.

How To Test

fedrq wrsrc -s yasm -F name returns only the following packages depending on yasm to build:

mingw-wine-gecko
udis86
virtualbox-guest-additions

User Experience

There should be no noticeable user impact.

Contingency Plan

• Contingency mechanism: Revert BuildRequires: back to yasm and remove the deprecation.
• Contingency deadline: Final Freeze
• Blocks release? N/A (not a System Wide Change)

Documentation

N/A (not a System Wide Change)

Release Notes

YASM assembler has been deprecated and no new packages should depend on it. Packages that require it to build are now built using NASM where possible.