Fedora Linux 44 Atomic Desktops: Key Updates and Migration Guide

Fedora Linux 44 brings significant changes to all Atomic Desktop variants (Silverblue, Kinoite, Sway Atomic, Budgie Atomic, and COSMIC Atomic). This release focuses on modernizing infrastructure, improving documentation, and phasing out deprecated technologies. Below are the most important updates, with guidance on how to adapt to the changes.

What are the major changes for all Fedora Atomic Desktops in Fedora 44?

Three core changes affect every Atomic Desktop variant. First, the cross-variant issue tracker has moved to the new Fedora forge, making it easier to file bugs that impact all variants. Second, a unified documentation hub is now live on the same forge, replacing scattered per-variant docs—though translations need to be redone. Third, FUSE version 2 libraries have been removed, which means some legacy AppImages and older Plasma Vault backends will stop working. Additionally, support for the legacy pkla Polkit rules format has been dropped. Each change is explained in detail in the sections below.

Where should I file issues that affect all Atomic Desktop variants?

The cross-variant issue tracker has moved to the new Fedora forge. This is the recommended place to report bugs or coordinate work that impacts multiple variants (e.g., Silverblue and Kinoite). For issues specific to a single desktop environment, please use the respective Special Interest Group (SIG) trackers instead. Links to those are available in the atomic-desktops organization README. This separation helps maintain focus and makes it easier for maintainers to triage problems.

What is the new unified documentation, and how can I access it?

The unified documentation for all Atomic Desktop variants is now live on the new Fedora forge. Previously, each variant had its own docs, which were tedious to maintain and translate. Now there is a single source of truth. Unfortunately, the old translations were not migrated, so community help is needed to re-translate the content once the translation setup is ready. The good news is that most of the work is copy/paste from the previous docs, and you only need to translate once for all variants. You can follow progress in tracking issue #10.

Why was FUSE version 2 removed, and how does it affect AppImages?

FUSE 2 libraries are deprecated and no longer maintained, so they were removed from Fedora 44 Atomic Desktop images. This mainly affects users running AppImages that use an older runtime (version 1 or 2) which relies on FUSE 2 on the host system. If you encounter failures, first verify your AppImage’s runtime version. If it uses the old runtime, we recommend searching for a Flatpak version of the same application, or reporting the issue upstream so they update to a newer AppImage runtime. Consider helping upstream package their app as a Flatpak—it’s more secure and works without FUSE 2.

How does the FUSE 2 removal impact Plasma Vault users on Kinoite?

Plasma Vault on Kinoite previously supported three backends: EncFS, CryFS, and gocryptfs. Both EncFS and CryFS depend on FUSE 2 libraries and have been removed. KDE no longer recommends them. If you are using one of these legacy backends, migrate your data to a new vault using gocryptfs before updating to Fedora 44. If you already updated and need access, you can temporarily install the needed packages (cryfs or fuse-encfs) using rpm-ostree install, move your data, then run rpm-ostree reset to remove the overlay packages. For step-by-step migration instructions, see the Fedora Change document.

What about the removal of pkla Polkit rules support?

Fedora 44 drops compatibility for the legacy pkla Polkit rules format. This format was used by some older applications to define policy authorization rules. It is very unlikely that end users rely on pkla rules directly, as the modern JavaScript-based rules syntax has been standard for years. If you have custom pkla files (e.g., in /etc/polkit-1/rules.d/), you should convert them to the new format. Most system administrators and desktop users will not notice this change. Any affected software should update to the new rules format.