fedora-docs / release-notes

#657 F34 Change: GNOME 40
Closed by bcotton. Opened by bcotton.

Closed
Reopen Issue

This issue tracks the release note for the following Fedora Change:

https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Changes/Gnome40

If you own this change, please add additional information here that we should communicate to Fedora users. Specifically, please consider:

  • New features available because of this change - pick 2 or 3 that are important
  • Considerations for users of previous releases of Fedora (upgrade issues, format changes, etc.)
  • Links to any upstream Release Notes
  • If this helps Fedora be a superior environment for our target audiences, please explain how so that we can emphasize this.

Your notes to us do not need to be formally written. We will edit them and add details as needed. This is a way for you to ensure that we know what is critical about your change.

If you want to write this release note, then:

  • Assign this issue to yourself
  • Check the wiki page linked above, find out what the change is about
  • Determine whether the change actually made it into the release or not[0]
  • Write a draft release note using that information against the correct branch here, in Pagure. (or see below)
  • Get in touch with the contact person/people listed on the wiki page, either through IRC or e-mail, and ask them to check your draft for technical accuracy
  • Submit your Release Note as a PR to this repository.

Once you're done with the above, make sure to either commit the relnote to an appropriate section of the Release Notes book, or, if you're not familiar with Git, AsciiDoc, or whatever else, just add it to this issue as a comment and let pbokoc[1] know that you're done with this one and you'd like the note included. Be sure to do this at least one day before the final release (October 29 according to the current schedule). Also make sure to do this even for relnotes that haven't been checked by the change owner.

[0] You can do that by asking the change owner listed on the wiki page; alternatively you can infer it by checking the tracker bug (linked in Wiki) in Bugzilla and looking at its status; see bug comments for details. Ask someone on the mailing list or on IRC if you're not sure.
[1] In #fedora-docs on FreeNode (UTC+1 timezone, online mostly during the day on weekdays), or pbokoc @redhat.com if you can't get a hold of me on IRC.

Metadata Update from @kborole:
- Issue assigned to kborole

Hey @kalev and @mclasen , can you please check the following release note for this issue?
If that looks good, I can send a PR for the same.

Release Note :
= Enhancement

.GNOME updated to the latest version

With Fedora 34, GNOME is now upgraded from GNOME 3.38 to GNOME 40 with many new features. GNOME 40 provides GTK4 which is the latest stable release of GIMP ToolKit(GTK). You can also now experience the newly designed GNOME Shell which is more coherent and engaging.

Hey Khushbu, thanks for getting started on this!

I am not sure it's worth mentioning GTK4 here because almost nothing uses it yet. Yes, it is part of GNOME 40 but GNOME apps are still using GTK3.

I think the most important thing is to talk about is the GNOME Shell redesign as that's the most prominent. Maybe we could just copy some text from https://help.gnome.org/misc/release-notes/40.0/ ? The release notes there are pretty good.

Can we also include some screenshots? I could take a fresh GNOME Shell 40 screenshot from Fedora if needed, with Fedora's wallpaper etc.

@kalev Thanks for the suggestions and the following is the improved version of the release note.

Can we also include some screenshots?
AFAIK, we should not include images in the Release notes as they are meant to be short and specific.

Release Note :
= Enhancement
== .GNOME updated to latest version

With Fedora 34, GNOME is now upgraded from GNOME 3.38 to GNOME 40 with many new features. GNOME 40 provides GTK4 which is the latest stable release of GIMP ToolKit(GTK). You can also now experience the newly designed GNOME Shell which is more coherent and engaging, notably:

  • Workspaces are arranged horizontally, and the overview and app grid are accessed vertically.

  • Weather application now shows more information and looks better than before.

  • Settings app has a number of improvements for keyboard, wifi, about page, and more.

  • GNOME Software now tells you where you’re installing your software from.
Edited by kborole

Thanks for the new version! I think I'd do a few things differently still:

1) GTK is as far as I know no longer called "GIMP ToolKit" but just "GTK".

2) Instead of "GNOME 40 provides GTK4 ...", I'd say something like "GTK 4 is now included on Fedora Workstation install media and first few applications have been ported over. We expect many more applications to make the switch in Fedora 35." if you want to mention it at all. It's not a huge part of GNOME 40 (not very user visible and we don't have applications ported to GTK 4 yet).

3) "You can also now experience" -- it's not also, the redesign is the main thing here.

4) The text makes it seem like the four bullet points are all about GNOME Shell, but it's really only the first one that applies to Shell. Can we expand the Shell section (talk more about the Activities Overview changes -- that's the big change in GNOME 40) and move the rest of the three bullet points under a different heading, like "GNOME 40 applications have also gotten a number of improvements, including:"

(It's also fine as it is, just nitpicking mostly. Thanks for working on this!)

Metadata Update from @bcotton:
- Issue set to the milestone: F34

F34 reached end-of-life. We are unlikely to add additional release notes at this point.

Metadata Update from @bcotton:
- Issue status updated to: Closed (was: Open)
Metadata
None
None
None
None
Static archive. pagure.io was sunset in 2026; this is a read-only snapshot.
Red Hat Logo

Fedora is sponsored by Red Hat. Learn more about the relationship between Red Hat and Fedora »

© Red Hat, Inc. and others.