Introduction

Fedora Linux 44 has arrived, bringing a host of improvements and changes to the Atomic Desktop variants—Silverblue, Kinoite, Sway Atomic, Budgie Atomic, and COSMIC Atomic. This release focuses on streamlining development, enhancing documentation, and removing deprecated components to ensure a more secure and maintainable system. Here's a detailed look at what's new and what users need to know before upgrading.

Unified Issue Tracking and Documentation

Issue Tracker Moves to the Fedora Forge

The cross-variant issue tracker has been relocated to the new Fedora forge. This centralized platform is now the primary place to report bugs that affect multiple Atomic Desktop variants or to coordinate work across teams. For issues specific to a particular desktop environment—such as GNOME for Silverblue or KDE for Kinoite—the respective Special Interest Groups (SIGs) maintain their own trackers, which are linked from the atomic-desktops organization README. This change ensures that cross-cutting concerns are addressed efficiently while preserving the focus of each SIG.

Consolidated Documentation Hub Goes Live

A long-awaited unified documentation for all Atomic Desktops is now available on the new forge. This single resource covers installation, customization, troubleshooting, and common workflows for every variant. However, translations from the previous documentation have not been migrated yet. The community is invited to help re-translate content once the translation infrastructure is ready (tracked in issue #10). The new setup aims to simplify maintenance: documents need to be translated only once, rather than separately for each variant, reducing redundancy and improving consistency.

Removal of FUSE Version 2 Libraries

One of the most impactful changes in Fedora 44 is the complete removal of FUSE version 2 libraries from the Atomic Desktop images. FUSE 2 has been deprecated and unmaintained for some time, so this removal aligns with upstream security and stability goals. Users should be aware of two main consequences:

• AppImages built with an older runtime may stop working.
• Plasma Vault backends relying on EncFS or CryFS will no longer function on Kinoite.

Below we detail how to check for and address these issues.

AppImages and FUSE v2 Compatibility

Some AppImages still use an old AppImage runtime that depends on FUSE 2 being present on the host system. To determine if an AppImage is affected, you can inspect its runtime version—see the discussion thread for methods. If a particular AppImage fails to launch after upgrading to Fedora 44, consider these steps:

1. Look for a Flatpak alternative for the same application. Flatpaks are fully containerized and do not rely on host FUSE libraries.
2. Report the issue to the upstream project, urging them to adopt a newer AppImage runtime. You can also contribute by helping them package as a Flatpak.

Plasma Vault Backend Changes on Kinoite

KDE upstream no longer recommends the EncFS or CryFS backends for Plasma Vaults, primarily because they depend on FUSE 2. The only maintained backend is gocryptfs. If you have existing vaults using EncFS or CryFS, you should migrate your data to a new gocryptfs-based vault before updating to Fedora 44. For users who have already upgraded and need access to their old data, temporary relief is possible by layering the required packages (cryfs or fuse-encfs) via rpm-ostree install. Once data is migrated, remove those packages with rpm-ostree reset to return to a clean state.

Phasing Out Legacy Polkit Rules

Support for the legacy pkla Polkit rules format has been dropped in Fedora 44. This format was an earlier method for defining authorization policies, and its removal simplifies the Polkit stack. Most users will not notice any change, but if you had custom pkla files, you should convert them to the modern JavaScript-based rules. Check your system for any .pkla files in /etc/polkit-1/rules.d/ and migrate them accordingly.

Conclusion

Fedora Linux 44 brings meaningful refinements to the Atomic Desktop experience. By centralizing issue tracking and documentation, streamlining FUSE v2 removal with clear migration paths, and retiring obsolete policy formats, the release emphasizes both forward progress and user support. Whether you are a long-time Silverblue user or new to Kinoite, these changes pave the way for a more robust and manageable system. As always, check the official release notes and variant-specific documentation for the latest details.