Architectures/AArch64/F24/Installation

Fedora 24 for AArch64

For the first time, all of our secondary architectures, AArch64, Power64 (ppc64, ppc64le) and s390x, are released simultaneously, rather than trailing a little behind. This includes the Server edition for all architectures and the Cloud and Docker base images for AArch64 and Power64. Along with all the same enhancements as in the primary architectures in Fedora 24, AArch64 and Power64 now have support for golang, nodejs, mongodb; along with numerous other architecture-specific enhancements. The architecture release notes pages on the wiki have more specifics for each. Download these from https://dl.fedoraproject.org/pub/fedora-secondary/releases/24/.

Another Step in the Fedora Journey

The Fedora Project has embarked on a great journey... redefining what an operating system should be for users and developers. Such innovation does not come overnight, and Fedora 24 is one big step on the road to the next generation of Linux distributions. But that does not mean that Fedora 24 is some "interim" release; there are great new features for Fedora users to deploy in their production environments right now! There are many features in this new release, highlighted here. For more detailed information on Fedora 24, please read the Release Notes.

Server

Fedora 24 Server edition is more streamlined and introduces more modularity, which will become a major factor in future Fedora releases, even as unnecessary packages were removed and the installer has a smaller footprint. FreeIPA 4.3 is a major feature for Fedora 24 Server. FreeIPA is an integrated security information management solution. This new version of FreeIPA features simplified replica installation and improved replication technology management.

Cloud

Fedora is on its way to being the best platform for containerized applications, from base Fedora container images to a full-featured platform as a service to run and manage them. As we continue on this part of the journey, we are packaging OpenShift Origin so it is easy to deploy. OpenShift Origin is a Platform as a Service system based around Kubernetes, a production-grade container orchestration project. OpenShift Origin is optimized for application development and deployment. Origin makes it easy for developers to get started building applications in containers and for operators to manage them. While not shipped in Fedora 24, per se, we have new infrastructure for developing container images with applications layered on top of the base Fedora Docker image. Fedora Developers will also see a layered image build service, which provides tools for Fedora contributors to start creating and shipping layered container images in Fedora 25 and beyond.

Make Fedora Even Better

If you want to take an active hand in making Fedora even better, there are many ways you can contribute. There are many roles that you can participate. Visit http://whatcanidoforfedora.org/ for more information! While this is a general release, there is always a chance you may encounter bugs or missing features. To report issues encountered during testing, contact the Fedora QA team via the mailing list or in #fedora-qa on Freenode IRC. As testing progresses, common issues are tracked on the Common F24 Bugs page.

• https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Common_F24_bugs

For tips on reporting a bug effectively, read "how to file a bug report."

• https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/How_to_file_a_bug_report

Mirror List

• https://admin.fedoraproject.org/mirrormanager/mirrors/Fedora/24/aarch64

Supported Hardware

• Applied Micro X-Gene (Mustang)
• Hardware virtualization with QEMU

Overview of Hardware Support Status

Hardware	ACPI	Network	USB	DVD	Display	Audio	Link	Notes
Hardware virtualization with QEMU		pass					none	Tested with edk2.git-aarch64-0-20160504.b1747.gf143074.noarch.
Applied Micro X-Gene (Mustang)		pass	pass	none			none	Tested with APM Tianocore - 1.15.10.
Advanced Micro Devices Opteron A1100 (Seattle)		pass		pass			none	Tested with 74E firmware.

Network Installation

A network installation is the preferred installation method for current Aarch64 hardware targets. In order to begin you will need to setup the installation server, a guide can be found below:

http://docs.fedoraproject.org/en-US/Fedora/23/html/Installation_Guide/chap-pxe-server-setup.html

Note
The above documentation references grubx86.efi, but this is the name for x86_64 EFI grub binaries. The grub binary name on AArch64 systems is grubaa64.efi.

The instructions above reference installing grub-efi and shim for copying into the TFTP directory. This will not work for aarch64 binaries. One option is to download the rpms from the tree below and use rpm2cpio to extract and copy the files from there.

Once configured use the Fedora 24 for AArch64 installation tree below:

Installation Tree

http://dl.fedoraproject.org/pub/fedora-secondary/releases/24/Server/aarch64/os/

Install with QEMU

Note
You will need to use qemu-2.3.0-4+ for the below to work.

To use Fedora 24 on QEMU you will need to use 'edk2-20160418gita8c39ba-1' (currently in updates for all releases of Fedora) or later.

sudo dnf install edk2-aarch64 libguestfs-tools-c

To install:

sudo virt-install    \
      --name Fedora_24_AArch64 --ram 4096 --arch aarch64 \
      --disk size=8 --os-variant fedora22   \
      --location https://dl.fedoraproject.org/pub/fedora-secondary/releases/24/Server/aarch64/os/
*Add kickstart with (root password is 'fedora'):
      --extra-args "inst.ks=https://pwhalen.fedorapeople.org/kickstarts/Fedora-24-Minimal-AArch64.ks"

For a full list of QEMU installation options and instructions:

http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Architectures/AArch64/Install_with_QEMU

Reported Bugs and Known Issues

• Common F24 bugs

• When using an encrypted partition, "plymouth.enable=0" must be added to the kernel command line. Failure to do so will not allow the passphrase to be entered to unlock the encrypted partition. (BZ#1172740).