Red Hat's Fedora project is likely to produce one of the first major Linux distributions sporting the new 2.6 kernel, with release of the next version, Fedora Core 2, scheduled for early April. This will put it well ahead of Red Hat's Enterprise Linux, which isn't likely to go to 2.6 until next autumn, and will provide an acid test for Red Hat's new dual-track strategy.

Red Hat announced the demise of the Red Hat Linux distribution earlier this year, placing its commercial eggs in the Enterprise basket, with more sedate, corporate-friendly release cycles, and its enthusiast/development ones in Fedora, which is sponsored but not supported, and which is intended to be free to barrel ahead with new versions without having to worry about scaring the business customers. Considering the fate of RHL, it seems perfectly reasonable for enthusiasts to approach Fedora with a certain amount of caution, and consequently it also seems necessary for Fedora to prove its worth.

The Fedora team describes the schedule as "very aggressive," with two items considered (by Red Hat, it says here) as potential showstoppers - the 2.6 kernel itself, and integrated SELinux functionality.

Three test versions, releasing from early February through to mid-March, are currently planned, with release of the finished version to mirrors down for April 2nd, and full availability for April 5th. ®