The Fedora distribution has a reputation for innovation, and the new Fedora 9, released today, is no exception. But for Paul W. Frields, who became Fedora project leader in February, what distinguishes the release is less the technology than the community that supports it, and how the technology contributes to the larger free software world.

Frields has worked on releases before, but Fedora 9 is the first one since he became project leader. The process has been a bit of a revelation to him about how the community works. As a contributor, he says, "You tend to put your head down and work on your specific area to the exclusion of others. What I find myself doing now is exactly the opposite. My aperture widens as we get closer to the release, and I start casting about into different groups."

What is a surprise to Frields is that, in the last week before the release, "There's not a lot of fires to put out. What I've found is that there's a lot of prep work that's done on a fairly routine basis. A lot of processes have been smoothed out. It's a bit of an insult to my Type-A personality," he adds wryly.

"We have a really great tool set that's been developed over several releases. I don't think we've changed any of the inner processes to a huge extent, and that may mean that we're starting to find a good balance for releases."

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Also: A Talk with Fedora Project Leader Paul Frields (LWN Subscribers only tho).