From the 'Linux Nomenclature' files:

Among the bits of minutiae that I personally find entertaining about the Linux distribution release cycle is how different distros come up with their respective release names.

Ubuntu with its 'interesting' animal inspired names like Dapper Drake and Karmic Koala gets its names from it's Dictator-for-Life Mark Shuttleworth. Rival Linux distribution Fedora doesn't have such an autocratic approach to naming. Instead the process (like much of the distro itself) is driven by the community. It's a process that is now gearing up for 2010's Fedora 13 release.

The recent Fedora 12 release was codenamed 'Constantine' and the prior Fedora 11 release was called Leonidas.

The way the naming works is there is a certain relationship between the names. According to Fedora:



"Leonidas -> Constantine -> <new name>? Constantine is a <blank>, and so is <new name>. The link between Leonidas and Constantine was 'both are

townships in St. Joseph County, Michigan, USA.' The link between

Constantine and the new name must be different than that link, and different from any other previous link."



Yeah, I know when I think of Leonidas and Constantine I think of the historical figures, not the township in Michigan.

So what will Fedora 13 be called? There are now 7 candidates that the Fedora community will vote on.