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DistroWatch.com: Bluefin

Bluefin


Last Update: 2025-06-15 10:37 UTC


Bluefin is a Fedora Silverblue-based distribution that aims to provide a stable and secure system with pre-installed software and hardware support, GNOME desktop, Flatpak integration, and Distrobox inclusion. It features an immutable, read-only root file system, enhancing system stability and security. Bluefin provides various editions of the product, including "gts" (based on the previous stable version of Fedora), "stable" (based on the current stable version of Fedora), and "latest" (based on the latest stable version of Fedora, inclusive of daily updates). It also offers a developer mode with various tools and container-based technologies for developers.

Popularity (hits per day): 12 months: 289 (4), 6 months: 288 (8), 3 months: 289 (17), 4 weeks: 167 (52), 1 week: 156 (53)

Average visitor rating: 9.67/10 from 3 review(s).


Bluefin Summary
Distribution Bluefin
Home Page https://projectbluefin.io/
Mailing Lists --
User Forums https://universal-blue.discourse.group/c/bluefin/6
Alternative User Forums
Documentation https://docs.projectbluefin.io/
Screenshots DistroWatch Gallery
Screencasts
Download Mirrors https://projectbluefin.io/#scene-picker
Bug Tracker https://github.com/ublue-os/bluefin/issues
Related Websites GitHub
Reviews 41: DistroWatch
Where To Donate, Buy or Try

Table Notes and Explanations

(Please refer to the table below.)
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  • To compare the software in this project to the software available in other distributions, please see our Compare Packages page.
  • Notes: In case where multiple versions of a package are shipped with a distribution, only the default version appears in the table. For indication about the GNOME version, please check the "nautilus" and "gnome-shell" packages. The Apache web server is listed as "httpd" and the Linux kernel is listed as "linux". The KDE desktop is represented by the "plasma-desktop" package and the Xfce desktop by the "xfdesktop" package.
  • Colour scheme: green text = latest stable version, red text = development or beta version. The function determining beta versions is not 100% reliable due to a wide variety of versioning schemes.
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Feature 42.20250615
(stable)
41.20250615
(gts)
Release Date 2025-06-15 2025-06-15
End Of Life    
Price (US$) Free Free
Image Size (MB) 5300-5400 5400-5500
Free Download ISO ISO
Installation Graphical Graphical
Default Desktop GNOME GNOME
Package Management RPM, Flatpak RPM, Flatpak
Release Model Fixed Fixed
Office Suite -- --
Processor Architecture x86_64 x86_64
Init Software systemd systemd
Journaled File Systems Btrfs, ext4, XFS Btrfs, ext4, XFS
Multilingual Yes Yes
Asian Language Support    
Full Package List 42.20250615 41.20250615
Package 42.20250615
(stable)
41.20250615
(gts)
alsa-lib (1.2.14) 1.2.14 1.2.14
amdgpu (23.0.0) -- --
apparmor (4.1.1) -- --
apt (3.1.2) -- --
bash (5.2.37) 5.2.37 5.2.32
bind (9.20.9) -- --
chromium (137.0.7151.103) -- --
cinnamon (6.4.10) -- --
cups (2.4.12) 2.4.12 2.4.12
e2fsprogs (1.47.2) 1.47.2 1.47.1
ffmpeg (7.1.1) 7.1.1 7.1.1
firefox (139.0.4) 139.0.4 139.0.4
flatpak (1.16.1) 1.16.1 1.16.1
freetype (2.13.3) 2.13.3 2.13.3
gcc (15.1.0) 15.1.1 14.3.1
gimp (3.0.4) -- --
git (2.49.0) 2.49.0 2.49.0
glibc (2.41) 2.41 2.40
gnome-shell (48.2) 48.2 47.5
grub (2.12) 2.12 2.12
gtk (4.18.6) 4.18.5 4.16.13
httpd (2.4.63) 2.4.63 2.4.63
inkscape (1.4.2) -- --
kmod (34.2) 33 33
krita (5.2.9) -- --
LibreOffice (25.2.4) -- --
Package 42.20250615
(stable)
41.20250615
(gts)
libselinux (3.8.1) 3.8 3.7
linux (6.15.2) 6.14.6 6.14.6
mariadb (11.8.2) -- --
mate-desktop (1.28.2) -- --
mesa (25.1.3) 25.1.3 25.1.3
mysql (9.3.0) -- --
nautilus (48.2) 48.2 47.4
NVIDIA (575.57.08) -- --
openjdk (24.0.1) -- --
openssh (10.0p1) 9.9p1 9.9p1
openssl (3.5.0) 3.2.4 3.2.4
perl (5.40.2) 5.40.2 5.40.2
php (8.4.8) -- --
plasma-desktop (6.3.5) -- --
postfix (3.10.2) -- --
postgresql (17.5) -- --
Python (3.13.5) 3.13.3 3.13.3
qt (6.9.1) 5.15.17 5.15.17
samba (4.22.2) 4.22.2 4.21.6
systemd (257.6) 257.6 256.15
thunderbird (139.0.2) 128.11.1 128.11.1
vim (9.1) 9.1 9.1
vlc (3.0.21) -- --
wayland (1.23.1) 1.23.1 1.23.0
xfdesktop (4.20.1) -- --
xorg-server (21.1.16) -- --

Reader Ratings
Reader supplied reviews for Bluefin

Average rating
9.7
from 3 review(s)



What are your thoughts on Bluefin?
Please include a few pros and a few cons, along with your overall impression of the operating system.
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Version:

Rating:    out of 10

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Past reviews - sort by:

Version: 42.20250608
Rating: 10
Date: 2025-06-10
Votes: 1


Bluefin is extremely stable. Been using it for 8+ months now with ZERO errors so far. All the previous distros I tried had some issues within a month of use. The key to its reliability is the immutable architecture inherited from Fedora Silverblue. The core OS is read-only, making updates atomic and completely safe – if something goes wrong, you can simply roll back to a previous working state with a reboot.

What really sets Bluefin apart for me is the developer-focused, cloud-native workflow. Instead of cluttering the base system, command-line tools and development environments are managed cleanly within containers using the excellent, integrated Distrobox and Podman tools. GUI applications are handled via Flatpak, keeping everything sandboxed and secure.

It's an opinionated OS that comes with many quality-of-life features out-of-the-box, including necessary codecs and even pre-configured Nvidia drivers on their specific images. If you're a developer or just someone looking for a powerful, modern, and incredibly dependable Linux desktop that 'just works', I highly recommend giving Bluefin a try. It respects your time by being low-maintenance and robust.


Was this review helpful? Yes No
Version: 42.20250522
Rating: 10
Date: 2025-06-06
Votes: 2


I’ve been using Linux for 15 years and I’ve tried most distros out there, Bluefin (and the other Universal Blue images “Aurora and Bazzite”) would have to be the best distro I’ve used hands down.

Virtually zero maintenance and everything just worked out of the box. Would be the perfect distro for a new Linux user, very easy to use, very hard to break and reasonably good documentation. Not sure why it’s not more popular.

Being Fedora based it has good support for newer hardware but with the added bonus of Nvidia support out of the box.



Was this review helpful? Yes No
Version: 42.20250522
Rating: 9
Date: 2025-05-25
Votes: 2


This is kind of distro you land on when you no longer feel the need to tinker with your system and just want to it to start up every time so you can get something done.

Yes, to many, Bluefin might seem just a curated Silverblue with extra bells and whistles, but the additional stuff is so well thought-out that it really makes it so much easier to just install the OS and get immediately to work. Case in point, I initially tried Silverblue for a few months and while it was generally a good experience, from the very beginning there was a decent amount of post-installation setup I had to do, plus there ongoing issues with media playback that I never managed to solve. With Bluefin, I immediately had a functional desktop setup with some very well-chosen extensions out-of-the-box, and distrobox/brew already pre-configured and ready to go.

Yes, a lot of the cloud-native stuff here may only really appeal to developers, but that doesn't mean this isn't a distro for everyday, non-techie users. If I had a family member that wanted an attractive, easy-to-use system that never got in the way, this is the Linux OS I'd recommend, bar none. I'd like to give a shoutout to the entire Bluefin team, and I really hope the OS continues to grow and build the thriving community that it deserves.


Was this review helpful? Yes No




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