The number “42” is a significant part of the story of the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, a classic series of satirical science fiction written by Douglas Adams. It has a long and enduring history in the geek lexicon, and it seems to me like the Fedora Project would be missing a tremendous opportunity to have a little fun with it.
I’d like to propose that we consider bringing back the old Fedora codenames just this once and declare the release “Fedora 42 (Adams)”, ideally with a few subtle nods snuck in to the artwork for the release.
When discussing this on the Fedora Council Matrix channel, @bookwar also made the excellent suggestion of producing some “Fedora Linux 42”-branded hand towels (which is another nod to the Hitchhiker’s series).
I’m an unabashed lover of release names, but I also understand the reasons we stopped doing them. I don’t think we need to bring back the codename for this release, but we could definitely pay homage in other ways: artwork, release announcement text, branded towels (a brilliant idea, @bookwar!), having the release party on 25 May (a Sunday, if the calendar holds), etc.
If we’re feeling particularly spicy, we could shift the release day from Tuesday to Thursday and boldly declare “now you can finally get the hang of Thursdays”.
How about having the F42 Release Party on Towel day?! The only drawback is it is a Sunday, and that’s typically a rest or family day for a lot of folks. So, counter offer - Monday 26th May or Friday 23rd May??
