I explain a lot about release schedules for context, but you could skip to the last paragraph for the more direct answer to your question if you don’t care.
Fedora is on a semi-rolling release schedule, which only really means that its release schedule is in between that of Debian (fixed release schedule) and Arch (rolling release). A fixed release schedule freezes packages at the time of release and keeps major packages at the same version (plus bug/security updates) for the lifetime of the operating system (usually 2-4 years, LTS support can last longer for some distros). Major versions will have next fixed package versions, hence the need to perform a full system upgrade when going to a new version. Rolling release distros don’t fix packages at specific versions, and you’ll hear them referred to as “bleeding edge”, because they always get the newest updates quickly. Since they don’t fix package versions, there are no “major versions”, they just updates constantly (Arch is just Arch; there’s no Arch 10 or Arch 11). Semi-rolling release (Fedora) fixes some packages at a specific major version; usually large packages that could be troublesome to update to a new major version of because of dependencies (i.e. the DE, core system components, it depends on the distro). So when you perform an upgrade to a new major version of a semi-rolling release distro, you’re changing fewer packages, and there is (usually) less of a gap between versions than fixed releases among the packages that are fixed.
Fedora releases a new major version every 6 months, which they support for 1 year. Since I assume you’re coming from Windows, the new Fedora major versions are kind of like Windows feature upgrades. For the most part, much of the system is exactly the same, but there are some new features included and packages are updated to newer versions. Fedora doesn’t have the real fixed “major” releases like you see from Windows 10 to Windows 11, or any other version. Every major update is just a minor bump, all things considered. In fact, you can even skip a version when upgrading (say from Fedora 37 to Fedora 39 without updating to 38). The differences between major Fedora versions are generally minor enough that you can just press the button and let it do its thing. This is even easier for their atomic distros, but you’re likely just using Workstation. There are some cases where new major versions of packages will necessitate config updates (like upgrading to KDE Plasma 6 did with Fedora KDE users), but that’s generally rare. So yes, you can just hit the button and upgrade.
I explain a lot about release schedules for context, but you could skip to the last paragraph for the more direct answer to your question if you don’t care.
Fedora is on a semi-rolling release schedule, which only really means that its release schedule is in between that of Debian (fixed release schedule) and Arch (rolling release). A fixed release schedule freezes packages at the time of release and keeps major packages at the same version (plus bug/security updates) for the lifetime of the operating system (usually 2-4 years, LTS support can last longer for some distros). Major versions will have next fixed package versions, hence the need to perform a full system upgrade when going to a new version. Rolling release distros don’t fix packages at specific versions, and you’ll hear them referred to as “bleeding edge”, because they always get the newest updates quickly. Since they don’t fix package versions, there are no “major versions”, they just updates constantly (Arch is just Arch; there’s no Arch 10 or Arch 11). Semi-rolling release (Fedora) fixes some packages at a specific major version; usually large packages that could be troublesome to update to a new major version of because of dependencies (i.e. the DE, core system components, it depends on the distro). So when you perform an upgrade to a new major version of a semi-rolling release distro, you’re changing fewer packages, and there is (usually) less of a gap between versions than fixed releases among the packages that are fixed.
Fedora releases a new major version every 6 months, which they support for 1 year. Since I assume you’re coming from Windows, the new Fedora major versions are kind of like Windows feature upgrades. For the most part, much of the system is exactly the same, but there are some new features included and packages are updated to newer versions. Fedora doesn’t have the real fixed “major” releases like you see from Windows 10 to Windows 11, or any other version. Every major update is just a minor bump, all things considered. In fact, you can even skip a version when upgrading (say from Fedora 37 to Fedora 39 without updating to 38). The differences between major Fedora versions are generally minor enough that you can just press the button and let it do its thing. This is even easier for their atomic distros, but you’re likely just using Workstation. There are some cases where new major versions of packages will necessitate config updates (like upgrading to KDE Plasma 6 did with Fedora KDE users), but that’s generally rare. So yes, you can just hit the button and upgrade.
Thanks a lot for the detailed explanation!