Ansible on Fedora 45 Automation Complete Guide

Fedora 45 is scheduled for late 2026 and previews kernel 6.16, Python 3.14, GNOME 49, Podman 5.5, OpenSSH 10.0, and dnf5. It is the upstream baseline for RHEL 11 features. This guide covers the Ansible automation patterns that work today on Fedora 45 lab and developer systems.

Fedora 45 release facts

| Item | Value | |---|---| | GA | 2026-10 (target) | | EOL | ~2027-11 | | Default kernel | 6.16 | | Default Python | 3.14 | | Default package manager | dnf5 | | Container engine | Podman 5.5 | | Default shell on workstation | bash 5.3 |

See also: Ansible on Fedora 44 Automation Complete Guide

Ansible-core compatibility

Use ansible-core 2.20 or later. Python 3.14 on managed nodes requires ansible-core ≥ 2.19.

Inventory

[fedora45]
f45-01.lab.example.com
[fedora45:vars]
ansible_user=fedora
ansible_python_interpreter=/usr/bin/python3

See also: Ansible on Fedora 46 Automation Complete Guide

Baseline playbook

- name: Fedora 45 baseline
  hosts: fedora45
  become: true
  tasks:
    - name: Update packages
      ansible.builtin.dnf5: { name: "*", state: latest, update_cache: true }
- name: Install baseline tools
      ansible.builtin.dnf5:
        name: [vim-enhanced, chrony, firewalld, podman, cockpit, policycoreutils-python-utils]
        state: present
- name: SELinux enforcing
      ansible.posix.selinux: { policy: targeted, state: enforcing }
- name: Enable services
      ansible.builtin.service:
        name: "{{ item }}"
        enabled: true
        state: started
      loop: [chronyd, firewalld, cockpit.socket]

GNOME 49 / Wayland defaults

- name: Force Wayland session
  hosts: fedora45_desktop
  become: true
  tasks:
    - name: Set GDM default to Wayland
      ansible.builtin.lineinfile:
        path: /etc/gdm/custom.conf
        regexp: '^#?WaylandEnable'
        line: 'WaylandEnable=true'
- name: Disable Xorg fallback
      ansible.builtin.copy:
        dest: /etc/gdm/custom.conf.d/no-x11.conf
        content: |
          [daemon]
          PreferredDisplayServer=wayland
        mode: "0644"

See also: Ansible on AlmaLinux 10 Automation Complete Guide

Podman 5.5 with Quadlet

- name: Quadlet rollout on F45
  hosts: fedora45
  become: true
  tasks:
    - name: Drop quadlet
      ansible.builtin.copy:
        dest: /etc/containers/systemd/api.container
        mode: "0644"
        content: |
          [Container]
          Image=quay.io/corp/api:1.4.2
          PublishPort=8443:8443
          Volume=api-data.volume:/var/lib/api
          [Install]
          WantedBy=default.target
    - ansible.builtin.systemd: { daemon_reload: true }
    - ansible.builtin.systemd: { name: api, enabled: true, state: started }

systemd-soft-reboot patching

- name: Soft-reboot patch loop
  hosts: fedora45
  become: true
  tasks:
    - name: Updates
      ansible.builtin.dnf5: { name: "*", state: latest }
    - name: Soft reboot
      ansible.builtin.command: systemctl soft-reboot
      async: 30
      poll: 0
    - name: Wait for SSH
      ansible.builtin.wait_for_connection: { delay: 10, timeout: 120 }

Best practices

• Validate playbooks against Python 3.14 deprecations (python -W error). • Use Quadlet over docker-compose — the unit files survive reboots and integrate with systemctl. • Pin GNOME extension versions if managing developer desktops fleet-wide.

Conclusion

Fedora 45 is a small but meaningful step from F44: kernel 6.16, Podman 5.5, Python 3.14. Ansible playbooks that use dnf5 and Quadlet on F44 work unchanged.