diff --git a/pkgs/build-support/vm/default.nix b/pkgs/build-support/vm/default.nix
index 2335919d3d80..68864c937986 100644
--- a/pkgs/build-support/vm/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/build-support/vm/default.nix
@@ -836,12 +836,30 @@ let
         nativeBuildInputs = [
           buildPackages.perl
           buildPackages.perlPackages.XMLSimple
+          buildPackages.zstd
         ];
         inherit archs;
       }
       ''
         ${lib.concatImapStrings (i: pl: ''
-          gunzip < ${pl} > ./packages_${toString i}.xml
+          echo "decompressing ${pl}..."
+          case ${pl} in
+            *.zst)
+              zstd -d < ${pl} > ./packages_${toString i}.xml
+              ;;
+            *.xz | *.lzma)
+              xz -d < ${pl} > ./packages_${toString i}.xml
+              ;;
+            *.bz2)
+              bunzip2 < ${pl} > ./packages_${toString i}.xml
+              ;;
+            *.gz)
+              gunzip < ${pl} > ./packages_${toString i}.xml
+              ;;
+            *)
+              cp ${pl} ./packages_${toString i}.xml
+              ;;
+          esac
         '') packagesLists}
         perl -w ${rpm/rpm-closure.pl} \
           ${
@@ -999,7 +1017,23 @@ let
 
   # The set of supported RPM-based distributions.
 
-  rpmDistros = { };
+  rpmDistros = {
+    fedora42x86_64 = {
+      name = "fedora-42-x86_64";
+      fullName = "Fedora 42 (x86_64)";
+      packagesList = fetchurl {
+        url = "https://dl.fedoraproject.org/pub/fedora/linux/releases/42/Everything/x86_64/os/repodata/cd483b35df017d68b73a878a392bbf666a43d75db54c386e4720bc369eb5c3a3-primary.xml.zst";
+        hash = "sha256-zUg7Nd8BfWi3OoeKOSu/ZmpD1121TDhuRyC8Np61w6M=";
+      };
+      urlPrefix = "https://dl.fedoraproject.org/pub/fedora/linux/releases/42/Everything/x86_64/os";
+      archs = [
+        "noarch"
+        "x86_64"
+      ];
+      packages = commonFedoraPackages;
+      unifiedSystemDir = true;
+    };
+  };
 
   # The set of supported Dpkg-based distributions.
 
@@ -1207,6 +1241,7 @@ let
 
   # Common packages for Fedora images.
   commonFedoraPackages = [
+    "annobin-plugin-gcc"
     "autoconf"
     "automake"
     "basesystem"
@@ -1217,6 +1252,8 @@ let
     "findutils"
     "gawk"
     "gcc-c++"
+    "gcc-plugin-annobin"
+    "glibc-gconv-extra"
     "gzip"
     "make"
     "patch"
diff --git a/pkgs/build-support/vm/test.nix b/pkgs/build-support/vm/test.nix
index b99d4e5e7221..c312e3df1bbe 100644
--- a/pkgs/build-support/vm/test.nix
+++ b/pkgs/build-support/vm/test.nix
@@ -29,6 +29,15 @@ in
 
   buildHelloInVM = runInLinuxVM hello;
   buildStructuredAttrsHelloInVM = runInLinuxVM (hello.overrideAttrs { __structuredAttrs = true; });
+  buildHelloInFedora = runInLinuxImage (
+    stdenv.mkDerivation {
+      inherit (hello) pname version src;
+
+      diskImage = diskImages.fedora42x86_64;
+      diskImageFormat = "qcow2";
+      memSize = 512;
+    }
+  );
 
   buildPcmanrmInVM = runInLinuxVM (
     pcmanfm.overrideAttrs (old: {
@@ -37,15 +46,6 @@ in
     })
   );
 
-  #testRPMImage = makeImageTestScript diskImages.fedora27x86_64;
-
-  #buildPatchelfRPM = buildRPM {
-  #  name = "patchelf-rpm";
-  #  src = patchelf.src;
-  #  diskImage = diskImages.fedora27x86_64;
-  #  diskImageFormat = "qcow2";
-  #};
-
+  testFedoraImage = makeImageTestScript diskImages.fedora42x86_64;
   testUbuntuImage = makeImageTestScript diskImages.ubuntu2404x86_64;
-
 }