  In this work we consider general fermion systems in two spatial dimensions,
both with and without charge conservation symmetry, which realize a nontrivial
fermionic topological order with only Abelian anyons. We address the question
of precisely how these quantum phases differ from their bosonic counterparts,
both in terms of their edge physics and in the way one would identify them in
numerics. As in previous works, we answer these questions by studying the
theory obtained after gauging the global fermion parity symmetry, which turns
out to have a special and simple structure. Using this structure, a minimal
scheme is outlined for how to numerically identify a general Abelian fermionic
topological order, without making use of fermion number conservation. Along the
way, some subtleties of the momentum polarization technique are discussed.
Regarding the edge physics, it is shown that the gauged theory can have a
(bosonic) gapped boundary to the vacuum if and only if the ungauged fermion
theory has a gapped boundary as well.
