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FOSS
Kernel, distros, and the wider free and open source software world.
491 stories archived
Ubuntu Touch 24.04-2.1 Brings New Hardware Support & Important Security Fix
Ubuntu Touch 24.04-2.1 was released on Friday as the latest update to this community-maintained tablet/smartphone Ubuntu Linux platform. Ubuntu Touch 24.04-1.5 was also released as a maintenance update for the prior series...
Wine 11.20 Released With CD-ROM Support Change
Wine 11.20 is out today as the newest bi-weekly development release of this software for enjoying Windows games and apps on Linux. We are quickly approaching the point where this development work will culminate into the Wine 12.0 stable release in early 2027...
17 More Security Vulnerabilities Made Public For X.Org Libraries
Just shy of two weeks since a dozen vulnerabilities were published for the X.Org Server and XWayland, more than one dozen vulnerabilities were made public today affecting multiple X.Org client libraries...
Introducing GNOME OS Preview
The GNOME Project has provided GNOME OS for some time; until now, the project only provided a "Nightly" edition that was built from the latest commits and was aimed solely at GNOME developers. Adrian Vovk has now announced the release of GNOME OS Preview, which is intended for a non-developer audience: GNOME OS Preview is the current GNOME OS Nightly, but without the "nightly" aspect. Instead, it's built from the latest stable GNOME release (GNOME 51.1, at the time of writing). GNOME OS Preview lives in the same branches on GitLab as the stable org.gnome.Platform Flatpak runtimes. GNOME OS Preview is only a few weeks old, so it has only seen limited real-life testing so far. We therefore expect people will uncover some issues initially. That said, Preview is significantly more stable than Nightly, which dozens of people have been daily driving without major issues for over a year. Thus, we're feeling confident that Preview is going to be reliable enough for daily use by non-developer enthusiasts. While Preview is meant for non-developers, it is not considered complete or stable for the broader public. There are a number of features, listed in Vovk's post, that need to be implemented before the project is ready to declare GNOME OS " ready for prime time ". Adventurous users, who might not mind having to reinstall the OS once a stable version is declared, can download and start using GNOME OS Preview today.
GNOME OS Preview Announced In Road Toward A Stable Release
The GNOME OS Linux distribution to date has just been in GNOME OS Nightly form for tracking the latest nightly packages of GNOME in their current development form. GNOME OS Preview was announced today as their trek toward a stable GNOME OS in using the latest GNOME stable releases rather than nightly form...
[$] Safe self-referential data structures in kernel Rust
Self-referential structures that can be used without unsafe code have posed a problem for Rust for years. There are many cases where a self-referential data structure is the elegant algorithmic choice, but implementing it in accordance with Rust's lifetime rules is all but impossible. At Kangrejos 2026, Gary Guo presented a clever solution to the problem in the context of the kernel's pin_init crate , which helps with the creation of immovable data structures, typically for interoperability with C. Guo's changes could help remove most of the unsafe code related to lifetimes in the Nova driver and, eventually, other Rust components.
The Best Features Of Linux 7.3: Performance Improvements, Lots From Valve
The Linux 7.3 kernel is slated to be officially released on Sunday, 18 October, barring any last minute issues from coming about. With that said, here's a reminder about some of the most exciting features to look forward to in this next kernel version...
What’s new in the Ubuntu 26.10 flavours?
Alongside the main edition, Ubuntu 26.10 brought new releases of community flavours, including Kubuntu, Xubuntu and a welcome return of Ubuntu MATE. All of Ubuntu’s official flavours share the same foundations as the main release, with the Linux 7.3 kernel, Mesa 26.2 graphics drivers, updated tooling and support for installing snap packages from the Snap Store. Read on for an overview of the key changes in some of the most popular Ubuntu flavours, and downloads links to grab an ISO if you feel like sampling one them first-hand. Ubuntu 26.10 Flavour Recap Xubuntu 26.10 Xubuntu 26.10 ships with Xfce 4.20, […] You're reading What’s new in the Ubuntu 26.10 flavours? , a blog post from OMG! Ubuntu . Do not reproduce elsewhere without permission.
After 23 Years, Longtime Linux Developer To "Step Back For A While"
Longtime Linux kernel engineer Darrick Wong who stepped down as the XFS file-system maintainer in 2023 is now taking a step back from his other Linux kernel development roles after working on the kernel the past 23 years...
[$] Recent and future changes to the Linux NFS server
The NFS network filesystem protocol has a long history on Unix-like operating systems (and beyond). NFS is still evolving, though, and implementations need to keep up. At the 2026 Linux Plumbers Conference , NFS developer Jeff Layton gave an overview of recent enhancements to the Linux implementation, along with some hints for what will be coming in the near future.
Intel Xeon 6980P Granite Rapids Performance On Linux Over The Past Year
It's been nearly one year since receiving the Gigabyte R284-A92-AAL1 2U Granite Rapids server platform for continuing my testing of the flagship Xeon 6980P processors. Curious how the Xeon 6980P 2P performance has evolved on Linux since then, I ran some benchmarks on the newly-released Ubuntu Server 26.10 against the tests carried out last year on Ubuntu 25.10 with the same hardware.
Results from the 2026 TAB election
The results from the 2026 election for members of the Linux Foundation Technical Advisory Board (TAB) have been announced. Kees Cook, Dave Hansen, Miguel Ojeda, and Shuah Khan have all been re-elected, and Laurent Pinchart will be joining the board.
AI-Generated Starling Desktop Environment Rolls Out Its Own Office Suite
Starling, the open-source desktop environment written in Swift and with its own Wayland compositor too and written largely via Claude Code, has now rolled out its own AI-generated office suite...
Fedora 46 Looking At Moving To RPM v6 Package Format
The RPM v4 packaging format has been used by Red Hat Enterprise Linux and Fedora and its derivatives for more than two decades. With next year's Fedora 46 release, Fedora Linux may finally transition to the modern RPM v6 packaging format...
Valve’s Steam Client for Linux Goes 64-bit in Beta and Moves Into a Container
They say running Steam in the same kind of container its games use should make the client behave more consistently.
AI Resurrects AVX-512 Support For Mesa's LLVMpipe Software Driver
With pending code for Mesa, the LLVMpipe software-based Gallium3D/OpenGL driver could soon become faster on modern systems that support AVX-512. That's assuming the AI/LLVM-generated code is all in order...
Linux 7.4 To Enable Intel Instruction Timeout For Fending Off TDX VM DoS Attacks
Linux 7.4 is enabling support for a new Intel CPU feature for providing safety against possible denial of service attacks using Trust Domain Extensions "TDX" VMs. The new feature is Intel Instruction Timeout and previously in-development known as Notify VM Exit...
Linux 7.3 Squeezes Even More Performance Out Of The AMD Threadripper PRO 9995WX
With the Linux 7.3 kernel due out for release on Sunday, I've continued running more benchmarks recently of this forthcoming kernel version and it looks great. In my Linux 7.3 testing of the Git state it's been looking great in testing on a variety of hardware shown across multiple systems. Recently I decided to try out this new kernel code on the 96-core AMD Ryzen Threadripper PRO 9995WX workstation...
Intel LLM-Scaler-vLLM PV 1.5 Brings Big Improvements
Intel software engineers today released the latest version of LLM-Scaler-vLLM PV 1.5, their containerized Docker stack providing a convenient AI/LLM experience atop Intel Arc Graphics hardware and born out of their Project Battlematrix initiative...
Mesa's Zink Now Offers VA-API Video Acceleration Atop Vulkan Video
Merged today to Mesa 26.3 is initial video acceleration support for the generic Zink Gallium3D driver built atop the Vulkan APIs. What this implementation allows is exposing Video Acceleration API (VA-API) implemented atop the Vulkan Video interfaces...
Fedora 45 Will Not Be Released Next Week
For those eager to run the pristine Fedora 45 media, you will need to wait at least one more week...
Microsoft Defender is now available on Linux desktops
Microsoft Defender is now available for Linux desktops. Shocked? In 2026, you shouldn’t be. Microsoft’s down with the penguins these days: there’s a Linux kernel in Windows, it owns GitHub and makes Edge for Linux (not that too many people use it). Why not some rootin’-tootin’, threat-detectin’ n’ virus-protectin’ software on top, eh? Name: Microsoft Defender for Linux. Age: Public preview, so, pass? Appearance: A line item on an E5 invoice. What is it? Microsoft’s security suite, now available for Linux desktops (albeit in a public preview). Microsoft’s security suite. On Linux…. Where have you been? Defender has been available for Linux servers […] You're reading Microsoft Defender is now available on Linux desktops , a blog post from OMG! Ubuntu . Do not reproduce elsewhere without permission.
Today's Steam Beta Makes The Linux Client A 64-bit App
Valve just dropped a new Steam client beta and it's a big one for Linux gamers...
Intel Nova Lake S & Nova Lake P To Support SR-IOV With Xe Graphics
A patch has been posted to the Linux kernel mailing list by an Intel engineer confirming that Nova Lake S and Nova Lake P processors with integrated graphics will support SR-IOV in conjunction with the Xe kernel graphics driver...