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FOSS
Kernel, distros, and the wider free and open source software world.
664 stories archived
NVIDIA & Others Form The Open Secure AI Alliance
NVIDIA and more than two dozen other companies have started the Open Secure AI Alliance for helping to keep open-source AI models secure. The other founding members range from Microsoft to Adobe, IBM, Red Hat, SpaceX, OpenClaw, Palantir, and others...
Kernel prepatch 7.2-rc5
The 7.2-rc5 kernel prepatch is out for testing. Linus said: " So it's a bit too big for my liking, but nothing in there strikes me as particularly strange or scary ".
Linux 7.2-rc5 Released: "Once More We Have Quite A Massive -rc5"
In working toward releasing the stable Linux 7.2 kernel in less than one month's time, out today is Linux 7.2-rc5 to ship this week's latest bug/regression fixes and help facilitate more testing of this in-development kernel version...
Chrome for Arm64 Linux is now available to download
You can now install an official Google Chrome build on Arm64 Linux devices, including the Raspberry Pi. Back in March, Google promised Chrome for Arm64 Linux in “Q2 2026” so users on SBCs, AI desktops and the growing-fleet of Snapdragon laptops out there, could use the flagship browser and benefit from the handful of extras it offers over a vanilla Chromium build. The search giant has said a whole lot about that effort since, but Arm64 builds of Chrome has recently been added to the browser’s official Linux repos for Debian and RPM-based Linux distributions – thanks Steven H. However, when I went […] You're reading Chrome for Arm64 Linux is now available to download , a blog post from OMG! Ubuntu . Do not reproduce elsewhere without permission.
GNU Binutils 2.47 Released With More RISC-V Extensions, New Options
Along with this weekend's release of GNU C Library 2.44, the GNU Binutils 2.47 release is also now available for this important set of binary utilities common to Linux systems and other platforms with the GNU toolchain...
"KVM Chainsaw" Expected To Hit Linux 7.3 For Dealing With God Data Structure
A patch series that appears destined for the upcoming Linux 7.3 merge window is what's dubbed the "KVM Chainsaw" as a major code clean-up in dealing with the kvm_mmu "god data structure"...
User Frustrations Over The "Tragic State of FreeBSD Audio/Sound" Support
Besides the FreeBSD graphics and WiFi drivers lagging behind Linux and other operating systems, the FreeBSD audio driver support and handling of audio streams with FreeBSD on the desktop can be problematic depending upon the hardware/system. One of the most active mailing list threads this week in the FreeBSD camp was over the "tragic state" of FreeBSD audio/sound support...
Auto-CPUFreq 3.1 Adds Monitoring Mode To GUI, New Configuration Options & Fixes
Auto-CPUFreq is one of the open-source projects striving to be a CPU speed and power optimizer for Linux systems to improve battery life without making any real compromises to the user experience. Out today is v3.1 as the newest feature release of Auto-CPUFreq...
Realtek RTL8723B/RTL8723BS Trying To Be Tacked On To The RTW88 Linux Driver
Since 2017 in Linux 4.12 has been the Realtek rtl8723bs WiFi driver where it was introduced into the staging area and remains there nearly a decade later. The rtl8723bs driver for this Realtek 802.11n WiFi SDIO driver has seen a lot of code cleaning over the years and all these years later still is needing lots of code clean-ups from unnecessary code abstractions to dealing with malicious WiFi APs for what Greg Kroah-Hartman has called a "beast of a driver". The latest twist is there now being patches for adding Realtek RTL8723BS and RTL8723B onto the existing RTW88 driver...
Linux 7.2-rc5 Fixing Longstanding Bug In IPv4 Networking Over Firewire
Firewire still isn't dead yet on Linux. Current plans call for maintaining IEEE-1394 Firewire on Linux at least through 2029 and with today's Linux 7.2-rc5 kernel release is a fix for those wanting to leverage IPv4 networking over Firewire...
Ubuntu Touch 24.04-2.0 Released With Support For Notches & Rounded Corners
Following last month's beta release, Ubuntu Touch 24.04-2.0 is now available as the latest feature release for this Ubuntu 24.04 LTS derived mobile operating system for select smartphones and tablets...
A Debian general resolution on LLM usage
The Debian project is considering a general resolution on the use of large language models in the creation of the distribution. There are three alternatives to consider: a total ban on LLM usage, rejecting LLMs " as far as practical ", or explicitly allowing LLM usage subject to a set of conditions. The discussion period has just begun; the beginning of the voting period does not yet appear to have been set. Those who want to look over the discussion ahead of the inevitable LWN article can find it over here .
Fedora Working To Establish Conflict of Interest Policy
Posted this week is a draft copy of the Fedora Conflict of Interest policy being worked on for dealing with identifying, disclosing, and managing any actual, actual, or perceived conflicts of interest within the Fedora Project...
In remembrance of Dan Williams
On July 21, the kernel community lost Dan Williams, one of its most beloved contributors. Dave Hansen and Thomas Gleixner, both of whom worked with Williams extensively, have written an obituary and allowed LWN to publish it. He will be deeply missed, but he has left us with a lot to remember him by.
Security updates for Saturday
Security updates have been issued by AlmaLinux (compat-openssl11, java-1.8.0-openjdk, java-17-openjdk, kernel, kernel-rt, and sssd), Debian (exim4), Fedora (chromium, dotnet10.0, mbedtls, mupdf, netatalk, python-django5, skopeo, sssd, and wget1), Mageia (libevent and transmission), Oracle (.NET 8.0, 389-ds-base, aardvark-dns, acl, buildah, cifs-utils, dovecot, dracut, galera and mariadb11.8, glibc, hplip, kernel, libxml2, nginx, openexr, podman, postgresql18, rsync, thunderbird, and vim), and SUSE (389-ds, afterburn, agama, alsa, apache-commons-compress, apache-ivy, brotli-java, zstd-jni, avahi, aws-nitro-enclaves-cli, cockpit, cockpit-machines, cockpit-packages, cockpit- podman, cockpit-repos, cockpit-subscriptions, container-suseconnect, containerd, cosign, cryptsetup, curl, dash, dnsmasq, docker, docker-compose, ffmpeg, firefox, freetype2, gawk, gh, glib-networking, glib2, go1.25, go1.25-openssl, go1.26, go1.26-openssl, google-guest-agent, google-osconfig-agent, gpg2, gsasl, gstreamer-plugins-bad, gzip, haproxy, hauler, helm, helm3, ImageMagick, imagemagick, iproute2, java-11-openjdk, java-26-openjdk, jline3, joe, jq, kernel, kernel-devel, krb5, kubevirt, libgcrypt, libpng12, libqt4, libssh2_org, libXfont2, libxml2, mariadb-connector-c, microcode_ctl, multipath-tools, nasm, net-tools, nghttp2, nmap, ntfs-3g_ntfsprogs, openexr, packagekit, pam, patch, perl, perl-DBI, perl-dbi, perl-http-date, perl-libwww-perl, perl-xml-bare, php8, prometheus-ha_cluster_exporter, python-aiohttp, python-cryptography, python-dulwich, python-idna, python-maturin, python-mistune, python-msgpack, python-paramiko, python-Pillow, python-pyasn1, python-soupsieve, python-sqlparse, python-tornado, python-tornado6, python-urllib3, python313, python313-pandas, python314, qemu, radvd, rootlesskit, rpcbind, ruby3.4, runc, s390-tools, shibboleth-sp, sssd, systemd, systemd, systemd-mini, terraform-provider-aws, terraform-provider-azurerm, terraform-provider-external, terraform-provider-google, terraform-provider-helm, terraform-provider-kubernetes, terraform-provid, terraform-provider-susepubliccloud, tiff, tomcat, tomcat10, tomcat11, uriparser, vim, vorbis-tools, wget, wpa_supplicant, xwayland, and yelp).
GNU C Library 2.44 released
Version 2.44 of the GNU C Library has been released. Changes include a new /etc/tunables.conf file for the system-wide setting of tunable parameters, a new tunable to control the use of transparent huge pages for read-only executable segments, a number of math-function improvements, a handful of security fixes, and more.
New stable kernel for ext4 users
Greg Kroah-Hartman has released the 6.12.98 stable Linux kernel with a single fix for a file descriptor leak in ext4. Users of the ext4 filesystem should upgrade.
Kiwi Menu Continues Bringing macOS Vibes To GNOME
Kiwi Menu as the macOS-inspired quick menu option for the GNOME Shell desktop is continuing to enhance its macOS-esque experience on GNOME...
GNU C Library 2.44 Released With /etc/tunables.conf, More Optimizations
GNU developers today released GNU C Library "glibc" 2.44 as the newest feature release for this critical library to modern Linux systems and other platforms...
KDE Plasma 6.8 Introducing New kscreenctl Tool
KDE developers have been working on kscreenctl as a utility replacement to kscreen-doctor. Plasma and related code has also seen a number of bug/crash fixes coming about this week too...
Ubuntu 26.10 "Stonking Stingray": All the New Features So Far
As usual, Canonical is using an interim release to test features headed for the next LTS. Her, we keep a track of the features as they are added.
Wine 11.14 Brings WoW64 Mode To FreeBSD, Icon Support In Start Menu
Wine 11.14 was tagged today as the newest bi-weekly development release of this open-source software for running Windows games and applications on Linux, macOS, and other platforms...
Debian Considering General Resolution Over LLM Usage In The Project
Debian developers are discussing a general resolution whether to permit AI large language model (LLM) usage within the Debian software project...
AMD ROCm Committed To Six Week Release Cycle Moving Forward
One of many interesting takeaways from this week's AMD Advancing AI event in San Francisco was word that ROCm will be on a rigid six week release cycle moving forward...