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FOSS
Kernel, distros, and the wider free and open source software world.
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Three New Ubuntu Snap Vulnerabilities Made Public - One Dates Back To Ubuntu 16.04 LTS
Canonical today disclosed three new Snap security vulnerabilities affecting snapd. Two are rated high impact vulnerabilities while the third is considered medium but covers all Ubuntu releases of the past decade going back to Ubuntu 16.04 LTS...
Qualcomm Posts Linux Patches For X2 Elite Extreme Powered ASUS Zenbook A16
Following recent Linux kernel patches enabling the Snapdragon X2 Elite powered Lenovo Yoga Slim 7x Gen11 and HP EliteBook X G2q X2 Elite laptops to boot outside of Windows 11 on ARM, Qualcomm engineers have now posted a new patch series for getting the X2 Elite Extreme powered ASUS Zenbook A16 working on Linux...
KDE Plasma 6.7 vs. GNOME Shell 50.3 vs. Xfce 4.20 On CachyOS With NVIDIA Graphics
Earlier this month I provided a look at the KDE Plasma 6.7 Wayland vs. X11 session performance for graphics/gaming on CachyOS using NVIDIA GeForce RTX 50 graphics. Since then Phoronix readers -- including some premium supporters -- requested seeing some additional desktops tested with the latest CachyOS packages. So here we are now with seeing how KDE Plasma 6.7 compared to the Wayland-only GNOME Shell 50.3 desktop as well as the X11-based Xfce 4.20 desktop on CachyOS.
Canonical Makes The "Enterprise Store" Official For Offline/Air-Gapped Ubuntu Usage
For months the Enterprise Store "enterprise-store" has been mentioned in some Ubuntu documentation and other elements while today it was formally announced by Canonical. The Enterprise Store is for helping to manage Ubuntu Linux deployments particularly within enterprise organizations that may have their computers air-gapped or otherwise strict Internet controls...
Firefox 153 released
Version 153.0 of the Firefox web browser has been released. Notable changes in this release include a change to the default local-file-access permissions for extensions, enabling LAN restrictions by default for all users, a visual indicator when a web site has access to the user's location, the ability to merge PDFs and add images as pages within PDFs, as well as experimental support for the JPEG XL image format. See the release notes for developers for all changes that affect web developers, and security advisories for vulnerabilities fixed in this release.
[$] Debating the role of large language models in the kernel community
Like many development communities, the kernel community has been struggling to determine how large language models will be used in its development process. The news has been dominated recently by a strongly worded missive from Linus Torvalds on the subject, but the discussion has been rather more wide-ranging and nuanced than that. Topics that have been considered recently include the LLM attribution requirement, code-review tools, dependence on proprietary tools, and whether there is a place for concerns about the ethics of LLMs.
Stratis Storage Anaconda Integration Approved For Fedora 45
The Fedora Engineering and Steering Committee (FESCo) has approved the latest batch of features for the upcoming Fedora 45 release...
AMD Ryzen AI Halo LED Driver Queued For Introduction In Linux 7.3
For those that have picked up one of the neat AMD Ryzen AI Halo mini PCs, the LED driver allowing for customization of the LED lighting bar is set to be mainlined for the Linux 7.3 kernel cycle...
Intel Compute Runtime Continues Building Out Exciting "LEO"
Going in-step with last week's release of the Intel Graphics Compiler 2.38.2, out today is the Intel Compute Runtime 26.27.39122.11. Most intriguing with the new release is Intel continuing to build out the still-experimental LEO feature...
GNOME's Security Might Be in Peril as Lone Tracker Goes Off
Michael Catanzaro has single-handedly run GNOME security tracking since 2020, but he is leaving in December.
AMD Getting The Linux Kernel Ready For Zen 6 Profiling/Perf With More EILVT Registers
Among the recent patch series in preparing Linux for upcoming AMD Zen 6 processors is making the kernel aware of additional EILVT registers to be found with at least EPYC Venice platforms...
InputPlumber 0.78 Released With Expanded Hardware Support
InputPlumber is out with its newest feature release. As a reminder, InputPlumber is the open-source input router and remapper daemon for combining various input devices from gamepads to mice and keyboards as well as the ability to emulate them...
Cold Reset Recovery Coming Together To Better Help Intel GPUs On Linux
One of the patch series going through nearly a dozen revisions now is for introducing a cold reset recovery method for the Direct Rendering Manager (DRM) drivers with an initial focus on the Intel Xe kernel graphics driver...
Firefox 153 released with buil-in containers, QR Code generator + more
Mozilla has released Firefox 153 with built-in containers, QR code generation and more quick actions in the address bar. This is the final “monthly” stable release before Mozilla shifts to a faster releases cadence, with new versions of Firefox coming out every two weeks. Like all updates, you can get this one for Windows, macOS and Linux, as well as for Android and iOS (mobile versions have different features and are not covered in this post). Firefox gets built-in Containers Containers are the biggest new feature in Firefox 153. These, Mozilla say, let you “separate cookies by container so you […] You're reading Firefox 153 released with buil-in containers, QR Code generator + more , a blog post from OMG! Ubuntu . Do not reproduce elsewhere without permission.
NetworkManager 1.58 Released With 464XLAT CLAT Support & GENEVE Interface
NetworkManager 1.58 is out today with the latest feature enhancements for bettering wired and wireless network management on Linux...
Intel Expanding Memory Options For Current Xeon 6 / Xeon 6+ Servers
With Intel's next-generation Xeon Diamond Rapids processors not slated to launch until next year and with AMD EPYC Venice being right around the corner, Intel announced today that with upcoming BIOS updates they will be expanding the range of RDIMM and MRDIMM memory support for current-generation Xeon 6 and Xeon 6+ processors...
[$] Fedora grapples with change
The Fedora Project is known for, among other things, having a well-defined set of processes for just about everything. It has extensive packaging guidelines that deal with the complexities of creating RPMs to install software, as well as processes for managing the legal questions that arise around shipping software. Fedora also has a well-defined change process for dealing with self-contained technical changes as well as major changes to the distribution , and other issues as they arise. At the moment, though, the project seems to be experiencing a sort of midlife crisis as it re-examines several of its change processes at once to determine if they are still effective.
AMD Talks Up The Great Opportunities Of SPIR-V IR With ROCm
While AMD ROCm 7.14 released last week as the first production release built off TheRock, there is already more to look forward to moving into the future with the AMD ROCm stack... In particular, SPIR-V with ROCm becoming a reality for unified binaries that can work across graphics architectures/targets, better portability across GPU hardware, and other improvements to the experience in targeting a unified IR...
GNOME Changes Security Disclosure Policies Due To AI-Generated Reports
The GNOME project is changing its handling of security reports due to the influx of AI/LLM-generated security findings...
Catanzaro: Some changes to GNOME security tracking
Michael Catanzaro, who has been managing GNOME security issue tracking since November 2020, has written a blog post that details some changes in how he will be managing GNOME vulnerability reports from now on due to an increase in AI-generated security reports. He will be switching from a 90-day deadline for disclosures to 30 days for issues reported on August 1, or later. " The shorter deadline would probably work better for GNOME even if not for the increase in AI-generated issue reports. " He also has indicated that he will be stepping away from the task of managing security issue tracking entirely by December 1, 2026, which means that there will be a gap to fill: Currently nobody else is tracking GNOME security issues. If you are an experienced GNOME community member and you are interested in taking over this work, let me know and I will help you get started. (Security tracking is not a good task for newcomers.) This may also be an opportunity to improve our tracking infrastructure. I use a wiki page , but this is fairly primitive and requires considerable manual upkeep. It's easy to forget to update the page when an issue report is closed, for example. Ideally, we would replace the wiki with a proper web app that dynamically updates based on the actual state of the issue.
Linux 7.2 Improves Intel Panther Lake Xe3 Arc B390 Graphics Performance
My testing of the in-development Linux 7.2 kernel continues in the lab. One of the latest promising findings from this kernel that will be released as stable in August is faster Intel Xe3 graphics performance on Core Ultra Series 3 "Panther Lake" hardware.
Linux Patches Introduce "KNOD" For In-Kernel Network Offloading Directly To AMD GPUs
Some extremely cool patches were posted to the Linux kernel mailing list on Sunday. The patches for "KNOD" allow for in-kernel network offloading to GPUs with an initial focus on AMD GPU support. What makes this all the more nifty is that it doesn't depend upon any user-space libraries like AMD ROCm but is all handled in-kernel with driving the GPU directly...
[$] Merging famfs?
The famfs filesystem , which is meant to provide shared access to huge memory-resident files on CXL and other devices, returned to the Linux Storage, Filesystem, Memory Management, and BPF Summit (LSFMM+BPF) in 2026. It was first discussed at LSFMM+BPF 2024 and a new implementation was described at the 2025 gathering , but it still has not made its way into the kernel; LWN looked at a discussion about merging famfs back in April 2026.
Firefox 153 Available With Support For Vulkan Video Decoding, Experimental JPEG-XL
Mozilla has uploaded the Firefox 153.0 release binaries today for the newest monthly update to this cross-platform web browser. Making Firefox 153 exciting is that it's the newest Extended Support Release "ESR" as well as introducing Vulkan Video decode support...