Post Syndicated from jzb original https://lwn.net/Articles/1051064/

Inside this week’s LWN.net Weekly Edition:

• Front: 2025 retrospective; Dirk and Linus talk; successful open-source documentation projects; verifier-state pruning in BPF; Linux 32-bit timeline; BPF state visualizer; systemd v259.
• Briefs: linux-next maintainer; 2025 TAB; Git in Debian; Elementary OS 8.1; Qubes OS 4.3.0; GDB 17.1; Incus 6.20; systemd v259; Quotes; …
• Announcements: Newsletters, conferences, security updates, patches, and more.

Post Syndicated from jzb original https://lwn.net/Articles/1051235/

The systemd v259
release was announced on December 17, just three months after
v258. It is a more modest release but still includes a number of
important changes such as a new option for the run0 command
(an alternative to sudo), ability to mount user home directories from the host in virtual
machines, as well as under-the-hood changes with dlopen()
for library linking, the ability to compile systemd with musl libc,
and more.

Post Syndicated from jzb original https://lwn.net/Articles/1051862/

Security updates have been issued by AlmaLinux (container-tools:rhel8, grafana, opentelemetry-collector, and thunderbird), Red Hat (kernel), and SUSE (cheat, libsoup, mariadb, mozjs52, python310, python315, qemu, rsync, and zk).

Post Syndicated from jzb original https://lwn.net/Articles/1051773/

Version
8.1 of elementary OS has been released. Notable changes in this
release include making the Wayland session the default, changes to
window management and multitasking, as well as a number of
accessibility improvements. The 8.1 release is the first to be made
available for Arm64 devices, which should allow users to run
elementary on Apple M-series hardware or other Arm devices that can
load UEFI-supporting firmware, such as some Raspberry Pi models. See
the blog post for a full list of changes.

Post Syndicated from jzb original https://lwn.net/Articles/1051758/

Security updates have been issued by AlmaLinux (binutils, curl, gcc-toolset-13-binutils, git-lfs, httpd, httpd:2.4, keylime, libssh, mod_md, openssh, php:8.3, podman, python3.12, python3.9, python39:3.9, skopeo, tomcat, tomcat9, and webkit2gtk3), Fedora (mingw-glib2, mingw-libsoup, and mingw-python3), Mageia (roundcubemail), Oracle (git-lfs and mod_md), and SUSE (glib2, kernel, mariadb, and qemu).

Post Syndicated from jzb original https://lwn.net/Articles/1051664/

Version
6.20 of the Incus container and virtual-machine management system
has been released. Notable changes in this release include a new
standalone
command to add IncusOS servers to a cluster,
qcow2-formatted
volumes for clustered LVM, and reverse
DNS records in OVN. See the announcement for a full list of
changes.

Post Syndicated from jzb original https://lwn.net/Articles/1051576/

John Paul Adrian Glaubitz has announced
that loong64 is now an official architecture for Debian, and will be
part of the Debian 14 (“forky”) release “if everything goes
along as planned“. This is a bit more than two years after the initial
bootstrap of the architecture.

So far, we have manually built and imported an initial set of 112
packages with the help of the packages in Debian Ports. This was
enough to create an initial chroot and set up the first buildd which
is now churning through the build queue. Over night, the currently
single buildd instance already built and uploaded 300 new packages.

Post Syndicated from jzb original https://lwn.net/Articles/1051572/

Security updates have been issued by Debian (chromium, dropbear, mediawiki, php8.4, python-mechanize, rails, roundcube, usbmuxd, and wordpress), Fedora (cef, chromium, fonttools, gobuster, gosec, mingw-libpng, moby-engine, mqttcli, nextcloud, pgadmin4, python-unicodedata2, uriparser, and util-linux), Mageia (php and webkit2), Oracle (binutils, curl, gcc-toolset-13-binutils, gimp, git-lfs, kernel, openssh, php:8.3, podman, python-kdcproxy, python3.12, python3.9, skopeo, and webkit2gtk3), Red Hat (rsync), Slackware (php), SUSE (alloy, busybox, chromedriver, chromium, coredns-for-k8s, duc, firefox, kernel-devel, libpng16, libruby3_4-3_4, mariadb, netty, php8, python311-tornado6, rsync, taglib, and xen), and Ubuntu (linux-oracle-5.4, linux-raspi, linux-realtime-6.14, and linux-xilinx).

Post Syndicated from jzb original https://lwn.net/Articles/1051394/

The FreeBSD Foundation has a blog
post about the progress it has made in 2025 on the Laptop Support
& Usability Project for FreeBSD. The foundation committed
$750,000 to the project in 2025 and has made progress on graphics
drivers, Wi-Fi 4 and 5 support, audio improvements, sleep states,
and more.

The installer for FreeBSD has gained a couple of new features that
benefit laptop users. In 15.0 the installer now supports downloading
and installing firmware packages after the FreeBSD base system
installation is complete. Coming in 15.1 it will be possible to
install the KDE graphical desktop environment during the installation
process. Grateful thanks to Bjoern Zeeb and Alfonso Siciliano
respectively. […]

The project continues into 2026 with a similar sized investment and
scope. Key targets include completing work on sleep states (modern
standby and hibernate), adding support for graphics drivers up to
Linux 6.18, Wi-Fi 6 support, USB4 and Thunderbolt support, HDMI
improvements, UVC webcam support, and Bluetooth improvements.

A substantial testing program will also start in January, aiming to
test all the functionality together across a range of
hardware. Community testers are very welcome to help out, the
Foundation will release a blog post and send an invite to help to the
Desktop mailing list some time in January 2026.

Post Syndicated from jzb original https://lwn.net/Articles/1051384/

Security updates have been issued by Debian (roundcube), Fedora (checkpointctl, containernetworking-plugins, mingw-libpng, NetworkManager, php, python3-docs, python3.13, and webkitgtk), Oracle (kernel, keylime, and libssh), and SUSE (apache2, clair, colord, flannel, gnutls, golang-github-prometheus-alertmanager, grafana, grub2, helm, ImageMagick, libpng16, netty, openssl-3, postgresql13, postgresql14, postgresql15, python36, salt, uyuni-tools, and venv-salt-minion).

Post Syndicated from jzb original https://lwn.net/Articles/1051163/

Systemd
v259 has been released. Notable changes include a new
“--empower” option for run0 that provides elevated
privileges to a user without switching to root, ability to propagate a
user’s home directory into a VM with systemd-vmspawn, and
more. Support for System V service scripts has been deprecated, and
will be removed in v260. See the release notes for other changes,
feature removals, and deprecated features.

Post Syndicated from jzb original https://lwn.net/Articles/1051157/

Greg Kroah-Hartman has announced the release of the 6.18.2, 6.17.13, and 6.12.63 stable kernels. As always, each
contains important fixes throughout the tree. He notes that
6.17.13 is the last release of the 6.17.y kernel; users are
advised to move to the 6.18.y kernel branch.

Post Syndicated from jzb original https://lwn.net/Articles/1051156/

Security updates have been issued by AlmaLinux (kernel, keylime, mysql:8.4, and tomcat), Debian (c-ares and webkit2gtk), Fedora (brotli, cups, golang-github-facebook-time, nebula, NetworkManager, perl-Alien-Brotli, python-django4.2, python-django5, and vips), Red Hat (binutils, buildah, curl, go-toolset:rhel8, golang, grafana, multiple packages, php:8.3, podman, python3.12, python39:3.9, ruby:3.3, and skopeo), SUSE (buildah, cups, firefox, glib2, grub2, helm, icinga-php-library, icingaweb2, ImageMagick, imagemagick, kernel, libpng12, libpng16, mariadb, openssl-3, poppler, python39, usbmuxd, webkit2gtk3, wireshark, and xkbcomp), and Ubuntu (linux-azure-fips).

Post Syndicated from jzb original https://lwn.net/Articles/1050268/

After three years of development, Linux hardware provider System76
has declared
the COSMIC desktop
environment stable. It shipped COSMIC Epoch 1 as part of the
long-awaited Pop!_OS 24.04 LTS
release on December 11, just in time for Linux enthusiasts to
have something to tinker with over the end-of-year holidays. With the
stable release out the door, it seemed like a good time to check back
in on COSMIC and see how it has evolved since the first alpha. For a first
stable release of a new desktop environment, COSMIC shows a lot of
promise and room to grow.

Post Syndicated from jzb original https://lwn.net/Articles/1050953/

The Asahi Linux project has published
its progress report following the release of Linux 6.18. This time
around the project reports progress on many fronts, including
microphone support for M2 Pro/Max MacBooks, work queued for Linux 6.19
to support USB3 via the USB-C ports, and work to improve the Asahi
Linux installation experience. The project is also enabling as
additional System Management Controller (SMC) drivers, which means
that “the myriad voltage, current, temperature and power sensors
controlled by the SMC will be readable using the standard hwmon
interfaces“.

Post Syndicated from jzb original https://lwn.net/Articles/1050942/

Security updates have been issued by Debian (node-url-parse), Fedora (assimp, conda-build, mod_md, util-linux, and webkitgtk), Oracle (firefox), SUSE (chromium, librsvg, poppler, python311, qemu, strongswan, webkit2gtk3, wireshark, and xen), and Ubuntu (linux-azure, linux-azure-5.4, linux-azure-5.15, linux-azure-fips, and linux-raspi, linux-raspi-realtime, linux-xilinx).

Post Syndicated from jzb original https://lwn.net/Articles/1050826/

Mozilla has announced
a new CEO, Anthony Enzor-DeMeo. Prior to becoming CEO, Enzor-DeMeo was
general manager of Firefox and led its “vision, strategy, and
business performance“. He has published
a blog post about taking over from interim CEO Laura Chambers, and
his plans for Mozilla and Firefox:

As Mozilla moves forward, we will focus on becoming the trusted
software company. This is not a slogan. It is a direction that guides
how we build and how we grow. It means three things.

• First: Every product we build must give people agency in how it works. Privacy, data use, and AI must be clear and understandable. Controls must be simple. AI should always be a choice — something people can easily turn off. People should know why a feature works the way it does and what value they get from it.
• Second: our business model must align with trust. We will grow through transparent monetization that people recognize and value.
• Third: Firefox will grow from a browser into a broader
  ecosystem of trusted software. Firefox will remain our anchor. It
  will evolve into a modern AI browser and support a portfolio of
  new and trusted software additions.

Post Syndicated from jzb original https://lwn.net/Articles/1050778/

Security updates have been issued by Debian (binwalk, glib2.0, libgd2, paramiko, and python-apt), Fedora (chromium, python3.13, python3.14, qt6-qtdeclarative, and usd), Mageia (ffmpeg, firefox, nspr, nss, and thunderbird), Oracle (kernel, mysql, mysql:8.0, mysql:8.4, ruby:3.3, wireshark, and xorg-x11-server), Red Hat (expat, mingw-expat, and rsync), SUSE (binutils, curl, glib2, gnutls, go1.24, go1.25, keylime, libmicrohttpd, libssh, openexr, postgresql15, python311, and xkbcomp), and Ubuntu (libsoup3, linux, linux-aws, linux-aws-6.8, linux-gcp, linux-gcp-6.8, linux-gke,
linux-gkeop, linux-hwe-6.8, linux-ibm, linux-ibm-6.8, linux-lowlatency,
linux-lowlatency-hwe-6.8, linux-nvidia, linux-nvidia-6.8,
linux-nvidia-lowlatency, linux-oracle, linux-oracle-6.8, linux, linux-aws, linux-kvm, linux-lts-xenial, linux-azure, linux-azure-6.14, linux-azure, linux-azure-6.8, linux-azure-fips, linux-fips, linux-fips, linux-aws-fips, linux-gcp-fips, linux-kvm, linux-oem-6.14, linux-raspi, and linux-realtime, linux-realtime-6.8).

Post Syndicated from jzb original https://lwn.net/Articles/1049886/

Version
8.16.0 of the calibre
ebook-management software, released on December 4, includes a
“Discuss with AI” feature that can be used to query various AI/LLM
services or local models about books, and ask for recommendations on
what to read next. The feature has sparked discussion among human
users of calibre as well, and more than a few are upset about the
intrusion of AI into the software. After much pushback, it looks as
though users will get the ability to hide the feature from calibre’s user
interface, but LLM-driven features are here to stay and more will
likely be added over time.

Post Syndicated from jzb original https://lwn.net/Articles/1050539/

Vojtěch Polášek has announced
an unofficial effort to create a Fedora-based distribution designed
for visually impaired users:

My ultimate vision for this project is “NO VOJTUX NEEDED!” because
I believe Fedora should eventually be fully accessible out of the
box. We aren’t there yet, which is where Vojtux comes in to fill the
gap. […]

Key Features:
-Speaks out of the box: When the live desktop is ready, Orca starts
automatically. After installation, it is configured so that it starts
on the login screen and also after logging in.
-Batteries included: Comes with LIOS , Ocrdesktop, Tesseract,
Audacity, and command-line tools like Git and Curl. There are also
many preconfigured keyboard shortcuts.

See the repository
for instructions on getting the image.