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.

Post Syndicated from jzb original https://lwn.net/Articles/1050523/

Security updates have been issued by AlmaLinux (firefox, grafana, kernel, libsoup3, mysql8.4, and wireshark), Debian (ruby-git, ruby-sidekiq, thunderbird, and vlc), Fedora (apptainer, chromium, firefox, golangci-lint, libpng, and xkbcomp), Mageia (golang), SUSE (binutils, chromium, firefox, gegl, go1.25, govulncheck-vulndb, hauler, kernel, keylime, libpng12, pgadmin4, postgresql16, python, python-Django, python-django, python3, python311, rhino, thunderbird, unbound, and xkbcomp), and Ubuntu (usbmuxd).

Post Syndicated from jzb original https://lwn.net/Articles/1050270/

Greg Kroah-Hartman has released the 6.18.1, 6.17.12, and 6.12.62 stable
kernels. Each contains important fixes; users of those kernels
are advised to upgrade.

Post Syndicated from jzb original https://lwn.net/Articles/1050262/

KDE has announced the
release of KDE Gear 25.12. This release adds more
“extractors” to the Itinerary travel-assistant
application, improved Git support in the Kate text editor, better PDF
export in Konqueror, and
much more. See the changelog
for all new features, improvements, and bug fixes.

Post Syndicated from jzb original https://lwn.net/Articles/1050251/

Security updates have been issued by AlmaLinux (firefox, luksmeta, mysql, mysql:8.0, mysql:8.4, tomcat, and wireshark), Debian (chromium, kernel, and tzdata), Fedora (brotli, dr_libs, perl-Alien-Brotli, python-urllib3, singularity-ce, wireshark, and yarnpkg), Oracle (firefox, grafana, lasso, libsoup3, luksmeta, ruby, ruby:3.3, tomcat, and wireshark), Slackware (mozilla), SUSE (container-suseconnect, kubernetes-client, libpoppler-cpp2, postgresql14, postgresql15, and python3), and Ubuntu (c-ares, keystone, linux, linux-aws, linux-aws-5.15, linux-azure, linux-gcp, linux-gcp-5.15,
linux-gke, linux-gkeop, linux-hwe-5.15, linux-ibm, linux-ibm-5.15,
linux-intel-iotg, linux-intel-iotg-5.15, linux-lowlatency,
linux-lowlatency-hwe-5.15, linux-nvidia, linux-nvidia-tegra,
linux-nvidia-tegra-5.15, linux-nvidia-tegra-igx, linux-oracle,
linux-oracle-5.15, linux-xilinx-zynqmp, linux-azure, linux-azure-4.15, linux-oracle,, linux-fips, linux-aws-fips, linux-azure-fips, linux-gcp-fips, linux-fips, linux-aws-fips, linux-gcp-fips, linux-hwe-6.8, linux-oracle-6.8, linux-raspi, linux-realtime, linux-intel-iot-realtime, and python-urllib3).

Post Syndicated from jzb original https://lwn.net/Articles/1050129/

Version 24.04 LTS of the Ubuntu-based Pop!_OS distribution has
been released with the COSMIC Desktop Environment:

Today is special not only in that it’s the culmination of over
three years of work, but even more so in that System76 has built a
complete desktop environment for the open source community. We’re
proud of this contribution to the open source ecosystem. COSMIC is
built on the ethos that the best open source projects enable people to
not only use them, but to build with them. COSMIC is modular and
composable. It’s the flagship experience for Pop!_OS in its own way,
and can be adapted by anyone that wants to build their own unique user
experience for Linux.

In addition to the COSMIC desktop environment, Pop!_OS is now
available for Arm computers with the 24.04 LTS release, and the
distribution has added hybrid graphics support for better battery
life. LWN covered an
alpha version of COSMIC in August 2024.

Post Syndicated from jzb original https://lwn.net/Articles/1050125/

Version
1.92.0 of Rust has been released. This release includes a number
of stabilized APIs, emits unwind tables by default on Linux, validates
input to #[macro_export], and much more. See the separate
release notes for Rust,
Cargo,
and Clippy.

Post Syndicated from jzb original https://lwn.net/Articles/1050117/

Security updates have been issued by Debian (ffmpeg, firefox-esr, libsndfile, and rear), Fedora (httpd, perl-CGI-Simple, and tinyproxy), Oracle (firefox, kernel, libsoup, mysql8.4, tigervnc, tomcat, tomcat9, and uek-kernel), SUSE (alloy, curl, dovecot24, fontforge, glib2, himmelblau, java-17-openjdk, java-21-openjdk, kernel, krb5, lasso, libvirt, mozjs128, mysql-connector-java, nvidia-open-driver-G07-signed-check, openssh, poppler, postgresql17, postgresql18, python-cbor2, python-Django, python310, python311-Django, runc, strongswan, tomcat11, and xwayland), and Ubuntu (binutils, libpng1.6, linux, linux-aws, linux-aws-5.4, linux-gcp, linux-gcp-5.4, linux-hwe-5.4,
linux-ibm, linux-ibm-5.4, linux-kvm, linux-oracle, linux-xilinx-zynqmp, linux, linux-aws, linux-aws-6.14, linux-gcp, linux-hwe-6.14, linux-raspi, linux, linux-aws, linux-gcp, linux-realtime, and qtbase-opensource-src).

Post Syndicated from jzb original https://lwn.net/Articles/1049965/

Let’s Encrypt has published
a retrospective that covers the decade since it published its first
publicly trusted certificate in September 2015:

In March 2016, we issued our one millionth certificate. Just two years
later, in September 2018, we were issuing a million certificates every
day. In 2020 we reached a billion total certificates issued and as of
late 2025 we’re frequently issuing ten million certificates per
day. We’re now on track to reach a billion active sites, probably
sometime in the coming year.

Post Syndicated from jzb original https://lwn.net/Articles/1049963/

Greg Kroah-Hartman is writing
a series of blog posts about Linux becoming a Certificate
Numbering Authority (CNA):

It’s been almost 2 full years since Linux became a CNA (Certificate
Numbering Authority) which meant that we (i.e. the kernel.org
community) are now responsible for issuing all CVEs for the Linux
kernel. During this time, we’ve become one of the largest creators of
CVEs by quantity, going from nothing to number 3 in 2024 to number 1
in 2025. Naturally, this has caused some questions about how we are
both doing all of this work, and how people can keep track of it.

So far, Kroah-Hartman has published the introductory post, as well
as a detailed
post about kernel version numbers that is well worth reading.

Post Syndicated from jzb original https://lwn.net/Articles/1049423/

Linux containers have made it reasonably easy to develop, distribute, and
deploy server applications along with all the distribution dependencies that they
need. For example, anyone can deploy and run a Debian-based PostgreSQL container
on a Fedora Linux host. Distrobox is a project that is designed to
bring the cross-distribution compatibility to the desktop and allow users to
mix-and-match Linux distributions without fussing with dual-booting, virtual
machines, or multiple computers. It is an ideal way to install
additional software on image-based systems, such as Fedora’s Atomic Desktops
or Bazzite, and also
provides a convenient way to move a development environment or
favorite applications to a new system.

Post Syndicated from jzb original https://lwn.net/Articles/1049939/

Security updates have been issued by AlmaLinux (abrt and kernel), Debian (libpng1.6, libsoup2.4, pdns-recursor, webkit2gtk, and wordpress), Fedora (imhex, libwebsockets, lunasvg, python3-docs, and python3.14), Mageia (python3 and webkit2), Red Hat (abrt, firefox, mysql8.4, and postgresql:15), Slackware (mozilla), SUSE (gegl, gnutls, go1.24, go1.25, libpng16-16, openssh, postgresql13, python-Jinja2, and sssd), and Ubuntu (fonttools and netty).

Post Syndicated from jzb original https://lwn.net/Articles/1046228/

One of the things that has historically stood between Linux and the
fabled “year of the Linux desktop” is its lack of support for video
games. Many users who would have happily abandoned Windows have,
reluctantly, stayed for the video games or had to deal with dual
booting. In the past few years, though, Linux support for
games—including those that only have Windows versions—has
improved dramatically, if one is willing to put the pieces
together. Bazzite, an image-based
Fedora derivative, is a project that aims to let users play games and
use the Linux desktop with almost no assembly required.

Post Syndicated from jzb original https://lwn.net/Articles/1049771/

Version
146.0 of the Firefox web browser has been released. One feature of
particular interest to Linux users is that Firefox now natively
supports fractional scaled displays on Wayland. Firefox Labs has also
been made available to all users even if they opt out of telemetry or
participating in studies. “This means more experimental features
are now available to more people.“

This release also adds support for Module-Lattice-Based
Key-Encapsulation Mechanism (ML-KEM) for WebRTC. ML-KEM is
“believed to be secure against attackers with large quantum
computers“. See the release notes for all changes.