Linux NewsThe Next Linux Kernel Turns 7.0
Linus Torvalds has announced that after Linux kernel 6.19, we'll finally reach the 7.0 iteration stage.
LibreOffice 26.2 Arrives: Faster Performance, Sharper UI, and Better Compatibility
by George Whittaker The Document Foundation has officially released LibreOffice 26.2, the latest major update to the widely used open-source office suite. With improvements spanning performance, user interface refinements, document compatibility, and accessibility, this version continues LibreOffice’s mission to provide a powerful, community-driven alternative to proprietary office software. LibreOffice 26.2 is available for Linux, Windows, and macOS, offering consistent functionality across platforms while keeping full control in the hands of users. What’s New in LibreOffice 26.2 While LibreOffice updates often focus on incremental refinement rather than radical redesign, version 26.2 introduces several meaningful enhancements that improve daily workflows. Improved Performance and Stability Performance remains a priority. LibreOffice 26.2 includes: Faster document loading, especially for large spreadsheets and presentations Reduced memory usage in complex Calc files Improved stability
[$] Poisoning scraperbots with iocaine
Web sites are being increasingly beset by AI scraperbots — a problem that we have written about before, and which has slowly ramped up to an occasional de-facto DDoS attack. This has not gone uncontested, however: web site operators from around the world have been working on inventive countermeasures. These solutions target the problem posed by scraperbots in different ways; iocaine, a MIT-licensed nonsense generator, is designed to make scraped text less useful by poisoning it with fake data. The hope is to make running scraperbots not economically viable, and thereby address the problem at its root instead of playing an eternal game of Whac-A-Mole.
Linux Mint Wants Fewer Releases Each Year (For Good Reasons)
Lead developer says frequent releases leave little time for development.
Forget "tiny" distros: How I built my own minimal Linux using Debian
Who needs a separate distro when you can tweak the Debian you already have?
Ubuntu 24.04.4 LTS Released with Bug Fixes and Security Updates
Ubuntu 24.04.4 LTS is now officially available, powered by Linux kernel 6.17, and featuring refreshed packages and bug fixes.
Intel Posts 2026 Update For Cache Aware Scheduling On Linux
Not in time for the current Linux 7.0 cycle but posted for another round of review is Intel's latest work around Cache Aware Scheduling for enhancing the performance of modern CPUs with multiple cache domains. This is the first set of updates to Cache Aware Scheduling for the new year and succeed the v2 patches from early December. This work not only benefits modern Intel CPUs but our testing has shown can also provide some very nice gains too for AMD EPYC processors...
EXT4 In Linux 7.0 Improves Write Performance For Concurrent Direct I/O Writes
Sent out and already merged today for the Linux 7.0 kernel are the EXT4 file-system updates...
[$] The reverting of revocable
Transient devices pose a special challenge for an operating-system kernel. They can disappear at any time, leaving behind kernel data structures that no longer refer to an existing device, but which may still be in use by unknown kernel code. Managing the resulting lifecycle issues has frustrated kernel developers for years. In September 2025, the revocable resource-management patch series from Tzung-Bi Shih appeared to offer a partial solution to this problem. Since then, though, other problems have arisen, and the planned merging of this series into the 7.0 release has been called off.
Ubuntu 24.04.4 LTS Released with Linux 6.17 + Mesa 25.2
Ubuntu 24.04.4 LTS is now available to download. This is the fourth point release in the Ubuntu 24.04 LTS ‘Noble Numbat’ series since it launched in April 2024. The new installer image (ISO) contains all of the security, bug and software updates released since the Ubuntu 24.04.3 release last August. More notably, Ubuntu 24.04.4 LTS ships an updated hardware enablement stack (HWE) with Linux kernel 6.17 and Mesa 25.2.8, both back-ported from Ubuntu 25.10 and available to install on existing Ubuntu 24.04 systems – no fresh install required. Updated Wayland Protocols are also included in the Ubuntu 24.04.4 HWE update. […]
Ubuntu 24.04.4 LTS Is Now Available for Download Powered by Linux Kernel 6.17
Ubuntu 24.04.4 LTS (Noble Numbat) is now available for download powered by Linux kernel 6.17 and Mesa 25.2 graphics stack from Ubuntu 25.10 (Questing Quokka).
Debian DFSG Team announces new dashboard and queue processes
Reinhard Tartler of Debian's new DFSG, Licensing & New Packages Team, or simply "DFSG Team", has announced that the team is now operational and is deploying new tooling to improve the NEW queue experience for Debian developers and maintainers. Our primary and immediate goal is simple: get the queue down. We are currently settling in and refining our processes to ensure stability and consistency. While our focus right now is on clearing the backlog, our long-term vision is to enable all Debian Developers to meaningfully contribute to DFSG reviewing activities, distributing the workload and knowledge more effectively across the project. The announcement includes information on the new dashboard for packages in the NEW queue, the rationale for the new tooling, and an introduction to the members of the team.
A single stable kernel for Thursday
Greg Kroah-Hartman has released the 6.12.71 stable kernel. He writes, "All users of the 6.12 kernel series that had issues with 6.12.69 or 6.12.70 should upgrade, as some regressions are fixed here."
Security updates for Thursday
Security updates have been issued by AlmaLinux (brotli, git-lfs, image-builder, kernel, keylime, libsoup3, and pcs), Fedora (chromium, gnutls, osslsigncode, and p11-kit), Mageia (golang, libpng, thunderbird, and xrdp), Red Hat (git-lfs, go-toolset:rhel8, golang, golang-github-openprinting-ipp-usb, osbuild-composer, and toolbox), Slackware (gnutls and libpng), SUSE (apptainer, cockpit, cockpit-packages, cockpit-subscriptions, freerdp2, gimp, glib2, go, go1.24, go1.25, gpg2, ImageMagick, java-1_8_0-openjdk, kernel, keylime-config, keylime-ima-policy, lemon, libp11-kit0, libsoup, libsoup-2_4-1, libxml2, libxml2-16, munge, nodejs20, nvidia-modprobe.cuda, nvidia-open-driver-G06-signed, nvidia-persistenced.cuda, openQA, orthanc, gdcm, orthanc-authorization,, python-brotlipy, python-Django, python-maturin, python-pyasn1, python-urllib3, python-wheel, python313-wheel, qemu, rust-keylime, sqlite3, uriparser, wicked2nm, and xrdp), and Ubuntu (libtasn1-6, libwebsockets, libxmltok, linux, linux-aw
Is Ubuntu Treating Its Users as If They Can’t Be Trusted?
Canonical drops the Software & Updates tool from Ubuntu 26.04 LTS defaults, citing usability and maintenance concerns.