Latest Linux and open source news from around the web
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.
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
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.
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.
The first topic of discussion at the 2025 Maintainers Summit has been in the air for a while: what role — if any — should machine-learning-based tools have in the kernel development process? While there has been a fair amount of controversy around these tools, and concerns remain, it seems that the kernel community, or at least its high-level maintainership, is comfortable with these tools becoming a significant part of the development process.
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).
Inside this week's LWN.net Weekly Edition: Front: Rust in CPython; Python frozendict; Bazzite; IETF post-quantum disagreement; Distrobox; 6.19 merge window; Leaving the TAB. Briefs: Let's Encrypt retrospective; PKI infrastructure; Rust in kernel to stay; CNA series; Alpine 3.23.0; cmocka 2.0; Firefox 146; 2024 Free Software Awards; Quotes; ... Announcements: Newsletters, conferences, security updates, patches, and more.
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.
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.
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.
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).
The topic of the Rust experiment was just discussed at the annual Maintainers Summit. The consensus among the assembled developers is that Rust in the kernel is no longer experimental — it is now a core part of the kernel and is here to stay. So the "experimental" tag will be coming off. Congratulations are in order for all of the Rust-for-Linux team. (Stay tuned for details in our Maintainers Summit coverage.)
The Free Software Foundation has announced the recipients of its 2024 (even though 2025 is almost over) Free Software Awards. Andy Wingo won the award for the advancement of free software, Alx Sa is the outstanding new free-software contributor, and Govdirectory takes the award for projects of social benefit.
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.
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.
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