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- [$] Git considers voting to determine its LLM policy
One of the dominant themes of 2026 has been the debate within developmentprojects about the terms under which LLM-written contributions should beaccepted — if, indeed, they should be accepted at all. The Git project has not been immune to thistrend; the topic was discussedat the recent Git Contributor's Summit. In this case, the path to aresolution may be somewhat circuitous; the project, which has never beengoverned as a democracy, is considering adopting a voting process as a wayof bringing the discussion to an acceptable conclusion.
- Kernel prepatch 7.4-rc2
Linus Torvalds has released the 7.4-rc2prepatch and it will come as no surprise that it is a large one ("abig -rc2 to go with the largest ever -rc1"). Much of the size was madeup of some automated Coccinelle updates that were spread out all over thetree; once those are factored out, the rest looks fairly normal:When masking that noise out from the diffstat, the shape of it changes- not spread out over thousands of files any more. But it does notlook unusual: a third is drivers (gpu, networking and sound accountfor most of it, but there's a bit of everything), another third isnetworking and bpf, and the final third is "the rest" (mostlyfilesystems, mm, arch updates). And yes, much of this was driven by various AI fixes. I think I'llstop repeating that, and we can just take it for granted. But thistime around Alexei [Starovoitov] claims that on the bpf side at least the fixes arenow coming in faster than the new reports, and that sounds lovely iftrue.
- OpenIndiana 2026.10 released
Version2026.10 of the OpenIndiana operatingsystem has been released. OpenIndiana is based on Illumos, which in turn wasbased on OpenSolarisafter Oracle discontinued it.
Notable changes in this release include UEFI framebuffer support for the liveimage, updates to many applications and development tools, as well as theinclusion of new applications such as TeX Live 2026, the Foliate ebook reader,and more.
- Security updates for Monday
Security updates have been issued by Debian (cjose, kernel, libreoffice, rsync, ruby3.3, telegram-desktop, vim, and zlib), Fedora (bind, composer, copyparty, dnf5, elixir, fasterxml-oss-parent, gnome-remote-desktop, goose, jackson-annotations, jackson-bom, jackson-core, jackson-databind, jackson-jaxrs-providers, jackson-modules-base, jackson-parent, java-21-openjdk, java-21-openjdk-portable, jupyterlab, kryoptic, luksmeta, mingw-cfitsio, mingw-expat, mingw-freetype, mingw-glib-networking, mingw-harfbuzz, mingw-qt5-qtbase, mingw-qt5-qtdeclarative, mingw-qt5-qtwebkit, mingw-qt6-qtbase, mtools, NetworkManager-l2tp, nginx, nginx-mod-brotli, nginx-mod-fancyindex, nginx-mod-headers-more, nginx-mod-js-challenge, nginx-mod-modsecurity, nginx-mod-naxsi, nginx-mod-vts, nodejs-pnpm12, pcre2, perl-Spreadsheet-XLSX, pie, python-boto3, python-botocore, python-joserfc, python-jupyter-builder, python-jupyterlab-server, python-jupytext, python-nbdime, python-notebook, python-s3transfer, python3.12, rccl, rsync, rust-blake2b_simd, rust-blake3, rust-constant_time_eq, rust-lzma-rust2, rust-ppmd-rust, rust-regorus, rust-sccache, rust-totp-rs, rust-typed-path, rust-zip, rust-zip0.6, rust-zip2, sofia-sip, suricata, wordpress, and xen), Mageia (gimp, python-gitpython, and suricata), Red Hat (osbuild-composer), Slackware (httpd), SUSE (bind, brotli, ca-certificates-mozilla, chromedriver, containerized-data-importer1.65-api, corepack24, docker-compose, flatpak, fuse-overlayfs, git-lfs, gitoxide, go1.27, google-cloud-sap-agent, google-guest-agent, gotosocial, kubevirt1.8, kubevirt1.8-container-disk, kubevirt1.9-container-disk, libmariadbd-devel, libntpc1, libopenscap33, libsndfile-devel, libspice-server-devel, libtirpc-devel, matomo, mihomo, mozilla-nss, nano, nmap, nodejs22, perl-Mozilla-CA, python-Brotli, python-CairoSVG, python-certifi, python313-Pillow, rsyslog, stgit, and thunderbird), and Ubuntu (python-tornado).
- Asahi Linux 7.3 progress report
The Asahi Linux developers have put out a new reporton their progress toward a Linux distribution for Apple devices. Some time ago, we were made aware of multiple attempts to exploit our permissive licensing to hijack our work, with a direct view to replacing the project and aggressively monetising Linux on Apple Silicon. In some extreme cases, in-development feature code was being lifted straight out of our personal forks and published without attribution or lazily rewritten with LLM assistance to obfuscate its origin. The MIT licence explicitly allows this, and has no carveouts to protect against bad faith actors. As such, we made the difficult decision to begin the process of transitioning all of our repositories to the GNU General Public License version 2 or later. Going forward all Asahi Linux code will be licenced under strong copyleft licences only. Those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it.
- Amutable Foundations: A Technical Overview
Lennart Poettering, Michael Vogt, and Joaquim Rocha have put together adetailed overview of what the Amutable Operating System (AOS) andassociated infrastructure will look like. The image-based OS approach enables us to enforce some very strict but powerful security properties, which elevate the security posture of the system substantially above traditional Linux systems. Specifically, let's highlight seven major essential security properties of AOS here: No Shell + No SSH + No Language Interpreters. By default AOS does not install a UNIX shell, nor makes remote access via SSH available on the nodes. Moreover, we do not install any of the usual language interpreters (Python, Perl, …) by default. For most nodes a shell or interpreted language support is not required and it removes a whole class of attacks. Signed Images Only. On AOS only images that come with Verity data signed by a signing key listed in the Verity keyring may be activated. [...]
- [$] Locking down hibernation for the winter
When a computer hibernates, the kernel writes the contents of memory to disk andthen shuts the system down. Resuming from hibernation involves reading that databack into memory, and then having the kernel pick up where it left off.Unfortunately, the kernel does not haveany way to know that the data it is reading back has not been tampered with,which is why lockdown, an optional kernelfeature that attempts to prevent modifications to the running kernel, disables hibernation.Matthew Garrett, who has been working on lockdown for many years, has shareda patch set that aims to fix this problem. His solution must also protectagainst downgrade attacks (where an attacker reboots the computer with an olderkernel version to bypass new protections), which complicates the implementation.
- Seven stable kernels with fixes for three Xen vulnerabilities
Hot on the heels of the previoustwo stable kernels, Greg Kroah-Hartman has announced the release of the 7.3.3, 6.18.62,6.12.116, 6.6.162, 6.1.192,5.15.225, and 5.10.274 stable kernels. Each one only containsfixes for three use-after-free vulnerabilities announced today by the Xensecurity team.
Two of the vulnerabilities could allow an attacker to cause a denial of service (DoS) for theentire Xen host machine with possible information leakage (CVE-2026-100080,CVE-2026-100082),and one may allow privilege escalation as well as a DoS of the host machine (CVE-2026-100081). Usersshould, of course, upgrade if they are using Xen.

- Linux 7.5 To Convey To User-Space Multi-Grain Timestamp Usage On Files
Merged for Linux 6.13 back in 2024 was multigrain timestamp support for being able to switch between coarse and fine-grained change/modification time reporting on a per-file basis. This is useful if caring about accuracy more than the once-per-jiffy timestamps on files and was originally devised as a way of addressing NFS caching issues. A limitation of multigrain timestamps though has been the0
- Long-range Wi-Fi HaLow gateway offers OpenWrt and dual GbE
Morse Micros HaLowLink 2! gateway runs OpenWrt on a MediaTek MT7621 processor with an MM8108 Wi-Fi HaLow radio supporting ranges of up to 1km and PHY data rates of up to 43.3Mbps. Originally announced in September 2025, the gateway is now available through distributors including Seeed Studio, Mouser Electronics, and DigiKey. The gateways main wireless0
- Agama Unattended installation via profile.json of Tumbleweed's KVM Guests
Tumbleweed updates continuously, manual interactive installations frequently break due to rapid package, installer (Agama), or kernel shifts. Unattended automation ensures predictable, reproducible, and verifiable states for disaster recovery and testing. Mitigating Rolling-Release Fluctuation: Tumbleweed moves extremely fast. An unattended deployment via structured templates (profile.json) ensures that the initial bootstrap bypasses manual package selection errors and unpredictable installer UI changes.
- Asking My Virtual Assistant: Best Linux Distro for Beginners?
Hey everyone! Just dropped a quick 1-minute tech showcase featuring virtual assistant named Lune (powered by Python, PyQt, Ollama, and Piper TTS with the Cori voice model, running on EndeavourOS). In this video, I asked Lune directly via mic: "What is the best Linux distro for new users?"

- Epic Games Comments On Planned Linux Distribution Support
Epic Games says it plans to support its new Linux launcher on as many distributions as possible, specifically naming Fedora, SteamOS, CachyOS and Omarchy. GamingOnLinux's Liam Squires-Hand reports: Speaking to Jake Jones, Communications Director at Epic Games, they said: "Hey Liam! The new Epic Games Launcher is still in Preview and we plan to support as many Linux distributions as possible, including Fedora, SteamOS, Cachy, Omarchy, and more. We're testing and evaluating packaging formats for distribution, and we'll restore AppImage this month." With that in mind, until things settle down, you might see different packaging types appear or disappear until they decide firmly how they plan to support different distributions each with their own different packaging formats. Or, perhaps they might see the Flatpak light and just put it up officially on Flathub. Would make it even easier for SteamOS then too with Flathub, since it would just be a quick pop to Desktop Mode to install it directly in the Discover app.
 
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
- France Accuses Iran of Supermarket Fridge Hacking
France has accused Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps of being behind last month's cyberattacks on fridges and freezers across the country. French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot said the attack was "unprecedented in both its scale and its level of aggression," adding those who were responsible would be hit with sanctions "at the European level." The BBC reports: The cyber-attack last month saw fridges and freezers in hundreds of supermarkets across France heated up, which spoilt fresh and frozen food estimated to be worth millions of euros. Then last week, dozens of supermarkets across several other European countries were also impacted by a cyber-attack that targeted fridges and freezers. It is not known if the instances are linked. Barrot said the attack on France's supermarkets "marks the first large-scale cyber-attack aimed at sabotage on our national territory, and it constitutes a major attack on the nation's interests and the security of the French people." He said the government had summoned the Iranian ambassador to Paris to "lodge a very strong protest against this extremely grave act." France will take "any other necessary and proportionate measures" to respond to the incident and "deter anyone who might seek to repeat it," Barrot added. Separately on Monday, the Paris prosecutor said an investigation had been opened into the head of an offensive cyber unit associated with Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) as well as his two deputies. Laure Beccuau named the unit as Shahid Kaveh, which she said had an affiliation with the electronic and cyber centre of the IRGC. Shahid Kaveh is the name given to a cluster of hackers thought to be directly employed by the Iranian regime. [...] The French government has not said how it reached the conclusion that Iran was responsible, and attribution of cyber attacks is extremely hard as hackers are able to hide their locations.
 
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
- Anthropic Launches New Claude Fable and Mythos 5.2 Models
Anthropic has released Claude Mythos 5.2 and Fable 5.2 with "improvements in areas like coding, reasoning, and vision," while cutting Fable's input price and claiming 30% faster responses. TechCrunch reports: It's Anthropic's first model release since the arrival of a third-party report from the assessment group METR, which suggested the lab might be approaching recursive self-improvement (RSI) -- or the ability for AI models to carry on model training independently. The METR report found internal models were speeding up Anthropic's AI progress by roughly 2x, although many uncertainties remain. Still, Anthropic's release notes significant ongoing challenges in accurately testing model capabilities. "Claude Mythos 5.2 and Fable 5.2 each voice suspicion that they are being evaluated more often than any of our recent models, which challenges our ability to assess how they will act in real-world settings. As these settings expand and capabilities increase with future models, we expect this challenge to grow." Anthropic maintains that the new version of Mythos does not have the ability to act covertly against its user, a verdict that's detailed further in Mythos 5.2's system card. "Claude Mythos 5.2 shows stronger covert capabilities than prior Claude models on several of our evaluations, particularly when its reasoning is hidden from the monitor," the system card reads. "That said, we believe that low levels of absolute performance on our new covert evaluations support claims that rely on detection of harmful actions in high-stakes situations." Fable 5.2 has been available to select parties in pre-release for some time, and Anthropic says the model has already "solved two open problems in theoretical physics, formalized Fermat's Last Theorem, and supported numerous other research projects."
 
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
- Commerce Dept. Chip Inquiry Was Halted After Nvidia Intervention
An anonymous reader quotes a report from The New York Times: Investigators at the Commerce Department were deep into a monthslong investigation of a Singaporean company that they suspected of smuggling Nvidia's artificial intelligence chips into China when their work came to a sudden halt late last year. The investigation centered on Megaspeed, a data center company led by an executive who U.S. officials now believe to be a Chinese spy who had a relationship with Nvidia's chief executive, Jensen Huang. But the case was abruptly transferred to the Justice Department last year. The shift came after Commerce Department investigators working on the case received an email from Nvidia's general counsel seeking information about the inquiry into Megaspeed. It is not necessarily unusual for Commerce Department agents working on a case to speak with a company's representatives about issues involving their firm. But what was unusual was the content of the message. Tim Teter, Nvidia's general counsel, said that Jeff Kessler, a top official at the department, had given Nvidia permission to reach out about the case. The agents were alarmed that Nvidia had invoked the name of Mr. Kessler, their superior, who was nominated to his role by President Trump. Some viewed Mr. Kessler's interaction with Nvidia as violating government procedure and potentially tainting the case, according to current and former government officials and others familiar with the incident. It is not clear what led to Mr. Teter's outreach to the department, but the recent revelations about Mr. Huang's acknowledged affair with a Megaspeed executive have only intensified scrutiny of Nvidia's role in influencing policy on chip sales to China. [...] The incident raised questions about what Mr. Kessler, who reports directly to Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, had discussed with Nvidia. It also raised the possibility that those discussions could become their own subject of inquiry. Perhaps inadvertently, some officials said, Mr. Kessler had opened himself to accusations of undue influence and potentially jeopardized his department's work on Megaspeed. The case was quickly transferred to the Justice Department in an effort to avoid any potential compromise of the government's investigation of Megaspeed, these people said. The Justice Department is conducting a criminal inquiry into Megaspeed, according to people familiar with the matter.
 
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
- Google Unveils Two New Specialized AI Chips to Widen Its Challenge to Nvidia
Google is expanding its AI chip lineup with two specialized TPUs arriving next year: the TPU 8tx, which encrypts sensitive data at the chip level for confidential computing, and the TPU 8i Max, which combines two TPU chips to provide more processing power and memory for long-context workloads. The move broadens Google's challenge to Nvidia as demand outstrips supply, with Google saying every TPU it currently has is already committed to customers. Quartz reports: The 8tx is designed for sensitive, privacy-focused jobs run by clients including public-sector bodies and businesses in heavily regulated sectors, according to Bloomberg. It pairs with a central processing unit from Advanced Micro Devices and encrypts data at the chip level. Normally, data must be decrypted in memory as the machine works on it, [said Amin Vahdat, Chief Technologist for AI & Infrastructure at Google]. The 8i Max is meant for AI applications that need long context windows, meaning the volume of information a model can take into account within one request. Vahdat said that matters for drug discovery, math and coding. The chip packs two TPU chips together, giving it extra processing muscle and memory. Both variations are reconfigured versions of existing silicon rather than new designs, Vahdat said. Google changed them to handle tasks customers have requested. They follow two TPU models Google released this year, according to Bloomberg, which said the chip unit used to release one new processor every two years. "We could build a single chip that tries to address the whole market, or by building specialized versions of the chips, we actually can deliver much more value," Vahdat said, according to Bloomberg.
 
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- Huawei Says It's Made a 100% Chinese PC
Huawei has unveiled the Qingyun HM650, a desktop PC it claims is made entirely from Chinese-manufactured components, including its own 10-core Kirin X90 processor and an enterprise version of HarmonyOS. "While Huawei has reportedly claimed local companies manufactured 100 percent of the components in the machine, it is unclear if all those components use Chinese designs," notes The Register. From the report: A single Chinese government agency has reportedly signed up for 600 of the machines. That's not an indication this machine is a curiosity, because Beijing has ordered all government entities to shift from Wintel boxes to local alternatives. [...] Even if Huawei is using some parts that aren't entirely Chinese, the debut of the Qingyun HM650 is bad news for Intel, AMD, and Qualcomm, as all are suffering as the PC market shrinks due to the rising cost of memory. China's government is an enormous buyer, and losing the chance to bid for its business is unlikely to be helpful.
 
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
- Reddit Founder Says Building Social Media Apps Is 'Not Cool Anymore'
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Wired: Alexis Ohanian wants to figure out the future of user-generated content. According to the Reddit cofounder, building social media apps is "not cool anymore" and so much of the internet has been compromised. "I'm expecting some better version of the group chat to be that new version of UGC," Ohanian told WIRED senior correspondent Lauren Goode at the inaugural WIRED World Fair. [...] Ohanian is a proponent of the "Dead Internet Theory"—the idea that a lot of online activity and content is being generated by bots. Large language models have turbocharged this, with AI agents outrunning human users. "The internet that I grew up on that was really built for humans first; user interfaces and experiences are going to go away," said Ohanian, "because more of the internet is going to get created for these agents to use, [rather] than for people." In some ways, the advance in generative AI has been lucrative for sites like Reddit, which has licensed its vast archive of human conversations to companies including Google and OpenAI to train AI models. "Platforms like ours became very, very valuable to LLMs," Ohanian said. But the technology has also undermined the business. Reddit shares plunged 29 percent last week after the platform warned that Google's AI-powered search was hurting referral traffic. Ohanian also worries the commercialization of these conversations means they are full of "bullshit." "The internet has gotten so manipulated because it is so incredibly valuable to do so," he said. Reddit recently said it would require users to sign in to fight third-party scraping and keep up user engagement. While Ohanian declined to say whether he agrees with the move, "there has to be provable humanity on the internet without being creepy." An early Anthropic investor, Ohanian is nonetheless optimistic about the potential benefits of AI. He is especially excited to see medical breakthroughs from the technology. "There is still a very real chance that this technology can cause a lot of harm for sure," he said. "I think we have to be sober about how we're building and what we're doing, but I still can't help but see all of the things that can get so demonstrably better."
 
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- Orbiter Detects Signs of Possible Volcanic Activity on Mars
Futurism reports:While many scientists have long held that Mars is "geologically dead" inside, new research is adding to the growing body of evidence to the contrary. As detailed in a new paper published in the journal Science Advances, an international team of researchers examined data collected by the European and Russian ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter in 2021, which found that Mars is slowly belching hydrogen chloride gas. The researchers suggest this gas is being released from hot magma deep beneath its surface after discovering intriguing new fissures along a massive volcano, indicating the planet may be geologically active after all — or at least it was until relatively recently. The research could have significant implications for the possibility of ancient life on the Red Planet, hinting at a far warmer and thicker atmosphere — and an abundance of liquid water on its surface — in its not-too-distant past.... The team discovered new fissures measuring thousands of feet in length... suggesting ongoing activity underneath the surface. The researchers discovered discolorations along these fissures, concluding that they may be the result of seeping gases leaving mineral deposits similar to volcanic gas vents on Earth... The fissures could also be a perfect place to find evidence of past life on the Red Planet [argued Daniel Mège, the study's colead author and a Polish Academy of Sciences professor]... "If hydrothermal systems are active, they could contain the ingredients and energy needed for microorganisms to develop, and shield microorganisms from the hostile and changing environment above the surface."
 
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- Surprise for Cast of 'Return of the Living Dead' Sequel. They Were Replaced by AI
A crowdfunded sequel to the movie Return of the Living Dead was uploaded last weekend — but producer Richard Driscoll is drawing criticism for what he did to the 1985 punk/zombie classic. Kotaku reports:[The release of the movie came as a] surprise to the original cast, who were attached to star in the follow-up. Instead it seems Driscoll opted to use AI to generate the film... In 2024, Driscoll, who operates his own no-budget streaming service "DragonFLIX," launched an Indiegogo page for "TRASH's REVENGE Return of the Living Dead Universe." Unlike other fan projects, this one had a large portion of the original cast involved, with stars Randolph and Linnea Quigley acting as producers. It also threw in Quigley's fellow Sorority Babe in the Slimeball Bowl-O-Rama Michelle Bauer and the Oscar nominated Eric Roberts, who has seemingly been in everything except The Living Dead.... But after some confusion and radio silence between the cast and director, this incredible movie did not come to be. Last Halloween night, Driscoll pushed out [the almost entirely AI-generated] The Return of the Living Dead: Aftermath... The results won't surprise you. Robotic line delivery. Nonsensical sequence of events. Object impermanence. Everything's wet. Everyone looks shocked. At one point the video just flips around like you're watching on a phone someone dropped. And while the Return cast didn't film any of this footage, their likenesses are peppered throughout. "It turned out to be a fiasco," says Quigley. "I warned him, "Whatever you do, don't do any AI, because people don't like it, the fans don't like it." Living Dead alumni, even those who weren't attached to this film, have spoken out against Aftermath. They seem most concerned about the existing and continued use of their likeness, given that Driscoll has seemingly pivoted 'Trash's Revenge' into an additional project. Randolph encourages those who provided any funding to ask for a refund through their credit card company. While Romero's original film was public domain, Return of the Living Dead was not. Randolph also encourages Amazon, who bought MGM in 2022, to take legal action. A review on Reddit calls it "the worst 'film' I've ever seen," a production that "manages to not only be the worst zombie film ever made but is also the nadir of exploitation filmmaking.[T]hings quickly descend into madness and we get lots of bits of A.I. reporters out on the streets being attacked by A.I. zombies... [T]here are some A.I. cops battling it out too...
 
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
- Asahi Linux Drops MIT and Goes Full GPL After Spotting LLM-Assisted License Laundering
It's FOSS reports:Asahi Linux is the reason you can run Linux on an Apple Silicon Mac today. For years, the project put most of its own code under the MIT license so that anyone, including the BSDs, could reuse it as needed... They have announced that Asahi is moving all of its repositories to the GNU General Public License version 2 or later. Going forward, all Asahi Linux code will be under strong copyleft licenses only. Asahi Linux compares their dilemma to the 1990s, when "permissively licenced projects were viewed by tech companies as free real estate to pilfer and exploit," adding that "Those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it... The malicious practices of the 90s and 2000s have reared their ugly heads once again, this time driven in large part by both the insatiable appetite of frontier AI labs for high-quality training data, and militant animosity toward the Free Software community." In short, they argue that for Asahi Linux, using the permissive MIT license "is no longer viable."Some time ago, we were made aware of multiple attempts to exploit our permissive licensing to hijack our work, with a direct view to replacing the project and aggressively monetising Linux on Apple Silicon. In some extreme cases, in-development feature code was being lifted straight out of our personal forks and published without attribution or lazily rewritten with LLM assistance to obfuscate its origin. The MIT licence explicitly allows this, and has no carveouts to protect against bad faith actors. As such, we made the difficult decision to begin the process of transitioning all of our repositories to the GNU General Public License version 2 or later. Going forward all Asahi Linux code will be licenced under strong copyleft licences only. It's FOSS explains that "Under the GPL, anyone who distributes a modified version has to release the source under the same license. You can't legally build a closed, paid Apple Silicon distro on top of GPL code. And if a product's source has to be public, the copying is easier to spot." And their article also points out that before AI, bad actors attempting code laundering "usually meant manually rewriting code line by line, renaming variables and stuff, and shuffling functions around until it no longer looked like the original. LLMs made it much more easy and cheaper of course." In case you did not know, Asahi Linux forbids AI generated code contribution... As far as I can tell, this is the first time a major open source project has moved to copyleft specifically because of AI-assisted code laundering. Projects have relicensed before, but usually to stop cloud providers from reselling their work as a service. This one is specifically about AI... The move has drawn criticism, particularly from the BSD side, which was one of the main reasons Asahi chose MIT in the first place. OpenBSD's Apple Silicon support relies on Asahi's m1n1 bootloader.
 
Read more of this story at Slashdot.

- From DHCP to SZTP – The Trust Revolution
By Juha Holkkola, FusionLayer Group The Dawn of Effortless Connectivity In the transformative years of the late 1990s, a quiet revolution took place, fundamentally altering how we connect to networks. The introduction of DHCP answered a crucial question, Where are you on the network?!, by automating IP address assignment. This innovation eradicated the manual configuration [0]
The post From DHCP to SZTP – The Trust Revolution appeared first on Linux.com.

- Darling Now Embraces AI For Running macOS Binaries On Linux
Darling is the software project more than a decade in development that is designed to run macOS binaries on Linux. This macOS compatibility layer for Linux is now gaining more brisk developments as it turns to AI/LLMs to assist in this creation...
- ChaCha AVX-512 Optimization For Linux 7.5 Yields Up To 99% Improvement On AMD Zen 5
The Linux kernel's ChaCha symmetric stream cipher code has long had an AVX-512 optimized code path but it was catering to the early generations of Intel CPUs with AVX-512 (Skylake) that suffered from down-clocking under use. But now slated for arrival with Linux 7.5 is tuning the code to perform better on today's AVX-512 Intel and AMD processors that don't suffer from this limitation. In turn the ChaCha performance is as much as 99% faster with current-generation AMD Zen 5 processors...
- Linux Seeing Driver Work For MSI Mystic Light On Latest Ryzen Motherboards
MSI's latest Ryzen motherboards with AMD 800 series chipsets feature a new capability marked as Mystic Light for RGB lighting controls of the motherboard as well as compatible graphics cards and cases. MSI Mystic Light control software is only offered for Microsoft Windows but thanks to an open-source developer with the help of Claude Code, a Mystic Light open-source driver is being worked on for the Linux kernel...
- Linux 7.5 To Convey To User-Space Multi-Grain Timestamp Usage On Files
Merged for Linux 6.13 back in 2024 was multigrain timestamp support for being able to switch between coarse and fine-grained change/modification time reporting on a per-file basis. This is useful if caring about accuracy more than the once-per-jiffy timestamps on files and was originally devised as a way of addressing NFS caching issues. A limitation of multigrain timestamps though has been the lack of user-space to know whether a file's timestamps are multi-grain or not...
- New Linux Patches Bring-Up The Samsung Galaxy XR Headset, Qualcomm Halliday SoC
Samsung's Galaxy XR headset runs on Android XR by default with its own downstream kernel patches. A user leveraging AI with multiple LLMs has now drafted an initial set of patches getting the Galaxy XR headset working on the mainline kernel along with bringing up the Qualcomm Snapdragon XR2+ Gen 2 "Halliday" SoC that powers this VR/XR headset...
- Linux 7.5 To Provide More AMD Ryzen AI NPU AIE4 Enablement
Even before the Linux v7.4 merge window was over, there were already two pull requests of drm-misc-next material targeting for what will be Linux 7.5. This week already saw the third drm-misc-next pull request of more feature patches targeting this next kernel version...
- AMD PerfOpt Performance Boosting Code Tweaked For Linux 7.4-rc2
Of the many exciting changes in Linux 7.4, one of the exciting out-of-the-box performance improvements is the new "PerfOpt" functionality for AMD SoCs with integrated Radeon graphics. AMD PerfOpt can deliver some nice iGPU performance improvements especially for AI/LLM workloads. With today's Linux 7.4-rc2 kernel release there are a few tweaks to the PerfOpt code in the IOMMU area...

- OpenIndiana Hipster 2026.10 released
OpenIndiana is a rolling-release illumos distribution, but they do release snapshots twice a year to serve as a base for installations, which they call Hipster. The projects just released OpenIndiana Hipster 2026.10, and it brings a number of welcome changes. First, theres UEFI framebuffer support on the live image, which is automatically configured when loading up the image. Second, Firefox and Thunderbird versions have been bumped to 159.0, and a whole slew of development tools have been updated to newer versions as well. This snapshot also brings QEMU 11.1.2 and VirtualBox 7.2.22, and a number of new applications have been added as well. In addition, SPARC build support has been improved to enable new and updated packages for Suns dead ISA as well. You can download a fresh image, or update an existing installation through IPS.
- Making musl and proprietary NVIDIA drivers work together
Creator and lead developer of Chimera Linux, Nina q66!, write about their efforts to get NVIDIA drivers to work properly on musl-based distributions. As you may be aware, one of the limitations of musl-based distributions is that they will not function to their proper extent when used in computers with various NVIDIA graphics cards. This is due to the proprietary nature of the driver, being built for glibc. I have been experimenting with trying to make this work, and this post is the summary of that effort. ↫ Nina q66! on the Chimera blog What follows is a deeply technical exploration of the problem, and the steps Nina q66 and the Chimera team are taking to try and fix it. With how popular and widespread NVIDIA hardware still is, this is a hugely important issue to try and address, and Im grateful theyre trying to address it.
- MorphOS 3.21 released with new office suite
About five months after the previous release, the MorphOS team has released MorphOS 3.21. It brings the usual list of big fixes and smaller improvements, but theres a few big ticket items in here as well. MorphOS 3.21 introduces BasicWorks, an office suite made up of CellBasics and PageBasics. It offers document and spreadsheet authoring and loads and saves Microsoft Office and OpenOffice documents. Also new are NVMEMount, an auto-mounter for booting from and mounting NVMe partitions, and the Marbles and Cyber 3D blankers. Graphics performance has been improved, with a faster Radeon driver on cards with little video memory thanks to GART backed bitmap transfers, quicker TinyGL texture copies, hardware accelerated antialiased text in TTEngine and much faster color SVG glyph rendering in Cairo. The Bcm43xx wireless driver has been substantially reworked, with automatic transmit rate selection, updated firmware and numerous connection fixes. PowerBook and iMac hotkeys are now fully configurable. ↫ MorphOS 3.21 release announcement The BasicWorks office suite has been in the works for a while now, and more information on it can be found in a thread on the MorphZone forums and on the website for the spreadsheet component of the suite, CellBasics. The formula loaders and xlsx loaders are ports of open source projects, but the rest of the application is new code based on ObjectiveC++ and Cairo/Harfbuzz. It uses its own file format, but can import csv and xslsx files, so Im assuming the same more or else applies to the word processor (but with docx, of course). Alongside MorphOS 3.21 also comes a new release for Wayfarer, the web browser the Amiga-inspired operating system uses. Wayfarer 12.0 moves to WebKitGTK 2.52.5 (which was released in July of 2026, so its quite up to date), and now uses the Skia graphics library. R300-R500 Radeons will render websites with Skia-GL for some massive performance improvements, helped further along by a slew of additional performance optimisations. Adblocking has been improved as well, YouTube should work a lot better now, and much more. The full release notes for MorphOS 3.21 give you all the details.
- The port that does not exist
Ask any program to listen on port 0 and it will hand you a socket on port 471930or 580370or whatever the kernel felt like that day. Port 0 is not a port you can have. It is the number you pass when you want the operating system to pick one for you. But a TCP header is just bytes. The destination port field is 16 bits wide, and 0x0000 fits in 16 bits as well as anything else does. Nothing on the wire stops a packet from being addressed to port 0. Your tools will refuse it, your browser will block it, and your scanners default port list skips it, because everyone agrees it isnt a real port. Which makes it a pretty good place to hide things, whether anyone meant to or not. So we did some TCP cowboy shit 8 port scanned the entire fucking internet for open ports on port 0, which uncovered some interesting unexpected findings. ↫ acidvegas An awesome and entertaining read. Dont skip this one.
- Windows 11 27H2 might be a more substantial upgrade
A little tidbit of news regarding the nest major update to Windows, known as Windows 11 27H2. Apparently, its going to come with some more serious changes to the codebase, therefore necessitating a full operating system swap instead of a mere enablement package, much like Windows 11 24H2 was. For those who need a refresher, Microsoft has long been rumored to be running on a three-year release cadence and for a while, it was even thought that the company would launch Windows 12 in 2H 2024. That evidently didnt happen, as instead we got Windows 11 24H2, but it was a major upgrade, a full OS swap compared to Windows 11 23H2 and 22H2. Essentially, it looks like every three releases, Microsoft is performing a full swap with major changes in the underlying codebase, and it seems to line up with Windows 11 27H2 as well. At the moment its not known if system requirements will change or not. ↫ Sayan Sen at Neowin.net Microsoft is currently testing adding support for Intels Advanced Performance Extensions, which should yield improved 64bit performance and reduced power consumption. It makes sense to assume this support will be coming with Windows 11 27H2, which should hopefully lead to tangible performance improvements across the board. Also, theres going to be a new default wallpaper. Be still my beating heart.
- The Ubuntu 26.04 Rust sudo is not compatible with standard sudo
Ubuntu has been at the forefront of replacing the traditional versions of basic tools like sudo with replacements written in Rust, but aside from worries about replacing battle-tested code with brand new, relatively untested code, theres new things to worry about it. As it turns out, sudo-rs, the Rust replacement for sudo, is intentionally incompatible with the classic version in dangerous ways, as Chris Siebenmann discovered to his dismay. Basically, the classic sudo supports the use of wildcards defined using square brackets, so that if you allow a user to run, say, /usr/sbin/exim -bp, without a password, they can run exim -bpa, exim -bpc, exim -bpr, or exim -bpu without having to supply a password. This allows for very specific, fine-grained access control, which is quite a nice capability to have if youre managing many systems and users. Sadly, sudo-rs intentionally does not support this, opting to only allow you to use the generic * wildcard. Worse yet, it doesnt really make this clear, either. ↫ Chris Siebenmann I do not really have words for this. The Rust sudo has apparently opted to keep the single most dangerous wildcard while disallowing all of the wildcards that allow one to be narrow and specific about what youre allowing, and it buries this at the end of a section that devotes a bunch of words to describing functionality it doesnt have and doesnt support, with absolutely nothing else in that section to say this (either up front or in the descriptions of how all the wildcards would work if sudo-rs supported them, which it doesnt). If youre going to replace such vital, core tools like sudo that god knows how many people rely on every single day, you better be damn sure youre feature-complete and can act as a drop-in replacement. If someone switches from sudo to doas, nobody expects the experience to be identical. However, if youre consistently being told that sudo-rs is a drop-in replacement and you shouldnt expect any disruptions, you better be able to make true on that promise. Ubuntu isnt some also-ran small hobby distribution, and its developers should act like it. What a clown show.
- LXQt 2.5.0 released
The second desktop environment release Ive got for you today is LXQt 2.5.0. This new version excises its last LXDE dependency, and QTerminal and QTermWidget received considerable improvements, like new background image modes, a visual bell, support for OSC-8 hyperlinks, and more. Theres a ton of smaller changes and improvements as well, but do note that due to a bug, 2.5.0 broke LXQts Monitor Settings on X11. The project intends to fix this as quickly as possible and push a point release to address this issue.
- Cinnamon 6.8 desktop environment released with hibernation support
Its desktop environment Thursday, as Ive got two new releases for you today. First, Cinnamon, the desktop environment primarily associated with Linux Mint, has hit version 6.8. This version will officially ship with Linux Mint 27, scheduled for around Christmas of this year. Highlights of Cinnamon 6.8 include hibernation support via a Suspend action in the main menu, modern one-to-one trackpad gestures for both Wayland and Xorg sessions, support for the oo7 Secret Service provider, support for multiple instances in the Sound applet, and a more unified Network applet that merges the WireGuard and VPN sections. ↫ Marcus Nestor at 9To5Linux While Cinnamon is first and foremost a Linux Mint project, its available on countless other distributions as well, including dedicated variants for popular distributions like Fedora and Ubuntu. Its Wayland support is finally materialising too, which is long overdue.
- NetBSD 11.1 released
The first point release for NetBSD 11 has been released. As the version number suggests, theres no major changes here. This release includes security updates for mozilla-rootcerts, brotli, xorg-server, hdaudio(4), compat_linux(8), unbound(8), and ipfilter. Among the non-security related changes are improved USB device stability on Raspberry Pi, fixed hot-plugging bugs in various USB Wi-Fi drivers, support for battery monitoring on the Microsoft Surface Go 3, fixed thread-local storage on ARMv5, fixes for running the MIPS Malta and PA-RISC ports under QEMU, support for the Zhaoxin KX-7000 CPU, and support for sensors, i2c, real-time clocks, and fan control on Sun Ultra 25/45 and Sun Fire V215/V245 machines. ↫ Nia Alarie on the NetBSD blog The full release notes provide more details.
- Why don’t we run the taskbar and Task Manager at high priority, so they can remain responsive?!
Another interesting post from Raymond Chen, this time about the difficulty of dealing with a system thats become CPU-starved. The question is simple: why not just run Task Manager and important parts of the UI like the taskbar at a higher priority? The catch with running anything at high priority is that unless you have been very careful to avoid it, you will eventually run into a shared resource that you will have to wait for, and you are now stuck. Your priority checkout pass gets you to the front of the line, but if the person at the register has a large shopping cart full of groceries, you just have to wait until they are done before you get your chance. Even if the code that protects the shared resource is careful to avoid priority inversion by transferring the priority of the waiter to the thread that owns the resource, you are still stuck waiting, and that owning thread might be doing something that takes a long time, like, say, accessing a file over the network. ↫ Raymond Chen If a system has reached a state where even accessing or using something like a task manager becomes a problem, I personally just bonk my computer over the head with a forced shutdown using the power button. Honestly though, I cant remember the last time Ive had to do this, as my Linux machines all seem to handle problematic applications just fine. That being said, Im sure people managing tons of servers and/or workstations and developers debugging their own running code run into catastrophic problems like this far more often, making forced shutdowns not as practical. Have a terminal window open with top and easy access to the kill command, or make sure you can just ssh into it remotely if the UI has gone completely nuts.

- EU OS: A Bold Step Toward Digital Sovereignty for Europe
Image A new initiative, called "EU OS," has been launched to develop a Linux-based operating system tailored specifically for the public sector organizations of the European Union (EU). This community-driven project aims to address the EU's unique needs and challenges, focusing on fostering digital sovereignty, reducing dependency on external vendors, and building a secure, self-sufficient digital ecosystem. What Is EU OS? EU OS is not an entirely novel operating system. Instead, it builds upon a Linux foundation derived from Fedora, with the KDE Plasma desktop environment. It draws inspiration from previous efforts such as France's GendBuntu and Munich's LiMux, which aimed to provide Linux-based systems for public sector use. The goal remains the same: to create a standardized Linux distribution that can be adapted to different regional, national, and sector-specific needs within the EU.
Rather than reinventing the wheel, EU OS focuses on standardization, offering a solid Linux foundation that can be customized according to the unique requirements of various organizations. This approach makes EU OS a practical choice for the public sector, ensuring broad compatibility and ease of implementation across diverse environments. The Vision Behind EU OS The guiding principle of EU OS is the concept of "public money – public code," ensuring that taxpayer money is used transparently and effectively. By adopting an open-source model, EU OS eliminates licensing fees, which not only lowers costs but also reduces the dependency on a select group of software vendors. This provides the EU’s public sector organizations with greater flexibility and control over their IT infrastructure, free from the constraints of vendor lock-in.
Additionally, EU OS offers flexibility in terms of software migration and hardware upgrades. Organizations can adapt to new technologies and manage their IT evolution at a manageable cost, both in terms of finances and time.
However, there are some concerns about the choice of Fedora as the base for EU OS. While Fedora is a solid and reliable distribution, it is backed by the United States-based Red Hat. Some argue that using European-backed projects such as openSUSE or KDE's upcoming distribution might have aligned better with the EU's goal of strengthening digital sovereignty. Conclusion EU OS marks a significant step towards Europe's digital independence by providing a robust, standardized Linux distribution for the public sector. By reducing reliance on proprietary software and vendors, it paves the way for a more flexible, cost-effective, and secure digital ecosystem. While the choice of Fedora as the base for the project has raised some questions, the overall vision of EU OS offers a promising future for Europe's public sector in the digital age.
Source: It's FOSS European Union
- Linus Torvalds Acknowledges Missed Release of Linux 6.14 Due to Oversight
Linus Torvalds Acknowledges Missed Release of Linux 6.14 Due to Oversight
Linux kernel lead developer Linus Torvalds has admitted to forgetting to release version 6.14, attributing the oversight to his own lapse in memory. Torvalds is known for releasing new Linux kernel candidates and final versions on Sunday afternoons, typically accompanied by a post detailing the release. If he is unavailable due to travel or other commitments, he usually informs the community ahead of time, so users don’t worry if there’s a delay.
In his post on March 16, Torvalds gave no indication that the release might be delayed, instead stating, “I expect to release the final 6.14 next weekend unless something very surprising happens.” However, Sunday, March 23rd passed without any announcement.
On March 24th, Torvalds wrote in a follow-up message, “I’d love to have some good excuse for why I didn’t do the 6.14 release yesterday on my regular Sunday afternoon schedule,” adding, “But no. It’s just pure incompetence.” He further explained that while he had been clearing up unrelated tasks, he simply forgot to finalize the release. “D'oh,” he joked.
Despite this minor delay, Torvalds’ track record of successfully managing the Linux kernel’s development process over the years remains strong. A single day’s delay is not critical, especially since most Linux users don't urgently need the very latest version.
The new 6.14 release introduces several important features, including enhanced support for writing drivers in Rust—an ongoing topic of discussion among developers—support for Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8 Elite mobile chip, a fix for the GhostWrite vulnerability in certain RISC-V processors from Alibaba’s T-Head Semiconductor, and a completed NTSYNC driver update that improves the WINE emulator’s ability to run Windows applications, particularly games, on Linux.
Although the 6.14 release went smoothly aside from the delay, Torvalds expressed that version 6.15 may present more challenges due to the volume of pending pull requests. “Judging by my pending pile of pull requests, 6.15 will be much busier,” he noted.
You can download the latest kernel here. Linus Torvalds kernel
- AerynOS 2025.03 Alpha Released with GNOME 48, Mesa 25, and Linux Kernel 6.13.8
Image AerynOS 2025.03 has officially been released, introducing a variety of exciting features for Linux users. The release includes the highly anticipated GNOME 48 desktop environment, which comes with significant improvements like HDR support, dynamic triple buffering, and a Wayland color management protocol. Other updates include a battery charge limiting feature and a Wellbeing option aimed at improving user experience.
This release, while still in alpha, incorporates Linux kernel 6.13.8 and the updated Mesa 25.0.2 graphics stack, alongside tools like LLVM 19.1.7 and Vulkan SDK 1.4.309.0. Additionally, the Moss package manager now integrates os-info to generate more detailed OS metadata via a JSON file.
Future plans for AerynOS include automated package updates, easier rollback management, improved disk handling with Rust, and fractional scaling enabled by default. The installer has also been revamped to support full disk wipes and dynamic partitioning.
Although still considered an alpha release, AerynOS 2025.03 can be downloaded and tested right now from its official website.
Source: 9to5Linux AerynOS
- Xojo 2025r1: Big Updates for Developers with Linux ARM Support, Web Drag and Drop, and Direct App Store Publishing
Image Xojo has just rolled out its latest release, Xojo 2025 Release 1, and it’s packed with features that developers have been eagerly waiting for. This major update introduces support for running Xojo on Linux ARM, including Raspberry Pi, brings drag-and-drop functionality to the Web framework, and simplifies app deployment with the ability to directly submit apps to the macOS and iOS App Stores.
Here’s a quick overview of what’s new in Xojo 2025r1: 1. Linux ARM IDE Support Xojo 2025r1 now allows developers to run the Xojo IDE on Linux ARM devices, including popular platforms like Raspberry Pi. This opens up a whole new world of possibilities for developers who want to create apps for ARM-based devices without the usual complexity. Whether you’re building for a Raspberry Pi or other ARM devices, this update makes it easier than ever to get started. 2. Web Drag and Drop One of the standout features in this release is the addition of drag-and-drop support for web applications. Now, developers can easily drag and drop visual controls in their web projects, making it simpler to create interactive, user-friendly web applications. Plus, the WebListBox has been enhanced with support for editable cells, checkboxes, and row reordering via dragging. No JavaScript required! 3. Direct App Store Publishing Xojo has also streamlined the process of publishing apps. With this update, developers can now directly submit macOS and iOS apps to App Store Connect right from the Xojo IDE. This eliminates the need for multiple steps and makes it much easier to get apps into the App Store, saving valuable time during the development process. 4. New Desktop and Mobile Features This release isn’t just about web and Linux updates. Xojo 2025r1 brings some great improvements for desktop and mobile apps as well. On the desktop side, all projects now include a default window menu for macOS apps. On the mobile side, Xojo has introduced new features for Android and iOS, including support for ColorGroup and Dark Mode on Android, and a new MobileColorPicker for iOS to simplify color selection. 5. Performance and IDE Enhancements Xojo’s IDE has also been improved in several key areas. There’s now an option to hide toolbar captions, and the toolbar has been made smaller on Windows. The IDE on Windows and Linux now features modern Bootstrap icons, and the Documentation window toolbar is more compact. In the code editor, developers can now quickly navigate to variable declarations with a simple Cmd/Ctrl + Double-click. Plus, performance for complex container layouts in the Layout Editor has been enhanced. What Does This Mean for Developers? Xojo 2025r1 brings significant improvements across all the platforms that Xojo supports, from desktop and mobile to web and Linux. The added Linux ARM support opens up new opportunities for Raspberry Pi and ARM-based device development, while the drag-and-drop functionality for web projects will make it easier to create modern, interactive web apps. The ability to publish directly to the App Store is a game-changer for macOS and iOS developers, reducing the friction of app distribution. How to Get Started Xojo is free for learning and development, as well as for building apps for Linux and Raspberry Pi. If you’re ready to dive into cross-platform development, paid licenses start at $99 for a single-platform desktop license, and $399 for cross-platform desktop, mobile, or web development. For professional developers who need additional resources and support, Xojo Pro and Pro Plus licenses start at $799. You can also find special pricing for educators and students.
Download Xojo 2025r1 today at xojo.com. Final Thoughts With each new release, Xojo continues to make cross-platform development more accessible and efficient. The 2025r1 release is no exception, delivering key updates that simplify the development process and open up new possibilities for developers working on a variety of platforms. Whether you’re a Raspberry Pi enthusiast or a mobile app developer, Xojo 2025r1 has something for you. Xojo ARM
- New 'Mirrored' Network Mode Introduced in Windows Subsystem for Linux
Microsoft's Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL) continues to evolve with the release of WSL 2 version 0.0.2. This update introduces a set of opt-in preview features designed to enhance performance and compatibility.
Key additions include "Automatic memory reclaim" which dynamically optimizes WSL's memory footprint, and "Sparse VHD" to shrink the size of the virtual hard disk file. These improvements aim to streamline resource usage.
Additionally, a new "mirrored networking mode" brings expanded networking capabilities like IPv6 and multicast support. Microsoft claims this will improve VPN and LAN connectivity from both the Windows host and Linux guest.
Complementing this is a new "DNS Tunneling" feature that changes how DNS queries are resolved to avoid compatibility issues with certain network setups. According to Microsoft, this should reduce problems connecting to the internet or local network resources within WSL.
Advanced firewall configuration options are also now available through Hyper-V integration. The new "autoProxy" feature ensures WSL seamlessly utilizes the Windows system proxy configuration.
Microsoft states these features are currently rolling out to Windows Insiders running Windows 11 22H2 Build 22621.2359 or later. They remain opt-in previews to allow testing before final integration into WSL.
By expanding WSL 2 with compelling new capabilities in areas like resource efficiency, networking, and security, Microsoft aims to make Linux on Windows more performant and compatible. This evolutionary approach based on user feedback highlights Microsoft's commitment to WSL as a key part of the Windows ecosystem. Windows
- Linux Threat Report: Earth Lusca Deploys Novel SprySOCKS Backdoor in Attacks on Government Entities
The threat actor Earth Lusca, linked to Chinese state-sponsored hacking groups, has been observed utilizing a new Linux backdoor dubbed SprySOCKS to target government organizations globally.
As initially reported in January 2022 by Trend Micro, Earth Lusca has been active since at least 2021 conducting cyber espionage campaigns against public and private sector targets in Asia, Australia, Europe, and North America. Their tactics include spear-phishing and watering hole attacks to gain initial access. Some of Earth Lusca's activities overlap with another Chinese threat cluster known as RedHotel.
In new research, Trend Micro reveals Earth Lusca remains highly active, even expanding operations in the first half of 2023. Primary victims are government departments focused on foreign affairs, technology, and telecommunications. Attacks concentrate in Southeast Asia, Central Asia, and the Balkans regions.
After breaching internet-facing systems by exploiting flaws in Fortinet, GitLab, Microsoft Exchange, Telerik UI, and Zimbra software, Earth Lusca uses web shells and Cobalt Strike to move laterally. Their goal is exfiltrating documents and credentials, while also installing additional backdoors like ShadowPad and Winnti for long-term spying.
The Command and Control server delivering Cobalt Strike was also found hosting SprySOCKS - an advanced backdoor not previously publicly reported. With roots in the Windows malware Trochilus, SprySOCKS contains reconnaissance, remote shell, proxy, and file operation capabilities. It communicates over TCP mimicking patterns used by a Windows trojan called RedLeaves, itself built on Trochilus.
At least two SprySOCKS versions have been identified, indicating ongoing development. This novel Linux backdoor deployed by Earth Lusca highlights the increasing sophistication of Chinese state-sponsored threats. Robust patching, access controls, monitoring for unusual activities, and other proactive defenses remain essential to counter this advanced malware.
The Trend Micro researchers emphasize that organizations must minimize attack surfaces, regularly update systems, and ensure robust security hygiene to interrupt the tactics, techniques, and procedures of relentless threat groups like Earth Lusca. Security
- Linux Kernel Faces Reduction in Long-Term Support Due to Maintenance Challenges
The Linux kernel is undergoing major changes that will shape its future development and adoption, according to Jonathan Corbet, Linux kernel developer and executive editor of Linux Weekly News. Speaking at the Open Source Summit Europe, Corbet provided an update on the latest Linux kernel developments and a glimpse of what's to come.
A major change on the horizon is a reduction in long-term support (LTS) for kernel versions from six years to just two years. Corbet explained that maintaining old kernel branches indefinitely is unsustainable and most users have migrated to newer versions, so there's little point in continuing six years of support. While some may grumble about shortened support lifecycles, the reality is that constantly backporting fixes to ancient kernels strains maintainers.
This maintainer burnout poses a serious threat, as Corbet highlighted. Maintaining Linux is largely a volunteer effort, with only about 200 of the 2,000+ developers paid for their contributions. The endless demands on maintainers' time from fuzz testing, fixing minor bugs, and reviewing contributions takes a toll. Prominent maintainers have warned they need help to avoid collapse. Companies relying on Linux must realize giving back financially is in their interest to sustain this vital ecosystem.
The Linux kernel is also wading into waters new with the introduction of Rust code. While Rust solves many problems, it also introduces new complexities around language integration, evolving standards, and maintainer expertise. Corbet believes Rust will pass the point of no return when core features depend on it, which may occur soon with additions like Apple M1 GPU drivers. Despite skepticism in some corners, Rust's benefits likely outweigh any transition costs.
On the distro front, Red Hat's decision to restrict RHEL cloning sparked community backlash. While business considerations were at play, Corbet noted technical factors too. Using older kernels with backported fixes, as RHEL does, risks creating divergent, vendor-specific branches. The Android model of tracking mainline kernel dev more closely has shown security benefits. Ultimately, Linux works best when aligned with the broader community.
In closing, Corbet recalled the saying "Linux is free like a puppy is free." Using open source seems easy at first, but sustaining it long-term requires significant care and feeding. As Linux is incorporated into more critical systems, that maintenance becomes ever more crucial. The kernel changes ahead are aimed at keeping Linux healthy and vibrant for the next generation of users, businesses, and developers. kernel
- Linux Celebrates 32 Years with the Release of 6.6-rc2 Version
Today marks the 32nd anniversary of Linus Torvalds introducing the inaugural Linux 0.01 kernel version, and celebrating this milestone, Torvalds has launched the Linux 6.6-rc2. Among the noteworthy updates are the inclusion of a feature catering to the ASUS ROG Flow X16 tablet's mode handling and the renaming of the new GenPD subsystem to pmdomain.
The Linux 6.6 edition is progressing well, brimming with exciting new features that promise to enhance user experience. Early benchmarks are indicating promising results, especially on high-core-count servers, pointing to a potentially robust and efficient update in the Linux series.
Here is what Linus Torvalds had to say in today's announcement: Another week, another -rc.I think the most notable thing about 6.6-rc2 is simply that it'sexactly 32 years to the day since the 0.01 release. And that's a roundnumber if you are a computer person.Because other than the random date, I don't see anything that reallystands out here. We've got random fixes all over, and none of it looksparticularly strange. The genpd -> pmdomain rename shows up in thediffstat, but there's no actual code changes involved (make sure touse "git diff -M" to see them as zero-line renames).And other than that, things look very normal. Sure, the architecturefixes happen to be mostly parisc this week, which isn't exactly theusual pattern, but it's also not exactly a huge amount of changes.Most of the (small) changes here are in drivers, with some tracingfixes and just random things. The shortlog below is short enough toscroll through and get a taste of what's been going on. Linus Torvalds
- Introducing Bavarder: A User-Friendly Linux Desktop App for Quick ChatGPT Interaction
Want to interact with ChatGPT from your Linux desktop without using a web browser?
Bavarder, a new app, allows you to do just that.
Developed with Python and GTK4/libadwaita, Bavarder offers a simple concept: pose a question to ChatGPT, receive a response, and promptly copy the answer (or your inquiry) to the clipboard for pasting elsewhere.
With an incredibly user-friendly interface, you won't require AI expertise (or a novice blogger) to comprehend it. Type your question in the top box, click the blue send button, and wait for a generated response to appear at the bottom. You can edit or modify your message and repeat the process as needed.
During our evaluation, Bavarder employed BAI Chat, a GPT-3.5/ChatGPT API-based chatbot that's free and doesn't require signups or API keys. Future app versions will incorporate support for alternative backends, such as ChatGPT 4 and Hugging Chat, and allow users to input an API key to utilize ChatGPT3.
At present, there's no option to regenerate a response (though you can resend the same question for a potentially different answer). Due to the lack of a "conversation" view, tracking a dialogue or following up on answers can be challenging — but Bavarder excels for rapid-fire questions.
As with any AI, standard disclaimers apply. Responses might seem plausible but could contain inaccurate or false information. Additionally, it's relatively easy to lead these models into irrational loops, like convincing them that 2 + 2 equals 106 — so stay alert!
Overall, Bavarder is an attractive app with a well-defined purpose. If you enjoy ChatGPT and similar technologies, it's worth exploring. ChatGPT AI
- LibreOffice 7.5.3 Released: Third Maintenance Update Brings 119 Bug Fixes to Popular Open-Source Office Suite
Today, The Document Foundation unveiled the release and widespread availability of LibreOffice 7.5.3, which serves as the third maintenance update to the current LibreOffice 7.5 open-source and complimentary office suite series.
Approximately five weeks after the launch of LibreOffice 7.5.2, LibreOffice 7.5.3 arrives with a new set of bug fixes for those who have successfully updated their GNU/Linux system to the LibreOffice 7.5 series.
LibreOffice 7.5.3 addresses a total of 119 bugs identified by users or uncovered by LibreOffice developers. For a more comprehensive understanding of these bug fixes, consult the RC1 and RC2 changelogs.
You can download LibreOffice 7.5.3 directly from the LibreOffice website or from SourceForge as binary installers for DEB or RPM-based GNU/Linux distributions. A source tarball is also accessible for individuals who prefer to compile the software from sources or for system integrators.
All users operating the LibreOffice 7.5 office suite series should promptly update their installations to the new point release, which will soon appear in the stable software repositories of your GNU/Linux distributions.
In early February 2023, LibreOffice 7.5 debuted as a substantial upgrade to the widely-used open-source office suite, introducing numerous features and improvements. These enhancements encompass major upgrades to dark mode support, new application and MIME-type icons, a refined Single Toolbar UI, enhanced PDF Export, and more.
Seven maintenance updates will support LibreOffice 7.5 until November 30th, 2023. The next point release, LibreOffice 7.5.4, is scheduled for early June and will include additional bug fixes.
The Document Foundation once again emphasizes that the LibreOffice office suite's "Community" edition is maintained by volunteers and members of the Open Source community. For enterprise implementations, they suggest using the LibreOffice Enterprise family of applications from ecosystem partners. LibreOffice
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