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1825 Monetary Lane Suite #104 Carrollton, TX
Do a presentation at NTLUG.
What is the Linux Installation Project?
Real companies using Linux!
Not just for business anymore.
Providing ready to run platforms on Linux
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Show Descriptions... (Show All)
(Two Column)
- Debian 11 Apache2 Critical DoS Advisory DLA-4620-1 CVE-2026-49975
It was discovered that incorrect cookie header accounting in the HTTP/2 implementation of the Apache HTTP server may result in denial of service (excessive resources consumption). For Debian 11 bullseye, this problem has been fixed in version 2.4.67-1~deb11u2.
- Debian Tomcat9 Critical Auth Bypass DoS Advisory DLA-4619-1
Multiple security vulnerabilities have been discovered in Tomcat 9, a Java based web server, servlet and JSP engine which may result in a denial of service, authentication bypass or the disclosure of sensitive information. In order to address certain vulnerabilities and restore the compatibility with Tomcat 9, an upgrade of the Tomcat native library, libtcnative-1, was required
- [$] Moving beyond fork() + exec()
Since the earliest days of Unix, two of the core process-oriented systemcalls have been fork(), which creates a child process as a copy ofthe parent, and exec(), which runs a new program in the place ofthe current one. In Linux kernels, those system calls are better known asclone()and execve(),but the core functionality remains the same. While there is elegance tothis process-creation model, there are shortcomings as well. A recent proposal fromLi Chen to add "spawn templates" to the kernel will not be accepted in itscurrent form, but it may point the way toward a new process-creationprimitive in the future.
- Ruby's Bundler adds a cooldown feature
Version4.0.13 of Ruby's Bundlerpackage-manager has addeddependency cooldowns in order to help mitigate the effect ofsupply-chain attacks:
Most supply-chain attacks against RubyGems exploit a narrow window:an account is compromised, a malicious version ships, and anybundle install in the minutes that follow resolvesstraight to it. Bundler 4.0.13 introduces cooldown, a time-basedfilter that refuses to resolve to a version until it has been publicfor at least N days. Releases too new to have been scrutinized arepassed over in favor of ones that have aged past the window.
The feature was designed inthe open, drawing on howother ecosystems approach the same problem. It is opt-in, andcomplements rather than replaces existing defenses like mandatory 2FAand trusted publishing.
LWN covereddependency cooldowns in April, and the takeover of RubyGems andBundler in October 2025.
- Security updates for Friday
Security updates have been issued by AlmaLinux (kernel), Debian (dovecot, exim4, frr, and haveged), Fedora (cockpit, freeipa, jpegxl, libre, nextcloud, perl-Cpanel-JSON-XS, perl-Crypt-Argon2, perl-Dist-Build, perl-ExtUtils-Builder, perl-ExtUtils-Builder-Compiler, perl-HTTP-Tiny, perl-libwww-perl, python-starlette, rubygem-yard, rust-sequoia-cert-store, rust-sequoia-chameleon-gnupg, rust-sequoia-octopus-librnp, rust-sequoia-sop, rust-sequoia-sq, rust-sequoia-wot, samba, and transmission), Red Hat (image-builder), Slackware (dnsmasq and libinput), SUSE (evince, glibc, google-guest-agent, hplip, ignition, LibVNCServer, libzypp, libsolv, python-Pillow, salt, thunderbird, and vim), and Ubuntu (apache2, linux, linux-aws, linux-aws-5.15, linux-aws-fips, linux-fips, linux-gcp, linux-gcp-5.15, linux-gcp-fips, linux-gke, linux-gkeop, linux-hwe-5.15, linux-ibm, linux-ibm-5.15, linux-intel-iot-realtime, linux-intel-iotg, linux-kvm, linux-nvidia, linux-nvidia-tegra, linux-nvidia-tegra-5.15, linux-nvidia-tegra-igx, linux-oracle, linux-raspi, linux-realtime, linux, linux-aws, linux-aws-fips, linux-azure, linux-azure-5.4, linux-azure-fips, linux-bluefield, linux-fips, linux-gcp, linux-gcp-5.4, linux-gcp-fips, linux-iot, linux-kvm, linux-oracle, linux-oracle-5.4, linux-xilinx-zynqmp, linux, linux-azure, linux-azure-4.15, linux-azure-fips, linux-fips, linux-gcp-4.15, linux-gcp-fips, linux-kvm, linux-oracle, linux-aws-5.4, linux-hwe-5.4, linux-azure-fips, linux-fips, linux-raspi, linux-raspi-5.4, nano, postfix, robocode, tomcat6, tomcat7, and yard).
- Dave Airlie on Linux Kernel Maintenance (SE Radio)
The Software Engineering Radio podcast has put up aninterview with graphics maintainer Dave Airlie. Much of what is inthere will not be news to LWN readers, but it is an interesting overview ofthe life of a large-subsystem maintainer.
I was talking to a few of the Rust people, and I thought: these are very young people, these are a group of people in their 20s, maybe 30s, they are a younger cohort of developers than the people I am normally used to dealing with. I thought there was maybe a good way we could bring these groups together. I think that having young people coming into the kernel using Rust is valuable... So I thought that I should be supportive of bringing Rust into the kernel.
- [$] Splicing out vmsplice()
The splice()and vmsplice()system calls are meant to improve performance for certain data-movementtasks by minimizing (or avoiding altogether) system calls and the copyingof data. They also have a long history of security problems. The recentflood of LLM-discovered vulnerabilities has drawn attention, once again, tosplice() and vmsplice(); as a result, they may end upbeing removed altogether.
- One step forward, two steps back on CA age bill (EFF Deeplinks Blog)
The EFF has a blogpost looking at a new bill in California that would exemptopen-source operating systems from the Digital Age Assurance Actpassed last year, but has problems of its own:
While the open source exemption, if passed, would improve the law, theremaining amendments proposed by AB 1856 would require all webbrowsers and websites to request and collect users' ages. This is anexpansion of last year's AB 1043's age-bracketing system thatcompounds its constitutional harms to users' speech, privacy, andsecurity.
[...] EFF understands this amendment to exempt open-sourceoperating systems from the requirement to collect and transmit users'age-bracket data. That is a definite win for open-sourcedevelopers. The bill is narrower now than it was before, and lawmakersclearly responded to concerns raised by EFF and the broaderopen-source community.
Some important questions still remain—for example, it is unclearhow the law would apply when an open-source operating system isincorporated into a commercial product or service. And, given thestructure of where the exemption is placed under the "operating systemprovider" definition, lawmakers could stand to clarify that theexemption applies to open-source operating systems andapplications.
LWN coveredCalifornia's age-attestation law in March.
- Security updates for Thursday
Security updates have been issued by AlmaLinux (.NET 10.0, compat-openssl10, compat-openssl11, delve, expat, httpd:2.4, libexif, mod_http2, openssl, ruby4.0, samba, thunderbird, unbound, and vim), Debian (ceph and sudo), Fedora (libsoup3, pie, roundcubemail, and xorg-x11-server-Xwayland), Mageia (lxc), Oracle (expat, gnutls, kernel, php:8.2, thunderbird, and uek-kernel), Slackware (httpd, net, proftpd, tigervnc, and xorg), SUSE (apache-sshd, apptainer, atril, bind, busybox, cloudflared, evolution-data-server, golang-github-prometheus-prometheus, golang-github-v2fly-v2ray-core, grafana, helm, kernel, libgphoto2-6, libjxl-devel, libsoup, libsoup-2_4-1, libsoup-3_0-0, memcached, ovmf, python-cairosvg, python-flask, python-pip, python-pymupdf, python-pyOpenSSL, python-urllib3, python-urllib3_1, python3-pyOpenSSL, restic, rsync, salt, sdbootutil, tor, tree-sitter, vorbis-tools, and yq), and Ubuntu (exim4, frr, gst-plugins-base1.0, libtemplate-perl, libwww-perl, mysql-8.0, nginx, python-pip, python-urllib3, and twisted).
- [$] LWN.net Weekly Edition for June 4, 2026
Inside this week's LWN.net Weekly Edition:
Front: MeshCore; x32 ABI; Open-source security; Package-manager metadata; More LSFMM+BPF coverage; Loadable crypto module. Briefs: Lightwell; jqwik protestware; RedHat package compromise; DistroWatch; Fedora election; Rust 1.96.0; rsync; Vim Classic 8.3; Quotes; ... Announcements: Newsletters, conferences, security updates, patches, and more.
- [$] Open-source security is not a solo activity
Over time, many open-source maintainers face the same problem: theylack the time to do all of the work that their project needs, and noone else is stepping up to provide adequate help. Maintainers, though,are often reluctant to throw in the towel. The result is suboptimalall around; the maintainer is stressed out, project quality suffers,and users face security risks that they may not be fully aware of. Atthe 2026 OpenSource Summit North America, Robin Bender Ginn spoke about thisproblem, when it might be time for maintainers to pass the torch, andthe responsibilities of users.
- [$] BPF in the agentic era
Alexei Starovoitov gave "less of a presentation, more of a scream ofrealization" at the BPF track of the 2026Linux Storage, Filesystem,Memory-Management, and BPF Summit. He shared a set of ideas for how BPF couldchange to avoid being swept away by the sea-change in programming represented by modernlarge language models (LLMs) and the coding agents based on them.In a follow-up session, the discussion coveredmore problems with how coding agents use tools like bpftrace, and the current deluge ofpatches in need of review in the BPF subsystem.
- Black Market Tinkerers on Facebook Marketplace Offer to Hide 'Recording Lights' on Meta Smartglasses
People are disabling the "recording light" on Meta's Ray-Ban smartglasses — "by my count, thousands of people," says tech journalist Joanna Stern in a new video report:STERN: "They're hiring people on Facebook Marketplace to drill out the light for as much as $100. According to our reporting, folks are offering this service in at least 30 states — despite Meta's attempts to stop it... In most states, we found multiple listings. In the New York and New Jersey area alone there were 23 listings." Stern watched a man in New Jersey disable and then conceal the light with a drill and dental probe in a New Jersey garage (a skill he learned watching YouTube and TikTok videos). He said the same day he'd already been contacted by eight more interested customers, and Stern also found at least 10 other people willing to do the same thing, just in New Jersey. "But what we found is they're all over the country." Meta sold 7 million smartglasses in 2025, but a Meta spokesperson insisted to the videomaker that a "majority" of their smartglasses owners aren't blocking the recording light. And furthermore, they added "We aggressively target anyone advertising tampering tools, have removed thousands of violating ads and Marketplace listings for these services, and pursue legal action when appropriate." (The reporter acknowledges "many" of the Marketplace ads disappeared after they brought them to Meta's attention — and Meta also said they were working with other retailers and sellers to take down listings for smartglasses-tampering parts.) The reporter also heard from one journalist who said they'd used it so they could record the activities of federal immigration agents without being targeted. "Others told me they just don't want people asking questions when they're recording." (There's video of one young man saying "It's already difficult enough to film in public. I don't want to have a blinking light on my face.") Tampering with smartglasses isn't illegal — though it is against Meta's Terms of Service, and could void your warranty. But a lawyer in the report says recording others without consent may be illegal, depending on a wide range of "jurisdictional nuances" like whether you live in an all-party consent state or a one-party consent state. "This seems to be our new reality," the report concludes: "more cameras, more microphones everywhere, and less certainty about who and what is recording." (Tech blogger John Gruber offered this assessment. "Using a Meta platform to find people to hack a Meta device so you can surreptitiously record strangers. So perfectly Meta.") Stern's report points out that "People are trying to fight back. Apps have popped up that use Bluetooth to scan for nearby camera glasses." (In the video one app-maker wonders why Meta isn't offering the same service themselves. "There are technical solutions to these problems.") Ironically, when I watched the report on YouTube, it was preceded by... an ad for Meta's Ray-Ban AI smartglasses.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
- New Fortune 500 Rankings: Texas Overtakes California, But Amazon is #1, Beating Walmart
"Texas has dethroned California as the state with the most Fortune 500 companies," reports the Los Angeles Times:The Fortune 500 list ranks the largest U.S. companies by revenue. This year, 57 of the top companies are headquartered in Texas, compared with California's 56. It's a reversal from two years ago when the Golden State had the pole position... California's corporate haters say they try to avoid the state's high costs, income taxes and strict regulations, but the western state is still a top money maker. "California dominates on nearly every other measure: its Fortune 500 companies are the most profitable ($647 billion), most valuable ($20 trillion), and employ more people than any other state (2.8 million workers)," Fortune said in a news release. Indeed, despite the naysayers, Californian companies have been leading the world in developing artificial intelligence technology as well as the latest in space and defense tech. The state is home to nearly 400 "unicorns," or billion-dollar startups — more than any other state, according to CB Insights. It also gobbled up nearly two-thirds of U.S. venture capital last year, with San Francisco Bay Area startups such as OpenAI leading the way, according to the business information platform Crunchbase. Texas and California have been in a tug-of-war for the crown. In 2024, after a decade, California bagged the top spot with 57 companies on the list, while Texas and New York tied in second with 52 companies each... The fourth spot was tied between Illinois and Ohio, with 29 companies each. Amazon was the top company on the list, ending Walmart's 13-year reign at the top of the annual Fortune 500 companies list. Amazon's 2025 revenue was $716.9 billion, compared with Walmart's $713.2 billion. Seattle-headquartered Amazon joined Exxon Mobil, General Motors, and Walmart as the only four companies to have ever held the top position since Fortune began publishing the data in 1955.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
- The Gamer-Rights Group Fighting to Make the Industry Stop Killing Games (Servers)
"Can a company take away something you've already paid for?" asks the BBC. "In the world of online video games, some already do."Publishers can decide to switch off a game's servers, often leaving it effectively unplayable. Stop Killing Games, a growing consumer rights campaign started by American YouTuber Ross Scott in 2024, is challenging that practice. In January, the group submitted a petition featuring nearly 1.3 million signatures to the European Commission, triggering a public hearing in the European Parliament in April. What began as an online campaign is now awaiting a decision from one of the EU's most powerful institutions... Scott's campaign began following an announcement from the major studio Ubisoft, saying it would shut down the online-only racing game The Crew in 2024... Ubisoft has already defended its position in court. Responding to a proposed class-action lawsuit brought by two The Crew players in California, the studio argued that customers had purchased a licence to use the game, not unlimited ownership rights, and that players had been warned online services would not be available forever. The lawsuit was dismissed without prejudice in June 2025, after the plaintiffs voluntarily withdrew the case. The wider games industry has also pushed back against the campaign. Video Games Europe, which represents many of the industry's largest publishers, said shutting down online services "must be an option" when games are no longer commercially viable. It also warned that some of the campaign's proposals could make online-only games significantly more expensive to develop. "In no way are we asking companies to keep servers running or services going, they can end it any time they want," said Scott. Instead, he and his fellow campaigners argue that when a game is shut down it should be done "responsibly", with publishers considering "end-of-life plans" such as updating the game to work offline or releasing software that allows players to continue running it. Two key points from the article:"In March, French consumer group UFC-Que Choisir launched legal action against Ubisoft over the shutdown of The Crew, arguing that players were misled about the permanence of their purchase and that some of the company's contract terms were unfair.""The European Commission must respond to the European Citizens' Initiative — the petition brought by the group — by 27 July."Thanks to Alain Williams — Slashdot reader #2,972 — for sharing the article.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
- Winners Announced in 2026's 'International Obfuscated C Code Competition'
Yesterday 2026's International Obfuscated C Code Contest concluded, with 22 new winners announced in a special three-hour livestreamed ceremony! Started 42 years ago, it's been described as the internet's longest-running contest, with entrants concocting convoluted programs glorying in the C programming language's subtleties, all while having some fun. And "For IOCCC29, the volume and quality of submissions were at near-historic heights," explains its home page. There's a "Tetris-optimized" GameBoy emulator with source code that looks like a GameBoy, as well as a quasi-Rogue-like game voted "most likely to teleport." Awards were also given for the best imaginary emulator (a virtual machine in 366 bytes of C) and the best fractional emulator (a maze generator for the Commodore 64). But every one of the 22 winning programs seems wildly creative... Quine Pong. "Running the program produces the source code to generate the next frame, formatted to display the current frame. By repeatedly compiling and running each successive frame, you can play the game. To move, pass either "w" (up) or "e" (down) as an argument..." A winning Taiwanese programmer formatted their source code in the shape of a Tardis from Doctor Who — code that displays an intricate ASCII animation of Doctor Who's 1963 opening title sequence. One winning entry emulates an IBM 7040 mainframe, first converting a program (encoded in whitespace) into ASCII-character drawings of punchcards for a FORTRAN program — and then executing that program to calculate the light visible to an observer looking at black hole, ultimately creating an image. It's all recreating what astrophysicist Jean-Pierre Luminet had to do in 1978 to generate the first-ever simulated photograph of a black hole (on an IBM 7040 mainframe). "The entry can also run other FORTRAN programs — but "they must be provided as a deck of punch cards... Tools have been provided to convert to/from decks and to interpret...""We have added fun challenges to this year's winning entries competition..." the web site notes. "After you figure out what a given winning entry does, we encourage you to attempt the fun challenge!" Thanks to long-time Slashdot reader achowe for bringing the news (who has submitted winning entries in four different decades, starting in 1991 and continuing through 2025) — and who won again this year for a program simulating the Space Invaders-like game from Casio's 1980 MG-880 calculator. Follow the IOCCC on Mastodon.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
- James Bond Videogame '007 First Light' Sells 3M Copies, Earns $150M
The new James Bond-themed videogame 007 First Light had a budget of 1.3 billion Danish krone — a little more than USD $202 million, reports IGN, citing a report from Denmark's public service broadcaster. "Denmark's TV 2 said that makes 007 First Light the most expensive entertainment product in the country's history" — and the game "still has some way to go before breaking even." 007 First Light is estimated to have sold 2.2 million copies, generating $150 million in revenue... [Saturday IGM reported sales had jumped to 3 million copies.] The only official sales data we have comes from developer IO Interactive, which said that 007 First Light had become the fastest-selling game in the company's history, shifting 1.5 million copies in its first 24 hours... The impressive sales milestone was achieved without the aid of the Nintendo Switch 2 version, which is due out this summer. The James Bond adventure is also the highest rated IOI game ever, with an 87 on Metacritic... The developer has said it wants to make a trilogy of James Bond games. Game-tracking company Alinea Analytics tweeted their estimates that 55.1% of sales were on PS5, 33.1% on Steam, and 11.8% on Xbox (Xbox console, Windows, and cloud combined). And Polygon reports that new downloadable game content was announced Friday.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
- After Empty Promises, Will String Theory Find New Uses?
Science magazine reports:For decades, string theory promised a "theory of everything" that described all particles and forces as tiny vibrating strings. Physicists hoped it could also solve one of the field's deepest problems: reconciling quantum mechanics with gravity. But as string theory grew increasingly elaborate — and experimentally unreachable — many physicists lost hope. Now, some researchers are revisiting the theory from first principles. In a paper in press at Physical Review Letters, Clifford Cheung, a physicist at the California Institute of Technology, and colleagues lay out a small set of assumptions about the universe and show that they inevitably give rise to string theory.... Cheung's study, along with another one posted to arXiv in January, starts with two reasonably conservative assumptions: that the probabilities of all possible outcomes of an event add up to 100%, and that the laws of physics are consistent for observers moving at different speeds. Each group then posits additional assumptions that have not been borne out by observations. Cheung's analysis invokes "ultrasoftness," the idea that the probability of certain particle interactions drops off at a particular rate at high energies. The second study, led by University of Michigan physicist Henriette Elvang, instead assumes "supersymmetry," a maximal coupling between matter and forces. Both groups conclude the only theory that can satisfy their assumptions is one that looks like string theory... Cheung and Elvang stress that their aim is not to prove the inevitability of string theory. "I don't have a dog in the fight; I just work here," Cheung says. Rather, the goal is to explore the space of possible theories under rigid constraints — regardless of whether they reflect reality... The one thing the researchers all agree on is that the field would benefit from more alternative models to string theory. Cheung sees the agnostic, bottom-up exploration as a step in that direction. "You can either give up on the problem because it's too culturally toxic, or you can ask: If you want to find an alternative, what do you need?" he says. "Now, we know exactly what to do." Thanks to Slashdot reader sciencehabit for sharing the article.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
- Reddit Ads Impersonate BBC and The Guardian to Push Fake AI Investment Schemes
A "growing wave" of Reddit's "promoted posts" are sending U.S. and European audiences to money-stealing scams that impersonate major news organizations including the BBC, the Financial Times, and The Guardian, according to new findings from Bitdefender Labs. "Domains are short-lived and rapidly rotated to evade detection," they write, noting that the impersonating sites apparently even use language "to falsely imply that the investment platform had been reviewed, approved, or vetted" by the legitimate site they're impersonating:The campaign promotes fake AI-powered investment platforms such as Wencoin STX, Warrior Coin AI, and Nevo Coin, using fabricated celebrity endorsements, cloned news websites, fake interviews, and invented financial success stories to lure victims into depositing money. Researchers Andrea Olariu and Emanuel Puscasu have identified multiple promoted Reddit posts masquerading as legitimate financial or breaking news stories. Some ads claimed that: — NVIDIA and OpenAI were "creating the future" — Heathrow police discovered hundreds of thousands of pounds in cash — Governments and banks were allegedly trying to "hide" a revolutionary AI investment platform — European regulators were "silencing" articles about AI trading systems Some Reddit ads delivered in video format, including what appeared to be a deepfake BBC news segment featuring a news anchor presenting fabricated financial headlines... Examples observed by researchers included: — Fake BBC pages discussing "$20 billion conversations" tied to AI investments — Fraudulent Financial Times articles about Heathrow airport cash seizures — Fake Guardian stories claiming governments were trying to suppress coverage of Wencoin STX or Nevo Coin The pages featured fabricated interviews, fake profit screenshots, manipulated banking documents, false testimonials, and even fictional journalists or business editors designed to make the scam look legitimate. In many cases, the content sought to create a sense of exclusivity or conspiracy, suggesting that banks, regulators, or governments were trying to suppress public access to the investment platform... Our researchers found that after users clicked links embedded within the fake Guardian articles, they were redirected to a registration form allegedly used to create a "Nevo Coin" investment account. The form requested personal contact information, including the victim's name, email address, and phone number. To increase pressure and encourage immediate action, the page warned that registration availability was limited, claiming that once all spots were filled, new user registrations would be suspended. And in the final stage, they're asked to deposit money...
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
- Donald Trump, Bernie Sanders And Sam Altman Are All Talking About Public Ownership In AI
U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders announced a plan for the public to take a 50% ownership stake in AI companies, remembers the Associated Press. And then OpenAI's Sam Altman "told Sanders that he, too, wants the public to have equity in AI companies." Though the CEO said he couldn't support Sanders' threshold of 50%, he nonetheless wanted to work with him to advocate for the general idea, according to people with knowledge of the conversation. The nearly hourlong meeting in Sanders' Senate office this week, held at Altman's request, highlighted the inherent tension between AI powerhouses and policymakers as Americans are increasingly asked to accept the costs of the AI boom even as they remain unconvinced of its direct benefits. Yet it's also creating odd political bedfellows fueled by populism as politicians from Sanders to President Donald Trump embrace giving the public a stake in AI's growth. Speaking to reporters on Air Force One on Friday, Trump described a potential partnership "where the American people can benefit from the success of AI" and said executives from leading AI companies will visit the White House, "probably next week," to discuss the idea. The article points out that Altman also met with congressional leaders from both of America's political parties.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
- 'Steve Jobs In Exile' Remembers the Birth of the Web and 'Making Unix Taste Sweet'
Ars Technica shares some anecdotes from Steve Jobs in Exile, a new book released last month:[Author Geoffrey] Cain reminds us, in stunning detail, that Jobs' "exile" era at NeXT was not only critical to his evolution as a man and an entrepreneur, but that it mattered for the rest of us, too. The technological innovations that came out of NeXT — notably, the NeXTSTEP OS — continue to live on in what we now call both macOS and iOS. As Cain puts it, "NeXTSTEP was Steve's attempt to make Unix taste sweet...." [W]hile many tech nerds know that Tim Berners-Lee created the first World Wide Web server on a NeXT machine while working in Switzerland in 1990, few know that NeXT employees were wary of bringing the news to Jobs. Why? They feared his wrath "and that he would dismiss [the web] as 'shit.'" (In another timeline, NeXT might itself have capitalized on this world-changing innovation....) Perhaps one of the wildest anecdotes that Cain uncovered was how one voicemail changed computer history forever. In 1996, when Apple was solidly in its mediocre Performa era — and considering buying BeOS as the basis for its new operating system — a mid-level NeXT product manager asked aloud, "Why don't we just frickin' call Apple?" (NeXT was also struggling during this period.) And so someone did. As Cain writes: Garrett left the group of managers, walked back to his office, and took a risk. He picked up his designer phone and called the head of software at Apple. He left what he described as "one of my more inspired sales pitches" on the man's voicemail, explaining why Apple should be looking at NeXT instead of Be... In any other universe, Garrett's call might have gotten him fired. But in this timeline, it worked out. And thanks to him, Steve [Jobs] was about to enter Apple's airspace once again. Thanks to long-time Slashdot reader destinyland for sharing the article.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
- Scientists Edited Human Embryo Genes. But Questions Remain
"A DNA-editing feat involving editing the genes of early stage embryos was announced this week," reports the Wall Street Journal. They describe the feat as "a far cry from designer babies, but nevertheless a step in that direction."Dieter Egli, an associate professor of developmental cell biology at Columbia University and his co-authors, including Nathan Treff of Nucleus Genomics, a New York-based DNA-testing startup, say the technology could help fix disease-causing mutations in embryos. "We're not throwing the final 'OK, you will have gene-edited babies tomorrow' at the public," said Egli. "That is a process that can occur through discussion matched with scientific progress...." Previous gene-editing efforts have often used Crispr, which can cut out parts of the DNA sequence, but the technology can also cause damage if the wrong DNA is targeted or cut out. In 2018, Chinese scientist He Jianku said he used Crispr to tweak DNA in human embryos and was imprisoned for the work. The technology Egli's group used, called base editing, allows them to target individual DNA letters in sequences more precisely with fewer adverse effects... Egli's group focused on altering two genes, one that can raise the risk of heart disease and one that is tied to blood disorders like sickle cell disease, and the research showed they were sometimes able to do so successfully, in the same embryo, without damage. "I am generally supportive of the concept of embryo editing to prevent genetic disease," said Dr. Paula Amato, a fertility expert at Oregon Health & Science University who wasn't involved in the research... Base editing has been used in human embryos before, according to peer-reviewed studies. The technology was used to correct a disease-causing mutation and an Alzheimer's disease-risk gene variant, said Alexis Komor, associate professor of biochemistry and molecular biophysics at the University of California, San Diego, who wasn't involved in the work. "There really is not any unmet medical or clinical need for this, especially from an in vitro fertilization perspective," Komor said. "Usually what you'll hear is that they're doing it just so that you know we can prevent genetic diseases, but there are so many other better ways to do that." Using embryo editing to create babies is illegal in the U.S. and many other countries. Scientists have long worried that it is a slippery slope and that the technology could ultimately be used to promote eugenics. Her worry is that "they're basically building a blueprint" for more ethically problematic forms of embryo editing."In my opinion, I think this is a huge no-no," Komor said. "There's just no ethical way to use this...." Nucleus Genomics Chief Executive Kian Sadeghi said his company plans to fund Egli's further research, building on the new findings. His company sells a polygenic embryo-screening product, which screens prospective parents' embryos and produces risk scores for their likelihood of developing disease, as well as factors like height, IQ and eye color. The company has said the IQ predictions are limited in accuracy. The research was published online Monday on a preprint server.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
- Security: Why Linux Is Better Than Windows Or Mac OS
Linux is a free and open source operating system that was released in 1991 developed and released by Linus Torvalds. Since its release it has reached a user base that is greatly widespread worldwide. Linux users swear by the reliability and freedom that this operating system offers, especially when compared to its counterparts, windows and [0]
- Essential Software That Are Not Available On Linux OS
An operating system is essentially the most important component in a computer. It manages the different hardware and software components of a computer in the most effective way. There are different types of operating system and everything comes with their own set of programs and software. You cannot expect a Linux program to have all [0]
- Things You Never Knew About Your Operating System
The advent of computers has brought about a revolution in our daily life. From computers that were so huge to fit in a room, we have come a very long way to desktops and even palmtops. These machines have become our virtual lockers, and a life without these network machines have become unimaginable. Sending mails, [0]
- How To Fully Optimize Your Operating System
Computers and systems are tricky and complicated. If you lack a thorough knowledge or even basic knowledge of computers, you will often find yourself in a bind. You must understand that something as complicated as a computer requires constant care and constant cleaning up of junk files. Unless you put in the time to configure [0]
- The Top Problems With Major Operating Systems
There is no such system which does not give you any problems. Even if the system and the operating system of your system is easy to understand, there will be some times when certain problems will arise. Most of these problems are easy to handle and easy to get rid of. But you must be [0]
- 8 Benefits Of Linux OS
Linux is a small and a fast-growing operating system. However, we can’t term it as software yet. As discussed in the article about what can a Linux OS do Linux is a kernel. Now, kernels are used for software and programs. These kernels are used by the computer and can be used with various third-party software [0]
- Things Linux OS Can Do That Other OS Cant
What Is Linux OS? Linux, similar to U-bix is an operating system which can be used for various computers, hand held devices, embedded devices, etc. The reason why Linux operated system is preferred by many, is because it is easy to use and re-use. Linux based operating system is technically not an Operating System. Operating [0]
- Packagekit Interview
Packagekit aims to make the management of applications in the Linux and GNU systems. The main objective to remove the pains it takes to create a system. Along with this in an interview, Richard Hughes, the developer of Packagekit said that he aims to make the Linux systems just as powerful as the Windows or [0]
- What’s New in Ubuntu?
What Is Ubuntu? Ubuntu is open source software. It is useful for Linux based computers. The software is marketed by the Canonical Ltd., Ubuntu community. Ubuntu was first released in late October in 2004. The Ubuntu program uses Java, Python, C, C++ and C# programming languages. What Is New? The version 17.04 is now available here [0]
- Ext3 Reiserfs Xfs In Windows With Regards To Colinux
The problem with Windows is that there are various limitations to the computer and there is only so much you can do with it. You can access the Ext3 Reiserfs Xfs by using the coLinux tool. Download the tool from the official site or from the sourceforge site. Edit the connection to “TAP Win32 Adapter [0]
- Using Fedora Silverblue for compositor development
I’ve been using Fedora Silverblue on my desktop and laptop for the past, what, five years? Silverblue is Fedora’s main atomic variant, a spiritual counterpart to Fedora Workstation. I also make niri, a scrollable-tiling Wayland compositor. In other words, a core system component that you cannot properly test from inside a container or VM—you really want it directly on the host. So, why would I choose an… immutable distro? How does that even work? ↫ Ivan Molodetskikh Thats a great question, and as immutable or immutable-like Linux distributions become more popular and widespread and eventually the default download option for many distributions, Im sure articles like these are quite important. Im sure quite a few developers discarded the idea of using something like Silverblue because they assumed it wouldnt be fit for purpose, but if the developer of Niri makes it work, Im fairly sure anybody can.
- x86CSS: a working CSS-only x86 CPU/emulator/computer
x86CSS is a working CSS-only x86 CPU/emulator/computer. Yes, the Cascading Style Sheets CSS. No JavaScript required. What youre seeing above is a C program that was compiled using GCC into native 8086 machine code being executed fully within CSS. ↫ Lyra Rebane Hand-written CSS, no JavaScript, and effectively no HTML. Wizardry.
- This mini PC with the latest RISC-V SoC might actually be worth it
RISC-V has been in the promising! phase for a long time now, especially for general purpose computing, never really breaking through into the mainstream in any measurable way. While I think that breakthrough is still relatively far away, we now do have newer RISC-V SoCs on the market supporting the RVA23 baseline RISC-V profile. One of them is the SpacemiT Key Stone KЗ, which promises to deliver a massive performance increase over previous RISC-V offerings. Its exactly this chip thats finding its way into complete, turnkey mini PC solutions, like this one from a company called Firefly. The base model comes with 8GB of LDDPR5 RAM and 128GB of storage, at a price of about €300 or so (theres also a 32GB/128GB model at well over €600). This is the first time Im looking at a complete RISC-V solution where I feel like it might actually make for a good moment to jump in for us enthusiasts. No, the performance wont rival anything Intel or AMD has to offer, but it seems capable enough for a lot of day-to-day tasks, and Im curious to see just how far along the Linux world is when it comes to RISC-V support. Its not part of our current set of fundraiser incentives, but if youd like to see this RISC-V mini PC reviewed here on OSNews, you can always donate and add a note that you specifically want to see such a review (so I can gauge interest not just from our few commenters, but also from the more than 99% of our readers who only lurk). As always, you can donate through Ko-Fi, or, if youre European, via a SEPA direct bank transfer (Name: Thom Holwerda – IBAN: SE08 8000 0820 1684 4657 8414 – BIC: SWEDSESS).
- When su replaced login for becoming another UNIX login
Ive mentioned it before, but Chris Siebenmann is basically the Raymond Chen of the UNIX world, and today hes filling that role perfectly once again. I recently read Simon Tathams Nitpicking the shell history scene in Tron: Legacy, where one thing that surprised Tatham was the film using login -n root to become root instead of su. This surprised me because I found that perfectly ordinary, and this turns up both a bit of Unix history and a difference between modern Unixes. Plain su can let you become another user, including root, but what it explicitly doesnt do by default is create a new login shell for that user. If you do su root, the new root shell normally inherits most of your environment, your current directory, and so on. Sometimes this is what you want and sometimes you really want a new login environment, and originally in Unix how you got the latter was to run login from your existing shell session (and this meant that login was setuid root, like su). ↫ Chris Siebenmann Unsurprisingly, this distinction has persisted to this day in various UNIX-like operating systems, but in different ways. Some maintain the explicit distinction, while others have more or less standardised on using su for both use cases. Its an interesting bit of UNIX archeology.
- Roku launches open-source embedded Roku LT OS
Roku, the company that makes TV boxes and sells ad space based on your usage patterns, has released its remote control operating system as open source and by remote control I dont mean robot stuff or whatever, but actual remote controls, the thing you use to control your TV or whatever from the couch. Roku has announced the official availability of Roku LT OS a lightweight, highly deterministic open-source operating system that is already used in our industry-changing Roku remote controls. In addition to high-performance automotive platforms, Roku LT OS is designed to be accessible to the broader developer community. The operating system ships with native support for the ESP32 platform, a highly popular SoC among hobbyists and makers. Because ESP32 development boards are widely available online for just a few dollars, developers can get started with Roku LT OS with minimal hardware investment. ↫ Rokus developers blog As far as I can tell, this operating system is entirely new and not based on Linux or something else, but the available documentation is light on details so I cant make much more out of it. Regardless, its nice to have another open source embedded operating system.
- The placeholder name for the Windows 8 experience was “modern”
Raymond Chen shares some history regarding Windows 8s development: During the development of Windows`8, we needed a name for “that thing we’re creating.” Not being a particularly clever bunch when it comes to code names, we just called it “the modern experience,” to distinguish it from what we had in Windows`7, which was called “the classic experience.” And then, as Microspeak demands, we started abbreviating like mad. ↫ Raymond Chen Basically, they added mo! for modern! in front of everything, so the Metro shell became MoSh!, the Settings application MoSet!, and so on. And yes, the code name for the Photos application was exactly what it sounds like.
- Microsoft continues migration from NTLM to Kerberos
For the past few years, Microsoft has been phasing out NTLM in Windows in favor of Kerberos-based alternatives. Starting with the next versions of client and server editions of Windows, Microsoft will also be disabling the legacy authentication protocol by default. In the latest security baseline package for Windows Server 2025, the company is already allowing customers to audit incoming configurations. Now, it has announced a wave of changes to further reduce dependencies on NTLM. With an upcoming Insider release of Windows 11 client and server, certain scenarios which previously required NTLM will be able to fall back on Initial and Pass-Through Authentication using Kerberos (IAKerb) and Local Key Distribution Center (LocalKDC). ↫ Usama Jawad at Neowin Im sure this is very important to IT Pros!.
- Microsoft brings coreutils to Windows
At its Build conference, Microsoft announced coreutils for Windows. Coreutils for Windows is a Microsoft-maintained set of UNIX-style command-line utilities that run natively on Windows — the same commands and pipelines you use on Linux, macOS, and WSL. It ships as a single multi-call binary that exposes each utility under its standard name (cat.exe, grep.exe, find.exe, and so on), giving you the everyday tools developers already use on other platforms to script, automate, and process text. For the full list, see Commands. The goal is to remove friction when moving between Linux, macOS, WSL, containers, and Windows. The same commands, flags, and pipelines work the same way, so existing scripts and habits carry over without translation. Each command supports the standard --help flag for full syntax and options. ↫ Windows Developer Tools website Its a port of the Rust-based rewrite of the GNU coreutils, findutils, and grep. There are a few caveats though, since these ports have to deal with a number of Windows-isms. The first thing that comes to mind for most of us are path separators; these ports will handle both the correct and incorrect Windows/DOS one, but since some tools may output only the incorrect one this may affect piping. You should also take into account things like Windows ACLs vs. POSIX permission bits, the lack of /dev/null, and a few other oddities. Furthermore, there are a bunch of commands that rely on POSIX-only concepts, so those arent included, and a few other commands that arent useful on Windows are excluded as well. Since a number of commands conflict with built-in commands from cmd.exe and PowerShell, which commands run will depend on the shell, the PATH order, and PowerShells alias table. Everythings in preview, and installable through WinGet.
- Basic multicore support for DOS demo uncovered
On the Vogon forums, user MarkDastedt posted an interesting bit of source code he discovered on an old company DVD: a very basic, very rudimentary implementation of multicore support for DOS. Another user, dartfrog, took a closer look and had this to say: Interesting stuff nonetheless. A worker core is running with no interrupt handlers, no page tables, no memory protection, and no OS. Thats about as close to bare metal as you can get, meanwhile the other core is still running DOS. Fascinating. ↫ MarkDastedt at the Vogon forums Its effectively a simple demo, but according to other users in the thread, it fits in neatly with sporadic other attempts to bring some form of SMP or multicore-awareness to DOS. For instance, Michael Chourdakis worked on something similar to this demo for a series of articles now only available on the Wayback Machine. It makes for a cool demo, but moving from this to something robust and usable in DOS is not an easy task. Still, the possibilities are definitely there, even if you dont implement full, modern SMP or multicore support. You could have specific DOS applications offloading dedicated tasks to different cores, but as others in the same thread note, individual cores are already stupidly powerful for anything DOS can do, making the use case for additional cores rather moot.
- Serena OS: a modern operating system for classic Amigas
A hobby operating system, not written in Rust, not targeting Qemu, not targeting a Raspberry Pi. Yes, it still happens. Serena OS is what you get when modern operating system design and implementation meets vintage hardware like the Amiga computers. It is based on dispatch queues rather than threads, supports multiple users, is inspired by POSIX, yet retains its own character, is strongly object-oriented in terms of design and implementation and prepared for a cross platform future. ↫ Serena OS GitHub page Serena OS supports most (all?) of the classic Amigas, but the 500, 600, and 2000 need at least 1MB of RAM and a 68020 accelerator. It has code privilege separation between kernel and userspace, basic memory management, its own custom file system, drivers for input devices and graphics, an interactive console with VT52 and VT100 support, and much more. It also comes with a C99-compatible libc, and has its own shell. Note that AI! chatbot Claude is listed as a contributor to the project.
- How Digital Software Is Powering Innovation in Modern Product Design
by Will Jones
By enabling digitized production design, this digital software is freeing up businesses and individuals across numerous industries to work smarter, not harder.
To design a new product or tool is often a lengthy, labor-intensive process. Even the most successful and streamlined physical design process is intensive and iterative by nature; it is the process of taking something that begins as little more than an idea and turning it into reality. Inherently, that is going to take a great deal of translation, as well as trial and error. When working with real-world, physical elements, this also makes for a costly endeavor, as each new trial effort may prove essential to the long-term success of the design, but still has adverse financial effects. Dassault Systèmes offers CAD software to help businesses stay on top of advancements in their industries.
Before digital design software became widely adopted, engineers and designers often relied heavily on hand-drawn technical sketches and manual drafting methods during product development. Revising a design could require redrawing entire sections of a project, making the process both time-consuming and resource-intensive. Modern digital design systems have significantly changed these workflows by allowing teams to make rapid adjustments, automate calculations, and store detailed design information within a single platform. This shift has contributed to the broader adoption of digital tools across industries seeking more streamlined development processes.
Fortunately, though, in this new world of ever-advancing technological tools, the design process doesn’t have to be fraught with issues and obstacles anymore, thanks to systems such as CAD software. This new software is now enabling businesses to design smarter, faster, and more accurately by digitizing product development processes and improving collaboration across engineering and manufacturing teams.
Digital Design as the Foundation of Innovation
Digital software allows engineers to create precise digital models that can then serve as the foundation for product development. Compare this to the physical alternative, which has long been a well-thought-out sketch of the product in question. Even the most comprehensive of sketches is only going to be dealing with two dimensions, and is likely to leave room for confusion or error based on the interpretation of the subjective rendering.
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- GNOME Files Supercharges Search with Faster Results, Smarter Filters, and Better File Discovery
by George Whittaker
The GNOME project continues refining one of its most frequently used applications: GNOME Files (formerly known as Nautilus). Recent development efforts have focused heavily on improving the file manager’s search capabilities, making it easier to locate documents, media files, and folders across increasingly large storage volumes.
For many Linux users, file search has become one of the most important daily workflows. As personal data collections grow and SSDs make local storage faster than ever, GNOME developers are investing in tools that help users find information more quickly and efficiently. GNOME Files already relies on indexing technologies such as Tracker (now GNOME LocalSearch) to deliver fast results, and recent improvements are building on that foundation.
A Redesigned Search Experience
One of the most noticeable improvements is a redesigned search interface that makes searching feel more integrated into the overall file management experience.
Recent GNOME development previews introduced:
A cleaner search popover Inline result previews Improved keyboard navigation Faster access to search filters Better visibility of search options within the file manager interface
These refinements reduce the number of clicks required to narrow down results and help users locate files without leaving their current workflow.
Smarter Filtering Options
Search filters have become increasingly important as users store larger collections of documents, images, videos, and audio files.
GNOME Files has been expanding its filtering capabilities, allowing users to narrow searches more effectively based on:
File type Media category Search location Recent activity Indexed metadata
Earlier updates expanded support for additional audio and video file formats, making it easier to locate multimedia content directly from the search interface. This is particularly useful for users managing large media libraries.
Improved Search Performance
Fast search results are just as important as accurate ones.
GNOME Files continues leveraging the GNOME indexing framework to provide near-instant search results while minimizing system overhead. The file manager works closely with the LocalSearch indexing service to locate files quickly without repeatedly scanning entire drives.
This approach provides several benefits:
Faster file discovery Reduced CPU usage during searches Better scalability on large storage volumes More responsive user experience
For desktop users who frequently work with thousands of files, these performance gains can significantly improve productivity.
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- NixOS 26.05 ‘Yarara’ Released with Systemd Initrd by Default and Major Infrastructure Updates
by George Whittaker
The NixOS project has officially released NixOS 26.05, codenamed “Yarara,” continuing the distribution’s unique approach to Linux system management through declarative configuration, atomic upgrades, and reproducible deployments. The release introduces several important platform-level changes, modernized infrastructure components, and continued refinement of the Nix ecosystem.
As one of the most distinctive Linux distributions available today, NixOS continues attracting developers, DevOps engineers, and advanced Linux users who value predictable system behavior and highly reproducible environments.
What Makes NixOS Different?
Unlike traditional Linux distributions that install packages directly into shared system locations, NixOS is built around the Nix package manager, which stores software in isolated, versioned paths and generates complete system configurations declaratively.
This architecture provides several advantages:
Atomic system upgrades Reliable rollback capabilities Reproducible environments Easier infrastructure automation Reduced dependency conflicts
These features have helped NixOS gain popularity among developers managing complex systems and cloud infrastructure.
Systemd-Based Initrd Becomes the Default
One of the most significant changes in NixOS 26.05 is the move to a systemd-based Stage 1 initrd by default. The older scripted implementation is now deprecated and scheduled for removal in NixOS 26.11.
The initrd (initial RAM disk) is responsible for preparing the system during early boot before the main operating system loads.
According to the release notes:
Systemd now handles Stage 1 initialization by default The previous scripted implementation remains temporarily available Users can still revert using boot.initrd.systemd.enable = false Long-term migration toward the systemd-based approach is encouraged
This change is expected to improve consistency and simplify maintenance across modern NixOS deployments.
Continuing the Twice-Yearly Release Cycle
NixOS continues its established release cadence of publishing stable versions twice per year—typically around May and November. The 26.05 “Yarara” release follows the previous 25.11 “Xantusia” release and continues the project's steady development rhythm.
The 26.05 development cycle involved extensive staging, package testing, and release management work coordinated through the NixOS community.
Large-Scale Package and Infrastructure Updates
Like previous NixOS releases, 26.05 includes a massive collection of package updates across the software ecosystem.
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- GNOME 51 Development Officially Begins as ‘A Coruña’ Cycle Gets Underway
by George Whittaker
The GNOME Project has officially opened the development cycle for GNOME 51, the next major release of one of Linux’s most widely used desktop environments. Following the recent launch of GNOME 50 “Tokyo,” developers are already shifting focus toward the next chapter of the desktop’s evolution, which will carry the codename “A Coruña.”
While it’s still very early in the process, the release schedule is now taking shape, giving Linux users and developers an early look at what to expect over the coming months.
GNOME 51 “A Coruña” Is Now in Development
The new release is named A Coruña, after the Spanish city that will host GUADEC 2026, the annual GNOME Users and Developers European Conference. The event serves as one of the most important gatherings for GNOME contributors, where future desktop plans, technologies, and development priorities are discussed.
As soon as GNOME 50 was finalized, development work for GNOME 51 officially began, continuing GNOME’s well-established six-month release cadence.
Release Schedule Already Published
The GNOME team has outlined the preliminary roadmap for the GNOME 51 cycle.
Current milestone dates include:
GNOME 51 Alpha: June 27, 2026 GNOME 51 Beta: August 1, 2026 GNOME 51 Release Candidate (RC): August 29, 2026 GNOME 51 Final Release: September 16, 2026
These milestones provide time for:
Feature integration Public testing Bug fixing Performance optimization Final stabilization before release
As always, dates may shift slightly depending on development progress.
Still Too Early for Major Feature Announcements
Because the development cycle has only just started, GNOME developers have not yet revealed a finalized feature list. Most major design discussions and merge requests are still in their early stages.
However, several areas are already attracting attention.
Wayland Improvements Are Likely a Major Focus
One of the biggest transitions in recent GNOME history happened with GNOME 50, which completed the project’s move away from X11 by removing remaining X.Org support from the desktop environment.
Because GNOME is now fully committed to Wayland, many observers expect GNOME 51 to focus heavily on:
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- Alpine Linux Experiments with Systemd Compatibility While Keeping Its Lightweight Identity
by George Whittaker
Alpine Linux, one of the most recognizable non-systemd Linux distributions, is reportedly experimenting with an optional systemd compatibility layer, a move that has sparked intense discussion across the Linux community.
For years, Alpine has stood apart from mainstream Linux distributions by avoiding both glibc and systemd, instead relying on:
musl libc BusyBox OpenRC as its init system
Now, growing software compatibility pressures, especially around desktop applications, containers, and enterprise tooling, appear to be pushing Alpine developers to explore new approaches.
Why Alpine Linux Avoided Systemd for So Long
Alpine Linux built its reputation around simplicity, security, and minimalism. Unlike many mainstream distributions, Alpine intentionally avoided systemd in favor of the lighter and more modular OpenRC init system.
This design philosophy made Alpine extremely popular for:
Containers and Docker images Embedded systems Lightweight virtual machines Security-focused deployments
Its tiny footprint and reduced dependency chain became major advantages in cloud and container environments.
The Compatibility Problem Is Growing
Despite Alpine’s popularity, avoiding systemd has increasingly created compatibility challenges.
Many modern Linux applications now assume the presence of:
libsystemd systemd APIs glibc-specific behaviors
This has become particularly problematic for:
Desktop software Proprietary enterprise applications Monitoring agents Certain gaming and multimedia tools AI and container orchestration software
Historically, Alpine users often relied on:
Compatibility layers like gcompat Flatpak containers Docker workarounds Manually patched packages
The growing complexity of those workarounds appears to be one reason compatibility discussions are intensifying.
What the Experimental Compatibility Layer Actually Means
Importantly, Alpine Linux is not replacing OpenRC with systemd.
Instead, the project appears to be exploring:
Optional compatibility packages libsystemd support Improved API compatibility for software expecting systemd components
Experimental efforts already exist in the broader ecosystem. For example, unofficial projects have packaged portions of systemd, particularly libsystemd, for Alpine systems specifically to satisfy software dependencies without running full systemd services.
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- Debian Experiments with AI-Assisted Bug Triage as Open-Source Projects Face Growing Report Overload
by George Whittaker
The Debian project has begun exploring AI-assisted bug triage workflows, joining a broader movement across the open-source world to manage the rapidly increasing volume of software bug reports and vulnerability submissions.
While Debian developers are approaching the idea cautiously, the effort reflects a growing reality for large open-source projects: modern software ecosystems are producing more bugs, duplicate reports, and security findings than human maintainers can efficiently process alone.
The discussion arrives during a period of intense debate within Linux and open-source communities about how artificial intelligence should be integrated into software development and maintenance.
Why Debian Is Looking at AI-Assisted Triage
Debian is one of the largest and most complex Linux distributions in existence, maintaining tens of thousands of software packages across multiple architectures and release branches. Managing bug reports at that scale has always been challenging.
Now, AI-assisted vulnerability scanning and automated testing tools are dramatically increasing report volumes across open-source projects. Maintainers are increasingly facing:
Duplicate vulnerability reports Low-quality automated submissions Massive triage backlogs Security mailing list overload Increasing maintainer burnout
AI-assisted bug triage systems are being explored as a way to help organize, prioritize, and categorize incoming reports before human maintainers review them.
What AI-Assisted Bug Triage Actually Means
Importantly, Debian is not handing software maintenance over to AI systems.
Instead, AI-assisted triage generally focuses on repetitive administrative tasks such as:
Detecting duplicate bug reports Categorizing issues by severity Routing bugs to appropriate maintainers Summarizing lengthy reports Identifying missing reproduction details Prioritizing security-related submissions
The goal is to reduce the amount of manual sorting work maintainers must perform before actual debugging begins.
The Open-Source Community Is Divided
Debian’s experiments come during an ongoing debate about AI’s role in open-source development.
Some maintainers view AI-assisted tooling as necessary because software complexity has outpaced human review capacity. Others worry about:
Low-quality AI-generated reports Maintainer overload False positives Loss of contributor accountability “Drive-by” AI contributions with little human understanding
The Debian community itself has spent months discussing how AI-assisted contributions should be handled, but no final project-wide policy has yet been adopted.
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- BudsLink Brings Advanced Earbud Controls to Linux Desktops
by George Whittaker
Linux users have long faced a frustrating limitation with wireless earbuds: basic Bluetooth audio usually works, but advanced features often remain locked behind proprietary mobile apps. A new open-source project called BudsLink is trying to change that.
Designed specifically for Linux desktops, BudsLink adds support for battery monitoring, Active Noise Cancellation (ANC) controls, ambient sound modes, gesture customization, and other premium earbud features that are typically unavailable outside Android or iOS ecosystems.
For Linux users who rely on devices like AirPods, Sony earbuds, Samsung Galaxy Buds, or Nothing earbuds, this is a significant quality-of-life improvement.
What Is BudsLink?
BudsLink is an independent open-source application that communicates directly with supported Bluetooth earbuds using Linux Bluetooth protocols such as L2CAP and RFCOMM sockets. Instead of treating earbuds as simple audio devices, the application exposes many of the advanced controls usually hidden behind vendor apps.
The project currently supports multiple device families, including:
Apple AirPods and Beats Sony audio wearables Samsung Galaxy Buds Nothing and CMF earbuds
The application is available through Flatpak and can run across multiple Linux distributions.
Features Linux Users Normally Don’t Get
Traditionally, Linux Bluetooth support has focused mainly on audio playback and microphone functionality. BudsLink goes much further by exposing premium earbud features directly within Linux.
Current capabilities include:
Monitoring earbud battery levels Viewing charging case battery status Switching between ANC and ambient sound modes Conversation awareness support on compatible devices Automatic volume reduction during conversations In-ear detection for automatic pause/resume Gesture and stem control configuration Customizable icons and appearance settings
For many Linux users, these are features they’ve never had access to outside mobile apps.
Closing a Long-Standing Linux Gap
Bluetooth earbuds have become increasingly dependent on proprietary ecosystems. Features like adaptive audio, transparency modes, or touch controls often require vendor-specific mobile applications that are unavailable on Linux.
That has created a frustrating situation where:
The earbuds technically work on Linux But users lose many of the features they paid for
BudsLink aims to bridge that gap by reverse-engineering communication protocols and exposing those controls natively on Linux desktops.
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- Ubuntu 26.10 Development Officially Begins as ‘Stonking Stingray’ Takes Shape
by George Whittaker
Canonical has officially kicked off development planning for Ubuntu 26.10, the next interim release of the popular Linux distribution. Codenamed “Stonking Stingray,” the release is scheduled to arrive on October 15, 2026, continuing Ubuntu’s predictable six-month development cycle.
Although Ubuntu 26.10 is still in the early planning stages, the release roadmap already offers hints about what users can expect from the next generation of Ubuntu.
A New Interim Release After Ubuntu 26.04 LTS
Ubuntu 26.10 follows the recently released Ubuntu 26.04 LTS “Resolute Raccoon”, which introduced major platform changes including Linux 7.0, GNOME 50, Wayland-only sessions, and expanded TPM-backed security features.
Unlike the LTS release, Ubuntu 26.10 will be a short-term support release, receiving updates for nine months instead of the five years offered by LTS editions.
These interim releases are typically used to introduce newer technologies and prepare the groundwork for future long-term Ubuntu versions.
The “Stonking Stingray” Codename
Canonical confirmed that Ubuntu 26.10 will carry the codename “Stonking Stingray.”
As with previous Ubuntu releases, the codename follows the project’s long-running naming convention using:
An adjective An animal beginning with the same letter
The playful naming tradition remains one of Ubuntu’s most recognizable characteristics.
Development Schedule Already Published
Canonical has already published the preliminary roadmap for Ubuntu 26.10 development. Major milestones currently include:
Feature Freeze: August 20, 2026 Beta Release: September 24, 2026 Kernel Freeze: October 1, 2026 Final Release: October 15, 2026
The toolchain upload process reportedly began in late April, officially opening the development cycle.
Expected Technologies in Ubuntu 26.10
While Canonical has not yet finalized the complete feature set, several components are widely expected based on current development schedules.
GNOME 51
Ubuntu 26.10 is likely to ship with GNOME 51, which is expected to be released roughly one month before Ubuntu 26.10 itself.
This would continue Ubuntu’s strategy of tracking recent GNOME desktop releases in interim versions.
Linux Kernel 7.2 or 7.3
Reports suggest Ubuntu 26.10 may include either:
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- Linux 7.1-rc2 Released with Driver Fixes, Steam Deck OLED Audio Repair, and Growing AI Patch Trends
by George Whittaker
Linus Torvalds has officially released Linux kernel 7.1-rc2, the second release candidate in the Linux 7.1 development cycle. While Torvalds described the update as a “fairly normal” RC release, the kernel includes a broad collection of driver fixes, subsystem cleanups, and stability improvements that continue shaping the next major Linux kernel release.
Although still an early testing version intended mainly for developers and enthusiasts, Linux 7.1-rc2 already delivers several notable fixes—especially for graphics hardware, networking, and gaming devices like the Steam Deck OLED.
A Strange-Looking Release—But for a Good Reason
One of the first things Torvalds mentioned in the release announcement was the unusually large patch statistics. At first glance, the release appears much larger than expected, but there’s an explanation behind the inflated numbers.
Much of the activity comes from a large cleanup effort in the KVM selftests subsystem, where developers renamed variables and types to better match Linux kernel coding conventions. Because thousands of lines were renamed rather than fundamentally rewritten, the patch count looks dramatic even though the underlying functional changes are relatively modest.
Torvalds specifically advised testers not to overreact to the “big and strange” diff statistics.
Graphics and Driver Fixes Take Center Stage
As is common during early release candidates, a large portion of the work in Linux 7.1-rc2 focuses on hardware drivers. GPU and networking drivers account for a significant share of the meaningful fixes in this release.
Notable improvements include:
Additional fixes for AMD GPU support Intel Xe graphics driver adjustments and tuning Networking stability improvements Filesystem fixes, including NTFS driver updates Memory leak patches and race-condition corrections
These kinds of updates are critical during the RC phase because they help stabilize hardware compatibility before the final release reaches mainstream distributions.
Steam Deck OLED Audio Finally Gets Fixed
One of the more interesting fixes in Linux 7.1-rc2 addresses a long-standing issue affecting the Steam Deck OLED. According to reports, audio support for Valve’s handheld had been broken in the mainline Linux kernel for nearly two years, forcing Valve and some handheld-focused distributions to carry their own downstream patches and workarounds.
With Linux 7.1-rc2, an upstream fix for the audio issue has finally landed, potentially simplifying support for Linux gaming handhelds moving forward.
For Linux gamers and portable gaming enthusiasts, this is one of the more practical improvements included in the release candidate.
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- LibreOffice 26.4 Beta Experiments with AI Writing Features and Smarter Editing Tools
by George Whittaker
The upcoming LibreOffice 26.4 Beta is introducing early AI-powered writing capabilities, signaling a new direction for the open-source office suite. While LibreOffice has traditionally focused on privacy, local processing, and open standards, the beta release shows that The Document Foundation is now exploring how artificial intelligence can assist users without fully embracing cloud-dependent ecosystems.
The result is a cautious but notable step toward AI-enhanced productivity on Linux and other desktop platforms.
AI Writing Assistance Comes to LibreOffice
One of the biggest additions connected to LibreOffice 26.4 Beta is expanded support for AI-assisted writing tools through integrations such as WritingTool, an open-source LibreOffice extension designed to enhance editing workflows.
These AI features focus on practical writing assistance rather than aggressive automation. Current capabilities include:
Grammar and style suggestions Paragraph rewriting and refinement Text expansion and summarization Translation assistance AI-assisted content generation
Unlike many proprietary AI platforms, these tools can operate using local AI models, allowing users to avoid sending documents to external cloud services.
A Privacy-Focused Approach to AI
LibreOffice’s AI direction differs from the strategies used by many commercial office suites. Instead of tightly integrating mandatory cloud AI services, the project appears focused on:
Optional AI functionality User-controlled integrations Support for local inference servers Compatibility with self-hosted AI solutions
The WritingTool project specifically highlights support for local AI backends and OpenAI-compatible APIs, including self-hosted tools like LocalAI.
This approach aligns closely with the values of many Linux and open-source users who prioritize privacy and transparency.
What AI Tools Can Actually Do
The AI writing features currently being tested are aimed at improving productivity rather than replacing human writing entirely.
Examples include:
Grammar and Style Improvements
AI can analyze text for readability, awkward phrasing, and stylistic consistency.
Paragraph Rewriting
Users can ask the assistant to:
Simplify text Make writing more formal or casual Expand short sections Rephrase unclear sentencesContent Assistance
The tools can also help generate outlines, draft paragraphs, or suggest alternative wording for documents.
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