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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)
- [$] Bootc for workstation use
The bootc project allows users tocreate a bootable Linux system image using the container tooling that manydevelopers are already familiar with. It is an evolution of OSTree(now called libostree), which is used to create FedoraSilverblue and other image-based distributions. While creatingcustom images is still a job for experts, the container technologysimplifies delivering heavily customized images to non-technicalusers.
- Security updates for Friday
Security updates have been issued by AlmaLinux (bind, bind9.16, libsoup, mariadb:10.5, and sssd), Debian (chromium, keystone, and swift), Fedora (apptainer, buildah, chromium, fcitx5, fcitx5-anthy, fcitx5-chewing, fcitx5-chinese-addons, fcitx5-configtool, fcitx5-hangul, fcitx5-kkc, fcitx5-libthai, fcitx5-m17n, fcitx5-qt, fcitx5-rime, fcitx5-sayura, fcitx5-skk, fcitx5-table-extra, fcitx5-unikey, fcitx5-zhuyin, GeographicLib, libime, mbedtls, mingw-poppler, mupen64plus, python-starlette, webkitgtk, and xen), Mageia (dcmtk, java-1.8.0-openjdk, java-11-openjdk, java-17-openjdk, java-latest-openjdk, libvpx, and sqlite3), Oracle (bind, bind9.16, kernel, libsoup, libsoup3, osbuild-composer, qt6-qtsvg, sssd, and valkey), Red Hat (kernel and kernel-rt), SUSE (bind, gpg2, ImageMagick, python-Django, and runc), and Ubuntu (linux-azure, linux-azure-4.15, linux-fips, linux-aws-fips, inux-gcp-fips, linux-gcp, linux-gcp-6.8, linux-gke, linux-intel-iot-realtime, linux-realtime, linux-raspi-5.4, and linux-realtime, linux-realtime-6.8).
- Mastodon 4.5 released
Version4.5 of the Mastodondecentralized social-media platform has been released. Notablefeatures in this release include quoteposts, native emoji support, as well as enhanced moderation andblocking features for server administrators. The project also has a postdetailing new features in 4.5 for developers of clients and othersoftware that interacts with Mastodon.
- Freedesktop.org now hosts the Filesystem Hierarchy Standard
The future of the Filesystem Hierarchy Standard (FHS) has been under discussion for some time; now,Neal Gompa has announcedthat the FHS is "hosted and stewarded" by Freedesktop.org.
For those who are unaware, the Filesystem Hierarchy Standard (FHS) is the definition for POSIX operating systems to organize system and user data. It is broadly adopted by Linux, BSD, and other operating systems that follow POSIX-like conventions.
See thispage for the specification's new home.
- [$] Toward fast, containerized, user-space filesystems
Filesystems are complex and performance-sensitive beasts. They can alsopresent security concerns. Microkernel-based systems have long pushedfilesystems into separate processes in order to contain any vulnerabilitiesthat may be found there. Linux can do the same with the Filesystem inUserspace (FUSE) subsystem, but using FUSE brings a significantperformance penalty. Darrick Wong is working on ways to eliminate thatpenalty, and he has a massive patchset showing how ext4 filesystems can be safely implemented in user space byunprivileged processes with good performance. This work has the potentialto radically change how filesystems are managed on Linux systems.
- Security updates for Thursday
Security updates have been issued by Debian (unbound), Fedora (deepin-qt5integration, deepin-qt5platform-plugins, dtkcore, dtkgui, dtklog, dtkwidget, fcitx-qt5, fcitx5-qt, fontforge, gammaray, golang-github-openprinting-ipp-usb, kddockwidgets, keepassxc, kf5-akonadi-server, kf5-frameworkintegration, kf5-kwayland, plasma-integration, python-qt5, qadwaitadecorations, qt5, qt5-qt3d, qt5-qtbase, qt5-qtcharts, qt5-qtconnectivity, qt5-qtdatavis3d, qt5-qtdeclarative, qt5-qtdoc, qt5-qtgamepad, qt5-qtgraphicaleffects, qt5-qtimageformats, qt5-qtlocation, qt5-qtmultimedia, qt5-qtnetworkauth, qt5-qtquickcontrols, qt5-qtquickcontrols2, qt5-qtremoteobjects, qt5-qtscript, qt5-qtscxml, qt5-qtsensors, qt5-qtserialbus, qt5-qtserialport, qt5-qtspeech, qt5-qtsvg, qt5-qttools, qt5-qttranslations, qt5-qtvirtualkeyboard, qt5-qtwayland, qt5-qtwebchannel, qt5-qtwebengine, qt5-qtwebkit, qt5-qtwebsockets, qt5-qtwebview, qt5-qtx11extras, qt5-qtxmlpatterns, qt5ct, and xorg-x11-server), Mageia (binutils, gstreamer1.0-plugins-bad, libsoup, libsoup3, mediawiki, net-tools, and tigervnc, x11-server, and x11-server-xwayland), Red Hat (tigervnc), SUSE (aws-efs-utils, fetchmail, flake-pilot, ImageMagick, java-1_8_0-ibm, java-1_8_0-openjdk, kernel-devel, kubecolor, OpenSMTPD, sccache, tiff, and zellij), and Ubuntu (linux, linux-aws, linux-aws-6.14, linux-gcp, linux-gcp-6.14, linux-oem-6.14, linux-oracle, linux-oracle-6.14, linux-raspi, linux-realtime, linux, linux-aws, linux-gkeop, linux-hwe-6.8, linux-ibm, linux-ibm-6.8, linux-lowlatency, linux-lowlatency-hwe-6.8, linux-nvidia, linux-nvidia-lowlatency, linux, linux-aws, linux-kvm, linux-lts-xenial, linux-oracle-6.8, linux-realtime-6.14, poppler, python-django, and various linux-* packages).
- [$] LWN.net Weekly Edition for November 6, 2025
Inside this week's LWN.net Weekly Edition:
Front: Python thread safety; Namespace reference counting; Merigraf; Speeding up short reads; Julia 1.12; systemd security. Briefs: CHERIoT 1.0; Chromium XSLT; Arm KASLR; Bazzite; Devuan 6.0; Incus 6.18; LXQt 2.3.0; Rust 1.91.0; Quotes; ... Announcements: Newsletters, conferences, security updates, patches, and more.
- Removing XSLT from Chromium
Mason Freed and Dominik Röttsches have published a documentwith a timeline and plans for removing Extensible Stylesheet LanguageTransformations (XSLT) from the Chromium project and Chromebrowser:
Chromium has officially deprecated XSLT, including the XSLTProcessorJavaScript API and the XML stylesheet processing instruction. Weintend to remove support from version 155 (November 17, 2026). TheFirefox and WebKit projects have also indicated plans to remove XSLTfrom their browser engines. This document provides some history andcontext, explains how we are removing XSLT to make Chrome safer, andprovides a path for migrating before these features are removed fromthe browser.
LWN covered the WebHypertext Application Technology Working Group (WHATWG) discussionabout XSLT in August.
- LXQt 2.3.0 released
Version2.3.0 of the Lightweight Qt Desktop Environment (LXQt) has beenreleased. The highlight of this release is continued improvement inWayland support across LXQt components. Rather than offering its owncompositor, the LXQt project takes a modular approach and works withseveral Wayland compositors, such as KWin, labwc, and niri.
- [$] A security model for systemd
Linux has many security features and tools that have evolved overthe years to address threats as they emerge and security gaps as theyare discovered. Linux security is all, as Lennart Poettering observed at the All Systems Go! conference heldin Berlin, somewhat random and not a "clean"design. To many observers, that may also appear to be the case forsystemd; however, Poettering said that he does have a vision for howall of the security-related pieces of systemd are meant to fittogether. He wanted to use his talk to explain "how the individualsecurity-related parts of systemd actually fit together and why theyexist in the first place".
- Ryzen AI Software 1.6.1 Advertises Linux Support
Ryzen AI Software as AMD's collection of tools and libraries for AI inferencing on AMD Ryzen AI class PCs has Linux support with its newest point release. Though this "early access" Linux support is restricted to registered AMD customers...
- Blue Origin Livestreams Attempt to Launch Unique ''EscaPADE' Mission to Mars
Blue Origin is livestreaming the launch of its New Glenn rocket, which would carry a very unique mission for NASA. "Twin spacecraft are set to take off on an unprecedented, winding journey to Mars," reports CNN, "where they will investigate why the barren red planet began to lose its atmosphere billions of years ago." By observing two Mars locations simultaneously, this mission can measure how Mars responds to space weather in real time — and how the Martian magnetosphere changes...Called EscaPADE, the mission will aim for an orbital trajectory that has never been attempted before, according to aerospace company Advanced Space, which is supporting the project. If successful, it could be a crucial case study that can allow extraordinary flexibility for planetary science missions down the road. The robotic mission plans to spend a year idling in an orbital backroad before heading to its target destination... [R]ather than turning toward Mars, the two orbiters will instead aim for Lagrange Point 2, or L2 — a cosmic balance point about 1.5 million kilometers (930,000 miles) from Earth. Lagrange points are special because they act as gravitational wells in which the pull of the sun and Earth are in perfect balance. The conditions can allow spacecraft to linger without being dragged away... The spacecraft will then loop endlessly in a kidney bean-shaped orbit around L2 until next year's Mars transfer window opens. This "launch and loiter" project is part of NASA's SIMPLEx [Small, Innovative Missions for Planetary Exploration] program, which seekshigh-value missions for less money, notes CNN. "EscaPADE's cost was less than $100 million, compared with the roughly $300 million to $600 million price tags of other NASA satellites orbiting Mars." "Blue Origin is also attempting to land and recover New Glenn's first-stage booster," notes another CNN article.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
- 'AI Slop' in Court Filings: Lawyers Keep Citing Fake AI-Hallucinated Cases
"According to court filings and interviews with lawyers and scholars, the legal profession in recent months has increasingly become a hotbed for AI blunders," reports the New York Times: Earlier this year, a lawyer filed a motion in a Texas bankruptcy court that cited a 1985 case called Brasher v. Stewart. Only the case doesn't exist. Artificial intelligence had concocted that citation, along with 31 others. A judge blasted the lawyer in an opinion, referring him to the state bar's disciplinary committee and mandating six hours of A.I. training. That filing was spotted by Robert Freund, a Los Angeles-based lawyer, who fed it to an online database that tracks legal A.I. misuse globally. Mr. Freund is part of a growing network of lawyers who track down A.I. abuses committed by their peers, collecting the most egregious examples and posting them online. The group hopes that by tracking down the A.I. slop, it can help draw attention to the problem and put an end to it... [C]ourts are starting to map out punishments of small fines and other discipline. The problem, though, keeps getting worse. That's why Damien Charlotin, a lawyer and researcher in France, started an online database in April to track it. Initially he found three or four examples a month. Now he often receives that many in a day. Many lawyers... have helped him document 509 cases so far. They use legal tools like LexisNexis for notifications on keywords like "artificial intelligence," "fabricated cases" and "nonexistent cases." Some of the filings include fake quotes from real cases, or cite real cases that are irrelevant to their arguments. The legal vigilantes uncover them by finding judges' opinions scolding lawyers... Court-ordered penalties "are not having a deterrent effect," said Freund, who has publicly flagged more than four dozen examples this year. "The proof is that it continues to happen."
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
- Lost Unix v4 Possibly Recovered on a Forgotten Bell Labs Tape From 1973
"A tape-based piece of unique Unix history may have been lying quietly in storage at the University of Utah for 50+ years," reports The Register. And the software librarian at Silicon Valley's Computer History Museum, Al Kossow of Bitsavers, believes the tape "has a pretty good chance of being recoverable."Long-time Slashdot reader bobdevine says the tape will be analyzed at the Computer History Museum. More from The Register:The news was posted to Mastodon by Professor Robert Ricci of the University of Utah's Kahlert School of Computing [along with a picture. "While cleaning a storage room, our staff found this tape containing #UNIX v4 from Bell Labs, circa 1973..." Ricci posted on Mastodon. "We have arranged to deliver it to the Computer History Museum."] The nine-track tape reel bears a handwritten label reading: UNIX Original From Bell Labs V4 (See Manual for format)... If it's what it says on the label, this is a notable discovery because little of UNIX V4 remains. That's unfortunate as this specific version is especially interesting: it's the first version of UNIX in which the kernel and some of the core utilities were rewritten in the new C programming language. Until now, the only surviving parts known were the source code to a slightly older version of the kernel and a few man pages — plus the Programmer's Manual [PDF], from November 1973. The Unix Heritage Society hosts those surviving parts — and apparently some other items of interest, according to a comment posted on Mastodon. "While going through the tapes from Dennis Ritchie earlier this year, I found some UNIX V4 distribution documents," posted Mastodon user "Broken Pipe," linking to tuhs.org/Archive/Applications/Dennis_Tapes/Gao_Analysis/v4_dist/. There's a file called license ("The program and information transmitted herewith is and shall remain the property of Bell Lab%oratories...") and coldboot ("Mount good tape on drive 0..."), plus a six-page "Setup" document that ends with these words... We expect to have a UNIX seminar early in 1974. Good luck.Ken ThompsonDennis RitchieBell Telephone LabsMurray Hill, NJ 07974
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
- Neurodiverse Professionals 25% More Satisfied With AI Tools and Agents
An anonymous reader shared this report from CNBC:Neurodiverse professionals may see unique benefits from artificial intelligence tools and agents, research suggests. With AI agent creation booming in 2025, people with conditions like ADHD, autism, dyslexia and more report a more level playing field in the workplace thanks to generative AI. A recent study from the UK's Department for Business and Trade found that neurodiverse workers were 25% more satisfied with AI assistants and were more likely to recommend the tool than neurotypical respondents.[The study involved 1,000 users of Microsoft 365 Copilot from October through December of 2024.] "Standing up and walking around during a meeting means that I'm not taking notes, but now AI can come in and synthesize the entire meeting into a transcript and pick out the top-level themes," said Tara DeZao, senior director of product marketing at enterprise low-code platform provider Pega. DeZao, who was diagnosed with ADHD as an adult, has combination-type ADHD, which includes both inattentive symptoms (time management and executive function issues) and hyperactive symptoms (increased movement). "I've white-knuckled my way through the business world," DeZao said. "But these tools help so much...." Generative AI happens to be particularly adept at skills like communication, time management and executive functioning, creating a built-in benefit for neurodiverse workers who've previously had to find ways to fit in among a work culture not built with them in mind. Because of the skills that neurodiverse individuals can bring to the workplace — hyperfocus, creativity, empathy and niche expertise, just to name a few — some research suggests that organizations prioritizing inclusivity in this space generate nearly one-fifth higher revenue. "Investing in ethical guardrails, like those that protect and aid neurodivergent workers, is not just the right thing to do," said Kristi Boyd, an AI specialist with the SAS data ethics practice. "It's a smart way to make good on your organization's AI investments."
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
- America's FAA Grounds MD-11s After Tuesday's Crash in Kentucky
UPDATE (11/9): America's Federal Aviation Administration has now grounded all U.S. MD-11 and MD-11F aircrafts after Tuesday's crash "because the agency has determined the unsafe condition is likely to exist or develop in other products of the same type design," according to an emergency airworthiness directive obtained by CBS News. American multinational freight company UPS had already "grounded its fleet of MD-11 aircraft," reported the Guardian, "days after a cargo plane crash that killed at least 13 people in Kentucky. The grounded MD-11s are the same type of plane involved in Tuesday's crash in Louisville. They were originally built by McDonnell Douglas until it was taken over by Boeing." More details from NBC News:UPS said the move to temporarily ground its MD-11 fleet was made "out of an abundance of caution and in the interest of safety." MD-11s make up 9% of the company's air fleet, it said. "We made this decision proactively at the recommendation of the aircraft manufacturer. Nothing is more important to us than the safety of our employees and the communities we serve," UPS spokesman Jim Mayer said... FedEx said early Saturday that it was also grounding its MD-11s. The UPS rival has 28 such planes in operation, out of a fleet of around 700, FedEx said. Video shows that the left engine of the plane caught fire during takeoff and immediately detached, National Transportation Safety Board member Todd Inman said Wednesday. The National Transportation Safety Board is the lead agency in the investigation. Thanks to long-time Slashdot reader echo123 for suggesting the article.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
- Rust Is Coming To Debian's APT Package Manager
A maintainer of Debian's Advanced Package Tool (APT) "has announced plans to introduce hard Rust dependencies into APT starting May 2026," reports the blog It's FOSS.The integration targets critical areas like parsing .deb, .ar, and tar files plus HTTP signature verification using Sequoia. [APT maintainer Julian Andres Klode] said these components "would strongly benefit from memory safe languages and a stronger approach to unit testing." He also gave a firm message to maintainers of Debian ports: "If you maintain a port without a working Rust toolchain, please ensure it has one within the next 6 months, or sunset the port." The reasoning is straightforward. Debian wants to move forward with modern tools rather than being held back by legacy architecture... Debian ports running on CPU architectures without Rust compiler support have six months to add proper toolchains. If they can't meet this deadline, those ports will need to be discontinued. As a result, some obscure or legacy platforms may lose official support. For most users on mainstream architectures like x86_64 and ARM, nothing changes. Your APT will simply become more secure and reliable under the hood. It's FOSS argues that "If done right, this could significantly strengthen APT's security and code quality." And the blog Linuxiac also supports the move. "By embedding Rust into APT, the distro joins a growing number of major open-source projects, such as the Linux kernel, Firefox, and systemd, that are gradually adopting Rust. And if I had to guess, I'd say this is just one of the first steps toward even deeper Rust integration in this legendary distribution, which is a good thing."
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
- Hilarious Unused Audio From 2003 Baseball Game Rediscovered by Video Game History Foundation
After popular arcade games like Mortal Kombat and Spy Hunter, Midway Games jumped into the home console market, and in 2003 launched their baseball game franchise "MLB Slugfest" for Xbox, PS2, and GameCube. But at times it was almost a parody of baseball, including announcers filling the long hours of airtime with bizarre, rambling conversations. ("I read today that kitchen utensils are gonna hurt more people tonight than lifting heavy objects during the day...") Now former Midway Games producer Mark Flitman has revealed the even weirder conversations rejected by Major League Baseball. ("Ah, baseball on a sunny afternoon. Is there anything better? We've been talking about breaking pop bottles with rocks. I guess that is...") The nonprofit Video Game History Foundation published the text in their digital archive — and shared 79 seconds of sound clips that were actually recorded but never used in the final game. ("Enjoying some smoked whale meat up here in the booth today...") Their BlueSky post with the audio drew over 5,500 likes and 2,400 reposts, with one commenter wondering if the bizarre (and unapproved) conversations were "part of the tactic where you include overtly inappropriate content to make the stuff you actually want to keep seem more appropriate." But the Foundation's library director thinks the voice actors were just going wild. "We talked with Mark on our podcast and it sounds like they just did a lot of improv and got carried away." He added later that the game's producer "would give them prompts and they'd run with it. The voice actors (Kevin Matthews and Tim Kitzrow) have backgrounds in sports radio and comedy, so they came up with wild nonsense like this." The gaming site Aftermath notes the Foundation also has an archive page for all the other sound files on the CD. Maybe it's the ultimate tribute to the craziness that was MLB Slugfest. Years ago some fans of the game shared their memories on Reddit..."The first time my friend tried to bean me and my hitter caught the ball was so hype, we were freaking out. Every game quickly evolved into trying to get our hitters to charge the mound.""I just remembered you could also kick the shit out of the fielder near your base if he got too close. Man that game was awesome.""You could do jump kicks into the catcher like Richie from The Benchwarmers.""Every time someone got on base we would run the ball over to them and beat their asses for 30 seconds. Good times."Six years after the launch of the franchise, Midway Games declared bankruptcy.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
- Did ChatGPT Conversations Leak... Into Google Search Console Results?
"For months, extremely personal and sensitive ChatGPT conversations have been leaking into an unexpected destination," reports Ars Technica: the search-traffic tool for webmasters , Google Search Console. Though it normally shows the short phrases or keywords typed into Google which led someone to their site, "starting this September, odd queries, sometimes more than 300 characters long, could also be found" in Google Search Console. And the chats "appeared to be from unwitting people prompting a chatbot to help solve relationship or business problems, who likely expected those conversations would remain private." Jason Packer, owner of analytics consulting firm Quantable, flagged the issue in a detailed blog post last month, telling Ars Technica he'd seen 200 odd queries — including "some pretty crazy ones." (Web optimization consultant Slobodan ManiÄ helped Packer investigate...) Packer points out "nobody clicked share" or were given an option to prevent their chats from being exposed.Packer suspected that these queries were connected to reporting from The Information in August that cited sources claiming OpenAI was scraping Google search results to power ChatGPT responses. Sources claimed that OpenAI was leaning on Google to answer prompts to ChatGPT seeking information about current events, like news or sports... "Did OpenAI go so fast that they didn't consider the privacy implications of this, or did they just not care?" Packer posited in his blog... Clearly some of those searches relied on Google, Packer's blog said, mistakenly sending to GSC "whatever" the user says in the prompt box... This means "that OpenAI is sharing any prompt that requires a Google Search with both Google and whoever is doing their scraping," Packer alleged. "And then also with whoever's site shows up in the search results! Yikes." To Packer, it appeared that "ALL ChatGPT prompts" that used Google Search risked being leaked during the past two months. OpenAI claimed only a small number of queries were leaked but declined to provide a more precise estimate. So, it remains unclear how many of the 700 million people who use ChatGPT each week had prompts routed to Google Search Console. "Perhaps most troubling to some users — whose identities are not linked in chats unless their prompts perhaps share identifying information — there does not seem to be any way to remove the leaked chats from Google Search Console.."
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
- 'Breaking Bad' Creator Hates AI, Promises New Show 'Pluribus' Was 'Made By Humans'
The new series from Breaking Bad creator Vince Gilligan, Pluribus, was emphatically made by humans, not AI, reports TechCrunch:If you watched all the way to the end of the new Apple TV show "Pluribus," you may have noticed an unusual disclaimer in the credits: "This show was made by humans." That terse message — placed right below a note that "animal wranglers were on set to ensure animal safety" — could potentially provide a model for other filmmakers seeking to highlight that their work was made without the use of generative AI. In fact, yesterday the former X-Files writer told Variety "I hate AI. AI is the world's most expensive and energy-intensive plagiarism machine...."He goes on, about how AI-generated content is "like a cow chewing its cud — an endlessly regurgitated loop of nonsense," and how the U.S. will fail to regulate the technology because of an arms race with China. He works himself up until he's laughing again, proclaiming: "Thank you, Silicon Valley! Yet again, you've fucked up the world." He also says "there's a very high possibility that this is all a bunch of horseshit," according to the article. "It's basically a bunch of centibillionaires whose greatest life goal is to become the world's first trillionaires. I think they're selling a bag of vapor." And earlier this week he told Polygon that he hasn't used ChatGPT "because, as of yet, no one has held a shotgun to my head and made me do it." (Adding "I will never use it.") Time magazine called Thursday's two-episode premiere "bonkers." Though ironically, that premiere hit its own dystopian glitch. "After months of buildup and an omnipresent advertising campaign, Apple's much-anticipated new show Pluribus made its debut..." reports Macworld. "And the service promptly suffered a major outage across the U.S. and Canada."As reported by Bloomberg and others, users started to report that the service had crashed at around 10:30 p.m. ET, shortly after Apple made the first two episodes of the show available to stream. There were almost 13,000 reports on Downdetector before Apple acknowledged the problem on its System Status page. Reports say the outage was brief, lasting less than an hour... [T]here remains a Resolved Outage note on Apple TV (simply saying "Some users were affected; users experienced a problem with Apple TV" between 10:29 and 11.38 p.m.), as well as on Apple Music and Apple Arcade, which also went down at the same time. Social media reports indicated that the outage was widespread.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
- New Firefox Mascot 'Kit' Unveiled On New Web Page
"The Firefox brand is getting a refresh and you get the first look," says a new web page at Firefox.com. "Kit's our new mascot and your new companion through an internet that's private, open and actually yours." Slashdot reader BrianFagioli believes the new mascot "is meant to communicate that message in a warmer, more relatable way." And Firefox is already selling shirts with Kit over the pocket (as well as stickers)...
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
- Here's one way to cut support ticket volume… send them to another company entirely
Misdirection is the new resolution at major video game house
The CEO of the company behind note-taking app Obsidian says the well-known video game house of the same name has sent one of its customer queries to his own team – claiming that "off-the-shelf AI support software" is why the gaming firm gave a user the wrong email address.…
- Microsoft's lack of quality control is out of control
At one point, Microsoft's QC was legendary. Now, it's the wrong kind of legend
OPINION I have a habit of ironically referring to Microsoft's various self-induced whoopsies as examples of the company's "legendary approach to quality control." While the robustness of Windows NT in decades past might qualify as "legendary", anybody who has had to use the company's wares in recent years might quibble with the word "quality."…
- Meta can't afford its $600B love letter to Trump
The Zuck better hope his finance bros have deep pockets and a whole lotta patience to pull this off
Meta on Friday floated plans to invest $600 billion in US infrastructure and jobs by 2028 as part of a massive datacenter expansion.…
- ChatGPT, Claude, and Grok make very squishy jury members
All three acquitted a teen in a mock trial based on a case where a judge ruled guilty
Law students at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Law last month held a mock trial to see how AI models administer justice.…
- Previously unknown Landfall spyware used in 0-day attacks on Samsung phones
'Precision espionage campaign' began months before the flaw was fixed
A previously unknown Android spyware family called LANDFALL exploited a zero-day in Samsung Galaxy devices for nearly a year, installing surveillance code capable of recording calls, tracking locations, and harvesting photos and logs before Samsung finally patched it in April.…
- Blackwell a no-sell in China as trade deal fails to materialize
Xi and Trump haven't gotten to discuss the chips, though they were supposed to
Nvidia's latest generation of Blackwell accelerators won't be available in China anytime soon, according to CEO Jensen Huang, who said there were no "active discussions" about selling the coveted chips to the Middle Kingdom.…
- Bell bottom-era tape unearthed, could contain lost piece of Unix history
It might have the first-ever version of UNIX written in C
A tape-based piece of unique Unix history may have been lying quietly in storage at the University of Utah for 50+ years. The question is whether researchers will be able to take this piece of middle-aged media and rewind it back to the 1970s to get the data off.…
- 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]
- Ironclad 0.7.0 and 0.8.0 released, adds RISC-V support
Weve talked about Ironclad a few times, but theres been two new releases since the 0.6.0 release we covered last, so lets see what the projects been up to. As a refresher, Ironclad is a formally verified, hard real-time capable kernel written in SPARK and Ada. Versions 0.7.0 and 0.8.0 improved support for block device caching, added a basic NVMe driver, added support for x86’s SMAP, switched from KVM to NVMM for Ironclad’s virtualization interface, and much, much more. In the meantime, Ironclad also added support for RISC-V, making it usable on any 64 bit RISC-V target that supports a Limine-protocol compatible bootloader. The easiest way to try out Ironclad is to download Gloire, a distribution that uses Ironclad and the GNU tools. It can be installed in both a virtual machine and on real hardware.
- Mac OS 7.6 and 8 for CHRP releases discovered
For those of us unaware unlikely on OSNews, but still for a hot minute in the second half of the 90s, Apple licensed its Mac OS to OEMs, resulting in officially sanctioned Mac clones from a variety of companies. While intended to grow the Macs market share, what ended up happening instead is that the clone makers outcompeted Apple on performance, price, and features, with clones offering several features and capabilities before Apple did for far lower prices. When Steve Jobs returned to Apple, he killed the clone program almost instantly. The rather abrupt end of the clone program means theres a number of variants of the Mac OS that never made their way into the market, most notable variants intended for the Common Reference Hardware Platform, or CHRP, a standard defined by IBM and Apple for PowerPC-based PCs. Thanks to the popular classic Mac YouTuber Mac84, we now have a few of these releases out in the wild. These CDs contain release candidates for Mac OS 7.6 and Mac OS 8 for CHRP (Common Hardware Reference Platform) systems. They were created to support CHRP computers, but were never released, likely due to Steve Jobs returning to Apple in September 1997 and eliminating the Mac Clone program and any CHRP efforts. ↫ Mac OS 7.6/8 CHRP releases page Mac84 has an accompanying video diving into more detail about these individual releases by booting and running them in an emulator, so we can get a better idea of what they contain. While most clone makers only got access to Mac OS 7.x, some of them did, in fact, gain access to Mac OS 8, namely UMAX and Power Computing (the latter of which was acquired by Apple). Its not the clone nature of these releases that make them special, but the fact theyre CHRP releases is. This reference platform was a failure in the market, and only a few of IBMs own machines and some of Motorolas PowerStack machines properly supported it. Apple, meanwhile, only aid minor lip service to CHRP in its New World Power Macintosch machines.
- FreeBSD now builds reproducibly and without root privilege
The FreeBSD Foundation is pleased to announce that it has completed work to build FreeBSD without requiring root privilege. We have implemented support for all source release builds to use no-root infrastructure, eliminating the need for root privileges across the FreeBSD release pipeline. This work was completed as part of the`program commissioned by the Sovereign Tech Agency. ↫ FreeBSD Foundation blog This is great news in and of itself, but theres more: FreeBSD has also improved build reproducability. This means that given the same source input, you should end up with the same binary output, which is an important part of building a verifiable chain of trust. These two improvements combined further add to making FreeBSD a trustworthy, secure option something it already is anyway. In case you havent noticed, the FreeBSD project and its countless contributors are making a ton of tangible progress lately on a wide variety of topics, from improving desktop use, to solidifying Wi-Fi support, to improving the chain of trust. I think the time is quite right for FreeBSD to make some inroads in the desktop UNIX-y space, especially for people to whom desktop Linux has strayed too far from the traditional UNIX philosphy (whatever that means).
- LXQt 2.3.0 released
LXQt, the other Qt desktop environment, released version 2.3.0. This new version comes roughly six months after 2.2.0, and continues the projects adoption of Wayland. The enhancement of Wayland support has been continued, especially in LXQt Panel, whose Desktop Switcher is now enabled for Labwc, Niri, …. It is also equipped with a backend specifically for Wayfire. In addition, the Custom Command plugin is made more flexible, regardless of Wayland and X11. ↫ LXQt 2.3.0 release announcement The screenshot utility has been improved as well, and lxqt-qdbus has been added to lxqt-wayland-session to make qdbus commands easier to use with all kinds of Wayland compositors.
- WINE gaming in FreeBSD Jails with Bastille
FreeBSD offers a whole bunch of technologies and tools to make gaming on the platform a lot more capable than youd think, and this article by Pertho dives into the details. Running all your games inside a FreeBSD Jail with Wine installed into it is pretty neat. Initially, I thought this was going to be a pretty difficult and require a lot of trial and error but I was surprised at how easy it was to get this all working. I was really happy to get some of my favorite games working in a FreeBSD Jail, and having ZFS snapshots around was a great way to test things in case I needed to backtrack. ↫ Pertho at their blog No, this isnt as easy as gaming on Linux has become, and it certainly requires a ton more work and knowledge than just installing a major Linux distribution and Steam, but for those of us who prefer a more traditional UNIX-like experience, this is a great option.
- Tape containing UNIX v4 found
A unique and very important find at the University of Utah: while cleaning out some storage rooms, the staff at the university discovered a tape containing a copy of UNIX v4 from Bell Labs. At this time, no complete copies are known to exist, and as such, this could be a crucial find for the archaeology of early UNIX. The tape in question will be sent to the Computer History Museum for further handling, where bitsavers.org will conduct the recovery process. I have the equipment. It is a 3M tape so it will probably be fine. It will be digitized on my analog recovery set up and Ill use Len Shusteks readtape program to recover the data. The only issue right now is my workflow isnt a while you wait! thing, so I need to pull all the pieces into one physical location and test everything before I tell Penny its OK to come out. ↫ bitsavers.org Its amazing how we still manage to find such treasures in nooks and crannies all over the world, and with everything looking good so far, it seems well soon be able to fill in more of UNIX early history.
- There is no such thing as a 3.5 inch floppy disk
Wait, what? The term`3.5 inch floppy disc`is in fact a misnomer. Whilst the specification for 5.25 inch floppy discs employs Imperial units, the later specification for the smaller floppy discs employs metric units. The standards for these discs are all of which specify the measurements in metric, and only metric. These standards explicitly give the dimensions as 90.0mm by 94.0mm. Its in clause 6 of all three. ↫ Jonathan de Boyne Pollard Even the applicable standard in the US, ANSI X3.171-1989, specifies the size in metric. We couldve been referring to these things using proper measurements instead of archaic ones based on the size of a monks left testicle at dawn at room temperature in 1375 or whatever nonsense imperial or customary used to be based on. I feel dirty for thinking I had to use inches! for this. If we ever need to talk about these disks on OSNews from here on out, Ill be using proper units of measurement.
- Servo ported to Redox
Redox keeps improving every month, and this past one is certainly a banger. The big news this past month is that Servo, the browser engine written in Rust, has been ported to Redox. Its extremely spartan at the moment, and crashes when a second website is loaded, but its a promising start. It also just makes sense to have the premier Rust browser engine running on the premier Rust operating system. Htop and bottom have been ported to Redox for much improved system monitoring, and theyre joined by a port of GoAccess. The version of Rust has been updated which fixed some issues, and keyboard layout configuration has been greatly improved. Instead of a few hardcoded layouts, they can now be configured dynamically for users of PS/2 keyboards, with USB keyboards receiving this functionality soon as well. Theres more, of course, as well as the usual slew of low-level changes and improvements to drivers, the kernel relibc, and more.
- MacOS 26’s new icons are a step backwards
On the new MacOS 26 (Tahoe), Apple has mandated that all application icons fit into their prescribed squircle. No longer can icons have distinct shapes, nor even any fun frame-breaking accessories. Should an icon be so foolish as to try to have a bit of personality, it will find itself stuffed into a dingy gray icon jail. ↫ Paul Kafasis The downgraded icons listed in this article are just0 Sad. While theres no accounting for tastes, Apples new glassy icons are just plain bad, void of any whimsy, and lacking in artistry. Considering where Apple came from back when it made beautifully crafted icons that set the bar for the entire industry. Almost seems like a metaphor for tech in general.
- A lost IBM PC/AT model? Analyzing a newfound old BIOS
Some people not only have a very particular set of skills, but also a very particular set of interests that happen to align with those skills perfectly. When several unidentified and mysterious IBM PC ROM chips from the 1980s were discovered on eBay, two particular chips dumped contents posed particularly troublesome to identify. In 1985, the FCh model byte could only mean the 5170 (PC/AT), and the even/odd byte interleaving does point at a 16-bit bus. But there are three known versions of the PC/AT BIOS released during the 5170 familys lifetime, corresponding to the three AT motherboard types. This one here is clearly not one of them: its date stamps and part numbers dont match, and the actual contents are substantially different besides. My first thought was that this may have come from one of those more shadowy members of the 5170 family: perhaps the AT/370, the 3270 AT/G(X), or the rack-mounted 7532 Industrial AT. But known examples of those carry the same firmware sets as the plain old 5170, so their BIOS extensions (if any) came in the shape of extra adapter ROMs. Whatever`this`thing was some other 5170-type machine, a prototype, or even just a custom patch it seemed Id have to inquire within for any further clues. ↫ VileR at the int10h.org blog Ill be honest and state that most of the in-depth analysis of the code dumped from the ROM chips is far too complex for me to follow, but that doesnt make the story it tells any less interesting. Theres no definitive, 100% conclusive answer at the end, but the available evidence collected by VileR does make a very strong case for a very specific, mysterious variant of the IBM PC being the likely source of the ROMs. If youre interested in some very deep IBM lore, heres your serving.
- The Most Critical Linux Kernel Breaches of 2025 So Far
by George Whittaker
The Linux kernel, foundational for servers, desktops, embedded systems, and cloud infrastructure, has been under heightened scrutiny. Several vulnerabilities have been exploited in real-world attacks, targeting critical subsystems and isolation layers. In this article, we’ll walk through major examples, explain their significance, and offer actionable guidance for defenders.
CVE-2025-21756 – Use-After-Free in the vsock Subsystem
One of the most alarming flaws this year involves a use-after-free vulnerability in the Linux kernel’s vsock implementation (Virtual Socket), which enables communication between virtual machines and their hosts.
How the exploit works:A malicious actor inside a VM (or other privileged context) manipulates reference counters when a vsock transport is reassigned. The code ends up freeing a socket object while it’s still in use, enabling memory corruption and potentially root-level access.
Why it matters:Since vsock is used for VM-to-host and inter-VM communication, this flaw breaks a key isolation barrier. In multi-tenant cloud environments or container hosts that expose vsock endpoints, the impact can be severe.
Mitigation:Kernel maintainers have released patches. If your systems run hosts, hypervisors, or other environments where vsock is present, make sure the kernel is updated and virtualization subsystems are patched.
CVE-2025-38236 – Out-of-Bounds / Sandbox Escape via UNIX Domain Sockets
Another high-impact vulnerability involves the UNIX domain socket interface and the MSG_OOB flag. The bug was publicly detailed in August 2025 and is already in active discussion.
Attack scenario:A process running inside a sandbox (for example a browser renderer) can exploit MSG_OOB operations on a UNIX domain socket to trigger a use-after-free or out-of-bounds read/write. That allows leaking kernel pointers or memory and then chaining to full kernel privilege escalation.
Why it matters:This vulnerability is especially dangerous because it bridges from a low-privilege sandboxed process to kernel-level compromise. Many systems assume sandboxed code is safe; this attack undermines that assumption.
Mitigation:Distributions and vendors (like browser teams) have disabled or restricted MSG_OOB usage for sandboxed contexts. Kernel patches are available. Systems that run browser sandboxes or other sandboxed processes need to apply these updates immediately.
CVE-2025-38352 – TOCTOU Race Condition in POSIX CPU Timers
In September 2025, the U.S. Cybersecurity & Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) added this vulnerability to its Known Exploited Vulnerabilities (KEV) catalog.
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- Steam Deck 2 Rumors Ignite a New Era for Linux Gaming
by George Whittaker
The speculation around a successor to the Steam Deck has stirred renewed excitement, not just for a new handheld, but for what it signals in Linux-based gaming. With whispers of next-gen specs, deeper integration of SteamOS, and an evolving handheld PC ecosystem, these rumors are fueling broader hopes that Linux gaming is entering a more mature age. In this article we look at the existing rumors, how they tie into the Linux gaming landscape, why this matters, and what to watch.
What the Rumours Suggest
Although Valve has kept things quiet, multiple credible outlets report about the Steam Deck 2 being in development and potentially arriving well after 2026. Some of the key tid-bits:
Editorials note that Valve isn’t planning a mere spec refresh; it wants a “generational leap in compute without sacrificing battery life”.
A leaked hardware slide pointed to an AMD “Magnus”-class APU built on Zen 6 architecture being tied to next-gen handhelds, including speculation about the Steam Deck 2.
One hardware leaker (KeplerL2) cited a possible 2028 launch window for the Steam Deck 2, which would make it roughly 6 years after the original.
Valve’s own design leads have publicly stated that a refresh with only 20-30% more performance is “not meaningful enough”, implying they’re waiting for a more substantial upgrade.
In short: while nothing is official yet, there’s strong evidence that Valve is working on the next iteration and wants it to be a noteworthy jump, not just a minor update.
Why This Matters for Linux Gaming
The rumoured arrival of the Steam Deck 2 isn’t just about hardware, it reflects and could accelerate key inflection points for Linux & gaming:
Validation of SteamOS & Linux Gaming
The original Steam Deck, running SteamOS (a Linux-based OS), helped prove that PC gaming doesn’t always require Windows. A well-received successor would further validate Linux as a first-class gaming platform, not a niche alternative but a mainstream choice.
Handheld PC Ecosystem Momentum
Since the first Deck, many Windows-based handhelds have entered the market (such as the ROG Ally, Lenovo Legion Go). Rumours of the Deck 2 keep spotlight on the form factor and raise expectations for Linux-native handhelds. This momentum helps encourage driver, compatibility and OS investments from the broader community.
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- Kali Linux 2025.3 Lands: Enhanced Wireless Capabilities, Ten New Tools & Infrastructure Refresh
by George Whittaker Introduction
The popular penetration-testing distribution Kali Linux has dropped its latest quarterly snapshot: version 2025.3. This release continues the tradition of the rolling-release model used by the project, offering users and security professionals a refreshed toolkit, broader hardware support (especially wireless), and infrastructure enhancements under the hood. With this update, the distribution aims to streamline lab setups, bolster wireless hacking capabilities (particularly on Raspberry Pi devices), and integrate modern workflows including automated VMs and LLM-based tooling.
In this article, we’ll walk through the key highlights of Kali Linux 2025.3, how the changes affect users (both old and new), the upgrade path, and what to keep in mind for real-world deployment.
What’s New in Kali Linux 2025.3
This snapshot from the Kali team brings several categories of improvements: tooling, wireless/hardware support, architecture changes, virtualization/image workflows, UI and plugin tweaks. Below is a breakdown of the major updates.
Tooling Additions: Ten Fresh Packages
One of the headline items is the addition of ten new security tools to the Kali repositories. These tools reflect shifts in the field, toward AI-augmented recon, advanced wireless simulation and pivoting, and updated attack surface coverage. Among the additions are:
Caido and Caido-cli – a client-server web-security auditing toolkit (graphical client + backend).
Detect It Easy (DiE) – a utility for identifying file types, a useful tool in reverse engineering workflows.
Gemini CLI – an open-source AI agent that integrates Google’s Gemini (or similar LLM) capabilities into the terminal environment.
krbrelayx – a toolkit focused on Kerberos relaying/unconstrained delegation attacks.
ligolo-mp – a multiplayer pivoting solution for network-lateral movement.
llm-tools-nmap – allows large-language-model workflows to drive Nmap scans (automated/discovery).
mcp-kali-server – configuration tooling to connect an AI agent to Kali infrastructure.
patchleaks – a tool that detects security-fix patches and provides detailed descriptions (useful both for defenders and auditors).
vwifi-dkms – enables creation of “dummy” Wi-Fi networks (virtual wireless interfaces) for advanced wireless testing and hacking exercises.
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- VMScape: Cracking VM-Host Isolation in the Speculative Execution Age & How Linux Patches Respond
by George Whittaker Introduction
In the world of modern CPUs, speculative execution, where a processor guesses ahead on branches and executes instructions before the actual code path is confirmed, has long been recognized as a performance booster. However, it has also given rise to a class of vulnerabilities collectively known as “Spectre” attacks, where microarchitectural side states (such as the branch target buffer, caches, or predictor state) are mis-exploited to leak sensitive data.
Now, a new attack variant, dubbed VMScape, exposes a previously under-appreciated weakness: the isolation between a guest virtual machine and its host (or hypervisor) in the branch predictor domain. In simpler terms: a malicious VM can influence the CPU’s branch predictor in such a way that when control returns to the host, secrets in the host or hypervisor can be exposed. This has major implications for cloud security, virtualization environments, and kernel/hypervisor protections.
In this article we’ll walk through how VMScape works, the CPUs and environments it affects, how the Linux kernel and hypervisors are mitigating it, and what users, cloud operators and admins should know (and do).
What VMScape Is & Why It MattersThe Basics of Speculative Side-Channels
Speculative execution vulnerabilities like Spectre exploit the gap between architectural state (what the software sees as completed instructions) and microarchitectural state (what the CPU has done internally, such as cache loads, branch predictor updates, etc). Even when speculative paths are rolled back architecturally, side-effects in the microarchitecture can remain and be probed by attackers.
One of the original variants, Spectre-BTI (Branch Target Injection, also called Spectre v2) leveraged the Branch Target Buffer (BTB) / predictor to redirect speculative execution along attacker-controlled paths. Over time, hardware and software mitigations (IBRS, eIBRS, IBPB, STIBP) have been introduced. But VMScape shows that when virtualization enters the picture, the isolation assumptions break down.
VMScape: Guest to Host via Branch Predictor
VMScape (tracked as CVE‑2025‑40300) is described by researchers from ETH Zürich as “the first Spectre-based end-to-end exploit in which a malicious guest VM can leak arbitrary sensitive information from the host domain/hypervisor, without requiring host code modifications and in default configuration.”
Here are the key elements making VMScape significant:
The attack is cross-virtualization: a guest VM influences the host’s branch predictor state (not just within the guest).
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- Self-Tuning Linux Kernels: How LLM-Driven Agents Are Reinventing Scheduler Policies
by George Whittaker Introduction
Modern computing systems rely heavily on operating-system schedulers to allocate CPU time fairly and efficiently. Yet many of these schedulers operate blindly with respect to the meaning of workloads: they cannot distinguish, for example, whether a task is latency-sensitive or batch-oriented. This mismatch, between application semantics and scheduler heuristics, is often referred to as the semantic gap.
A recent research framework called SchedCP aims to close that gap. By using autonomous LLM‐based agents, the system analyzes workload characteristics, selects or synthesizes custom scheduling policies, and safely deploys them into the kernel, without human intervention. This represents a meaningful step toward self-optimizing, application-aware kernels.
In this article we will explore what SchedCP is, how it works under the hood, the evidence of its effectiveness, real-world implications, and what caveats remain.
Why the Problem Matters
At the heart of the issue is that general-purpose schedulers (for example the Linux kernel’s default policy) assume broad fairness, rather than tailoring scheduling to what your application cares about. For instance:
A video-streaming service may care most about minimal tail latency.
A CI/CD build system may care most about throughput and job completion time.
A cloud analytics job may prefer maximum utilisation of cores with less concern for interactive responsiveness.
Traditional schedulers treat all tasks mostly the same, tuning knobs generically. As a result, systems often sacrifice optimisation opportunities. Some prior efforts have used reinforcement-learning techniques to tune scheduler parameters, but these approaches have limitations: slow convergence, limited generalisation, and weak reasoning about why a workload behaves as it does.
SchedCP starts from the observation that large language models can reason semantically about workloads (expressed in plain language or structured summaries), propose new scheduling strategies, and generate code via eBPF that is loaded into the kernel via the sched_ext interface. Thus, a custom scheduler (or modified policy) can be developed specifically for a given workload scenario, and in a self-service, automated way.
Architecture & Key Components
SchedCP comprises two primary subsystems: a control-plane framework and an agent loop that interacts with it. The framework decouples “what to optimise” (reasoning) from “how to act” (execution) in order to preserve kernel stability while enabling powerful optimisations.
Here are the major components:
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- Bcachefs Ousted from Mainline Kernel: The Move to DKMS and What It Means
by George Whittaker Introduction
After years of debate and development, bcachefs—a modern copy-on-write filesystem once merged into the Linux kernel—is being removed from mainline. As of kernel 6.17, the in-kernel implementation has been excised, and future use is expected via an out-of-tree DKMS module. This marks a turning point for the bcachefs project, raising questions about its stability, adoption, and relationship with the kernel development community.
In this article, we’ll explore the background of bcachefs, the sequence of events leading to its removal, the technical and community dynamics involved, and implications for users, distributions, and the filesystem’s future.
What Is Bcachefs?
Before diving into the removal, let’s recap what bcachefs is and why it attracted attention.
Origin & goals: Developed by Kent Overstreet, bcachefs emerged from ideas in the earlier bcache project (a block-device caching layer). It aimed to build a full-featured, general-purpose filesystem combining performance, reliability, and modern features (snapshots, compression, encryption) in a coherent design.
Mainline inclusion: Bcachefs was merged into the mainline kernel in version 6.7 (released January 2024) after a lengthy review and incubation period.
“Experimental” classification: Even after being part of the kernel, bcachefs always carried disclaimers about its maturity and stability—they were not necessarily recommends for production use by all users.
Its presence in mainline gave distributions a path to ship it more casually, and users had easier access without building external modules—an important convenience for adoption.
What Led to the Removal
The excision of bcachefs from the kernel was not sudden but the culmination of tension over development practices, patch acceptance timing, and upstream policy norms.
“Externally Maintained” status in 6.17
In kernel 6.17’s preparation, maintainers marked bcachefs as “externally maintained.” Though the code remained present, the change signified that upstream would no longer accept new patches or updates within the kernel tree.
This move allowed a transitional period. The code was “frozen” inside the tree to avoid breaking existing systems immediately, while preparation was made for future removal.
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- Linux Mint 22.2 ‘Zara’ Released: Polished, Modern, and Built for Longevity
by George Whittaker Introduction
The Linux Mint team has officially unveiled Linux Mint 22.2, codenamed “Zara”, on September 4, 2025. As a Long-Term Support (LTS) release, Zara will receive updates through 2029, promising users stability, incremental improvements, and a comfortable desktop experience.
This version is not about flashy overhauls; rather, it’s about refinement — applying polish to existing features, smoothing rough edges, weaving in new conveniences (like fingerprint login), and improving compatibility with modern hardware. Below, we’ll delve into what’s new in Zara, what users should know before upgrading, and how it continues Mint’s philosophy of combining usability, reliability, and elegance.
What’s New in Linux Mint 22.2 “Zara”
Here’s a breakdown of key changes, refinements, and enhancements in Zara.
Base, Support & Kernel Stack
Ubuntu 24.04 (Noble) base: Zara continues to use Ubuntu 24.04 as its upstream base, ensuring broad package compatibility and long-term security support.
Kernel 6.14 (HWE): The default kernel for new installations is 6.14, bringing support for newer hardware.
However — for existing systems upgraded from Mint 22 or 22.1 — the older kernel (6.8 LTS) remains the default, because 6.14’s support window is shorter.
Zara is an LTS edition, with security updates and maintenance promised through 2029.
Major Features & EnhancementsFingerprint Authentication via Fingwit
Zara introduces a first-party tool called Fingwit to manage fingerprint-based authentication. With compatible hardware and support via the libfprint framework, users can:
Enroll fingerprints
Use fingerprint login for the screensaver
Authenticate sudo commands
Launch administrative tools via pkexec using the fingerprint
In some cases, bypass password entry at login (unless home directory encryption or keyring constraints force password fallback)
It is important to note that fingerprint login on the actual login screen may be disabled or limited depending on encryption or keyring usage; in those cases, the system falls back to password entry.
UI & Theming Refinements
Sticky Notes app now sports rounded corners, improved Wayland compatibility, and a companion Android app named StyncyNotes (available via F-Droid) to sync notes across devices.
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- Ubuntu Update Backlog: How a Brief Canonical Outage Cascaded into Multi-Day Delays
by George Whittaker Introduction
In early September 2025, Ubuntu users globally experienced disruptive delays in installing updates and new packages. What seemed like a fleeting outage—only about 36 minutes of server downtime—triggered a cascade of effects: mirrors lagging, queued requests overflowing, and installations hanging for days. The incident exposed how fragile parts of Ubuntu’s update infrastructure can be under sudden load.
In this article, we’ll walk through what happened, why the fallout was so severe, how Canonical responded, and lessons for users and infrastructure architects alike.
What Happened: Outage & Immediate Impact
On September 5, 2025, Canonical’s archive servers—specifically archive.ubuntu.com and security.ubuntu.com—suffered an unplanned outage. The status page for Canonical showed the incident lasting roughly 36 minutes, after which operations were declared “resolved.”
However, that brief disruption set off a domino effect. Because the archives and security servers serve as the central hubs for Ubuntu’s package ecosystem, any downtime causes massive backlog among mirror servers and client requests. Mirrors found themselves out of sync, processing queues piled up, and users attempting updates or new installs encountered failed downloads, hung operations, or “404 / package not found” errors.
On Ubuntu’s community forums, Canonical acknowledged that while the server outage was short, the upload / processing queue for security and repository updates had become “obscenely” backlogged. Users were urged to be patient, as there was no immediate workaround.
Throughout September 5–7, users continued reporting incomplete or failed updates, slow mirror responses, and installations freezing mid-process. Even newly provisioning systems faced broken repos due to inconsistent mirror states.
By September 8, the situation largely stabilized: mirrors caught up, package availability resumed, and normal update flows returned. But the extended period of degraded service had already left many users frustrated.
Why a Short Outage Turned into Days of Disruption
At first blush, 36 minutes seems trivial. Why did it have such prolonged consequences? Several factors contributed:
Centralized repository backplane Ubuntu’s infrastructure is architected around central canonical repositories (archive, security) which then propagate to mirrors worldwide. When the central system is unavailable, mirrors stop receiving updates and become stale.
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- Bringing Desktop Linux GUIs to Android: The Next Step in Graphical App Support
by George Whittaker Introduction
Android has long been focused on running mobile apps, but in recent years, features aimed at developers and power users have begun pushing its boundaries. One exciting frontier: running full Linux graphical (GUI) applications on Android devices. What was once a novelty is now gradually becoming more viable, and recent developments point toward much smoother, GPU-accelerated Linux GUI experiences on Android.
In this article, we’ll trace how Linux apps have run on Android so far, explain the new architecture changes enabling GPU rendering, showcase early demonstrations, discuss remaining hurdles, and look at where this capability is headed.
The State of Linux on Android TodayThe Linux Terminal App
Google’s Linux Terminal app is the core interface for running Linux environments on Android. It spins up a virtual machine (VM), often booting Debian or similar, and lets users enter a shell, install packages, run command-line tools, etc.
Initially, the app was limited purely to text / terminal-based Linux programs; graphical apps were not supported meaningfully. More recently, Google introduced support for launching GUI Linux applications in experimental channels.
Limitations: Rendering & Performance
Even now, most GUI Linux apps on Android are rendered in software, that is, all drawing happens on the CPU (via a software renderer) rather than using the device’s GPU. This leads to sluggish UI, high CPU usage, more thermal stress, and shorter battery life.
Because of these limitations, running heavy GUI apps (graphics editors, games, desktop-level toolkits) has been more experimental than practical.
What’s Changing: GPU-Accelerated Rendering
The big leap forward is moving from CPU rendering to GPU-accelerated rendering, letting the device’s graphics hardware do the heavy lifting.
Lavapipe (Current Baseline)
At present, the Linux VM uses Lavapipe (a Mesa software rasterizer) to interpret GPU API calls on the CPU. This works, but is inefficient, especially for complex GUIs or animations.
Introducing gfxstream
Google is planning to integrate gfxstream into the Linux Terminal app. gfxstream is a GPU virtualization / forwarding technology: rather than reinterpreting graphics calls in software, it forwards them from the guest (Linux VM) to the host’s GPU directly. This avoids CPU overhead and enables near-native rendering speeds.
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- Fedora 43 Beta Released: A Preview of What's Ahead
by George Whittaker Introduction
Fedora’s beta releases offer one of the earliest glimpses into the next major version of the distribution — letting users and developers poke, test, and report issues before the final version ships. With Fedora 43 Beta, released on September 16, 2025, the community begins the final stretch toward the stable Fedora 43.
This beta is largely feature-complete: developers hope it will closely match what the final release looks like (barring last-minute fixes). The goal is to surface regression bugs, UX issues, and compatibility problems before Fedora 43 is broadly adopted.
Release & Availability
The Fedora Project published the beta across multiple editions and media — Workstation, KDE Plasma, Server, IoT, Cloud, and spins/labs where applicable. ISO images are available for download from the official Fedora servers.
Users already running Fedora 42 can upgrade via the DNF system-upgrade mechanism. Some spins (e.g. Mate or i3) are not fully available across all architectures yet.
Because it’s a beta, users should be ready to encounter bugs. Fedora encourages testers to file issues via the QA mailing list or Fedora’s issue tracking infrastructure.
Major New Features & Changes
Fedora 43 Beta brings many updates under the hood — some in visible user features, others in core tooling and system behavior.
Kernel, Desktop & Session Updates
Fedora 43 Beta is built on Linux kernel 6.17.
The Workstation edition features GNOME 49.
In a bold shift, Fedora removes GNOME X11 packages for the Workstation, making Wayland-only the default and only session for GNOME. Existing users are migrated to Wayland.
On KDE, Fedora 43 Beta ships with KDE Plasma 6.4 in the Plasma edition.
Installer & Package Management
Fedora’s Anaconda installer gets a WebUI by default for all Spins, providing a more unified and modern install experience across desktop variants.
The installer now uses DNF5 internally, phasing out DNF4 which is now in maintenance mode.
Auto-updates are enabled by default in Fedora Kinoite, ensuring that systems apply updates seamlessly in the background with minimal user intervention.
Programming & Core Tooling Updates
The Python version in Fedora 43 Beta moves to 3.14, an early adoption to catch bugs before the upstream release.
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