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Although Wayland has largely replaced Xorg, and most major Linux distributions and desktop environments have either already dropped support for the aging display protocol or are in the process of doing so, efforts to extend Xorg’s life or replace it with similar alternatives continue. Recent examples include projects such as XLibre Xserver and Wayback. And now, a new name is joining this group: Phoenix.

The GStreamer team has released the tenth bug-fix update, 1.26.10, of its cross-platform open-source multimedia framework for the stable 1.26 series.

Over seven months after its previous 1.4.2 bugfix release, the popular open-source vector graphics editor Inkscape has issued its latest version, 1.4.3, as the third maintenance update to the 1.4 series, which includes roughly 124 bug and crash fixes.

I know this isn’t the kind of news Linux fans were hoping to read on Christmas Day, but unfortunately, on a day meant for faith, kindness, and hope, others are choosing to act in exactly the opposite way.

Here is some news that both excited me and gave me pause. In its annual 2025 retrospective, published today, Arch-based CachyOS, widely popular among Linux gamers and heavily focused on performance optimization, reveals plans I did not expect: an expansion into the server space.

Kitty, one of the most feature-rich, GPU-accelerated, and highly efficient cross-platform terminal emulators, has just unveiled its latest update, version 0.45.

QEMU, a popular open-source machine emulator and virtualizer, has officially released version 10.2 (following a four-release candidate cycle) as the second point update to the 10.x series.

Built on Ubuntu 24.04.3 LTS, elementary OS 8.1 has been released just in time for Christmas, and is now available for download, marking the first point update in the 8.x series.

After eleven months in development following its previous 0.8 release, Clapper, an open-source media player for Linux built on GTK4 and GStreamer, has just released version 0.10.

After eleven months in development following its previous 0.8 release, Clapper, an open-source media player for Linux built on GTK4 and GStreamer, has just released version 0.10.

Chimera Linux, a still-in-development systemd-free, rolling release distro written from scratch that incorporates FreeBSD’s tools and libraries to provide a unique, lightweight, and modular experience, unveiled its latest set of installation ISOs powered by Linux kernel 6.18.

The Open Source Initiative, a nonprofit organization that promotes and protects open source software, has published its annual ranking of the most viewed open source licenses in 2025, reflecting the preferences and priorities of developers, organizations, and open source communities worldwide.

The team behind Immich, a popular open-source, self-hosted photo and video management platform, has released version 2.4. One of the most visible changes affects shared albums on the web, where users can now enable an option to display the asset owner’s name directly on thumbnails.

Over seven months after the previous 1.16.1 release, Flatpak, a universal Linux packaging system for distributing desktop applications in sandboxed environments, has released version 1.16.2 as the second bugfix update in the 1.16 series.

The Mageia development team has outlined its initial plans for Mageia Linux 10, including a tentative release schedule and a review of the status of key software components as the distribution prepares to enter its next development phase.

Debian developers now have an official way to publish and test add-on package repositories, as the Debusine project has opened its repository feature in public beta.

Mabox Linux, a lightweight, rolling-release Linux distribution based on Manjaro and designed around the Openbox window manager, has released version 25.12.

KDE developer Ivan Čukić has launched KDE Ni! OS, a playful proof-of-concept that explores how immutable Linux could fit into the KDE ecosystem. The project was inspired by talks at this year’s Akademy conference, where immutable KDE distributions were a key topic.

Over five months after its previous 2025.3 version, the Rhino Linux team has unveiled its latest release, 2025.4, on its Ubuntu-based rolling-release distribution, which features a custom desktop environment (Unicorn) built around the Pacstall package manager.

Emmabuntüs is a Linux distribution based on Debian (previously on Ubuntu) that focuses on refurbishing and extending the life of older computers, while making Linux usable for beginners, nonprofits, schools, and people with disabilities, particularly visually impaired users.

The Sparky team has rolled out the latest ISO images, 2025.12, its third semi-rolling update of the year—for all enthusiasts of this lightweight Linux distro, based on Debian’s upcoming “Forky” testing branch.

Fresh is a newly released open-source TUI text editor written in Rust, designed to combine modern usability features with a command-line workflow. What sets it apart from similar applications is that it targets developers who want IDE-style functionality while remaining entirely inside the terminal.

Diptyx is a new open-source e-reader now crowdfunding on Crowd Supply, positioning itself as a long-term alternative to locked-down commercial devices. Built around an ESP32 microcontroller and a distinctive dual-screen design, the device focuses on ownership, repairability, and offline reading without DRM or cloud dependencies.

NetworkManager, a system service and set of tools for managing network connections, widely adopted by most Linux distributions, is rolling out version 1.54.3 today as the second maintenance update to the 1.54 series.

In the open-source ecosystem, funding has long been a central challenge, often determining whether a project can grow sustainably or slowly fade away. And while many initiatives continue to struggle for financial support, it’s encouraging to see others, like KDE, not only maintain a stable foundation but even surpass expectations.

Kali Linux 2025.3, a Debian-based distribution designed for advanced penetration testing and security auditing, is now available for download, marking the fourth quarterly release of 2025.

Almost a month after the previous 6.20 release, KDE announced the launch of Frameworks 6.21, expanding its collection of add-on libraries to Qt and enhancing functionality available to developers across various platforms.

Nearly three months after the previous 5.2.13 update, Krita, a popular open-source, cross-platform digital painting app, has just released version 5.2.14, marking the final bugfix update in the 5.2 series.

KDE has released Gear 25.12, a holiday-season update that brings improvements across its applications and tools. Here’s what’s more important to note.

KDE has released Gear 25.12, a holiday-season update that brings improvements across its applications and tools. Here’s what’s more important to note.

Tails has issued version 7.3.1 after discovering a security vulnerability in one of the software libraries bundled with the distribution during the final stages of preparing the planned 7.3 release.

Tails has issued version 7.3.1 after discovering a security vulnerability in one of the software libraries bundled with the distribution during the final stages of preparing the planned 7.3 release.

A year after the previous 6.4 release, the Linux Mint development team has rolled out Cinnamon 6.6, with the desktop environment set to debut in the upcoming Linux Mint 22.3 “Zena” expected around Christmas.

The Free Software Foundation has announced the winners of the 2024 Free Software Awards, annual honors presented to individuals and projects that make significant contributions to software freedom.

OpenTofu, an open-source infrastructure-as-code tool for defining, provisioning, and managing cloud and on-prem resources declaratively, maintained as a community-driven fork of Terraform, has released version 1.11 with two main new additions.

AerynOS, an atomic-update-based (not to be confused with immutability) still-in-development Linux distro currently in alpha, has shared its latest project update for December 2025.

Mozilla has released Thunderbird version 146 of its widely adopted free and open-source desktop email client, now available for download.

In mid-September, we reported that Nick Wellnhofer, the long-time maintainer of the widely used XML parsing library libxml2, planned to step down from the project. A few days ago, that change became official.

The KDE team has announced Plasma 6.5.4, the fourth bugfix update to the major 6.5 series, which follows three weeks after the previous 6.5.3 release. While no new features are introduced, Plasma 6.5.4 focuses on refinement and reliability.

The Bcachefs project has just released version 1.33 as the “biggest new feature in the past ~2 years” for this modern copy‑on‑write Linux filesystem that supports encryption, snapshots, compression, and more, offering advanced features aimed at rivalling filesystems like Btrfs or ZFS.

Manjaro has pushed the first stable-branch update in the upcoming “Anh-Linh” cycle, serving as a preview of the 25.1 release and introducing major changes to the desktop, kernel, and system components. However, the team is issuing a warning to users: do not update yet.

Catch up on the latest Linux news: Kernel 6.18, Alpine 3.23, NVIDIA Display Driver v590 Beta, VLC 3.0.22, When Linus met Linus, Linux Mint 22.3 nears release, Jolla Linux phone, and more.

Beyond technical improvements, Linux Kernel 6.19 will also deliver something that, oddly enough, can be seen from a more aesthetic point of view. And more specifically, it is set to introduce a new Terminus 10×18 console bitmap font, offering a clearer, more balanced option for users who rely on text-mode consoles.

Arch Linux’s pkgstats data provides one of the few large-scale, opt-in snapshots of how real users configure their systems. While not a perfect census (participation is voluntary), the long-running dataset offers a clear picture of how desktop environment and window managers’ preferences have shifted across more than a decade.

KDE developers continue preparing Plasma 6.6, and although there are still over two months to go before the final stable release (scheduled for February 17, 2026), the team posts weekly updates on the KDE Blogs about what changes to expect from this version. After covering some of them last week, we now have a new batch to look at.

GParted Live 1.7.0-12 arrives as a new stable update of the popular Debian-based live environment for disk partitioning, delivering GParted 1.7 alongside refreshed system components.

Mitchell Hashimoto, one of the founders of HashiCorp and lead developer behind Ghostty, a GPU-accelerated open-source terminal emulator launched in 2023, announced that the app has formally become a non-profit project through fiscal sponsorship by Hack Club, a registered 501(c)(3) organization.

MinIO, the widely used high-performance, S3-compatible object storage system for cloud-native applications with millions of deployments worldwide, is about to reach the end of its life cycle. But the way this shift has unfolded has left many in the open-source community raising their eyebrows. Here’s the background.

After launching Gemini 17 Gen3 in September 2024, TUXEDO has now introduced the next generation of their powerful Linux laptop line, Gemini 17 Gen4 INTEL, a new 17-inch Linux notebook positioned as an affordable desktop replacement.

Linus Torvalds doesn’t usually seek the spotlight, so it was a pleasant surprise to see him appear a few days ago as a guest on another well-known Linus’s show—Canadian YouTube star Linus Sebastian from the Linus Tech Tips (LTT) channel.

Audacity, a free, cross-platform open-source audio editing and recording software used by hobbyists, podcasters, musicians, and professionals alike, just released version 3.7.6.

Less than two weeks after the November release, Raspberry Pi OS received its December update with a collection of usability improvements, desktop refinements, and important stability fixes.

Alpine, a lightweight, musl-based and systemd-free (OpenRC is the default init system) Linux distribution, has just released version 3.23 as the distro moves to the brand-new Linux kernel 6.18, which was promoted to an LTS release today.

AlmaLinux, an enterprise Linux distribution, is widely used as a free and reliable alternative to RHEL for server workloads. Now, somewhat unexpectedly, it’s also aiming to broaden its reach on the desktop—specifically in the multimedia and film-industry content-creation niche.

After AlmaLinux 9.7 appeared two weeks ago, followed by Oracle Linux 9.7, the Rocky team now announced the general availability of Rocky Linux 9.7 (Blue Onyx), as the seventh refresh to the 9.x series for this RHEL-based replacement, with refreshed installation media, cloud, container, WSL, and live images now available via the project’s downloads page.

The Mint team has just released its regular monthly newsletter. This time, we have some exciting updates to share with you: the project has outlined the final steps toward the release of Linux Mint 22.3, codenamed “Zena,” the third refresh in the 22.x series following 22.1 “Xia” and 22.2 “Zara” releases.

TLP, an advanced command-line power-management tool for Linux that improves battery life and optimizes system power usage, released v1.9, focusing on enhanced power-saving capabilities, more flexible profile switching, and stronger battery-care support across a wider range of hardware.

ONLYOFFICE Docs 9.2, an open-source and self-hosted office suite for documents, spreadsheets, presentations, fillable forms, PDFs, and diagrams, has officially landed. The update centers on AI-powered writing assistance, new personalization tools, more robust PDF editing, and clearer form creation features.

Linux kernel 6.18 brings expanded architecture support, BPF updates, new namespace file-handle features, and wide-ranging hardware enablement across CPUs, GPUs, and sensors.

KaOS, a rolling KDE-centric Linux distribution that uses the Pacman package manager and bets on the XFS file system, has released its November 2025 installation image, marking the first step toward adopting the Limine bootloader, now offered as an optional choice for UEFI installations via Calamares.

Six months after the previous 25.05 “Warbler” release, the new stable version, NixOS 25.05 “Xantusia,” is officially here. Targeted at advanced users and developers, NixOS bets on an immutable design and an atomic update model, emphasizing reproducibility and reliability with the Nix package manager.

Archinstall, a guided, user-friendly TUI installer for Arch Linux with a menu-driven setup that provides a semi-automated alternative to the traditional manual Arch installation process, has just rolled out version 3.0.14.

Ubuntu’s roadmap for the upcoming Ubuntu 26.04 LTS “Resolute Raccoon” (scheduled for release on April 23, 2026) has been published, revealing some interesting details.

Three months after its previous 25.08 release, Niri, a Wayland compositor known for its scrollable-tiling layout, where windows are arranged in columns on an infinite strip, rolls out a new 25.11 version, bringing many improvements.

Eight months after the previous Mercury Neo release, the Arch-based EndeavourOS rolls out its long-awaited Ganymede ISO refresh, introducing the first major update to the live environment and offline installer in quite some time. The developers say the long gap between releases isn’t a sign of trouble, and that the project is doing just fine.

Over a month after its previous August update, and after topping DistroWatch’s rankings, the Arch-based performance-focused CachyOS has released its seventh refreshed ISO snapshot for the year, powered by Linux kernel 6.17.

Ten months after the previous 4.7 “Endurance” release, the Solus team announced the immediate availability of Solus 4.8, codenamed “Opportunity,” which delivers a wide range of system updates, desktop improvements, and infrastructure changes across all editions, along with a completely redesigned website.

Collabora Productivity has announced the release of the first desktop version of its Collabora Office, bringing the full Collabora Online interface to Linux, Windows, and macOS as a native application.

As we informed you early this year, Google was open-sourcing the code for Pebble watches, making about 95% of the software available to the community. The last 5%—the mobile app—remained closed. That’s now changed with the announcement of Eric Migicovsky, the founder of Pebble and the person leading its 2025 relaunch under his new company, Core Devices.

Oracle Linux 9.7 is now globally available, continuing Oracle’s alignment with Red Hat Enterprise Linux by maintaining full application binary compatibility while offering its own enhancements through the Unbreakable Enterprise Kernel.

After a long development cycle, AV Linux 25 and MX Moksha 25 are now available, bringing two distinct approaches to the Enlightenment ecosystem.

Whonix 18.0 is now available as a major release upgrade. However, if you haven’t heard of it, let me start with a brief introduction.

Whonix 18.0 is now available as a major release upgrade. However, if you haven’t heard of it, let me start with a brief introduction.

Zorin OS 18 arrived, hitting 1M downloads in just one month. It’s packed with new features and improvements, so many users are already itching to make the jump to the latest stable release of this user-friendly, visually appealing Linux distro. If that’s you, you’re in the right place.

Over a year after the 3.5 release, Tmux 3.6, a terminal multiplexer that lets you split your terminal into panes, manage multiple sessions, and keep them running in the background, is now available, bringing a wide range of improvements and a few standout additions.

Only a month after the previous 42 release, Ultramarine Linux 43 is now out, powered by kernel 6.17 and based on Fedora 43. Developed by Fyra Labs, the distro bets on the Btrfs filesystem under the hood, and it is now beginning with the retirement of Ultramarine’s long-standing “Flagship” designation.

The GNOME Project has officially released GNOME 48.7, a maintenance update for the old-stable GNOME 48 desktop environment series, describing it as a “boring bug-fix update”.

Zypper is a command-line package manager (similar to APT for DEB-based systems or DNF for RPM-based ones) used in openSUSE, SUSE Linux Enterprise, and their derivatives. It provides users with a fast and flexible way to install, update, remove, and manage software packages and repositories, giving you full control over your system’s software environment.

Welcome to the 47th week of Linuxiac’s 2025 Weekly Roundup — your go-to source for all things Linux & Open Source. Here’s a look at the biggest Linux and FOSS highlights from the past week (Nov 17 – 23).

https://github.com/iDescriptor/iDescriptor

https://github.com/iDescriptor/iDescriptor

iDescriptor is a brand-new app that introduces a new way for Linux users to manage iPhones without relying on macOS or iTunes, something that the Linux ecosystem has always lacked.

Ethan Sholly, the driving force behind selfh.st, one of the most recognized communities uniting self-hosting enthusiasts, has published the latest results of his annual survey on the community’s preferences, collecting 4,081 responses from self-hosting practitioners worldwide.

Bottles, an open-source software tool built on top of Wine that helps users run Windows applications and games on Linux systems by providing a user-friendly GUI, has just released its latest version, 60.0.

The popular open-source e-book management tool, Calibre, has just released version 8.15, bringing improvements in the Comments editor, bug fixes, and updates to its news-source catalog.

Zorin OS 18 was released on October 14. Just 48 hours later, the team announced it had already been downloaded 100K times. Now, a month later, they’re reporting an even bigger milestone: Zorin OS 18 has surpassed 1M downloads in its first month.

The team behind vkd3d has announced the release of version 1.18. Developed and maintained by the Wine project, it’s an open-source library that translates Microsoft’s Direct3D graphics calls to Vulkan, thus allowing Windows applications and games that use Direct3D 12 to run on systems where only Vulkan is available.

The team behind vkd3d has announced the release of version 1.18. Developed and maintained by the Wine project, it’s an open-source library that translates Microsoft’s Direct3D graphics calls to Vulkan, thus allowing Windows applications and games that use Direct3D 12 to run on systems where only Vulkan is available.

ClamAV, a widely adopted free and open-source antivirus software developed by Cisco Talos, will undergo a substantial cleanup of its signature databases in December, marking its largest reduction effort since the project began more than two decades ago.

Systemd 259 is just around the corner, and the recently released RC1 gives us a clear look at what to expect in the final version of this Linux’s most widely used init system and service manager.

Phosh 0.51.0 is now available, bringing a set of functional improvements to this GNOME-based mobile shell used across many Linux phones.

GIMP 3.2 RC1 is now available in the development branch, introducing a broad set of improvements across the core, tools, plug-ins, user interface, and developer APIs, giving a clear picture of what we can expect in the final stable 3.2 version.

Apple builds excellent products used by hundreds of millions of people, and when it comes to AirPods, one thing has consistently fallen short for Linux users: they’re still hard to use on this platform, with features heavily limited.

Three months after its previous 2.51 release, Git, a distributed version control system and cornerstone in software development, helping developers efficiently manage changes in their code across projects, has just released its new 2.52 version.

NetworkManager, a system service and set of tools for managing network connections, widely adopted by most Linux distributions, is rolling out version 1.54.2 today as the second maintenance update to the 1.54 series.

Traefik, a well-known name in cloud-native open-source proxies, released version 3.6, “Ramequin,” bringing together three major additions, with the multi-layer routing support being the most significant one.

Catch up on the latest Linux news: Debian 13.2, RHEL 10.1, Nitrux 5.0, Wine 10.19, Plasma 6.4.6, Docker 29, Proton 10.0, Canonical expands the LTS support to 15 years, and more.

Nearly a month after the 9.18 release, DietPi, a lightweight, performance-focused Debian-based Linux distro for SBCs (such as Raspberry Pi) and server systems (with an option to install desktop environments), has just unveiled its latest iteration, version 9.19.