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1 • firewall (by DaveW on 2021-03-15 00:04:28 GMT from United States)
My daily driver is Linux Mint, where the default firewall is gufw, but I have never implemented it.
2 • iptables (by MikeOh Shark on 2021-03-15 00:12:52 GMT from Netherlands)
I use iptables partly because everytime I needed help, 99 per cent of the replies were examples with iptables. I looked into nftables and tried their conversion script but last I checked they did not have a suitable equivalent to ipsets. I have several ipsets and nftables is not nearly as clean as iptables for my uses.
Jesse nailed this one (as always). There is no compelling use case for most of us.
3 • Pf (by ThatChris on 2021-03-15 00:25:04 GMT from United States)
I used OpenBSD and pf.
4 • ufw and shorewall (by Anonymous on 2021-03-15 00:32:30 GMT from United States)
In the poll you didn't mention ufw/gufw, it's installed by default on Ubuntu. Now (g)ufw is a frontend to iptables. So maybe users of (g)ufw should select 'iptables' instead of 'other' :)
Also didn't see shorewall on the poll, it's PCLinuxOS's default firewall in their control center.
Now if anyone runs shorewall I'm curious of your experience, what pros/cons does it have compared to other firewalls?
5 • Solus, GUI "Software Centers", and CLI's (by brad on 2021-03-15 00:50:55 GMT from United States)
Question - does Solus offer a CLI for software updating?
The reason I ask this question, is because (for me only?) I find GUI "Software Centers" on many distributions to be slow, buggy, and unreliable, whereas the CLI for these distributions work quickly, accurately, and without incident.
How do others feel?
6 • Solus (by anon on 2021-03-15 01:08:28 GMT from United States)
@5; I think that you can just "eopkg install" software from the command line. I haven't use Solus since 2016, so I could be wrong. I agree with you on using the CLI, though. Quick, reliable, and straight to the point with no fancy bells and whistles, and no unnecessary bugs or crashes.
7 • @6 - eopkg (by brad on 2021-03-15 01:48:20 GMT from United States)
Just checked - when you go to the "Help Center" in the Solus website, eopkg is the first option mentioned.
I still have trouble understanding why folks don't use the CLI more often.
8 • Solus and software management (by eco2geek on 2021-03-15 01:50:07 GMT from United States)
@5 - Yes, Solus has CLI tools for software management. If you look around on the Solus website, it's pretty easy to find out all about Solus' CLI package management tools. (Hint: look in the Help Center.) If you look around on Distrowatch, it's pretty easy to find a brief synopsis of Solus' (and many other distros') CLI package management tools, too. (Hint: Look in the Packages menu.)
I like Debian and Debian-based distros, so I don't have any experience with Solus. I started using Debian when Synaptic was the only graphical software manager available (it lacks a lot of the flash of software "stores" but offers more functionality), and a lot of people recommended using the command line, so that's what I still do - use a combination of Synaptic and the command line.
I'm sure Ubuntu's software store is fine, so is Mint's, and the ones developed by desktop environments (e.g. Plasma Discover, Gnome Software) are fine too, but I just never got into the habit of using them.
9 • shorewall (by Cranky on 2021-03-15 04:11:54 GMT from United States)
I think shorewall is available on most linux systems. My impression is its a really solid firewall. Although I have used it occasionally, I don't use it full time.
shorewall, I believe, is a front end to iptables. It has its own syntax, so you don't have to learn iptables to get a secure firewall by default. So its sort of a step away from iptables.
When I set up my firewall, I had the choice of learning shorewall (or several other front ends), or learning iptables directly. Since I had some learning to do either way, I chose the latter. Its "closer" to linux, if you will, and if I ever install a distro which does not have shorewall in the repos, I still have a firewall. Kinda like that thing where its good to learn emacs, but if you ever walk up to a system that doesn't have it, you better know vi.
10 • firewall (by nsp0323 on 2021-03-15 05:18:16 GMT from Sweden)
I use NetBSD and npf, so I voted other.
11 • FirewallD (by Microlinux on 2021-03-15 05:23:19 GMT from France)
I'm using FirewallD, which is the default on Oracle Linux. I voted other, but I was surprised not to find it in the list, since it's the default firewall system in RHEL and all its derivatives.
12 • Firewall (by kc1di on 2021-03-15 08:04:16 GMT from United States)
I use GUFW - surprised it was not in the list so voted other.
13 • @5 - Solus, updating by CLI (by Hoos on 2021-03-15 08:06:10 GMT from Singapore)
I have been clearing package caches and installing upgrades in Solus using eopkg for years:
sudo eopkg dc
sudo eopkg up
I use the Software Centre only for one-off installs/removal of specific packages.
For third party apps, I start first with this page:
https://getsol.us/articles/software/third-party/en/
which again provides CLI instructions.
I seem to remember that the 3rd party software portion of their Software Centre may not be working well.
14 • SoftwareCenter (by lupus on 2021-03-15 09:16:43 GMT from Germany)
The only "Software Centre" I completely trust is Synaptic. It never let me down, never locked up, reliably sailed the seas of dependency hell and is rock solid. Even Ubuntus and Mints Centers didn't work that reliably. As an on and off Arch user I must say the AUR is another beast entirely. I can see why people like the AUR, it's great. For the time coming I'm not to much into bleeding myself but when I decide to hop again I think it will be Arch again! ;)
15 • cli package manager (by Tim on 2021-03-15 10:15:26 GMT from United States)
@5
This is exactly how I think. Apt, dnf, even pacman, the syntax is pretty simple. I can’t think of a reason to use a software store, even on Mint or Ubuntu.
A big ally in the apt world is the Debian package archive. Once you know the software you want a quick google search “ debian package” will give you a hit from that archive and now you know what to tell apt to install on any Debian derivative
16 • Firewall poll options (by Jesse on 2021-03-15 11:18:02 GMT from Canada)
A few people have asked why some firewall tools like ufw or firewalld aren't mentioned in the opinion poll on packet filters. This is because those aren't firewalls, they're just graphical front-ends to the tools mentioned in the poll.
It would be like if we ran a poll asking if your distro uses rpm, deb, or pacman and had people asking why we didn't include DNF, APT, or Pamac. The latter options are just graphical tools for managing the former.
17 • iptables/nftables and the “reinventing the wheel” mania (by Daniel on 2021-03-15 11:57:04 GMT from Brazil)
@2 your case brings a perfect scenario on why some things in the free/open source community undermines the outreach of distros.
Users suddenly face new but feature incomplete/buggy versions of other equivalent (old but reliable) software: nftables, wayland, systemd, and others have been sent to the wilds with such a number of bugs and without implementing many basic features, just to replace software that simply worked. Just because someone had a brilliant idea like “let’s retire old software instead of solving current bugs or implementing new features on working stuff”.
Mostly developers and die hard fans *may* be patient enough to keep dealing with this craze. Dedoimedo has many articles about this “reinventing the wheel” that should become a new manifesto for the community.
Those who still haven’t taken a look, do yourselves a favor and read his last article on wayland (“Let's talk about Wayland ... “) and related texts of his.
18 • @5 brad: (by dragonmouth on 2021-03-15 13:27:50 GMT from United States)
"I find GUI "Software Centers" on many distributions to be slow, buggy, and unreliable, whereas the CLI for these distributions work quickly, accurately, and without incident."
It all depends what you are used to. For over 10 years I have been running Debian-based distros and Synaptic. In all that time Synaptic never had a burp or a hiccup. I find CLI package managers to be esoteric, byzantine and unintuitive. I suppose that if for those 10 years I had been using CLI exclusively, by now I'd be as comfortable and sanguine about it as you are. Even rocket science or neurosurgery are "simple" if you learned them. :-)
I do agree with you on the various "Software Centers". While presenting a pretty "modern" interface, they are slow, buggy and unreliable, while lacking the overall convenience of Synaptic.
19 • @5 brad: (by dragonmouth on 2021-03-15 13:27:50 GMT from United States)
"I find GUI "Software Centers" on many distributions to be slow, buggy, and unreliable, whereas the CLI for these distributions work quickly, accurately, and without incident."
It all depends what you are used to. For over 10 years I have been running Debian-based distros and Synaptic. In all that time Synaptic never had a burp or a hiccup. I find CLI package managers to be esoteric, byzantine and unintuitive. I suppose that if for those 10 years I had been using CLI exclusively, by now I'd be as comfortable and sanguine about it as you are. Even rocket science or neurosurgery are "simple" if you learned them. :-)
I do agree with you on the various "Software Centers". While presenting a pretty "modern" interface, they are slow, buggy and unreliable, while lacking the overall convenience of Synaptic.
20 • Solus (by Ankleface Wroughlandmire on 2021-03-15 15:00:39 GMT from Ecuador)
Budgie actually has two settings/control centres: the one from Gnome that Jesse found, and another more limited one for settings specific to the Budgie desktop and its panels and applets.
Regarding Solus in general, I like a lot of things that they are doing on a technical level. But unfortunately one of their lead developers tends to be rude and passive-aggressive, which totally turns me off and ruins the experience. I just don't like dealing with people like that, especially if I need support for something as important as an issue with my operating system. If Solus were the only Linux distro available I would bite the bullet and use it, but fortunately there are other options.
21 • firewall (by Carson on 2021-03-15 15:28:34 GMT from Canada)
I have no idea what firewall I use. I use a mix of ubuntu and elementary, so I use whatever firewall they use if they even do.
22 • firewalls are only part of the solution (by nanome on 2021-03-15 17:44:02 GMT from United Kingdom)
I have used a firewall consisting of iptables rules [simple script] for over 25 years. The firewall built into many broadband routers is better than nothing. Alternatively, [g]ufw that comes with most distros is OK. The reason that I use a custom iptables firewall is that I want to limit unsolicited outgoing and incoming network traffic. Outgoing traffic is seldom restricted by a router or [g]ufw etc.
The most dangerous route into a computer is by the web browser running javascript. If a web site gets hacked, there is little way to protect against any rogue scripts that get inserted into web pages [other than browser extensions like UBlockOrigin, Noscript etc]. Modern web browsers should prevent this happening, but I am not sure they are very successful.
Running the web browser in a container or jail [eg Bubblewrap [bwrap], Firejail] can limit the damage rogue web sites can do.
Unfortunately, malware such as Spectre and Meltdown require measures implemented by the Linux kernel: a good reason to install security updates, even if you want your distro to have long-term stability [if it works, leave alone].
23 • Software centers (by Cheker on 2021-03-15 17:46:08 GMT from Portugal)
My experience with software centers in Linux has never been good, they're always either slow or flat out don't do anything. I usually stick to the CLI, and the farthest I go graphically is Synaptic or Octopi.
24 • CLI (by Tad G on 2021-03-15 18:15:44 GMT from Canada)
I think that the reason why I stuck with Debian derivatives for years was because no bright spark out there thought that maybe, just maybe, it would make sense to have a standard syntax for cli package installers. I only needed to remember apt stuff.
How many different ways do you need to say Install this, refresh the database, remove that, search for something else, patch my system? "Yes", apparently....
25 • firewalls (by Mike C on 2021-03-15 20:14:52 GMT from United States)
The Uncomplicated Firewall (ufw) is a front end for iptables. gufw is the graphical front end for ufw. Therefore, I use iptables.
26 • gufw and distros (by smiler on 2021-03-15 21:15:51 GMT from New Zealand)
I enabled the firewall in Mint, gufw. Therefore after reading which option it actually is under the hood, I voted for iptables. So simple - click and forget. Warpinator asked to add entries which it did by itself - smooth. Also my browser, firefox, has noScript and uBlock in place. The internet has really become a hostile environment.
Solus - great review. I ran it for a bit some years back, before Budgie became an official DE choice in Ubuntu. I still test new releases of it as its cute and well constructed, but darn slow on updates as they have their lone repo - unlike the bigger players that mirror around the planet.
Ubuntu - here we go again with dubious choices. This time they're playing into Google's hands with the toolset. Methinks Mint may want to dust off that Debian direct plan again and make LMDE slicker as it always feels way behind the main distro.
27 • Firewall front-end software (by David Carter on 2021-03-16 00:45:56 GMT from United States)
FirewallD is front-end for other low-level software -- it can be a front-end for iptables or for nftables. Ditto ufw. gufw is a front-end for ufw., etc. Maybe the poll should have been about front-ends for firewall software...
28 • firewall used on EL8? (by Scott Dowdle on 2021-03-16 07:00:26 GMT from United States)
Here's some documentation for managing the firewall on RHEL 8:
https://access.redhat.com/documentation/en-us/red_hat_enterprise_linux/8/html/securing_networks/using-and-configuring-firewalld_securing-networks
Please note that Red Hat has provided firewalld as a front-end for firewall management starting with RHEL7. firewalld acts as an abstraction layer on top of iptables and nftables... so they can easy change what is used underneath without the firewall-cmd interface having to change.
The documentation mentioned above make it clear that nftables is the preferred tool and that if you do want to use iptables, it actually uses an nf_tables kernel api instead of the legacy back end.
In summary, RHEL8 does use nftables... so the question was in error and the answer about it being so hard to switch in enterprise environments without little benefit really doesn't come into play. If you use the firewalld frontend, it really hasn't changed much even though the backend has changed between RHEL7 and RHEL8
29 • Solus (by mechanic on 2021-03-16 11:59:05 GMT from United Kingdom)
But what's the point? Is it better with guest-utilities? Can we print from a virtual Solus machine? Does it cater for people with visual disability (as well as Windows does)?
30 • Shorewall - FirewallD (by Moxero - Mageia on 2021-03-16 12:36:12 GMT from Germany)
I use Mageia Linux primarily both at home and work. I have also several servers built upon Mageia.
By default Mageia comes with Shorewall, which I find pretty good, even though IPv4 is basically supported by Mageia tools, one can easily manage to configure Shorewall6.
I personally tend to switch to FirewallD, which is also available in Mageia. I find FirewallD more intuitive and less complicated.
Now I am trying to use nftables, but as mentioned by others, still there are some issues especially with direct rules and libvirt. This is my personal experience.
31 • Use a real firewall (by Robert McConnell on 2021-03-16 13:29:03 GMT from United States)
Rather than using packet filters, which I don't believe is realistic, I have a real firewall between my home network and the cable modem. Basically a used dual-port PC running OPNsense, it creates a more effective barrier between the two dozen or so devices we have, and the rest of the world. That collection includes three NAS boxes, a Playstation, a Wii, three printers and several tablets, none of which are capable of running any sort of effective firewall. Just the thought of having to maintain filter rules on all of my servers and workstations gives me nightmares.
32 • Terminology matters (by mikef90000 on 2021-03-16 19:50:32 GMT from United States)
It is important to distinguish between GUI 'software managers' and GUI package managers.
I agree that the former are often slow, buggy and hard to use for finding non-GUI programs and dependencies.
OTOH I use synaptic often because GUIs can do some tasks better than command line utilities and vice versa - they are complimentary.
The only comparible experience I have to synaptic is yumex, which always seemed slow and quirky. So far a vital reason to stay in the Debian/apt ecosystem.
33 • re: Use a real firewall (by nanome on 2021-03-16 20:15:46 GMT from United Kingdom)
@31: "Use a real firewall". OPNsense is a HardenedBSD "distro" that runs on a dedicated 2-port computer that sits between the Modem and the protected computers. It runs a Firewall [BSD flavour], amongst other things.
I guess that a spare single port computer with a USB-RJ11 adaptor could be used here. Would this intermediate computer run from a read-only device or partition? Otherwise, how would it be defended from malware and interference?
Still, I can see the attraction of this OPNsense type of defence in front of the Modem/Router.
34 • (G)UFW -> IPtables (by A.Luc on 2021-03-16 23:30:44 GMT from France)
I voted IPtables because Wikipedia explains UFW (thus GUFW) uses IPtables.
I use Ubuntu and actually duly configure my firewall settings through GUFW.
35 • (G)UFW -> IPtables (2) (by A.Luc on 2021-03-16 23:41:17 GMT from France)
I hadnot seen thoses previous comments (#4, #25...) that concur with the fact that UFW indeed relies on IPtables.
36 • Package management software (by A.Luc on 2021-03-17 00:09:59 GMT from France)
I depend on Synaptic mostly. Sometimes on APT or Aptitude when i work in a shell.
I rarely open GNOME Software because, on Ubuntu, Snap fatware is mixed with Deb package, and you have to be careful the package isnot a Snap fatware.
So far my policy is : let me not use snaps unless there is no Deb package for the piece of software i want. And everything i need comes through Deb package, except the mandatory stuff Ubuntu crapily migrated to Snap (a reason why i consider swapping to another Debian-based distro).
I also have a Manjaro box i use occasionnally, and consequently use Pamac and Pacman in the same conditions. But i havenot activated AUR, just default Manjaro repositories.
So far, Ubuntu updates for years (Ubuntu, then Ubuntu GNOME Remix -> Ubuntu) have proven more reliable than Manjaro's in 2 1/2 years time, which are yet good enough (considering i had nightmares with broken RedHat updates in the past and refuse to use a RPM-based system anymore).
Incidently : I swapped to the community Ubuntu GNOME Remix while Ubuntu shipped with Unity. I hated the way the Unity shell managed software categories and it was definitely too heavy on resources on my old 2001 Pentium 4 792MB laptop (the animation displayed one screen per second - seemingly Unity didnot use graphic acceleration on my old Radeon chipset). Some snear at GNOME 3 because it embed JavaScript, but at least it ressorts to graphic acceleration and was usable on this old machine (Firefox, was too much yet so i had also a more modern laptop...). When using GNOME 3, i always enable the Application Menu and Places Menu extensions, because i hate loosing time looking for an application in a single unclassified heap.
37 • Firewall (by john on 2021-03-17 01:13:01 GMT from Canada)
When I took the poll, I was a bit surprised the # 1 (barely) response is "No Firewall". I use a firewall on my systems even when I am behind a router. Since most people's routers are supplied by their ISP, I would nervous about not have one active.
38 • firewall (by haha on 2021-03-17 07:00:38 GMT from United States)
Lazy man's firewall is a 2900 baud modem.
39 • rust/coreutils (by haha on 2021-03-17 07:04:40 GMT from United States)
Whats advantage of writing coreutils in debian in rust vs say D lang? It'd be interesting to put up such a parallel project, see who comes out on top. Though ive got other things to do.
40 • Linux security (by whoKnows on 2021-03-17 08:39:33 GMT from Switzerland)
22 • firewalls are only part of the solution (by nanome from United Kingdom)
Unfortunately, malware such as Spectre and Meltdown require measures implemented by the Linux kernel: a good reason to install security updates, even if you want your distro to have long-term stability [if it works, leave alone].
“If you want your distro to have long-term [security and] stability”, you'll probably want to avoid Linux in the first place.
Security holes open for years, end user software written by hobbyists ...
Even the security in Linux depends on so much hated “big players” ... Google finds out the issue, which Microsoft is patching or Oracle rewriting ... kind of.
https://www.heise.de/news/GitHub-Report-Schwachstellen-in-Open-Source-bleiben-jahrelang-unentdeckt-4980891.html
https://www.heise.de/tipps-tricks/Ist-Open-Source-Software-wirklich-sicherer-3929357.html
41 • firewall (by hulondalo on 2021-03-17 10:18:05 GMT from Indonesia)
to firewall is better than to not firewall.
i had to block an entire google clouds ip block cause somebody persistently tried to spam me with their crypto scam and /etc/hosts just couldn't do it. using ad/script blocker is not an option cause i still need to allow ads. sorry google.
42 • solus (by nicu on 2021-03-17 18:19:00 GMT from Moldova)
Solus is a nice distro, but it reinvents a lot of things from scratch,
1st of all it has a crappy installer, why not just use calamares instead of creating an installer with a lot of functionality missing.
Installer hangs, it doesn't see existing HDD partitions every 2nd run, when you choose manual partitioning,
Also it doesn't work with uefi secure mode,
And it cannot format anything except EXT4.
So why bother updating it, if there is already calamares there.
2nd: its UI package manager hangs a lot too...., If you didn't update for a lot of time, command line is the only option.
43 • All different, but same ... (by whoKnows on 2021-03-17 18:38:43 GMT from Switzerland)
@42 • solus (by nicu from Moldova)
Kinda same stuff, wherever you look. Even if the Solus would be the first Linux ever that almost works, already EOPKG is a reason enough to let it rest in peace.
I don't really understand EXACTLY WHY everybody likes to bring something “all new AND broken” and let it out on the people ...
OpenMandriva LX 4.2 ...
Installation into VirtualBox went without a hitch, but it doesn't auto mount the shared folder.
The first thing that one gets to see on the desktop is the word “official” on the wallpaper, that does not align to anything. Worse, it's Win Vista style doesn't match the rest, which is “flat” design. Welcome page is hard-coded and doesn't scale properly.
The default theme uses too many transparencies and is easily switchable to several presets, all of which are either just wrong (Mac), even worse than that (Win10) or absolutely wrong (Ubuntu).
Bad default set of software (Falkon browser??), no replacement (Firefox in OM is still on 85.0.1!), broken updater (exactly one update since release, FF 3 versions behind!)...
Probably all fixable, but bother if one can get something (Mageia e.g.) that does it all better?
In summary: Perfectly broken in every detail ...
Number of Comments: 43
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| Archives |
| • Issue 1156 (2026-01-19): Chimera Linux's new installer, using the DistroWatch Torrent Corner, new package tools for Arch, Haiku improves EFI support, Redcore streamlines branches, Synex introduces install-time ZFS options |
| • Issue 1155 (2026-01-12): MenuetOS, CDE on Sparky, iDeal OS 2025.12.07, recommended flavour of BSD, Debian seeks new Data Protection Team, Ubuntu 25.04 nears its end of life, Google limits Android source code releases, Fedora plans to replace SDDM, Budgie migrates to Wayland |
| • Issue 1154 (2026-01-05): postmarketOS 25.06/25.12, switching to Linux and educational resources, FreeBSD improving laptop support, Unix v4 available for download, new X11 server in development, CachyOS team plans server edtion |
| • Issue 1153 (2025-12-22): Best projects of 2025, is software ever truly finished?, Firefox to adopt AI components, Asahi works on improving the install experience, Mageia presents plans for version 10 |
| • Issue 1152 (2025-12-15): OpenBSD 7.8, filtering websites, Jolla working on a Linux phone, Germany saves money with Linux, Ubuntu to package AMD tools, Fedora demonstrates AI troubleshooting, Haiku packages Go language |
| • Issue 1151 (2025-12-08): FreeBSD 15.0, fun command line tricks, Canonical presents plans for Ubutnu 26.04, SparkyLinux updates CDE packages, Redox OS gets modesetting driver |
| • Issue 1150 (2025-12-01): Gnoppix 25_10, exploring if distributions matter, openSUSE updates tumbleweed's boot loader, Fedora plans better handling of broken packages, Plasma to become Wayland-only, FreeBSD publishes status report |
| • Issue 1149 (2025-11-24): MX Linux 25, why are video drivers special, systemd experiments with musl, Debian Libre Live publishes new media, Xubuntu reviews website hack |
| • Issue 1148 (2025-11-17): Zorin OS 18, deleting a file with an unusual name, NetBSD experiments with sandboxing, postmarketOS unifies its documentation, OpenBSD refines upgrades, Canonical offers 15 years of support for Ubuntu |
| • Issue 1147 (2025-11-10): Fedora 43, the size and stability of the Linux kernel, Debian introducing Rust to APT, Redox ports web engine, Kubuntu website off-line, Mint creates new troubleshooting tools, FreeBSD improves reproducible builds, Flatpak development resumes |
| • Issue 1146 (2025-11-03): StartOS 0.4.0, testing piped commands, Ubuntu Unity seeks help, Canonical offers Ubuntu credentials, Red Hat partners with NVIDIA, SUSE to bundle AI agent with SLE 16 |
| • Issue 1145 (2025-10-27): Linux Mint 7 "LMDE", advice for new Linux users, AlmaLinux to offer Btrfs, KDE launches Plasma 6.5, Fedora accepts contributions written by AI, Ubuntu 25.10 fails to install automatic updates |
| • Issue 1144 (2025-10-20): Kubuntu 25.10, creating and restoring encrypted backups, Fedora team debates AI, FSF plans free software for phones, ReactOS addresses newer drivers, Xubuntu reacts to website attack |
| • Issue 1143 (2025-10-13): openSUSE 16.0 Leap, safest source for new applications, Redox introduces performance improvements, TrueNAS Connect available for testing, Flatpaks do not work on Ubuntu 25.10, Kamarada plans to switch its base, Solus enters new epoch, Frugalware discontinued |
| • Issue 1142 (2025-10-06): Linux Kamarada 15.6, managing ZIP files with SQLite, F-Droid warns of impact of Android lockdown, Alpine moves ahead with merged /usr, Cinnamon gets a redesigned application menu |
| • Issue 1141 (2025-09-29): KDE Linux and GNOME OS, finding mobile flavours of Linux, Murena to offer phones with kill switches, Redox OS running on a smartphone, Artix drops GNOME |
| • Issue 1140 (2025-09-22): NetBSD 10.1, avoiding AI services, AlmaLinux enables CRB repository, Haiku improves disk access performance, Mageia addresses service outage, GNOME 49 released, Linux introduces multikernel support |
| • Issue 1139 (2025-09-15): EasyOS 7.0, Linux and central authority, FreeBSD running Plasma 6 on Wayland, GNOME restores X11 support temporarily, openSUSE dropping BCacheFS in new kernels |
| • Issue 1138 (2025-09-08): Shebang 25.8, LibreELEC 12.2.0, Debian GNU/Hurd 2025, the importance of software updates, AerynOS introduces package sets, postmarketOS encourages patching upstream, openSUSE extends Leap support, Debian refreshes Trixie media |
| • Issue 1137 (2025-09-01): Tribblix 0m37, malware scanners flagging Linux ISO files, KDE introduces first-run setup wizard, CalyxOS plans update prior to infrastructure overhaul, FreeBSD publishes status report |
| • Issue 1136 (2025-08-25): CalyxOS 6.8.20, distros for running containers, Arch Linux website under attack,illumos Cafe launched, CachyOS creates web dashboard for repositories |
| • Issue 1135 (2025-08-18): Debian 13, Proton, WINE, Wayland, and Wayback, Debian GNU/Hurd 2025, KDE gets advanced Liquid Glass, Haiku improves authentication tools |
| • Issue 1134 (2025-08-11): Rhino Linux 2025.3, thoughts on malware in the AUR, Fedora brings hammered websites back on-line, NetBSD reveals features for version 11, Ubuntu swaps some command line tools for 25.10, AlmaLinux improves NVIDIA support |
| • Issue 1133 (2025-08-04): Expirion Linux 6.0, running Plasma on Linux Mint, finding distros which support X11, Debian addresses 22 year old bug, FreeBSD discusses potential issues with pkgbase, CDE ported to OpenBSD, Btrfs corruption bug hitting Fedora users, more malware found in Arch User Repository |
| • Issue 1132 (2025-07-28): deepin 25, wars in the open source community, proposal to have Fedora enable Flathub repository, FreeBSD plans desktop install option, Wayback gets its first release |
| • Issue 1131 (2025-07-21): HeliumOS 10.0, settling on one distro, Mint plans new releases, Arch discovers malware in AUR, Plasma Bigscreen returns, Clear Linux discontinued |
| • Issue 1130 (2025-07-14): openSUSE MicroOS and RefreshOS, sharing aliases between computers, Bazzite makes Bazaar its default Flatpak store, Alpine plans Wayback release, Wayland and X11 benchmarked, Red Hat offers additional developer licenses, openSUSE seeks feedback from ARM users, Ubuntu 24.10 reaches the end of its life |
| • Issue 1129 (2025-07-07): GLF OS Omnislash, the worst Linux distro, Alpine introduces Wayback, Fedora drops plans to stop i686 support, AlmaLinux builds EPEL repository for older CPUs, Ubuntu dropping existing RISC-V device support, Rhino partners with UBports, PCLinuxOS recovering from website outage |
| • Issue 1128 (2025-06-30): AxOS 25.06, AlmaLinux OS 10.0, transferring Flaptak bundles to off-line computers, Ubuntu to boost Intel graphics performance, Fedora considers dropping i686 packages, SDesk switches from SELinux to AppArmor |
| • Issue 1127 (2025-06-23): LastOSLinux 2025-05-25, most unique Linux distro, Haiku stabilises, KDE publishes Plasma 6.4, Arch splits Plasma packages, Slackware infrastructure migrating |
| • Issue 1126 (2025-06-16): SDesk 2025.05.06, renewed interest in Ubuntu Touch, a BASIC device running NetBSD, Ubuntu dropping X11 GNOME session, GNOME increases dependency on systemd, Google holding back Pixel source code, Nitrux changing its desktop, EFF turns 35 |
| • Issue 1125 (2025-06-09): RHEL 10, distributions likely to survive a decade, Murena partners with more hardware makers, GNOME tests its own distro on real hardware, Redox ports GTK and X11, Mint provides fingerprint authentication |
| • Issue 1124 (2025-06-02): Picking up a Pico, tips for protecting privacy, Rhino tests Plasma desktop, Arch installer supports snapshots, new features from UBports, Ubuntu tests monthly snapshots |
| • Issue 1123 (2025-05-26): CRUX 3.8, preventing a laptop from sleeping, FreeBSD improves laptop support, Fedora confirms GNOME X11 session being dropped, HardenedBSD introduces Rust in userland build, KDE developing a virtual machine manager |
| • Issue 1122 (2025-05-19): GoboLinux 017.01, RHEL 10.0 and Debian 12 updates, openSUSE retires YaST, running X11 apps on Wayland |
| • Issue 1121 (2025-05-12): Bluefin 41, custom file manager actions, openSUSE joins End of 10 while dropping Deepin desktop, Fedora offers tips for building atomic distros, Ubuntu considers replacing sudo with sudo-rs |
| • Issue 1120 (2025-05-05): CachyOS 250330, what it means when a distro breaks, Kali updates repository key, Trinity receives an update, UBports tests directory encryption, Gentoo faces losing key infrastructure |
| • Issue 1119 (2025-04-28): Ubuntu MATE 25.04, what is missing from Linux, CachyOS ships OCCT, Debian enters soft freeze, Fedora discusses removing X11 session from GNOME, Murena plans business services, NetBSD on a Wii |
| • Issue 1118 (2025-04-21): Fedora 42, strange characters in Vim, Nitrux introduces new package tools, Fedora extends reproducibility efforts, PINE64 updates multiple devices running Debian |
| • Issue 1117 (2025-04-14): Shebang 25.0, EndeavourOS 2025.03.19, running applications from other distros on the desktop, Debian gets APT upgrade, Mint introduces OEM options for LMDE, postmarketOS packages GNOME 48 and COSMIC, Redox testing USB support |
| • Issue 1116 (2025-04-07): The Sense HAT, Android and mobile operating systems, FreeBSD improves on laptops, openSUSE publishes many new updates, Fedora appoints new Project Leader, UBports testing VoLTE |
| • Issue 1115 (2025-03-31): GrapheneOS 2025, the rise of portable package formats, MidnightBSD and openSUSE experiment with new package management features, Plank dock reborn, key infrastructure projects lose funding, postmarketOS to focus on reliability |
| • Issue 1114 (2025-03-24): Bazzite 41, checking which processes are writing to disk, Rocky unveils new Hardened branch, GNOME 48 released, generating images for the Raspberry Pi |
| • Issue 1113 (2025-03-17): MocaccinoOS 1.8.1, how to contribute to open source, Murena extends on-line installer, Garuda tests COSMIC edition, Ubuntu to replace coreutils with Rust alternatives, Chimera Linux drops RISC-V builds |
| • Issue 1112 (2025-03-10): Solus 4.7, distros which work with Secure Boot, UBports publishes bug fix, postmarketOS considers a new name, Debian running on Android |
| • Issue 1111 (2025-03-03): Orbitiny 0.01, the effect of Ubuntu Core Desktop, Gentoo offers disk images, elementary OS invites feature ideas, FreeBSD starts PinePhone Pro port, Mint warns of upcoming Firefox issue |
| • Issue 1110 (2025-02-24): iodeOS 6.0, learning to program, Arch retiring old repositories, openSUSE makes progress on reproducible builds, Fedora is getting more serious about open hardware, Tails changes its install instructions to offer better privacy, Murena's de-Googled tablet goes on sale |
| • Issue 1109 (2025-02-17): Rhino Linux 2025.1, MX Linux 23.5 with Xfce 4.20, replacing X.Org tools with Wayland tools, GhostBSD moving its base to FreeBSD -RELEASE, Redox stabilizes its ABI, UBports testing 24.04, Asahi changing its leadership, OBS in dispute with Fedora |
| • Issue 1108 (2025-02-10): Serpent OS 0.24.6, Aurora, sharing swap between distros, Peppermint tries Void base, GTK removinglegacy technologies, Red Hat plans more AI tools for Fedora, TrueNAS merges its editions |
| • Issue 1107 (2025-02-03): siduction 2024.1.0, timing tasks, Lomiri ported to postmarketOS, Alpine joins Open Collective, a new desktop for Linux called Orbitiny |
| • Issue 1106 (2025-01-27): Adelie Linux 1.0 Beta 6, Pop!_OS 24.04 Alpha 5, detecting whether a process is inside a virtual machine, drawing graphics to NetBSD terminal, Nix ported to FreeBSD, GhostBSD hosting desktop conference |
| • Issue 1105 (2025-01-20): CentOS 10 Stream, old Flatpak bundles in software centres, Haiku ports Iceweasel, Oracle shows off debugging tools, rsync vulnerability patched |
| • Full list of all issues |
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Audiophile Linux
Audiophile Linux was based on Arch Linux and provides a minimal graphical environment from which to play multimedia files. The distribution ships with the Fluxbox window manager, DSD support and a custom real-time Linux kernel for improved audio performance.
Status: Discontinued
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