 DistroWatch Weekly |
| DistroWatch Weekly, Issue 1173, 18 May 2026 |
|
Welcome to this year's 20th issue of DistroWatch Weekly!
Have you ever wanted to set up a FreeBSD server, maybe with some virtual machines or jails, but didn't want to wander down the path of manual configuration and command line tools? If so then the Sylve administration tool offers a solution. Sylve is a web-based administration tool which can be used to remotely administer FreeBSD systems. The web-based experience makes it possible to create and manage jails and virtual machines with a few clicks. This week we begin with a look at an early version of Sylve and report on the experience it provides. In our Questions and Answers section we talk about another administrative tool, BleachBit, and how it can be used to tidy filesystems. Do you have a filesystem cleaner that you like to use? Let us know your preferred clean-up method in the Opinion Poll. In our News column we talk about Debian's commitment to reproducible builds while Haiku introduces multi-core support for ARM64 processors. We share an update on Fedora's plans, and reversal, to include AI tools and applications in a new spin. We also report on KDE receiving a generous donation to help support the project's infrastructure while Rocky Linux introduces a new security repository. This week we link to an in-depth commentary on the technology sector and open source culture as well as summarize the releases of the past week. We wish you all a wonderful week and happy reading!
This week's DistroWatch Weekly is presented by TUXEDO Computers.
Content:
|
| Feature Story (By Jesse Smith) |
Sylve on FreeBSD
One of the projects which has been mentioned in recent FreeBSD quarterly status reports is Sylve. What is Sylve?
"Sylve is an open-source control panel for FreeBSD virtualization and storage. It brings Bhyve, FreeBSD Jails, and ZFS into one modern web UI.
The backend is written in Go, and the frontend uses Svelte/SvelteKit. The goal is simple: manage guests, containers, and datasets without living in shell scripts."
The Sylve website goes into further details, outlining the key features:
What Sylve Delivers: Bhyve management: Create, start, stop, snapshot, and console into VMs. Configure CPU, memory, PCI passthrough, VNC, and serial access from the same place.
Jails with VM-like workflows: Jails follow the same lifecycle model as VMs, with networking, datastores, limits, and console/shell access.
ZFS-first storage: Manage pools, datasets, disks, and datastores in one interface, with clear VM/Jail storage mapping.
Network and service controls: Configure physical interfaces, virtual switches, and DHCP scopes, with optional integrations like Samba and libvirt.
According to the project's documentation, Sylve's web portal requires about 400MB of RAM. We are also told that Sylve requires ZFS; it will not work properly on FreeBSD systems that run on classic filesystems, such as UFS.
Installing
The Sylve website and documentation say to install the control centre we can run "pkg install sylve" to get started, as long as we are running FreeBSD 15.0 or higher.
I logged into a FreeBSD 15.0 system running ZFS and ran the above command. I was told this package, sylve, did not exist in the repository. I did a search for any package with "sylve" in the name, thinking perhaps it had been renamed as something like "sylve-go" or "sylve-admin", but no matches were returned.
On a hunch, I switched the FreeBSD package manager over from the operating system's default "quarterly" release repository to the cutting-edge "latest" repository. In the "latest" branch the sylve package was found and I was able to install it. The requirement of switching the default repository on FreeBSD should probably be mentioned in the Sylve documentation and on the website to avoid confusion, but (eventually) the quarterly branch will catch up and the situation will resolve itself.
The Sylve documentation states that once the package has been installed, we will be able to use a web browser to connect to the remote control panel over port 8181. The documentation skips over two key pieces of information. First, we first need to activate the Sylve service (running "sysrc sylve_enable="YES" ; service sylve start" as the root user will accomplish this). Second, our web browser must connect over the HTTPS protocol to the server's port 8181; connecting over plain HTTP will return an error message.
Connecting to port 8181 in a web browser displays a login screen. We are asked to provide a username and password. By default the interface uses "sylve" as an authentication method (which will presumably use an internally defined account), but if we want to sign in with a regular user account we need to switch the login method to "PAM".
I signed in as a regular system user. Sylve brings up a page which asks us which services, such as virtualization, ZFS management, and Samba we want to manage. Once we make selections the web interface says it needs to restart the server. I was a bit surprised my regular user was able to perform this confirmation and perform a system reboot through the Sylvie web portal. My regular user was not part of the wheel or operators group and normally could not perform any admin actions.
Exploring the web interface
After the system reboots our browser automatically reconnects to the Sylve service and displays a status dashboard. To the left of the web interface is a tree-style view showing Sylve nodes and machines we control. We can click on a machine name in order to see a summary of on-line nodes with resource usage statistics. There is a place in the tree for seeing notes related to the machines in a group. We can view clusters of machines and create new clusters from this tree view. There is another section in this view for seeing backups.
At first, there isn't much for us to do with this tree of information because we just have the one node, with no jails, backups, or clusters. The tree of nodes will become more interesting at a later time.
In the upper-right corner of the page we see buttons for creating new virtual machines and jails. There are also buttons at the top of the page for accessing help and sponsoring the project. The Help button opens the Sylve on-line documentation.
At the bottom of the screen we can see a list of recent logins and login attempts to the Sylve dashboard.
Mostly, for the sake of this trial, I was interested in creating jails, a few for various purposes, and then seeing if I could easily manage them from the central dashboard. Clicking the button to create a new jail opens a pop-up in the Sylve interface with five tabs:
- Basic - Provide a name and description for the new jail.
- Storage - Select which ZFS pool to use for the new jail.
- Network - Inherit host networking or disable networking for the jail.
- Hardware - Assign CPU cores, maximum memory, and toggle whether to start a jail on system boot.
- Advanced - This screen asks if we want to create a FreeBSD or Linux jail. It also allows us to set which process(es) to run when the jail starts and what command to run when the jail shuts down.
The pop-up for virtual machine (VM) creation is almost exactly the same, but with a bit more flexibility with low-level resource allocation. It also allows us to pick the install media we wish to use.
One of the first tasks I performed was creating a jail for a public FTP service. I clicked the Create Jail button and went through the screens mentioned above. Once I got to the end and clicked the Create button Sylve reported I had not selected a "base". Going back a few steps I found that on the Storage tab we are asked to pick a ZFS pool (zpool) where the jail will be located. We are also asked to select a "base" from a drop-down menu. Unfortunately, no base was listed in the drop-down menu and it wasn't clear from the context what Sylve meant by a "base".
Sylve -- Creating a new jail
(full image size: 102kB, resolution: 1491x839 pixels)
The documentation proved useful at this point. It explains that "base" in this case refers to one of the classic package sets used by FreeBSD:
In the Storage tab, you can select the dataset where (pool) the jail's root filesystem will be created, you also have to select a base that you downloaded. You can download a base.txz from https://download.freebsd.org/releases/amd64/15.0-RELEASE/base.txz using the downloader (remember to select the correct architecture and version) and also to enable extraction in the downloader.
Sylve -- Missing a base for the jail
(full image size: 116kB, resolution: 1491x839 pixels)
This explained what the storage screen meant by a "base", but it raised a new question: What downloader was the documentation referencing? With some exploration of the web portal I found I could click on the name of my FreeBSD server in the information tree on the left side of the page. Selecting the server brought up options for working with the server, adjusting its networking settings, viewing its storage, and accessing a terminal. The terminal is automatically logged is as the root user. There is a section in this tree called Utilities and under this sub-section we find a tool called Downloader. This tool accepts a URL and will display progress as a file is fetched. I used this downloading tool to fetch the base.txz file from the FreeBSD servers.
Sylve -- Using the Downloader utility
(full image size: 127kB, resolution: 1491x839 pixels)
I then tried to create a jail again. This time, on the Storage screen, the "base" package I'd just downloaded appeared in the drop-down menu and I selected it. When I got to the end of the jail creation tabs a new error appeared which stated, "select base image could not be found on disk". This baffled me as not only had I downloaded the base.txz file, the jail creation wizard had found it and added it to the drop-down menu for me to select. It was reporting a file it had detected and offered to me could not be found.
I then remembered the documentation had specified the downloaded base.txz file needed to be unpacked before it could be used by the jail creation wizard. I went back to the downloader utility and made sure to check the box for automatic extraction of the archive. Once this was completed, I was able to create a jail, access it in the node tree, and access its terminal to install new packages and services.
Linux jails
Since the jail creation window offers both FreeBSD and Linux jail creation I decided to see what the process of creating a Linux jail would involve. When trying to create a Linux jail the creation window still insists that we select a "base" package. In other words, we need to find a Linux distribution which provides a minimal filesystem package (not just an ISO file).
I used the Sylve downloader tool to download Alpine Linux which provides a minimum filesystem archive. Sylve was able to unpack this tar archive and detect it as a potential base. It then created a new jail, using the userland provided by the Alpine archive and running on the host's FreeBSD kernel.
Sylve -- Running Alpine in a Linux jail
(full image size: 219kB, resolution: 1491x839 pixels)
The Alpine jail mostly worked for me. I was able to use the apk package manager to download new software, including the OpenRC service manager. From there I was able to add new services, such as OpenSSH, to provide remote access to the jail.
There are some limitations. Not all software in the Linux jail will run, at least not with the default system setup. Any tools which rely on the existence of the /proc filesystem, such as process monitors, will fail. Some more complex software, such as a web browser compiled for Linux, will likely also run into incompatibilities when trying to run on the FreeBSD kernel.
Snapshots
Sylve requires ZFS storage volumes to function and it also seeks to provide access to ZFS features, including filesystem snapshots. Through the node tree on the left side of the screen we can access storage options, including the options to create snapshots of jails and rollback to earlier snapshots. I tested these and found they worked well, allowing me to restore jails to earlier points in time. The interface is pleasantly simple, making basic snapshot management fairly easy.
Sylve -- Managing ZFS snapshots
(full image size: 98kB, resolution: 1491x839 pixels)
Conclusions
Sylve is in its fairly early stages and has just recently been added to the FreeBSD "latest" repository. Despite its youth, the Sylve software has made a strong start. The package installed successfully, the user interface is fairly easy to navigate, and the documentation covers most of the necessary information we need.
I found the Sylve dashboard, filesystem snapshot tools, and jail management tools worked (at least once I got used to the terminology used by the interface). I liked that jail networking was mostly automated with sane defaults. I was surprised by a few items, such as selecting the FreeBSD base was not automated, as it is with other jail managers, and that Sylve doesn't provide a pre-selected list of supported Linux distributions for jails. However, I suspect these are features which will come later, once the basic tools have been further refined.
Sylve -- My regular user signed in automatically to a terminal as root
(full image size: 240kB, resolution: 1491x839 pixels)
My main issue with Sylve during my trial was the near complete lack of security. Any user on the host FreeBSD system, even a completely unprivileged user, can sign into Sylve at any point - including the initial setup. Signing into the web portal grants immediate root access to any user. This allows any user to create jails and virtual machines, manage ZFS snapshots, and shutdown the system. Any regular user is also able to open the terminal window which automatically signs the user in as root without a password. This is a big security hole and basically turns the current version of Sylve into a backdoor that can be used by any local user (or single-sign-on user on the network) to become root for all managed servers, virtual machines, and jails.
This is a serious issue and I didn't see it mentioned in the documentation. I would avoid installing the Sylve service on any server until this hole is addressed. Once user authentication is fixed then the interface will provide a pleasant, central method for managing multiple machines and multiple jails across the network. The friendly, web-based interface is a much more friendly approach than most command line tools I have used in the past for VM and jail management on FreeBSD.
|
| Miscellaneous News (by Jesse Smith) |
Debian commits to reproducible builds, Debian publishes updated install media, Haiku introduces SMP support on ARM64 processors, Rocky Linux creates opt-in security repository, Fedora reconsiders AI tools, KDE receives generous donation
The Debian project is committing to providing reproducible builds for its packages. A reproducible build allows users to confirm the binary software they are running came from published source code. Paul Gevers writes: "Aided by the efforts of the Reproducible Builds project, we've decided it's time to say that Debian must ship reproducible packages. Since yesterday, we have enabled our migration software to block migration of new packages that can't be reproduced or existing packages (in testing) that regress in reproducibility." Gevers also mentions the loong64 CPU architecture was added to the build system and new package builds may take longer as a result.
This past week the Debian project published updated install media for both Debian 13 an Debian 12. The new media includes fixes for bugs which have been discovered since the launch of the Debian Stable versions. "The Debian project is pleased to announce the fifth update of its stable distribution Debian 13 (codename Trixie). This point release mainly adds corrections for security issues, along with a few adjustments for serious problems. Security advisories have already been published separately and are referenced where available. Please note that the point release does not constitute a new version of Debian 13 but only updates some of the packages included."
* * * * *
The Haiku project has published its monthly news update for the month of April. The report provides an overview of work going into the lightweight operating system. One of the milestones reached in April was the addition of support for using multiple cores on ARM64 processors: "smrobtzz implemented basic support for SMP (multiple CPU cores/threads) for ARM64, enough for it to work in QEMU, and also fixed running with some versions of the EDK2 EFI firmware (which QEMU ships with), some problems with system_time, and other issues. smrobtzz and waddlesplash updated a lot of HaikuPorts cross-compilation recipes, cleaned up the 'bootstrapping' procedure, and then upgraded the base ARM64 package set to work properly with the new port configuration. (This means ARM64 builds using the binary packages, as is default, now work out-of-the-box on many QEMU configurations.)" The newsletter lists the complete list of improvements made over the past month.
* * * * *
The Rocky Linux distribution is a clone of Red Hat Enterprise Linux which aims to be 1:1 compatible with the upstream product. This means both features and bugs which exist in Red Hat's product should be mirrored exactly in Rocky Linux. Over the past year, and especially in the past month, the security cost of maintaining 1:1 compatibility with Enterprise Linux has become apparent. Rocky Linux developers have found themselves waiting for security fixes to be published by Red Hat while other members of the RHEL family, such as AlmaLinux OS, have already published security patches.
Rocky Linux is addressing this security gap by creating an optional security repository which will publish patches not yet available to RHEL customers. "Alongside the Dirty Frag kernel patches, we've introduced the Rocky Linux Security Repository: an optional, opt-in repository that gives us a path to ship urgent security fixes ahead of upstream when circumstances genuinely demand it. This was not a casual decision. Rocky's founding principle is compatibility with upstream Enterprise Linux, and any departure from that deserves scrutiny. The security repository represents a narrow, deliberate exception, not a change in direction."
* * * * *
Last week we reported the Fedora project was planning to introduce new AI-related tools and applications. At the time, the divisive decision had a lot of pushback from Fedora users, and some developers, but the decision was voted through anyway. The issue has been re-opened for discussion after two Fedora members have reversed their votes on the plan. One Fedora developer wrote: "Changing my vote to -1. I fear that the feedback (that was unfortunately received after the initial vote) indicates that the Fedora community is not supportive of this initiative as is. As one of the elected representatives, I feel I need to listen to that feedback and try to better understand it before I can approve this with a clear conscience." A final decision should be reached on Friday, May 22nd.
* * * * *
There was some good news for fans of the KDE project and its Plasma desktop this week. The Sovereign Tech Fund donated over one million Euros to the KDE project to assist with the project's infrastructure. The KDE project published a statement about the donation: "As a non-profit, KDE has no shareholders to serve, no quarterly earnings to grow. KDE charges nothing for its software or its licensing. There are no subscriptions, no spying on users, no disclosure or resale of data that users choose to voluntarily share with KDE, and no secret training of AI models with said data. KDE will use Sovereign Tech Fund's investment to push its essential software products to the next level, providing every individual, business, and public administration with the opportunity to regain their privacy, security, and control over their digital sovereignty."
* * * * *
These and other news stories can be found on our Headlines page.
|
| Questions and Answers (by Jesse Smith) |
The benefit of BleachBit
I was interested in trying out Emmabuntus on my laptop and noticed in another website's review that the distro comes with BleachBit, which I have never heard of. After reading about it on-line, it seems that it performs actions similar to the commands:
sudo apt autoremove
sudo apt autoclean
But, I can not find any on-line info comparing the two methods of cleaning up unused files. There must be a reason for Emmabuntus to include the program, because it is a Debian-based system, and autoremove/autoclean are already available to use with apt.
I was wondering if you could investigate and provide some professional insight with actual testing of the two methods, and provide your findings in a DistroWatch Weekly article?
DistroWatch answers: While there is a little bit of overlap in the functionality of APT and BleachBit, the two tools are quite different and have different areas of focus. APT is a package manager which (along with its other functions) has the ability to remove packages which are no longer required by the system. This is pretty much the only "clean-up" APT does, apart from cleaning out its own package cache, deleting downloaded archive files from the system after they have been installed.
APT is primarily used to install, update, and remove software. It also happens to have a few housekeeping capabilities that can be used to remove unnecessary package files.
BleachBit is a utility for tidying up a variety of temporary files and caches from around the operating system, not just packages. The BleachBit documentation summarizes its capabilities as follows:
BleachBit helps you quickly and safely clean your computer by removing unnecessary files such as:
- Cache - Temporary files that accumulate over time
- Cookies - Web tracking data stored by browsers
- Logs - System and application log files
- Recent file lists - History of recently accessed documents
- Temporary files - Leftover files from installations and updates
The website also mentions BleachBit can shred files, making them harder to recover if someone gets their hands on your hard drive.
Basically, APT manages packages, including removing old package files. BleachBit handles housecleaning of files all across the system - including history, logs, cache, and temporary files. The two tools do not have a lot of overlap.
BleachBit is also cross-platform. While APT is used (almost) exclusively by members of the Debian family of Linux distributions, BleachBit runs across most Linux distributions, Windows, and (experimentally) on macOS.
Finally, I'd like to point out that APT, on its own, is a command line tool. There are desktop front-ends for APT, such as Synaptic, however, when used on its own, APT is a command line program. BleachBit has the option of running from the command line or as a desktop program with people typically running it as a desktop application.
* * * * *
Additional answers can be found in our Questions and Answers archive.
|
| Released Last Week |
Unraid OS 7.3.0
Lime Technology, Inc. has announced the release of Unraid OS 7.3.0, the latest version of the company's Linux-based commercial operating system designed for Network-Attached Storage (NAS) deployments. The new version brings critical security updates and a redesigned onboarding wizard for new installations: "New users getting started with 7.3.0 will be greeted by a completely redesigned onboarding wizard that gets your server configured and ready in about three minutes. It walks you through server name, time zone, language, SSH access, theme, boot method selection, and plugin installation in a clean step-by-step interface, with a summary screen to review everything before it's applied. The boot method choice (USB/Flash Drive or Internal Boot) is built directly into the flow, so new users encounter it from day one rather than discovering it later buried in settings. Existing users switching to Internal Boot can access the same wizard under Tools, Onboarding Wizard. This release includes several security fixes. Upgrade is recommended. The 7.3 kernel patches two local privilege escalation vulnerabilities: Copy Fail (CVE-2026-31431) and Dirty Frag (CVE-2025-43284), the latter previously addressed in 7.2.6. Users upgrading from 7.2.5 or earlier get both fixes in one update." See the full release announcement for more information and screenshots.
Archcraft 2026.05.12
Aditya Shakya has announced the release Archcraft 2026.05.12, an updated build of the project's lightweight, rolling-release distribution based on Arch Linux and featuring the Openbox and bspwm window managers. From the release announcement: "May 2026 ISO image of Archcraft is now available to download. Changelog: updated ISO profile to archiso 88-1; latest base with new packages; update some Archcraft and all AUR packages; small improvements and bugs fixed." Besides a freely-available ISO image, the project now also offers a Prime edition with a selection of lightweight window managers and Wayland compositors: "New Archcraft Prime ISO image is now available to download. Archcraft Prime offers every (not the one released after Prime) exclusive stuff of Archcraft in a single ISO image. It has Openbox Premium, bspwm Premium and i3wm Premium, as well as all several exclusive Wayland compositors (Sway, Wayfire, River, Hyprland and newm) pre-installed."
RakuOS 2026.05.16
RakuOS is an immutable Linux distribution based on Fedora, with a choice of KDE Plasma, GNOME and COSMIC desktops. The project's latest release is based on Fedora 44 and introduces some key changes. "The old behavior (RakuOS Linux 43): On every image update, your overlay was wiped. The system blocked at a black screen or Plymouth while all your packages were reinstalled from scratch. No network? No usable system. This was especially painful for laptop users on spotty Wi-Fi. The new behavior (RakuOS Linux 44): Your overlay is kept intact across image updates your apps stay installed and usable immediately after reboot. Package database rebuilding now happens silently in the background after you log in Desktop notifications keep you informed of rebuild progress. No network on boot? The system handles it gracefully, defers the rebuild to your next boot with a notification explaining what happened, and retries automatically for functions that require network." Addiitonal information is provided in the project's release announcement.
RakuOS 44 -- Running the COSMIC desktop
(full image size: 1.8MB, resolution: 2560x1600 pixels)
Rescuezilla 2.6.2
Shasheen Ediriweera has announced the release of Rescuezilla 2.6.2, the latest version of the project's Ubuntu-based specialist distribution with tools for system recovery. This version is based on Ubuntu 26.04. From the changelog: "Adds release based on Ubuntu 26.04 LTS 'Resolute' for best support of new hardware; the prior release Rescuezilla 2.6.1 (2025-07-16) left the default release using Ubuntu 24.10 'Oracular' which only provided hardware support to circa October 2024, despite it introducing a release based on Ubuntu 25.04 'Plucky'; adds release based on the end-of-life Ubuntu 25.10 'Questing' as a backfill; fixed blank error message window displayed after cloning (even on success), which causes the cancellation of the post-operation shutdown/restart request; fixed graphical shutdown menu not opening on the 'Plucky variant due to missing item in custom rules file for Polkit authentication manager; upgraded to latest Partclone 0.3.47; temporarily disables the 32-bit (Intel i386) build based on Ubuntu 18.04 'Bionic'; temporarily disables older 64-bit build based on Ubuntu 22.04 'Jammy', Ubuntu 24.04 'Noble' and Ubuntu 25.04 'Plucky'. Notably NOT included in this release - an arm64 build, or planned major overhaul to Image Explorer using indexed-gzip and improved UI. That's coming next release."
* * * * *
Development, unannounced and minor bug-fix releases
|
| Upcoming Releases and Announcements |
|
Summary of expected upcoming releases
|
| Opinion Poll (by Jesse Smith) |
How do you clean your system?
In this week's Questions and Answers section we talked about BleachBit and how it can scrub temporary files, remove unused cache, and delete other unnecessary files from the system. Having a clean-up tool like BleachBit helps save disk space and removes files which could leak information about the user. What tools, if any, do you use to keep your filesystem tidy? Let us know your favourites in the comments.
You can see the results of our previous poll on the number of fonts on a system in our previous edition. All previous poll results can be found in our poll archives.
|
|
|
| Website News |
The Slow Death of the Power User
In recent weeks I've been meaning to write an article about a topic which has been weighing on my mind. I have been wanting to talk about the slow, continuious eroding of computing freedoms, the increased reliance by our society on companies and services which have interests contrary to their users, and the every-increasing survailence of those users. Mostly though I've been wanting to share my dismay for how many users, even those in the open source community, not only tolerate having their freedoms and options curtailed, but how they vocally advocate for their freedoms and power to be taken from them.
These thoughts were simmering in the back of my brain in recent weeks while I figured out how to best organize my thoughts, my observations, and my frustrations at the apparent decay (perhaps self-imprisionment) of the tech community. Then I discovered a writer going by fireborn had already written such an article. More siginificantly, the author had presented the same ideas I wanted to share with more context, greater depth, and better skill than I would have done.
The article, The Slow Death of the Power User, discusses how the technology community used to function, why it was effective, why that has changed, and how it is hurting both technology enthusiasts and the entire computing industry.
In all honesty, I'd like to quote the whole article, it is well worth a read. However, in the interest of brevity, I will share just one paragraph:
The users who grew up on these [iOS and Android] platforms don't know what they're missing. They've never used a system where they were genuinely in control. The idea that you should be able to run arbitrary code on hardware you paid for is foreign to them - not rejected, but simply absent as a concept. They'll defend the restrictions without prompting because they've internalized the vendor's framing so thoroughly that they experience the cage as comfortable. "I don't want to root my phone, that sounds scary." Cool. You've successfully trained yourself to be afraid of ownership. The platform vendors are proud of you.
The entire article is a series of value insights and gems of both observation concerning the fading of the technology community, why it is happening, and the damage it is doing to the software industry as well as the open source community. It is a valuable read. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did and that it inspires people to take an interest in, and control of, their computing experience.
* * * * *
DistroWatch database summary
* * * * *
This concludes this week's issue of DistroWatch Weekly. The next instalment will be published on Monday, 25 May 2026. Past articles and reviews can be found through our Weekly Archive and Article Search pages. To contact the authors please send e-mail to:
- Jesse Smith (feedback, questions and suggestions: distribution reviews/submissions, questions and answers, tips and tricks)
- Ladislav Bodnar (feedback, questions, donations, comments)
|
|
| Tip Jar |
If you've enjoyed this week's issue of DistroWatch Weekly, please consider sending us a tip.
(Tips this week: 0, value: US$0.00) |
|
|
|
 bc1qxes3k2wq3uqzr074tkwwjmwfe63z70gwzfu4lx  lnurl1dp68gurn8ghj7ampd3kx2ar0veekzar0wd5xjtnrdakj7tnhv4kxctttdehhwm30d3h82unvwqhhxarpw3jkc7tzw4ex6cfexyfua2nr  86fA3qPTeQtNb2k1vLwEQaAp3XxkvvvXt69gSG5LGunXXikK9koPWZaRQgfFPBPWhMgXjPjccy9LA9xRFchPWQAnPvxh5Le paypal.me/distrowatchweekly • patreon.com/distrowatch |
|
| Extended Lifecycle Support by TuxCare |
|
|
| Reader Comments • Jump to last comment |
1 • BSD anything (by vmc on 2026-05-18 00:10:55 GMT from United States)
Don't care for BSD anything. Tried in the distant past. It fell short.
2 • Bleachbit (by vmc on 2026-05-18 00:14:29 GMT from United States)
I use Bleachbit on all my machines. Cleans Firefox caches. I reclaim over 1gig of space on used cashes.
3 • MX Cleanup (by Andy Prough on 2026-05-18 00:39:29 GMT from United States)
I've been using mx-cleanup recently for my distro cleaning needs. Works great, and also will remove old kernels and unnecessary WiFi firmware.
4 • Phone Rooting (by Seve on 2026-05-18 01:06:14 GMT from United States)
While Power Users might go extinct at some point, I wonder how whether it has anything to do with the difficulty to learn certain skills. Case in point: Rooting your phone. Great idea. However, trying to find documentation on something like this is not easy. Additionally, there are several large manufacturers (looking at you, Samsung) that have proprietary kernels and can't be rooted, particularly in the US. Sure, ADB is an option, but nowhere near as great as rooting the device.
5 • cleanup (by Brad on 2026-05-18 01:28:49 GMT from United States)
I just spent a few hours today manually cleaning up items from .cache, .config, and .local which I *knew* in no longer needed.
I run MX, so I took a look at Cleanup, which I have not used, but I noticed that the default action for cleaning cache and thumbnails is "All", with the qualification of "potentially dangerous".
Nope.
I'm intrigued by bleachbit, and I'll probably take a look at some point, but if it has a similar setup then, Nope, again. I enjoy full control.
6 • Cleaning: APT and Bash (by xero on 2026-05-18 01:33:09 GMT from The Netherlands)
I use the APT cleaning tool frequently via aliases, and a couple of bash scripts, one that runs at start-up to clean out thumbnails and delete the bash-history file, which restores itself on first command you run.
If you use the terminal daily, open your bash history file and look at how many lines it's holding.
If you want to clean it every so often, the command is: history -c && history -w
(Jesse provided this a few years ago in response to a Help question.)
You can also...
alias ch='history -c && history -w'
7 • Power Users (by Wedge009 on 2026-05-18 01:36:03 GMT from Australia)
I stopped using Windows as my primary OS with the end of mainstream support for Windows 7 in January 2020. The idea of loss of control resonates with me because that's essentially what I saw happening with subsequent iterations of Windows. I understand for the broad majority of users, having things run automatically is a convenience or necessity in the sense of increasing security. But for the minority of those of us who are accustomed to having that past control - having it taken away without a means of overriding it.
Of course, the security aspect didn't always work out. How many times have reports surfaced about automated updates rendering system unbootable, unusable, or otherwise non-functional? The article's citation of the mobile ecosystem as causing the most damage in terms of training consumers to think a certain way seems accurate. Perhaps a reason why I'm still very uncomfortable with running anything on a phone if it can already be done on a PC (and don't get me started on phone-first and phone-only applications...).
8 • Spring cleaning (by Arve Eriksson on 2026-05-18 01:37:53 GMT from Sweden)
Eeeh, my clean-up procedure depends on what needs cleaning up. MintUpdate does a good enough job at clearing out older kernels, and I'm not hurting for disk space generally.
9 • Clean-up and Shell History (by Vinfall on 2026-05-18 03:00:32 GMT from Hong Kong)
Last time I use BleachBit was about ten years ago and now I mostly use ncdu2 to scan and clean-up disks.
If you only care about reclaiming disk space:
As developer: Basically cache from package managers, not just apt/apk/dnf/whatever or kernel headers/modules/dkms, but also things like Python/uv venv and JavaScript packages. A shell alias/function is all you need.
As user: Software cache of course. BleachBit is useful in this regard, although nowadays it's (unfortunately) getting less and less noticable with the increased size in software itself.
If you want to prune everything unnecessary, good luck tracking down the rabbit hole. Rsync with exclude list is extremely helpful here to make absolute sure you don't miss anything.
Re: @6 shell history is largely useful. If you want to have a cleaner history, try setting "HISTCONTROL=ignoreboth" and "HISTSIZE"/"HISTFILESIZE" in your bashrc. If you care about privacy, set "HISTIGNORE" instead. Similarly, in Zsh it's "HISTSIZE"/"SAVEHIST" and "HISTORY_IGNORE" (to make sure there is no duplicate, you need to have many "setopt" lines, refer to zsh documentation or ohmyzsh/lib/history.zsh)
10 • Rooting phone (by Dave on 2026-05-18 03:19:19 GMT from Australia)
@4 In the olden days, you could easily root your phone with an executable and SuperSU. Remember Towelroot? So easy.
Now there's all this stuff in the way like locked boot loaders, Google Safety net, DRM support, apps that detect root, and a bunch of other stuff to work around so things function property, it's often not worth the effort.
It's probably more secure now? But yeah it used to be fun.
11 • freedoms or not (by gloatees on 2026-05-18 06:00:17 GMT from Switzerland)
RISC-V is the new thing - with its open & free ISA, and its NPU chip for AI computing. It has already got 25% of the market and is expected to outdo ARM eventually. 2026 is supposedly going to be its break-thru year.
But there's no telling how big tech might find other ways to lock consumers into their products.
Also, the open source community is its own worst enemy, in that its adherents range from honest Joes to evil crackers & hackers. The latter drives the need for some of the lock-in/down features, like security.
12 • Nowadays' freedom (by ?!? on 2026-05-18 06:28:02 GMT from Italy)
In a world in which every constructor can nest updatable malware directly into a CPU, may everyone say we can be safe just by choosing an OS?
Mala tempora...
13 • autoremove ... ... (by Tony45 on 2026-05-18 08:08:49 GMT from Thailand)
Is it apt autoremove
or
apt autoremove --purge
? ?
14 • Cleaning your system poll (by Anamezon on 2026-05-18 08:38:56 GMT from Finland)
again, a missing "a combination of the above" option, which would have been my choice ... who designs these polls...?
15 • the slow death of the power user (by yesbutno on 2026-05-18 08:58:11 GMT from Belgium)
I wanted to read "The Slow Death of the Power User" on my 27" screen. But with this "sh***y smartphone only" format i've closed the page without reading. How ironic...
16 • That makes sense (by ?!? on 2026-05-18 10:07:33 GMT from Italy)
@15 They addressed the ill, not the sane...
;-)
17 • Clean up (by kc1di on 2026-05-18 10:08:39 GMT from United States)
on my Ubuntu /deb based systems I use stacer and Ubuntu cleaner to clean the system. between the two of them they do a good job and have never given any problems. Only problem is I don't know how long they will be supported. So may give bleachbit a try.
18 • The slow death of the power user (by DedPowUser on 2026-05-18 10:17:44 GMT from United States)
@15 funny I am looking for a browser extension to read articles aloud for the first time just because of that article.
19 • @15, the slow death of the power user (by El Cacho on 2026-05-18 10:25:43 GMT from United States)
"this "sh***y smartphone only" format" I found it quite easy to read on my 24" screen. Hit "Control and +" a couple of times and I could read it from over 3 feet away while sipping my coffee. Just text on the page, like a big book with giant type. None of the usual distractions.
20 • Slow Death of the power user (by kc1di on 2026-05-18 10:48:49 GMT from United States)
I found it very interesting and have watched exactly what he/she is saying happing in the last 10 years or so. Thank for the link.
21 • Bleachbit (by bin on 2026-05-18 11:09:04 GMT from United Kingdom)
For me the best use of Bleachbit is removing man files and other stuff in other languages that I don't use.
It doesn't delete the language folder structures and leaves a stub file in each one which means it won't get reinstalled in some update as it is still seen as present.
This simple tool removes thousands of files that will never be needed and can return up to around 800mb in the process.
22 • Poll: (by dragonmouth on 2026-05-18 11:39:30 GMT from United States)
Poll should have had a "Combination of methods" or "Various tools" choice.
I use Apt, BleachBit, Synaptic and manual removal to keep my system clean.
23 • I have never used BleachBit (by frc_vfco on 2026-05-18 12:38:49 GMT from Brazil)
In ".deb" distros, I use Synaptic, with the option to clean packages cache after they are installed. — In other distros, such as Arch, Artix, Void, I use their package manager to manually clean their packages cache when I see growing occupation of their root partitions, which I monitor by Conky.
For /home partitions, I have a crontab command which deletes all cache after 365 days. — When I see some /home partition with growing occupation, I try to understand what is happening. Once, it was a "tracker3" installed in Mageia as a dependency for Foliate. Once, a large Lutris folder (which I don't use), from an old installation. — And I can always delete all thumbnails, which grows when I use some distro with KDE Plasma for a long time.
24 • Clean up (by Friar Tux on 2026-05-18 12:41:35 GMT from Canada)
I used to use "autoremove" and stacer, but nowadays, I really don't bother. I already do a complete reinstall of the OS every few years anyway so it seems redundant. (There plenty of storage space on my laptop so it can store all it wants. Call me a lazy user.) I also don't find any slow downs, or bottlenecks. On average, I'm on my laptop about 16 hours a day. (Yup, you read that right (from 6:30 am to 10:30 pm).) I do pretty well everything on that machine, and I haven't had an issue in years.
As for the "sh**y smartphone screen" mode... I use "CTRL +" all the time. In my case, it's these dim eyeballs that are the issue.
25 • Good issue (by Dave on 2026-05-18 12:53:43 GMT from United States)
Thanks Jesse and Ladislav, this was a good issue of the weekly. I appreciate the notice about the article "The Slow Death of the Power User", as I am also interested in these issues. (I will read it today!). Also I really like seeing the other comments on cleaning your system. Keep up the good work and best wishes.
26 • BleachBit (by Lawrence on 2026-05-18 13:29:00 GMT from United States)
I have been using BleachBit for many years.
In the initial setup, in the General tab I uncheck 'Check periodically for software updates via the Internet' and 'Hide irrelevant Cleaners,' I select and check the next four (4) items, I uncheck 'Dark mode' (that's my personal choice), and I check 'Remember window geometry.' The final two items I leave unchecked.
In the Drives tab I select and add my entire computer (you will see / ).
I do not change or select anything else in any of the other tabs.
Going down the options (selections) (starting with Adobe Reader), I select EVERYTHING with two exceptions: under System I uncheck Free disk space and I uncheck Memory.
I do ALL OF THE ABOVE for both BleachBit and BleachBit (as root).
It takes a while to do all of that but you only have to do it once. On rare occasions when BleachBit is updated, you need only look and check to add any new programs added.
This program keeps my computer clean and protects against anyone seeing where I have "been" and what I have been "doing."
I am using MX Linux (for the last five years) but Bleachbit (both options) works well on any GNU/Linux distribution I have ever tried (over twenty of them).
I have never had any problem whatsoever with BleachBit and it has never caused any difficulties with any of my distros.
I hope that this is of some interest.
27 • Cleaning Up (by Steve on 2026-05-18 13:57:33 GMT from Liechtenstein)
@13
The only time I use purge is when I remove a package:
sudo apt purge "package"
then I run:
sudo apt autoremove
sudo apt autoclean
sudo apt clean
After that, I use sudo find / -iname "package-name" to find leftovers
which are usually cache, config and .desktop files
28 • Review..BleachBit..DW (by Rabbi Muhammad Saint Buddha on 2026-05-18 14:00:15 GMT from United States)
Aside: The DW website seems to load very slowly or not fully at all off and on for the past week or so (from different machines at two locations about 45 miles from each other).
Meanwhile, I doubt if I am the only one who cannot understand much at all of the subject of this week's review. I am a BSD fan, especially Free and Ghost. But I am not learned enough in the subject at hand in that review to have a clue about it ("jails," etc). I hate doing searches in google etc on subjects that don't interest me. I am glad that Jesse Smith here (and the others involved in this website) have such knowledge and background, though; it's not just a "reporting" site..
Distrowatch has great depth. Some of us who use this great site are kind of like people strolling along who (barely) notice a car repair shop and quicken our pace to get to our own car; they're needed at times but certainly and hopefully not very often. ;oD
BleachBit is essential for my Linux computing. I first noticed it a long time ago and it is one of the first things I install with a new distro (I may not be doing much "new distro" stuff any more as Q4OS has taken over my sensibilities big time and is now on two of my laptops). Thank you for publishing that question about it and the APT commands.
29 • @5 - MX Cleanup (by Andy Prough on 2026-05-18 14:10:05 GMT from United States)
>"I run MX, so I took a look at Cleanup, which I have not used, but I noticed that the default action for cleaning cache and thumbnails is "All", with the qualification of "potentially dangerous".
I wonder if you are on an older version of MX? Here's the defaults that I see right now for the current version of MX 25:
Clean folders - Cache & Thumbnails - Not accessed for 2 days
Clear APT Cache - Old Files
Delete Logs - Old Logs - Logs older than 7 days
Empty Trash - Trash older than 30 days
No automatic clean
What you refer to - "All (potentially dangerous)" is a non-default option under Cleaning Folders of Cache and Thumbnails.
30 • @18, The slow death of the power user, read aloud. (by ElChaco on 2026-05-18 14:15:05 GMT from United States)
"funny I am looking for a browser extension to read articles aloud for the first time just because of that article. " No need for an extension if you're using Firefox. Just click on the "Reader View" icon on the right of the address bar. You'll be offered many options for different voices, all of which, in my experience, pretty much suck. I'd rather read it myself.
31 • Sylve PAM authentication (by ht on 2026-05-18 14:51:06 GMT from Sweden)
The "near complete lack of security" in Sylve appears to be an issue with PAM authentication, which the author enabled but the documentation recommendends against:
https://sylve.io/getting-started/#setting-up-sylve
The documentation also says that the issue has been addressed in version 0.3.0, which doesn't seem to have been released yet. It should now only allow login via PAM if the user is explicitly created in Sylve.
32 • Sylve security (by Jesse on 2026-05-18 15:07:44 GMT from Canada)
@31: "which the author enabled but the documentation recommendends against:"
The problem with this line of thinking is it is the user's choice (any user's choice) to select which authentication method they want to use. It's just a drop-down option on the login page. In other words, no, I didn't "enable it", it's always there by default and the user (any user which can reach the web interface) can select it without any restrictions.
Number of Comments: 32
| | |
| TUXEDO |
TUXEDO Computers - Linux Hardware in a tailor made suite
Choose from a wide range of laptops and PCs in various sizes and shapes at TUXEDOComputers.com. Every machine comes pre-installed and ready-to-run with Linux. Full 24 months of warranty and lifetime support included!
Learn more about our full service package and all benefits from buying at TUXEDO.
|
| *NEW* NovaCustom |
NovaCustom PrivacyGuard Laptops - Escape from Big Tech
The NovaCustom PrivacyGuard Laptop is ideal for anyone who prioritizes privacy. Comes with Dasharo coreboot open source firmware and Zorin OS Pro, free from influence of Big Tech.
|
| Archives |
| • Issue 1173 (2026-05-18): Sylve on FreeBSD, the benefit of BleachBit, Debian commits to reproducible builds, Debian publishes updated install media, Haiku introduces SMP support on ARM64 processors, Rocky Linux creates opt-in security repository, Fedora reconsiders AI tools, KDE receives generous donation |
| • Issue 1172 (2026-05-11): Fedora 44, dealing with extra fonts, Fedora plans to provide AI tools, problems with Ubuntu's new coreutils, TrueNAS extends its development cycle, postmarktetOS improves the boot splash screen, Redox ports tmux |
| • Issue 1171 (2026-05-04): Xubuntu 26.04, extending memory with VRAM, Ubuntu plans AI features, Devuan developer forks GTK2, Mint introduces hardware enablement builds, Linux running on a PlayStation 5, local kernel exploit found in Linux |
| • Issue 1170 (2026-04-27): ENux 5.2.1, picking a second distro, AlmaLinux expands CPU support, FreeBSD publishes Status Report, Ubuntu MATE skips 26.04 release |
| • Issue 1169 (2026-04-20): Lakka 6.1, free software and source-based distributions, FreeBSD Foundation publishes compatible laptop list, Debian holds Project Leader election, Haiku progresses ARM64 port, Mint to extend development cycle, Linux 7.0 released |
| • Issue 1168 (2026-04-13): pearOS 2026.03, EndeavourOS 2026.03.06, which distros are adopting age verification, Arch adjusts its firewall packages, Linux dropping i486 support, Red Hat extends its release cycle, Debian's APT introduces rollbacks, Redox improves its scheduler |
| • Issue 1167 (2026-04-06): Origami Linux 2026.03, answering questions for Linux newcomers, Ubuntu MATE seeking new contributors, Ubuntu software centre is expanding Deb support, FreeBSD fixes forum exploit, openSUSE 15 Leap nears its end of life |
| • Issue 1166 (2026-03-30): NetBSD jails, publishing software for Linux, Ubuntu joins Rust Foundation, Canonical plans to trim GRUB features, Peppermint works on new utilities, PINE64 shows off open hardware capabilities |
| • Issue 1165 (2026-03-23): Argent Linux 1.5.3, disk space required by Linux, Manjaro team goes on strike, AlmaLinux improves NVIDIA driver support and builds RISC-V packages, systemd introduces age tracking |
| • Issue 1164 (2026-03-16): d77void, age verification laws and Linux, SUSE may be for sale, TrueNAS takes its build system private, Debian publishes updated Trixie media, MidnightBSD and System76 respond to age verification laws |
| • Issue 1163 (2026-03-09): KaOS 2026.02, TinyCore 17.0, NuTyX 26.02.2, Would one big collection of packages help?, Guix offers 64-bit Hurd options, Linux communities discuss age delcaration laws, Mint unveils new screensaver for Cinnamon, Redox ports new COSMIC features |
| • Issue 1162 (2026-03-02): AerynOS 2026.01, anti-virus and firewall tools, Manjaro fixes website certificate, Ubuntu splits firmware package, jails for NetBSD, extended support for some Linux kernel releases, Murena creating a map app |
| • Issue 1161 (2026-02-23): The Guix package manager, quick Q&As, Gentoo migrating its mirrors, Fedora considers more informative kernel panic screens, GhostBSD testing alternative X11 implementation, Asahi makes progress with Apple M3, NetBSD userland ported, FreeBSD improves web-based system management |
| • Issue 1160 (2026-02-16): Noid and AgarimOS, command line tips, KDE Linux introduces delta updates, Redox OS hits development milestone, Linux Mint develops a desktop-neutral account manager, sudo developer seeks sponsorship |
| • Issue 1159 (2026-02-09): Sharing files on a network, isolating processes on Linux, LFS to focus on systemd, openSUSE polishes atomic updates, NetBSD not likely to adopt Rust code, COSMIC roadmap |
| • Issue 1158 (2026-02-02): Manjaro 26.0, fastest filesystem, postmarketOS progress report, Xfce begins developing its own Wayland window manager, Bazzite founder interviewed |
| • Issue 1157 (2026-01-26): Setting up a home server, what happened to convergence, malicious software entering the Snap store, postmarketOS automates hardware tests, KDE's login manager works with systemd only |
| • 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 |
| • Full list of all issues |
| Star Labs |
Star Labs - Laptops built for Linux.
View our range including the highly anticipated StarFighter. Available with coreboot open-source firmware and a choice of Ubuntu, elementary, Manjaro and more. Visit Star Labs for information, to buy and get support.
|
| Random Distribution | 
TeaLinux
TeaLinux is an Indonesian Linux distribution based on Arch Linux. It is developed by Dinus Open Source Community (DOSCOM) from Dian Nuswantoro University in Semarang, Central Java. It was started in 2009 (when the distribution was based on Ubuntu). TeaLinux, which is available in COSMIC and KDE Plasma desktop variants, includes a custom system installer called "Tea-Install". The distribution is crafted with a strong focus on programming and development needs and with a clean and efficient environment for developers.
Status: Active
|
| TUXEDO |
TUXEDO Computers - Linux Hardware in a tailor made suite
Choose from a wide range of laptops and PCs in various sizes and shapes at TUXEDOComputers.com. Every machine comes pre-installed and ready-to-run with Linux. Full 24 months of warranty and lifetime support included!
Learn more about our full service package and all benefits from buying at TUXEDO.
|
| Star Labs |
Star Labs - Laptops built for Linux.
View our range including the highly anticipated StarFighter. Available with coreboot open-source firmware and a choice of Ubuntu, elementary, Manjaro and more. Visit Star Labs for information, to buy and get support.
|
|
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
