 DistroWatch Weekly |
| DistroWatch Weekly, Issue 1153, 22 December 2025 |
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Welcome to this year's 51st issue of DistroWatch Weekly!
As we approach the conclusion of the 2025 year this seems like an appropriate time to ask: does software ever really reach a completed state? Does software necessarily keep on evolving, with developers fixing bugs and adding features, or does it reach a finished state? We tackle this query in this week's Questions and Answers column. This week we also take a moment to pause and praise the outstanding releases of the past year. There were some real gems published by developers this year and we focus on four of the best. Which distribution was your favourite in 2025? Let us know in this week's Opinion Poll. In our News section we report on Asahi Linux making the process of installing Linux on Apple M-series hardware easier while Mozilla's new CEO considers adding AI and removing ad-blocking from the default web browser for most Linux distributions. We also report on the Mageia team's plans for version 10 of their distribution. Plus we take a moment to thank the people who kindly donated this month. We wrap up this year with a list of recent releases and details on the torrents we are seeding. We will be off next Monday and will return on January 5th, 2026. We wish you all a wonderful week, a great new year ahead, and happy reading!
This week's DistroWatch Weekly is presented by TUXEDO Computers.
Content:
- Review: The best open source operating systems of 2025
- News: Firefox adopts AI components, Asahi Linux works to improve the install experience, Mageia team plans for version 10
- Questions and answers: Is software ever truly completed?
- Released last week: Emmabuntüs DE6-1.00, Kicksecure 18.0.8.7, MidnightBSD 4.0, Rhino Linux 2025.4, Mabox Linux 25.12, RELIANOID 7.8.0, Chimera Linux 20251220, Synex 13 "Server", EasyOS 7.1, Qubes OS 4.3.0
- Torrent corner: Emmabuntus, Kicksecure, Qubes OS, TUXEDO OS
- Opinion poll: Which open source operating system was your favourite in 2025?
- Site news: Donations and Sponsors
- Reader comments
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| Feature Story (By Jesse Smith) |
The best open source operating systems of 2025
As the calendar draws to the end of 2025 I would like to take a few minutes and look back at some of the highlights of this year. Every year I end up trying around 50 to 75 Linux distributions (and other open source operating systems) and writing about around 40 of them. Many of them are good, some perform poorly, and a rare few provide an amazing experience. Here are my picks for the best operating systems experiences I got to enjoy in 2025.
Before diving in, I want to point out that this list includes only projects I used and reviewed myself. Each year a few people e-mail me to ask why one distribution or another didn't make the "best of" list and it's usually because the project in question either did not have a new release during the year or wasn't reviewed in the past twelve months. To see what I have reviewed in the past year, please visit our archive of past articles.
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Linux Mint Debian Edition 7
Anyone who has been a long-time reader of my reviews won't be surprised to hear that, in my opinion, the best Linux release of 2025 was Linux Mint Debian Edition 7. This release, which was based on Debian 13 and featured the Cinnamon desktop, was one of the best experiences I've ever had with a desktop operating system.
Linux Mint combines solid hardware support, a user friendly desktop, a massive collection of software (mostly provided by Debian), great default applications, and solid documentation. The project is constantly refining itself and responding to feedback from its users, resulting in a distribution which is unusually polished and user friendly.
Linux Mint Debian Edition 7 -- The welcome window
(full image size: 731kB, resolution: 1920x1080 pixels)
This is the distribution I usually give to non-techie family members and friends, and LMDE 7 was a prime example of why: it not only "just works", it excels in all aspects. This distribution is easy to install, is useful straight way with great default applications, offers several years of support, has a great software manager, and a friendly greeter. The Cinnamon desktop is pleasantly Linux-flavoured, but also has a layout that should be familiar enough for people migrating from Windows.
I also appreciate the Mint team walks a careful line between new features and tested technologies. For instance, Flatpak is available by default, but no Flatpaks are installed out of the box; Cinnamon defaults to X11 while also offering a solid Wayland session; the installer defaults to using the battle-tested ext4 filesystem and Btrfs is available as an option. In short, the distribution regularly defaults to what is known to work, but provides access to newer technologies for people who wish to use more cutting-edge packages.
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MX Linux 25
While I typically recommend Linux Mint to other people, the distribution which best suited my own needs and style this year was MX Linux 25. The MX Linux distribution offers a lot of the same strengths as Linux Mint - it is Debian based, offers huge package repositories, defaults to tried-and-true packages while providing newer technologies as an option, and includes solid documentation.
MX Linux 25 -- The MX Tour application
(full image size: 1.5MB, resolution: 1920x1080 pixels)
Where the two distributions (Mint and MX) differ is in their specific focus. Mint aims to be beginner-friendly and super easy to learn while MX appears to be aiming at being practical for Linux users who are more experienced. It's not that MX Linux is difficult to use in any way, but the distribution tends to trade out being pretty for being efficient. The default desktop is lighter and faster, there are fewer visual effects, the memory footprint is smaller, and the administration tools leaner.
Where MX Linux really shines is its collection of utilities, called MX Tools, which provide a great range of functionality. These tools make many administrative actions a point-and-click affair. We can backup the distribution, manage user accounts, install packages, repair the boot loader, or clean up temporary files with just a few mouse clicks.
For people who are IT professionals or who have a little bit of experience with Linux distributions, I'd say MX Linux is the more capable, more efficient tool to use while Linux Mint is its more beginner-friendly cousin.
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EndeavourOS
Generally speaking I tend not to use or enjoy rolling release distributions. I like my day-to-day operating systems to be static, predictable, reliable, and to have a low rate of updates. Rolling releases tend to provide a lot of updates, steady changes, and a degree of unpredictability. EndeavourOS was a rare exception and, this year, was one of just four distributions which truly impressed me.
While some rolling release distributions, particularly those based on Arch Linux, seem to pride themselves on being minimal and require more experience to use, EndeavourOS is pleasantly easy to set up. It has a nice, graphical system installer which allows us to select which desktop environment we want to run and what software categories of applications to include.
EndeavourOS 2025.03.19 -- The KDE Plasma application menu
(full image size: 2076kB, resolution: 1920x1080 pixels)
Once installed, Endeavour ran unusually quickly, provided excellent hardware support, and was pleasantly stable during my trial. I ran EndeavourOS with the Plasma desktop and it provided a friendly, efficient experience. The one element I felt was missing was a graphical software centre; we need to use the command line package manager, at least until we install a graphical software centre. This one missing component aside, EndeavourOS supplied an unusually friendly, efficient, fast, and flexible experience.
I wouldn't hand EndeavourOS to a novice Linux user, but for someone with a little experience and a desire to run a cutting-edge, rolling release, I believe a person cannot ask for better than Endeavour.
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HeliumOS 10.0
Immutable distributions are becoming more popular and, in the past few years, several projects have launched immutable operating systems. While immutable distributions strive to create reliable, predictable environments, they often run into problems and limitations. Immutable distributions tend to struggle with software management, relying on portable packages (Snap or Flatpak) or containers to provide additional applications. This makes most immutable distributions a bit clunky, bloated and awkward.
HeliumOS is a rare exception. The project is built upon a foundation of AlmaLinux OS and strives to create a desktop oriented, beginner-friendly, immutable platform based on AlmaLinux's enterprise base. I went into my trial concerned that using AlmaLinux as a base would result in an outdated distribution with limited application options, but I was pleasantly surprised.
HeliumOS 10.0 -- The application menu
(full image size: 2628kB, resolution: 1920x1080 pixels)
To date, HeliumOS is the smoothest, most user friendly immutable Linux distribution I have used. HeliumOS is stable, it offers up to ten years of support, it provides access to a solid collection of applications through Flatpak bundles (via the Discover software centre) and Distrobox containers. The distribution uses Plasma to provide a modern, friendly user interface while running an enterprise grade operating system in the background.
My one complaint about HeliumOS was that it had, during my trial, very little documentation. However, on the technical side, the distribution proved to be friendly, stable, and it managed to avoid the little quirks and problems which plague most immutable distributions. If you are a fan of the immutable concept, then I think HeliumOS is the best of the breed.
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These four distributions were, in my opinion, the best experiences available in the Linux community in 2025. I was pleased to discovered there were a range of base distributions (Debian, Arch, and AlmaLinux OS) represented. It was also nice for me to experience pleasant trials on a range of desktop environments (Cinnamon, Xfce, and KDE Plasma) as well as different styles of distributions (fixed, rolling, and immutable). It's nice to know there are developers creating wonderful distributions, across foundations, across desktops, and across package formats. These projects all delivered fantastic experiences and I happily recommend them.
While I'm enjoying focusing on the top performers of 2025, I want to also acknowledge there were some disappointments and concerns that I ran into over the past year. Some distributions, particularly the commercial projects, shifted focus this year, discarding useful tools and replacing them with AI buzzwords, less capable installers, and broken core packages. We saw Red Hat/Fedora discard an old, functional installer for a limited, broken replacement while introducing a barely functional AI chatbot into Red Hat Enterprise Linux. Ubuntu swapped out its tried and true GNU core utilities for less functional Rust alternatives while also breaking Flatpak packages. Meanwhile, openSUSE threw away its famous YaST system administration tools and brought in a system installer which barely works.
It's been a bleak year if you're a user of commercially-backed Linux distributions. Programs licensed as free software are being replaced by more liberally licensed alternatives, AI slop is being hyped as a main selling point, and powerful administrative tools are being replaced by watered down web-based alternatives. However, I'm not here to malign the direction of commercial distributions.
Instead, I'd like to point out to you, our readers, that there are alternatives. There are plenty of community-backed, user-focused, open source operating systems in the world. And they need your help. Community projects - the Linux distributions which are working for you and not shareholders - need equipment, donations, patches, bug reports, artwork, and documentation. If you want more freedom and more control in your computing experience, please consider giving your time, skills, or money to projects which seek to empower you.
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| Miscellaneous News (by Jesse Smith) |
Firefox adopts AI components, Asahi Linux works to improve the install experience, Mageia team plans for version 10
Most desktop Linux distributions have been using the Firefox web browser for the past two decades. The open source browser has continued to be a cornerstone of the Linux community in recent years, despite Firefox's popularity waning on proprietary operating systems with much of its marketshare being lost to Edge, Safari, and Chrome. Mozilla, the organization which develops Firefox, has a new CEO and he has declared that the browser will become an "AI browser". "Firefox will grow from a browser into a broader ecosystem of trusted software. Firefox will remain our anchor. It will evolve into a modern AI browser and support a portfolio of new and trusted software additions."
The announcement has been met with pushback and criticism. Some alternatives to Firefox, such as Waterfox, have taken the opportunity to present their forks as alternatives: "If these AI features are black boxes, how are we to keep track of what they actually do? The core browsing experience should be one that fully puts the user in control, not one where you're constantly monitoring an inscrutable system that claims to be helping you. Waterfox will not include LLMs. Full stop. At least and most definitely not in their current form or for the foreseeable future."
The change raises an important question for Linux distributions. Will they continue to ship Firefox as-is with features much of the community doesn't want, will they switch to an alternative, or will they disable the AI elements of Firefox and risk a trademark complaint from Mozilla?
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The Asahi Linux team have published a progress report in which the developers talk about improvements going into the project which enables Linux to run on Apple M-series computers. One of the challenges the Asahi project faces is allowing users to install a distribution on Apple hardware without wiping parts of the disk which contain essential information. The project is now working with developers from other projects to hide these key partitions on the disk so they are not wiped during automated partitioning. "In an ideal world, installing Linux on an Apple Silicon Mac should be as easy as using the Asahi Installer to prep the machine, then booting your favourite distro's live image and installing from there. Some distros, such as Gentoo, are already taking this approach. Gentoo can get away with this because the partitioning is entirely manual and users almost always follow the documentation step-by-step; a little guidance and care on the user's part is enough to avoid most partitioning mishaps. However, distros with a graphical installer will typically offer to automatically partition a user's disk with the distro's defaults. These tools are mostly designed around the PC, and will happily wipe out the entire target disk. We obviously cannot allow this to happen, and the fact that it is highly likely means that we cannot support a traditional, mainstream install approach. Yet."
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The Mageia team have published a roadmap for the next version of their distribution. Mageia 10 is expected to launch in April 2026 and include package upgrades across the board. There are also some challenges the team is facing, in particular supporting rarely used CPU architectures. "At the time of the team meeting, creation of 32-bit ISOs was blocked due to a segfault in perl-URPM, which has since been overcome. The problem of manually updating GPG keys and crypto-policies for migration from Mageia 9 to Mageia 10 was raised. The team is looking for a solution to be implemented in Mageia 9 prior to the release. Mozilla and other vendors are abandoning the 32-bit architecture, making it increasingly difficult to maintain full support. There is uncertainty about the status of Chromium as it's currently unmaintained." The distribution's blog post contains list of challenges and plans the team has for Mageia 10.
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These and other news stories can be found on our Headlines page.
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| Questions and Answers (by Jesse Smith) |
Is software ever truly completed?
Is-it-finished asks: Could there be a fully developed software? Could there be software whose last update was many years ago with no new issues and no new security vulnerabilities?
As examples, I would like to mention tint2 and Openbox. I asked about security and newer versions in forums and was told that this software was fully developed. So there are new distros still coming up with tint2 or Openbox even though their last version was released many years ago.
So are there always only technical reasons for new versions of FOSS software, or could there be other motivations?
DistroWatch answers: Whether software is finished and has completed all of its goals is largely dependent on the developer and their vision for the software in question. Creating software is a bit like writing a book, there are always changes and revisions we could add to a book to make it "more complete", but every book in existence was eventually deemed "finished" by its author. Software is similar in that almost every program could be extended or polished further, but its author can deem software "complete" when it reaches specific goals.
An example I like to use is to imagine a simple program which just accepts two numbers from the user and adds them together, displaying the answer. That is pretty simple, right? It's just two inputs, one operation, and one output. So we could write a program that prompts the user for two integers and then performs the sum and outputs the answer. The program might be only three to six lines of code, depending on the language used to write it.
There are lots of ways we could extend the concept of adding two numbers though. Maybe we want to be able to add decimals, not just integers. Maybe we want to be able to read the two numbers from a file, not just input from the keyboard. Maybe we want to be able to provide the numbers on the command line. Maybe we want to be able to write the answer to a file. Sooner or later someone will suggest we create an option to input and receive the answer in JSON format....
My point is that the program still just adds together two numbers, but it has gone from a simple four or five line program to being dozens of lines with multiple command line options and relying on at least one external library. This is often referred to as "feature creep".
Ultimately, it is the program's author (or their employer, if it is commercial software) who decides when enough features are enough and the program is "feature complete". At that point the program goes from active development to maintenance mode where new features usually are not added, but there may occasionally be new versions released to address discovered bugs or to address changes in compiler standards. Basically no new versions are required unless a problem is found or the technological ecosystem changes enough to necessitate changes to the code.
It sounds as though the software you mentioned, such as Openbox, have reached feature completion; there is nothing else the authors want the window manager to do. They probably won't publish new versions unless a bug is found or they need to tweak the code to handle changes in underlying libraries or the compiler used to build the software.
The original question also asked if it is possible for there to be software without any security vulnerabilities which would need to be addressed. It is possible. It's more likely with small code bases and simple programs. However, it could also be possible with more complex software which has been carefully maintained and checked for issues.
Some people tend to associate "old" or a "lack of releases" with software being insecure or unmaintained. This tends to be a misunderstanding (and a holdover from using commercial software where companies promote new versions to make money). Lots of software in the world gets very few new releases because it is effectively "finished" and only needs to be updated if a new problem is found or a supporting library changes.
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Additional answers can be found in our Questions and Answers archive.
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| Released Last Week |
Emmabuntüs DE6-1.00
The Emmabuntüs project has announced a new version of their Debian-based distribution. The new release is based on Debian 13 and places a focus on accessibility options: "This new version of our distribution mainly focuses on accessibility improvements, developed as part of our collaboration with our friends at A.S.I. YOVOTOGO and the Togolese Federation of Associations of Persons with Disabilities (FETAPH). The goal is to soon equip specialized centers for people with visual impairments across Togo including the Saint Augustine Multipurpose Center in Lomé and the Maison du Handicap initiated by Mutualistes Sans Frontières. These advancements were made possible thanks to the work and valuable feedback of our blind and visually impaired volunteers. Corrections and improvements: based on Debian 13.2; default sound volume set to 50%; added a Wine installation script; removed Deborah; replaced ZuluCrypt-GUI with LuckyLUKS; fixed the locale bug and re-enabled country and timezone selection...." Details on the new version of Emmabuntüs can be found in the release announcement.
Kicksecure 18.0.8.7
The Kicksecure team has announced the availability of a new version of its security-focused, Debian-based distribution. The new version switches from using the Xfce desktop by default to running LXQt and the base system has been updated to use Debian 13. "port to Debian 13 'Trixie' ram-wipe - Wipe RAM on shutdown and reboot; install USBGuard by default; port to Wayland; port to LXQt; bring back Btrfs support in ISO installer; port to privleap; no longer install xpdf by default (due to port to Wayland); investigated VirtualBox; switch to using deb822 sources; backlight-tool-dist - new privleap, LXQt compatible backlight adjustment tool; keyboard layout new tools - set-system-keymap, set-console-keymap, set-labwc-keymap, set-grub-keymap; disable clipboard sharing by default for VM images (broken by Wayland); VirtualBox Guest Additions - clipboard sharing, shared folder; KVM clipboard sharing; Qubes - unaffected, no changes; GRUB boot menu now has a keyboard selection menu (this is documented in chapter Temporary Kernel Boot Parameter Change); boot performance and RAM savings improvements; consistent naming of meta packages; VirtualBox / KVM - fix auto adjustment of window size in Wayland using wlr-resize-watcher (in vm-config-dist package)." Additional details are covered in the release announcement.
Kicksecure 18.0.6.7 -- Running the LXQt desktop
(full image size: 1.1MB, resolution: 2560x1600 pixels)
MidnightBSD 4.0
The MidnightBSD project has announced a new major release, version 4.0, which is available for 32-bit and 64-bit x86 machines. A long list of changes to the base platform and ports collection are covered in the project's release notes. "Removed libdispatch from base. rc.subr(8) now honors ${name}_env in all rc(8) scripts. init(8), service(8), and cron(8) will now adopt user/class environment variables by default (excluding PATH). Notably, environment variables for all cron jobs and rc(8) services can now be set via login.conf(5). The default config for newsyslog(8) will now only include files from the /etc/newsyslog.conf.d/ and /usr/local/etc/newsyslog.conf.d/ directories if the filename ends with ".conf" and does not begin with a "." character. The kernel now supports enforcing a W^X memory mapping policy for user processes. The policy is not enforced by default but can be enabled by setting the kern.elf32.allow_wx and kern.elf64.allow_wx sysctls to 0. Individual binaries can be exempted from the policy by elfctl(1) via the wxneeded feature."
Rhino Linux 2025.4
Rhino Linux is an Ubuntu-based distribution which offers a rolling-release upgrade approach. the project's latest snapshot improves on its Lomiri interface support and makes Lomiri available for its PINE64 devices: "As mentioned previously, our collaboration with UBPorts stipulated that we would be assisting in the development of Lomiri upstream, as well as the packaging and distribution of Lomiri for Rhino Linux PINE64 devices. We are happy to announce that we have made significant and substantial progress towards these goals with us shipping two new packages: rhino-pine-lomiri-core, and ubxi-lomiri-desktop. The ubxi-lomiri-desktop package is compatible on both PINE64 devices, as expected, as well as our generic images. We have also begun the process of rolling out Lomiri as our default desktop environment for our PINE64 devices. For now, we will be also be continuing the support and maintenance of Unicorn Mobile disk images for PINE64 devices." Additional details about Rhino Linux 2025.4 can be found in the project's release announcement.
Mabox Linux 25.12
The Mabox Linux team have announced the release of Mabox Linux 25.12. The new version includes a series of updates and improvements to the desktop, volume controls, and introduces autotheming to the live session. "The panel configuration menu was recently enhanced to allow for quick configuration of the taskbar's behavior. The menu is available by right-clicking the Mabox icon in the panel or by using the keyboard shortcut W-A-p (Super/Windows + Alt + p). Update notifier/status icon: Now shows the number of updates divided into packages from official repositories and AUR (Arch Users Repository). Quick access to file manager bookmarks: Bookmarks from the file manager are also quickly accessible in the dynamic Places menu W-. (Super + dot). Both local file system and network bookmarks are supported. SSH, Samba shares, and FTP. Autotheming enabled in live session. Just left-click on wallpaper 'icon' in panel to set random wallpaper and see autotheming in action. Have some fun while installing Mabox. Right-click on thumbnail icon for more options. Autotheming is disabled by default after installation." Additional details and screenshots can be found in the project's release announcement.
RELIANOID 7.8.0
RELIANOID, a specialist Debian-based server distribution with network load balancing features to avoid single points of failure, has been updated to version 7.8.0. The new version upgrades the base system to Debian 12 and brings various improvements to its web-based user interface. "RELIANOID 7.8.0 Community Edition represents a significant milestone, bringing a modern operating system base, enhanced upgrade capabilities, and first-class cloud automation features to the open-source community. This release focuses on simplifying lifecycle management, improving usability, and enabling seamless deployments across on-premise and cloud environments. The platform is now based on Debian 12.12 'Bookworm', providing a more secure, stable, and up-to-date foundation. This upgrade ensures long-term support, improved performance, and access to the latest system and networking components. In addition, RELIANOID CE 7.8.0 introduces major version upgrade capabilities, allowing users to perform smoother transitions between releases while reducing operational risk and downtime. As part of this process, automated system cleanup routines are now executed before upgrades to ensure a clean and reliable upgrade path." Continue to the release announcement for more details.
Chimera Linux 20251220
Chimera Linux is an independent distribution which uses an unusual combination of technologies behind the scenes. Chimera Linux uses BSD userland command line tools, the Clang/LLVM compiler toolchain, Dinit for service management, and APK for package management. The project's latest snapshot introduces a text-based system installer: "This set has been overdue for a while so it mainly comes as an update with new versions. This set is based on kernel 6.18 and comes with latest versions of desktop environments and most other software. Newly, the live images will not automatically import LVMs and ZFS pools, as that was found to be unintuitive and sometimes system-breaking (with ZFS-on-root setups). Additionally, the images now come with an experimental TUI installer. It can be invoked as chimera-installer from the command line. The installer supports the following: Local and remote installs, APK mirror setup, with up to date mirror list fetched from the repo, basic setup (hostname, timezone, root password, user account), installing extra packages, kernel version selection, bootloader setup (GRUB and systemd-boot, including BIOS/EFI/OF). It does not support the following: Disk partitioning and formatting, and probably a lot of other things" Additional information is offered in the project's release announcement.
Chimera Linux 20251220 -- Exploring the KDE Plasma desktop
(full image size: 243kB, resolution: 1680x1050 pixels)
Synex 13 "Server"
The Synex distribution is based on Debian's Stable branch and offers a range of desktop editions along with a server edition. Synex 13 "Server" edition offers predictable networking settings and a custom storage manager which simplifies LVM and encryption management. "ServerHub continues as the modular framework for enterprise application deployment, now with complete CLI interface complementing its TUI. Available with 7 production-ready modules (LAMP, Docker, Nginx Proxy Manager, Zabbix, Nextcloud, GLPI, Odoo), it enables full automation through scripts, CI/CD integration, and remote administration without manual intervention. Storage management is simplified through synex-lvm-manager, an interactive command-line tool designed specifically for Synex/Debian. It reduces the complexity of working with LVM and LUKS2 encryption without sacrificing technical control: allows creating and managing physical volumes, volume groups, and logical volumes in an assisted manner, preparing disks with LUKS2 encryption and integrating them into LVM, reviewing states and available space before applying changes, and automatically updating system configuration." Additional details are provided in the project's release announcement.
EasyOS 7.1
Barry Kauler has announced the release of EasyOS 7.1, an updated build of the project's experimental Linux distribution built from Devuan: "woofQ2-built EasyOS has version numbering starting from 7.0. It is built from Devuan 'Excalibur' (equivalent to Debian 'Trixie') binary packages, with major structural changes, including based on Debian's APT package management and enhanced Easy Containers. It should be noted that version 7.0+ implies improvements and less bugs compared with earlier releases; however, this series is a complete redesign, from the ground-up, and likely there are some brand-new issues. We hope that nothing serious emerges, and anyway, updating is very simple, via the "update" button on the desktop. The latest version is becoming mature, though Easy is an experimental distribution and some parts are under development and are still considered as beta-quality. However, you will find this distro to be a very pleasant surprise, or so we hope.So many 7.0.x releases since 7.0, resolving issues and many enhancements, finally reaching the rock-solid 7.1. Changes since 7.0.34: MSCW restore defaults; SeaMonkey Composer via right-click menu; fix screen brightness in EasySetup; LibreOffice Draw not in menu; Linux kernel 6.12.62; Chromium 143.0.7499.109." See the release notes for a complete list of changes.
Qubes OS 4.3.0
The Qubes OS project has a new stable release, Qubes OS 4.3.0, which updates the project's templates for Fedora, Debian, and Whonix. The project's release announcement shares key changes: "We're pleased to announce the stable release of Qubes OS 4.3.0! This minor release includes a host of new features, improvements, and bug fixes. The ISO and associated verification files are available on the downloads page. What's new in Qubes 4.3? Dom0 upgraded to Fedora 41. Xen upgraded to version 4.19. Default Fedora template upgraded to Fedora 42 (older versions not supported). Default Debian template upgraded to Debian 13 (versions older than 12 not supported). Default Whonix templates upgraded to Whonix 18 (older versions not supported). Preloaded disposables. Device 'self-identity oriented' assignment (a.k.a. New Devices API). Qubes Windows Tools reintroduced with improved features. These are just a few highlights from the many changes included in this release. For a more comprehensive list of changes, see the Qubes OS 4.3 release notes."
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Development, unannounced and minor bug-fix releases
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| Torrent Corner |
Weekly Torrents
The table below provides a list of torrents DistroWatch is currently seeding. If you do not have a bittorrent client capable of handling the linked files, we suggest installing either the Transmission or KTorrent bittorrent clients.
Archives of our previously seeded torrents may be found in our Torrent Archive. We also maintain a Torrents RSS feed for people who wish to have open source torrents delivered to them. To share your own open source torrents of Linux and BSD projects, please visit our Upload Torrents page.
Torrent Corner statistics:
- Total torrents seeded: 3,356
- Total data uploaded: 48.8TB
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| Upcoming Releases and Announcements |
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Summary of expected upcoming releases
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| Opinion Poll (by Jesse Smith) |
Which open source operating system was your favourite in 2025?
This week we talked about some of our favourite distributions of the 2025 calendar year. Which of our picks do you think performed the best? Do you have a favourite that didn't make our list? Let us know which open source operating system had the best release of 2025.
You can see the results of our previous poll on filtering websites in our previous edition. All previous poll results can be found in our poll archives.
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What was your favourite FOSS operating system of 2025?
| Linux Mint: | 642 (28%) |
| MX Linux: | 394 (17%) |
| EndeavourOS: | 112 (5%) |
| HeliumOS: | 7 (0%) |
| Another Linux distro: | 1078 (46%) |
| Another FOSS operating system: | 94 (4%) |
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| Website News |
Donations and Sponsors
Each month we receive support and kindness from our readers in the form of donations. These donations help us keep the web server running, pay contributors, and keep infrastructure like our torrent seed box running. We'd like to thank our generous readers and acknowledge how much their contributions mean to us.
This month we're grateful for the $264 in contributions from the following kind souls:
| Donor |
Amount |
|---|
| Patrick M | $100 |
| Používateľ P | $40 |
| Jesus L | $20 |
| David C | $20 |
| Používateľ J M J V P | $10 |
| Jonathon B | $10 |
| Sam C | $10 |
| Joshua B | $7 |
| Robert L | $5 |
| Brian59 | $5 |
| Chris S | $5 |
| Chung T | $5 |
| Joe Football | $5 |
| John B | $5 |
| TaiKedz | $5 |
| Keith S | $2 |
| J.D. L | $2 |
| PB C | $2 |
| aRubes | $1 |
| Colton D | $1 |
| Stephen M | $1 |
| Kai D | $1 |
| Lars N | $1 |
| William E | $1 |
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DistroWatch database summary
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This concludes this week's issue of DistroWatch Weekly. The next instalment will be published on Monday, 5 January 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)
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| 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.
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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 |
| 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.
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| Random Distribution | 
Buffalo Linux
Buffalo Linux was a derivative distribution based on Vector and Slackware. It was targeted at the small business workstation market. This was the free base version; enhanced versions with pre-installed database access (DB2 and Oracle) and Microsoft product execution using CodeWeavers products are available at US$25 over licensing costs.
Status: Discontinued
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| 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.
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