 DistroWatch Weekly |
| DistroWatch Weekly, Issue 1138, 8 September 2025 |
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Welcome to this year's 36th issue of DistroWatch Weekly!
One of the benefits of open source is the lack of central authority. There is no single company which can dictate new policies, new changes, or introduce harmful software to all Linux users. When a Linux distribution makes choices the community doesn't like, the distribution is either abandonned or forked. This week we explore a wide range of open source operating systems in a celebration of this decentralized diversity. We begin with quick looks at three unrelated projects: Shebang, LibreELEC, and Debian's GNU/Hurd. The last of the three is especially interesting as it merges Debian's typical packages and system installer with an alternative kernel. Have you ever run GNU's Hurd microkernel? Let us know in this week's Opinion Poll. In our News section we explore more diversity as the mobile operating system postmarketOS encourages developers to merge their kernel patches upstream and the Redox team imports new a new utility from the COSMIC desktop into their Rust-powered operating system. Plus we talk about AerynOS, an unusual Linux distribution, and its progress in making package sets for easier system management. We also report on openSUSE extending its support cycle for the distribution's Leap edition while Debian publishes updated media for Trixie. Then, in our Questions and Answers column, we talk about the importance of software updates and how to avoid being flooded by new package versions. The KDE project has announced the first alpha snapshot of their experimental distribution, called KDE Linux, and we have added it to our database. Plus we are pleased to share the releases of the past week and list the torrents we are seeding. We wish you all a fantastic week and happy reading!
This week's DistroWatch Weekly is presented by TUXEDO Computers.
Content:
- Review: Shebang 25.8, LibreELEC 12.2.0, Debian GNU/Hurd 2025
- News: AerynOS introduces package sets, postmarketOS seeks to encourage patches upstream, Redox imports new COSMIC desktop application, openSUSE extends support for Leap, Debian publishes refreshed Trixie media
- Questions and answers: The importance of software updates
- Released last week: AerynOS 2025.08, Linux From Scratch 12.4, Linux Mint 22.2, Kamuriki Linux 4.00
- Torrent corner: KDE neon, Linux Mint
- Upcoming releases: GLF OS Omnislash, FreeBSD 15.0-ALPHA2
- Opinion poll: Running GNU Hurd
- New distributions: KDE Linux
- Reader comments
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| Feature Story (By Jesse Smith) |
Shebang 25.8
Shebang is a lightweight Artix-based Linux distribution with focus on simplicity, privacy and security. It uses a customised Openbox window manager suitable for both intermediate and advanced power users. Shebang is an attempt at building a modern, full-featured GNU/Linux system without sacrificing usability and performance.
The distribution is available in one edition for x86_64 computers only. The ISO file provided for Shebang 25.8 is 1.7GB in size. The ISO file itself does not have a version number in its name, but the ISO is tagged as being version 25.8 on the project's GitHub page.
Booting from the live media brings up a menu where we are given the chance to switch our language and keyboard layout. The boot menu pauses until we select a boot option to proceed, indicating whether we are starting from removable media or booting from a hard drive.
The live session boots and displays a minimum Openbox environment and opens a virtual terminal. A welcome message in the terminal says it is running a "post-installation script" to help us configure the operating system. This is a strange message to see in the live session running pre-install.
Shebang 25.8 -- Running Openbox in a virtual machine
(full image size: 590kB, resolution: 1920x1080 pixels)
The virtual terminal then displays a prompt asking for our keyboard layout. There is no indication of what should be typed at this prompt - perhaps a name, an abbreviation, or a command to see a list of options? Luckily, for me, simply pressing Enter selected the default US keyboard mapping.
The next prompt asks if we want to install the operating system. The first time through I typed "N" for "no". The terminal then showed a process was fetching package repository information and then the screen went blank. The Openbox session then re-launched and set up a panel across the top of the screen with dark wallpaper in the background.
In the future, when I booted Shebang's live session, I tried to capture the output of the script before the Openbox session reset. From the script's output it looks like the Tint panel is being downloaded and installed.
This Tint panel is placed across the top of the desktop. It is crowded with small, monochrome icons and cryptic text. Most of the buttons and text on the panel are not interactive, though a few icons responded to clicks.
To the left of the panel we find CPU, memory, and disk usage. Then there is a temperature indicator. There are a few icons for launching programs like Firefox, a terminal, and the PCManFM-Qt file manager. The Firefox icon doesn't work and, when I checked from a terminal, I found Firefox is not installed. I don't think any web browser is available in the live session.
There is a weather field on the panel and it shows temperature and sky state, though it doesn't give any hints as to from where it is reporting; it certainly was not a local weather report. The system clock is wrong too and appears to be set to UTC time. To the right end of the panel there is an icon for muting audio, a Bluetooth icon that does nothing when clicked, and a network icon which also does nothing when clicked. Finally there is a lock icon which, again, does nothing when clicked. Basically, the panel is a mess of unhelpful icons and incorrect information.
The Openbox environment is dark with mostly grey on black themeing with dark wallpaper. There is a Latin motto on the wallpaper which (excuse my rough translation) says: "Nothing is absolute, and everything is given."
There does not appear to be any system installer in the application menu so I rebooted to restart the initial "post-install" script.
This is when I discovered something strange. If I booted my system in Legacy BIOS mode, the distribution would start successfully. However, the shell script which offers to launch the install process would detect Legacy BIOS mode and refuse to proceed. Instead it would insist on rebooting the computer so I could select UEFI mode. However, when I tried to boot in UEFI mode, the live session failed to launch. The system would crash and drop me to a GRUB prompt.
In short, if we try to launch Shebang in UEFI mode, it cannot boot, but if we boot in Legacy BIOS mode then the distribution refuses to run the installer and demands we use UEFI. This is both a silly restriction and one which makes trying to run Shebang completely self-defeating.
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LibreELEC 12.2.0
Since my trial with Shebang had hit a dead-end, I turned my attention to LibreELEC, a distribution which describes itself as "Just enough OS for Kodi." Kodi is a media centre which can gain functionality through extensions. Specifically, the latest version of LibreELEC ships with Kodi 21.2
LibreELEC runs on a wide range of hardware and is mostly geared toward single-board computers, such as the Raspberry Pi. However, there are builds of LibreELEC for generic desktop computers (x86_64 machines) and the project provides VirtualBox appliances for people who wish to test the distribution before installing it.
I decided to try the VirtualBox appliance first, since it seemed the most convenient. The archive is a 1.0GB download and it quickly imported into VirtualBox. Booting from the LibreELEC appliance immediately brought up a menu which asked if I wanted to select Install, Live, or Run mode. The first option runs the system installer, the Live option boots from the virtual drive and uses RAM for temporary storage. The Run option boots from the virtual drive and then uses part of the virtual drive (the one from which we booted) for storage.
Taking the default option, the system installer, presents us with a mostly-blank screen that prints "LibreELEC (official): 12.2.0" across the top of the terminal. Then nothing happens, even after waiting for several minutes. I soon found the Live and Run options did the same thing, presenting me with just text showing the distribution's name and then the system would freeze. It's not a good sign when the build specifically for testing in VirtualBox does not run in the latest version of VirtualBox.
Next I tried LibreELEC's edition for generic x86_64 computers which is a 272MB download. After downloading the file I decompressed it and transferred it to a thumb drive. The system booted and presented me with the same three options (Install, Live, or Run). I took the install option which booted a text environment. I was asked onto which disk I wanted to install the distribution and then the installer asked me (twice) for confirmation to proceed, warning it would take over the disk. It's a short install process, taking less than two minutes to complete, and it's nice to see this extra warning to prevent people from wiping their drives.
The installer finished and offered to show me its log file which confirmed the install had completed without any errors. I restarted my desktop machine and was shown a screen with the project's logo and the now-familiar "LibreELEC (official): 12.2.0" text at the top of the display. Then the system stopped and nothing happened. I could switch between local terminals (they were all blank apart from the first terminal), but that was all I could do.
Later, I tried running the live session when booting from my thumb drive. I encountered the same problem I had in the VirtualBox environment. The distribution would start to boot and then show a blank screen, other than its name at the top. There were no errors, no warnings, just a blank screen.
I have tried running LibreELEC several times over the past decade, in a variety of environments. I've tried using a desktop computer, at least three laptops, a Raspberry Pi machine, and a virtual machine. Each trial has had similar results with the distribution failing to boot or failing to complete its install process successfully.
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Debian GNU/Hurd 2025
The next project on my list of software to review was Debian's Hurd port. I reviewed Debian 13 a few weeks prior, but did not then take the time to look at the Hurd branch of Debian. The Hurd flavour uses almost all the same software as Debian's main Linux branch, but swaps out the Linux kernel and systemd in favour of GNU's Hurd kernel and SysV init.
The GNU/Hurd branch is not an official flavour of Debian and is not part of the official release process, but the Debian GNU/Hurd developers tend to publish new releases around the same time as Debian's official stable versions.
I'd like to mention at this point that the naming situation with Debian's ports can get confusing. Most of the time in this review I will refer to the Debian project as a whole as "Debian", the Linux branch as "Debian Linux", and the Hurd port as "Debian Hurd" or "GNU/Hurd". When I am talking about the kernels specifically I will try to stick to referring to the technologies simply as "Linux" and "Hurd" without mentioning the Debian project.
The latest snapshot of Debian GNU/Hurd was announced in a mailing list post. Some of the highlights in the new version include 64-bit x86_64 support (expanding on the project's existing 32-bit x86 builds). The project also reports it is able to access USB storage, CD-ROM storage, and provide multiprocessing (SMP) support. The announcement mentions the Rust language has been ported to GNU/Hurd too. It's quite a list of achievements for a project that does not receive much developer attention.
Installing
I decided to try the 64-bit build of Debian's Hurd port first. The ISO for the net-install build is 305MB in size. Booting from the ISO brings up a menu offering a text, graphical, or pseudo-graphical installer. My selection did not make any impact as choosing any of the three options would result in the live session immediately crashing with the text console briefly reporting it was trying to launch a debugger. The debugger was not found and this appeared to cause a kernel panic and an immediate lock-up.
Next I downloaded the 32-bit (i386) build of the operating system. The 32-bit build of the net-install edition was 322MB in size. Booting from the 32-bit version showed me the same boot menu and, when I took the default option of the pseudo-graphical installer, the system launched Debian's text installer.
The GNU/Hurd port uses the same installer as Debian's Linux edition which I talked about a few weeks ago. We're walked through making up a username and password, disk partitioning (the Hurd port defaults to running on the ext2 filesystem), and connecting to the network. Since I was running the net-install flavour, the installer connected to a remote package mirror (there appears to be just one for GNU/Hurd) and fetched its packages from the server.
Toward the end of the install process we are asked which groups of software we would like to install. The options include the core system files, OpenSSH, web server packages, and several desktop environments. The desktops offered are GNOME, GNOME Flashback, Xfce, KDE Plasma, Cinnamon, MATE, LXDE, and LXQt. At this point I ran into a roadblock as picking any of the above desktop environments would cause the installer to report it had run into an error (it did not say what the error was) and ask me to restart the software selection process. I could understand some of the heavier desktops, such as GNOME and Plasma, not working on Hurd. However, in the past I had successfully run lighter environments such as LXDE, so the installer failing to work with LXDE or LXQt puzzled me. I decided to install just the core software and OpenSSH, then try to add more functionality later in my trial.
Early impressions
Once I had restarted and launched my new copy of Debian GNU/Hurd, the system presented me with a text console where I could sign in by using the credentials I had made up during the install process.
Once we are logged in we find that the Debian GNU/Hurd port has a command line experience which is, as intended, fairly similar to the Linux build. Most of the same tools are included, though systemctl has been swapped out for the service command.
Package management
The GNU/Hurd branch of Debian has the same bug as the Linux branch where the APT sources still contain a link to the local media and treat it as a repository. This causes some errors with package management until we fix it. I found this weird since I had been using the net-install flavour which should be pulling all of its packages from the network rather than the local media.
Early on I also discovered APT would show a warning whenever I tried to fetch repository information, informing me the remote server had a Release file which had expired and could not be used. APT warns this will prevent us from receiving any package updates. We can still install new software, but the packages will be older (presumably the age of the GNU/Hurd snapshot) and not up to date with new security fixes.
I tried installing desktop packages, both with Debian's tasksel command for fetching groups of packages and with APT directly. These actions all failed due to missing dependencies. I tried three desktops (LXDE, Xfce, and LXQt) and they all reported failures due to missing packages. I was able to fetch some command line software and network services, such as lighttpd (a lightweight web service). These packages were fetched and installed successfully.
Unlike the Linux branch of Debian, the GNU/Hurd port cannot use portable packages meant for Linux. This prevents us from using software from Snap or Flatpak stores.
Hardware
Debian GNU/Hurd is fairly light on resources. A fresh install of the core system uses about 1.5GB of disk space (plus a swap partition) and, when signed in at the command line, the operating system consumed 160MB of RAM.
I found Debian's Hurd port would not shutdown properly. Running commands such as shutdown and poweroff shut down running services, but then the system sat at a text console, reporting it was going into a sleep state. The machine stayed powered on though.
Conclusions
I have tried Debian's Hurd port a few times over the years. What some may find surprising is my best experiences with the project were ten years ago and things have generally been getting worse since then. This is the opposite of what one might expect from a port which has been making so much progress on multiple fronts (such as hardware compatibility and packaging software), but it feels like the efforts to improve aspects of the Debian Hurd project have stretched it too thin. It isn't handling the basics (booting, installing cleanly, and running a desktop) as well as it did a decade ago.
The Debian GNU/Hurd branch is still, in its way, impressive. The 32-bit build at least is working. It can boot, it can install a core system, it can install packages, it can run basic background services. It's not fast, it's not nearly as functional as the Linux branch, and it has some serious problems with software management. However, the fact it runs at all, when Hurd has a development team probably two orders of magnitude smaller than Linux, is a remarkable feat. The GNU/Hurd port is not on par with the Linux branch of Debian, but the developers are accomplishing some cool things and I hope it evolves into something which can be run reliably on physical hardware.
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Hardware used in this review
My physical test equipment for this review was a Lenovo desktop with the following specifications:
- Processor: Hex-core Intel i5-10400 CPU @ 2.90GHz
- Storage: Western Digital 1TB hard drive
- Memory: 8GB of RAM
- Networking: Realtek RTL8111/8168/8411 wired network card, Realtek RTL8822CE 802.11ac PCIe wireless adapter
- Display: Intel CometLake-S GT2
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| Miscellaneous News (by Jesse Smith) |
AerynOS introduces package sets, postmarketOS seeks to encourage patches upstream, Redox imports new COSMIC desktop application, openSUSE extends support for Leap, Debian publishes refreshed Trixie media
AerynOS is an independently-developed, rolling-release Linux distribution designed for general desktop use. The project is introducing package sets (collections of packages) used to provide specific functionality. "Package sets are a collection of packages that are related or used together for a specific purpose. In AerynOS, they are used for consolidating our base system packages and for each of our offered desktop environments / window managers.
Each desktop environment offered by AerynOS has an associated package set (usually 'recommended'). Depending on the environment, we may optionally offer a 'minimal' and/or 'full' solution with less or more packages to better suit our users requirements.
The package set model we have implemented is a stepping stone technology, not the final solution we are looking to implement. It introduces the basic premise of virtual sets of packages and is a precursor to our 'system-model' work that will allow for exact reproduction of a user's installed system." The project has introduced several other changes, including KDE Plasma packages in the repository, and details can be found in the August Project Update.
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The postmarketOS team are facing a heavy burden by carrying device-specific patches for hardware. In an effort to reduce the load of maintaining patches for each supported device, the postmarketOS team is proposing that new community devices should have drivers merged into the upstream Linux kernel prior to being considered supported by the distribution as a "Community Device". "This follows discussions with other community members about similar ideas. The main goal is, that as the Linux mobile ecosystem matures, and gets easier and easier to have things upstream, we follow suit and encourage people to follow on that route. We've always been proud of the 'upstream first' mentality, and want to continue it. This issue is to bring it up to further community discussion, as it will require work from community maintainers, and we want feedback to make sure the burden is not excessive." An ongoing discussion can be found in the distribution's GitLab issue.
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Redox OS is a Unix-like operating system written in Rust. The project's August newsletter shares progress happening within the operating system's team. Two of the key changes include importing new applications from the COSMIC desktop and fixing the size of dynamically linked packages: "Fixed Dynamically Linked Package Size - Wildan Mubarok fixed a problem where some dynamically linked program packages were carrying static library objects making them very big in size. This fix reduced the size of packages and images a lot! COSMIC Reader on Redox - Jeremy Soller ported the COSMIC Reader (document viewer) and will be using it for his upcoming presentation at RustConf." Additional details and smaller changes are listed in the newsletter.
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The openSUSE team have extended their support plans for openSUSE Leap's 15.x series, which will now receive security updates through to the end of April 2026. "openSUSE Leap 15 is a record breaker. It will keep receiving updates until April 30 2026, delivering a lengthy amount of unmatched community support. The usual lifecycle is 12 months plus 6 months of overlap for a smooth upgrade, but Leap 15.6 has been stretched by an additional 4 months so we can maintain the familiar six month overlap after the release of Leap 16.0 in October 2025. Altogether, Leap 15 delivered more than 1.5 times the typical 60 months of support offered by most long-term support distributions." The announcement goes on to speculate on the length of support for Leap 16 and possible release date for Leap 17.
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Less than a month after the launch of Debian 13 "Trixie" the Debian project has published updated media to address security issues and bug fixes. The refreshed media carries the version number 13.1. "The Debian project is pleased to announce the first 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. There is no need to throw away old Trixie media. After installation, packages can be upgraded to the current versions using an up-to-date Debian mirror." The project's announcement shares a list of fixes included on the 13.1 media. A similar update was published for Debian 12.
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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) |
The importance of software updates
A-deluge-of-data asks: I've been using Linux since a month ago and am getting bombarded by updates. How important is it to install all of these new updates? Whenever I update my phone it almost always changes my apps and where stuff is, so I put it off as long as possible. Should I be trying to keep up with Linux updates?
DistroWatch answers: Welcome to the Linux community! Glad you could join us.
As you have probably noticed, if you made your way to DistroWatch, there are many flavours of Linux. Each one has its own focus and its own approach to doing things. When it comes to providing software updates, there are two main styles in the Linux community: Fixed and Rolling.
With a rolling Linux distribution the operating system will get regular updates to virtually every package. Any time the developers of an application or a system component publish a new version, a rolling distribution will supply the new version, often within a few days. These new versions will likely include new features, any relevant bug fixes, and may introduce new designs. In short, whatever the original developers are publishing to the world, you will get a copy in short order, and the new versions will include bug fixes, layout changes, and new features.
The result is rolling release distributions receive a lot of updates and the updates are likely to introduces small, visible changes to your applications. You will be getting the latest and greatest software available, but it will mean constantly updating and some regular changes to your experience.
A fixed distribution takes an entirely different approach. With a fixed release the distribution is "frozen" and does not receive new features or major package upgrades for the duration of its supported life span. (A fixed life span varies a lot, some projects support their releases for as few as nine months, others support their systems for as many as twelve years.) During the supported life of the distribution's version it will receive security updates only.
Receiving only security updates means your applications stay the same and your system components stay the same. The experience you have from day to day and month to month doesn't really change. You will receive a relatively small number of updates and, when you apply them, you shouldn't notice a difference because they are not introducing new features. The updates are just patching security holes without affecting the features or design of your applications.
When using a fixed release you end up getting fewer updates and fewer changes. You won't be running the latest software and you may eventually miss out on new features, but your experience will be consistent.
Whether you are running a rolling distribution or a fixed one, it is important to install updates because your packages will include security and bug fixes. It's almost always a good idea to install new packages as they become available. However, if you are drowning in a torrent of updates, it probably means you are running a rolling release distribution. Switching to a fixed release will mean a more consistent experience with fewer updates.
You can see lists of fixed releases and rolling releases on our Search page.
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Additional answers can be found in our Questions and Answers archive.
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| Released Last Week |
AerynOS 2025.08
The AerynOS project has announced the release of AerynOS 2025.08, a new version of the project's independently-developed, rolling-release Linux distribution for general desktop use and with a custom package manager called "moss": "Closing out August 2025, we are proud to announce our third release of the year. This release follows an intense development period where the team has reevaluated its priorities and timelines, and refocused efforts on 'delivering core Linux distribution tooling that will simplify our ability to scale out over time'. We have documented some of our progress in our last two blog posts and spent the last two months further progressing towards these goals. We have implemented a basic version of virtual packages (Package Sets), continued our hardware (and VM) enablement efforts and have selectively been growing our repository where we feel it's beneficial to our users. What's new? Whilst not an exhaustive list, some of the top line repository updates include: GNOME 48.4, Plasma 6.4.4, Sway 1.11, Cosmic Alpha 7, Linux 6.15.11, Mesa 25.2.1, LLVM 20.1.8...." Continue to the detailed release announcement for further information.
Linux From Scratch 12.4
The Linux From Scratch project (also called LFS) has announced the release of version 12.4 of the project's guide. This guide walks the reader through the steps to create a minimal Linux distribution from source code. The release announcement reads: "The Linux From Scratch community announces the release of LFS Version 12.4. Major changes include toolchain updates to binutils-2.45, gcc-15.2.0, and glibc-2.42. In total, 49 packages were updated since the last release. Changes to the text have also been made throughout the book. The Linux kernel has also been updated to version 6.16.1. Packages that have security updates include: glibc, coreutils, expat, perl, Python, systemd, vim, and xz. See the Security Advisories for details. Overall there have been 146 commits to LFS since the previous stable version of the book. You can read the book online, or download to read locally. You can read the systemd version of the book online at LFS-systemd, or download-systemd to read locally."
Linux Mint 22.2
The Linux Mint team have announced the release of Linux Mint 22.2 "Zara", an Ubuntu-based version which will receive updates through to 2029. The 22.2 release includes several new features, including new full screen options for the Hypnotix IPTV player, a version of the libAdwaita library to support themes, and artwork improvements. One of the big features is a fingerprint manager to providing authentication on computers which have a supported fingerprint reader. "Linux Mint 22.2 features a brand new XApp called Fingwit. This application is dedicated to fingerprint authentication. Fingwit detects if your computer has a fingerprint reader and lets you record your fingerprints. It then configures your system to use fingerprint authentication for: The screensaver, sudo commands, admin apps (pkexec). Note: If like most users you use home directory encryption or a keyring, the login screen still requires you to type a password. If you don't, you can configure Fingwit to also use fingerprint authentication in the login screen." Additional details are available in the project's what's new document.
Linux Mint 22.2 -- Running the Cinnamon desktop
(full image size: 1.4MB, resolution: 2560x1600 pixels)
Kamuriki Linux 4.00
Jin Asanami has announced the release of Kamuriki Linux 4.00, a major update of the project's Debian-based Linux distribution with a classic Windows-like LXQt theme and the Wine compatibility layer for running Windows applications under Linux. The release announcement (in Japanese) divulges the second installment of the new Kamuriki, with LXQt and KWin that deliver a lightweight, modern look and feel. The distribution comes with everything one might need to get started, including a web browser, word processor and a music player. Included in Kamuriki Linux is the Discover software centre, making it simple to install new software with a mouse. For those who prefer the command line interface, the 'nako' command is also available to efficiently manipulate software packages. Updates from version 3 are not currently supported, but the developer team promises to provide updates on the support page in the near future. While the project's website is entirely in Japanese, the distribution and the Calamares system installer also support English and several other languages.
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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: 3,284
- Total data uploaded: 48.2TB
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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) |
Running GNU Hurd
This week we touched upon the idea of running the GNU Hurd kernel, a microkernel which is available as an alternative to Linux in the Debian project. While Hurd has experienced a slower rate of development than its cousins in the Linux and BSD communities, it offers open source enthusiasts a look at alternative technologies and approaches to kernel design. Have you tried the Hurd kernel? Let us know about your experiences in the comments.
You can see the results of our previous poll on running a member of the illumos family of operating systems in our previous edition. All previous poll results can be found in our poll archives.
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Have you tried the Hurd kernel?
| Yes - used it in the past: | 93 (7%) |
| Yes - currently trying it: | 10 (1%) |
| No - plan to in the future: | 236 (17%) |
| No - no plans to try it: | 1020 (75%) |
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| Website News |
New distributions added to database
KDE Linux
KDE Linux is a user-focused, general-purpose Linux distribution. It is built by KDE and it is meant to showcase the best implementation of everything KDE has to offer, using the most advanced technologies. The distribution's base packages come from Arch Linux, while everything else is either compiled by the kde-builder tool or included as Flatpak packages. KDE Linux does not come with any traditional package manager, but supports installing Flatpak, Snap or AppImage applications. As it has an immutable base, system updates involve replacing the operating system image with an entirely new one.
KDE Linux 20250820 -- Demonstrating the Plasma desktop
(full image size: 2.1MB, resolution: 2560x1600 pixels)
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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, 15 September 2025. 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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| Archives |
| • Issue 1156 (2026-01-19): Chimera Linux's new installer, using the DistroWatch Torrent Corner, new package tools for Arch, Haiku improves EFI support, Redcore streamlines branches, Synex introduces install-time ZFS options |
| • Issue 1155 (2026-01-12): MenuetOS, CDE on Sparky, iDeal OS 2025.12.07, recommended flavour of BSD, Debian seeks new Data Protection Team, Ubuntu 25.04 nears its end of life, Google limits Android source code releases, Fedora plans to replace SDDM, Budgie migrates to Wayland |
| • Issue 1154 (2026-01-05): postmarketOS 25.06/25.12, switching to Linux and educational resources, FreeBSD improving laptop support, Unix v4 available for download, new X11 server in development, CachyOS team plans server edtion |
| • Issue 1153 (2025-12-22): Best projects of 2025, is software ever truly finished?, Firefox to adopt AI components, Asahi works on improving the install experience, Mageia presents plans for version 10 |
| • Issue 1152 (2025-12-15): OpenBSD 7.8, filtering websites, Jolla working on a Linux phone, Germany saves money with Linux, Ubuntu to package AMD tools, Fedora demonstrates AI troubleshooting, Haiku packages Go language |
| • Issue 1151 (2025-12-08): FreeBSD 15.0, fun command line tricks, Canonical presents plans for Ubutnu 26.04, SparkyLinux updates CDE packages, Redox OS gets modesetting driver |
| • Issue 1150 (2025-12-01): Gnoppix 25_10, exploring if distributions matter, openSUSE updates tumbleweed's boot loader, Fedora plans better handling of broken packages, Plasma to become Wayland-only, FreeBSD publishes status report |
| • Issue 1149 (2025-11-24): MX Linux 25, why are video drivers special, systemd experiments with musl, Debian Libre Live publishes new media, Xubuntu reviews website hack |
| • Issue 1148 (2025-11-17): Zorin OS 18, deleting a file with an unusual name, NetBSD experiments with sandboxing, postmarketOS unifies its documentation, OpenBSD refines upgrades, Canonical offers 15 years of support for Ubuntu |
| • Issue 1147 (2025-11-10): Fedora 43, the size and stability of the Linux kernel, Debian introducing Rust to APT, Redox ports web engine, Kubuntu website off-line, Mint creates new troubleshooting tools, FreeBSD improves reproducible builds, Flatpak development resumes |
| • Issue 1146 (2025-11-03): StartOS 0.4.0, testing piped commands, Ubuntu Unity seeks help, Canonical offers Ubuntu credentials, Red Hat partners with NVIDIA, SUSE to bundle AI agent with SLE 16 |
| • Issue 1145 (2025-10-27): Linux Mint 7 "LMDE", advice for new Linux users, AlmaLinux to offer Btrfs, KDE launches Plasma 6.5, Fedora accepts contributions written by AI, Ubuntu 25.10 fails to install automatic updates |
| • Issue 1144 (2025-10-20): Kubuntu 25.10, creating and restoring encrypted backups, Fedora team debates AI, FSF plans free software for phones, ReactOS addresses newer drivers, Xubuntu reacts to website attack |
| • Issue 1143 (2025-10-13): openSUSE 16.0 Leap, safest source for new applications, Redox introduces performance improvements, TrueNAS Connect available for testing, Flatpaks do not work on Ubuntu 25.10, Kamarada plans to switch its base, Solus enters new epoch, Frugalware discontinued |
| • Issue 1142 (2025-10-06): Linux Kamarada 15.6, managing ZIP files with SQLite, F-Droid warns of impact of Android lockdown, Alpine moves ahead with merged /usr, Cinnamon gets a redesigned application menu |
| • Issue 1141 (2025-09-29): KDE Linux and GNOME OS, finding mobile flavours of Linux, Murena to offer phones with kill switches, Redox OS running on a smartphone, Artix drops GNOME |
| • Issue 1140 (2025-09-22): NetBSD 10.1, avoiding AI services, AlmaLinux enables CRB repository, Haiku improves disk access performance, Mageia addresses service outage, GNOME 49 released, Linux introduces multikernel support |
| • Issue 1139 (2025-09-15): EasyOS 7.0, Linux and central authority, FreeBSD running Plasma 6 on Wayland, GNOME restores X11 support temporarily, openSUSE dropping BCacheFS in new kernels |
| • Issue 1138 (2025-09-08): Shebang 25.8, LibreELEC 12.2.0, Debian GNU/Hurd 2025, the importance of software updates, AerynOS introduces package sets, postmarketOS encourages patching upstream, openSUSE extends Leap support, Debian refreshes Trixie media |
| • Issue 1137 (2025-09-01): Tribblix 0m37, malware scanners flagging Linux ISO files, KDE introduces first-run setup wizard, CalyxOS plans update prior to infrastructure overhaul, FreeBSD publishes status report |
| • Issue 1136 (2025-08-25): CalyxOS 6.8.20, distros for running containers, Arch Linux website under attack,illumos Cafe launched, CachyOS creates web dashboard for repositories |
| • Issue 1135 (2025-08-18): Debian 13, Proton, WINE, Wayland, and Wayback, Debian GNU/Hurd 2025, KDE gets advanced Liquid Glass, Haiku improves authentication tools |
| • Issue 1134 (2025-08-11): Rhino Linux 2025.3, thoughts on malware in the AUR, Fedora brings hammered websites back on-line, NetBSD reveals features for version 11, Ubuntu swaps some command line tools for 25.10, AlmaLinux improves NVIDIA support |
| • Issue 1133 (2025-08-04): Expirion Linux 6.0, running Plasma on Linux Mint, finding distros which support X11, Debian addresses 22 year old bug, FreeBSD discusses potential issues with pkgbase, CDE ported to OpenBSD, Btrfs corruption bug hitting Fedora users, more malware found in Arch User Repository |
| • Issue 1132 (2025-07-28): deepin 25, wars in the open source community, proposal to have Fedora enable Flathub repository, FreeBSD plans desktop install option, Wayback gets its first release |
| • Issue 1131 (2025-07-21): HeliumOS 10.0, settling on one distro, Mint plans new releases, Arch discovers malware in AUR, Plasma Bigscreen returns, Clear Linux discontinued |
| • Issue 1130 (2025-07-14): openSUSE MicroOS and RefreshOS, sharing aliases between computers, Bazzite makes Bazaar its default Flatpak store, Alpine plans Wayback release, Wayland and X11 benchmarked, Red Hat offers additional developer licenses, openSUSE seeks feedback from ARM users, Ubuntu 24.10 reaches the end of its life |
| • Issue 1129 (2025-07-07): GLF OS Omnislash, the worst Linux distro, Alpine introduces Wayback, Fedora drops plans to stop i686 support, AlmaLinux builds EPEL repository for older CPUs, Ubuntu dropping existing RISC-V device support, Rhino partners with UBports, PCLinuxOS recovering from website outage |
| • Issue 1128 (2025-06-30): AxOS 25.06, AlmaLinux OS 10.0, transferring Flaptak bundles to off-line computers, Ubuntu to boost Intel graphics performance, Fedora considers dropping i686 packages, SDesk switches from SELinux to AppArmor |
| • Issue 1127 (2025-06-23): LastOSLinux 2025-05-25, most unique Linux distro, Haiku stabilises, KDE publishes Plasma 6.4, Arch splits Plasma packages, Slackware infrastructure migrating |
| • Issue 1126 (2025-06-16): SDesk 2025.05.06, renewed interest in Ubuntu Touch, a BASIC device running NetBSD, Ubuntu dropping X11 GNOME session, GNOME increases dependency on systemd, Google holding back Pixel source code, Nitrux changing its desktop, EFF turns 35 |
| • Issue 1125 (2025-06-09): RHEL 10, distributions likely to survive a decade, Murena partners with more hardware makers, GNOME tests its own distro on real hardware, Redox ports GTK and X11, Mint provides fingerprint authentication |
| • Issue 1124 (2025-06-02): Picking up a Pico, tips for protecting privacy, Rhino tests Plasma desktop, Arch installer supports snapshots, new features from UBports, Ubuntu tests monthly snapshots |
| • Issue 1123 (2025-05-26): CRUX 3.8, preventing a laptop from sleeping, FreeBSD improves laptop support, Fedora confirms GNOME X11 session being dropped, HardenedBSD introduces Rust in userland build, KDE developing a virtual machine manager |
| • Issue 1122 (2025-05-19): GoboLinux 017.01, RHEL 10.0 and Debian 12 updates, openSUSE retires YaST, running X11 apps on Wayland |
| • Issue 1121 (2025-05-12): Bluefin 41, custom file manager actions, openSUSE joins End of 10 while dropping Deepin desktop, Fedora offers tips for building atomic distros, Ubuntu considers replacing sudo with sudo-rs |
| • Issue 1120 (2025-05-05): CachyOS 250330, what it means when a distro breaks, Kali updates repository key, Trinity receives an update, UBports tests directory encryption, Gentoo faces losing key infrastructure |
| • Issue 1119 (2025-04-28): Ubuntu MATE 25.04, what is missing from Linux, CachyOS ships OCCT, Debian enters soft freeze, Fedora discusses removing X11 session from GNOME, Murena plans business services, NetBSD on a Wii |
| • Issue 1118 (2025-04-21): Fedora 42, strange characters in Vim, Nitrux introduces new package tools, Fedora extends reproducibility efforts, PINE64 updates multiple devices running Debian |
| • Issue 1117 (2025-04-14): Shebang 25.0, EndeavourOS 2025.03.19, running applications from other distros on the desktop, Debian gets APT upgrade, Mint introduces OEM options for LMDE, postmarketOS packages GNOME 48 and COSMIC, Redox testing USB support |
| • Issue 1116 (2025-04-07): The Sense HAT, Android and mobile operating systems, FreeBSD improves on laptops, openSUSE publishes many new updates, Fedora appoints new Project Leader, UBports testing VoLTE |
| • Issue 1115 (2025-03-31): GrapheneOS 2025, the rise of portable package formats, MidnightBSD and openSUSE experiment with new package management features, Plank dock reborn, key infrastructure projects lose funding, postmarketOS to focus on reliability |
| • Issue 1114 (2025-03-24): Bazzite 41, checking which processes are writing to disk, Rocky unveils new Hardened branch, GNOME 48 released, generating images for the Raspberry Pi |
| • Issue 1113 (2025-03-17): MocaccinoOS 1.8.1, how to contribute to open source, Murena extends on-line installer, Garuda tests COSMIC edition, Ubuntu to replace coreutils with Rust alternatives, Chimera Linux drops RISC-V builds |
| • Issue 1112 (2025-03-10): Solus 4.7, distros which work with Secure Boot, UBports publishes bug fix, postmarketOS considers a new name, Debian running on Android |
| • Issue 1111 (2025-03-03): Orbitiny 0.01, the effect of Ubuntu Core Desktop, Gentoo offers disk images, elementary OS invites feature ideas, FreeBSD starts PinePhone Pro port, Mint warns of upcoming Firefox issue |
| • Issue 1110 (2025-02-24): iodeOS 6.0, learning to program, Arch retiring old repositories, openSUSE makes progress on reproducible builds, Fedora is getting more serious about open hardware, Tails changes its install instructions to offer better privacy, Murena's de-Googled tablet goes on sale |
| • Issue 1109 (2025-02-17): Rhino Linux 2025.1, MX Linux 23.5 with Xfce 4.20, replacing X.Org tools with Wayland tools, GhostBSD moving its base to FreeBSD -RELEASE, Redox stabilizes its ABI, UBports testing 24.04, Asahi changing its leadership, OBS in dispute with Fedora |
| • Issue 1108 (2025-02-10): Serpent OS 0.24.6, Aurora, sharing swap between distros, Peppermint tries Void base, GTK removinglegacy technologies, Red Hat plans more AI tools for Fedora, TrueNAS merges its editions |
| • Issue 1107 (2025-02-03): siduction 2024.1.0, timing tasks, Lomiri ported to postmarketOS, Alpine joins Open Collective, a new desktop for Linux called Orbitiny |
| • Issue 1106 (2025-01-27): Adelie Linux 1.0 Beta 6, Pop!_OS 24.04 Alpha 5, detecting whether a process is inside a virtual machine, drawing graphics to NetBSD terminal, Nix ported to FreeBSD, GhostBSD hosting desktop conference |
| • Issue 1105 (2025-01-20): CentOS 10 Stream, old Flatpak bundles in software centres, Haiku ports Iceweasel, Oracle shows off debugging tools, rsync vulnerability patched |
| • Full list of all issues |
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tinysofa classic / enterprise server
tinysofa enterprise server was a secure server targeted enterprise grade operating system. The 1.x tree was based on Trustix Secure Linux. The 2.x tree was based on Fedora Core, with ideas from SUSE and Conectiva. It was Linux 2.6 based, with a fully functional SELinux infrastructure. It features a small installation size, APT as an advanced package management tool, secure defaults and services, a turn key ASP.NET server solution, PostgreSQL replication, and much more.
Status: Discontinued
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