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Greg Kroah-Hartman has announced the release of the 6.18.2 , 6.17.13 , and 6.12.63 stable kernels. As always, each contains important fixes throughout the tree. He notes that 6.17.13 is the last release of the 6.17.y kernel; users are advised to move to the 6.18.y kernel branch.

Security updates have been issued by AlmaLinux (kernel, keylime, mysql:8.4, and tomcat), Debian (c-ares and webkit2gtk), Fedora (brotli, cups, golang-github-facebook-time, nebula, NetworkManager, perl-Alien-Brotli, python-django4.2, python-django5, and vips), Red Hat (binutils, buildah, curl, go-toolset:rhel8, golang, grafana, multiple packages, php:8.3, podman, python3.12, python39:3.9, ruby:3.3, and skopeo), SUSE (buildah, cups, firefox, glib2, grub2, helm, icinga-php-library, icingaweb2, Ima…

Inside this week's LWN.net Weekly Edition: Front : Civil Infrastructure Platform; COSMIC desktop; Calibre adds AI; Maintainer's Summit; ML tools for kernel development; linux-next; Rust in the kernel; kernel development tools; Linux process improvements; 6.19 merge window part 2. Briefs : capsudo; Asahi Linux 6.18; Pop!_OS 24.04; Vojtux; KDE Gear 25.12; Rust 1.92.0; Quotes; ... Announcements : Newsletters, conferences, security updates, patches, and more.

After three years of development, Linux hardware provider System76 has declared the COSMIC desktop environment stable. It shipped COSMIC Epoch 1 as part of the long-awaited Pop!_OS 24.04 LTS release on December 11, just in time for Linux enthusiasts to have something to tinker with over the end-of-year holidays. With the stable release out the door, it seemed like a good time to check back in on COSMIC and see how it has evolved since the first alpha . For a first stable release of a new deskto…

The Asahi Linux project has published its progress report following the release of Linux 6.18. This time around the project reports progress on many fronts, including microphone support for M2 Pro/Max MacBooks, work queued for Linux 6.19 to support USB3 via the USB-C ports, and work to improve the Asahi Linux installation experience. The project is also enabling as additional System Management Controller (SMC) drivers, which means that " the myriad voltage, current, temperature and power sensor…

The Civil Infrastructure Platform (CIP) first launched in that form in April 2016, so it has a tenth-anniversary celebration in its near future. At the 2025 Open Source Summit Japan , Yoshitake Kobayashi talked about the goals of this project and where it is headed in the future. Supporting a Linux system for even one year is a challenging task; maintaining that support for a decade or more is rather more so, and a changing regulatory environment complicates the task further.

Security updates have been issued by Debian (node-url-parse), Fedora (assimp, conda-build, mod_md, util-linux, and webkitgtk), Oracle (firefox), SUSE (chromium, librsvg, poppler, python311, qemu, strongswan, webkit2gtk3, wireshark, and xen), and Ubuntu (linux-azure, linux-azure-5.4, linux-azure-5.15, linux-azure-fips, and linux-raspi, linux-raspi-realtime, linux-xilinx).

Mozilla has announced a new CEO, Anthony Enzor-DeMeo. Prior to becoming CEO, Enzor-DeMeo was general manager of Firefox and led its " vision, strategy, and business performance ". He has published a blog post about taking over from interim CEO Laura Chambers, and his plans for Mozilla and Firefox: As Mozilla moves forward, we will focus on becoming the trusted software company. This is not a slogan. It is a direction that guides how we build and how we grow. It means three things. First: Every …

The final part of the 2025 Maintainers Summit was devoted to the kernel's development process itself. There were two sessions, one on continuity and succession planning, and the traditional discussion, led by Linus Torvalds, on any pain points that the community is experiencing. There was not a lot that developers were unhappy about, and there are now more explicit plans in the works to provide a process should Torvalds abruptly become unable to fill his role.

Security updates have been issued by Debian (binwalk, glib2.0, libgd2, paramiko, and python-apt), Fedora (chromium, python3.13, python3.14, qt6-qtdeclarative, and usd), Mageia (ffmpeg, firefox, nspr, nss, and thunderbird), Oracle (kernel, mysql, mysql:8.0, mysql:8.4, ruby:3.3, wireshark, and xorg-x11-server), Red Hat (expat, mingw-expat, and rsync), SUSE (binutils, curl, glib2, gnutls, go1.24, go1.25, keylime, libmicrohttpd, libssh, openexr, postgresql15, python311, and xkbcomp), and Ubuntu (li…

Version 8.16.0 of the calibre ebook-management software, released on December 4, includes a "Discuss with AI" feature that can be used to query various AI/LLM services or local models about books, and ask for recommendations on what to read next. The feature has sparked discussion among human users of calibre as well, and more than a few are upset about the intrusion of AI into the software. After much pushback, it looks as though users will get the ability to hide the feature from calibre's us…

Vojtěch Polášek has announced an unofficial effort to create a Fedora-based distribution designed for visually impaired users: My ultimate vision for this project is "NO VOJTUX NEEDED!" because I believe Fedora should eventually be fully accessible out of the box. We aren't there yet, which is where Vojtux comes in to fill the gap. [...] Key Features: -Speaks out of the box: When the live desktop is ready, Orca starts automatically. After installation, it is configured so that it starts on the …

Despite depending heavily on tools, the kernel project often seems to under-invest in the development of those tools. There has been progress in that area, though. At the 2025 Maintainers Summit, Konstantin Ryabitsev, who is (among other things) the author of b4 , led a session on ways in which the kernel's tools could be improved to make the development process more efficient and accessible.

Security updates have been issued by AlmaLinux (firefox, grafana, kernel, libsoup3, mysql8.4, and wireshark), Debian (ruby-git, ruby-sidekiq, thunderbird, and vlc), Fedora (apptainer, chromium, firefox, golangci-lint, libpng, and xkbcomp), Mageia (golang), SUSE (binutils, chromium, firefox, gegl, go1.25, govulncheck-vulndb, hauler, kernel, keylime, libpng12, pgadmin4, postgresql16, python, python-Django, python-django, python3, python311, rhino, thunderbird, unbound, and xkbcomp), and Ubuntu (u…

Linus Torvalds released 6.19-rc1 and closed the 6.19 merge window on December 14 (Japan time), after having pulled 12,314 non-merge commits into the mainline. Over 8,000 of those commits came in after our first 6.19 merge-window summary was written. The second part of the merge window was focused on drivers, but brought in a number of other changes as well.