Kicksecure is a security-hardened Linux distribution based on Debian's "Stable" branch, with Xfce as the default desktop user interface. It is a hardened operating system designed to be resistant to viruses, malware and attacks, and extensively reconfigured in accordance with an advanced multi-layer defense model, thereby providing in-depth security. Kicksecure provides protection from many types of malware in its default configuration with no customization required.
Version:next-20260129 (linux-next)
Released:2026-01-29
Jeff Mahoney, who
holds a vice-president position at SUSE, has posted
a detailed
proposal for improving the governance of the openSUSE project.
It's meant to be a way to move from governance by volume or
persistence toward governance by legitimacy, transparency, and
process - so that disagreements can be resolved fairly and the
project can keep moving forward. Introducing structure and
predictability means it easier for newcomers to the project to
participate without needing to understand decades of accumulated
history. It potentially could provide a clearer roadmap for
developers to find a place to contribute.
The stated purpose is to start a discussion; this is openSUSE, so he is
likely to succeed.
The
extensible scheduler class (sched_ext)
allows the installation of a custom CPU scheduler built as a set of BPF
programs. Its merging for the 6.12 kernel release moved the kernel away
from the "one scheduler fits all" approach that had been taken until then;
now any system can have its own scheduler optimized for its workloads.
Within any given machine, though, it's still "one scheduler fits all"; only
one scheduler can be loaded for the system as a whole. The
sched_ext
sub-scheduler patch series from Tejun Heo aims to change that situation
by allowing multiple CPU schedulers to run on a single system.
Security updates have been issued by AlmaLinux (java-25-openjdk, openssl, and python3.9), Debian (gimp, libmatio, pyasn1, and python-django), Fedora (perl-HarfBuzz-Shaper, python-tinycss2, and weasyprint), Mageia (glib2.0), Oracle (curl, fence-agents, gcc-toolset-15-binutils, glibc, grafana, java-1.8.0-openjdk, kernel, mariadb, osbuild-composer, perl, php:8.2, python-urllib3, python3.11, python3.11-urllib3, python3.12, and python3.12-urllib3), SUSE (alloy, avahi, bind, buildah, busybox, container-suseconnect, coredns, gdk-pixbuf, gimp, go1.24, go1.24-openssl, go1.25, helm, kernel, kubernetes, libheif, libpcap, libpng16, openjpeg2, openssl-1_0_0, openssl-1_1, openssl-3, php8, python-jaraco.context, python-marshmallow, python-pyasn1, python-urllib3, python-virtualenv, python311, python313, rabbitmq-server, xen, zli, and zot-registry), and Ubuntu (containerd, containerd-app and wlc).
Tribblix is a general-purpose operating system derived from OpenSolaris, OpenIndiana and illumos. The base kernel and commands come from illumos, with everything else rebuilt from scratch. It is a traditional system where software is distributed as SVR4 packages and lightweight window managers are preferred over heavy desktop environments. Xfce is the primary desktop option, with MATE, Enlightenment and various window managers also available for installation. While Tribblix inherits many of the key illumos technologies, such as ZFS, zones, DTrace and SMF, it uses its own build and packaging system.
Bluestar Linux is a GNU/Linux distribution that is based on Arch Linux. The Bluestar distribution features up to date packages, a full range of desktop and multimedia software in the default installation and a live desktop DVD.
Bluestar Linux is a GNU/Linux distribution that is based on Arch Linux. The Bluestar distribution features up to date packages, a full range of desktop and multimedia software in the default installation and a live desktop DVD.
KDE neon is a Ubuntu-based Linux distribution and live DVD featuring the latest KDE Plasma desktop and other KDE community software. Besides the installable DVD image, the project provides a rapidly-evolving software repository with all the latest KDE software. Two editions of the product are available - a "User" edition, designed for those interested in checking out the latest KDE software as it gets released, and a "Developer's" edition, created as a platform for testing cutting-edge KDE applications.
Inside this week's LWN.net Weekly Edition:
- Front: PostmarketOS; LKRG 1.0; Fedora elections; EROFS, NTFS, and XFS; Fedora and GPG 2.5; BPF kfuncs.
- Briefs: curl bounties; GPG security; Guix 1.5.0; ReactOS turns 30; glibc 2.43; Rust 1.93; Xfwl4; Quotes; ...
- Announcements: Newsletters, conferences, security updates, patches, and more.
antiX is a fast, lightweight and easy-to-install Linux live CD distribution based on Debian's "Stable" branch for x86 compatible systems. antiX offers users the "antiX Magic" in an environment suitable for old computers. The goal of antiX is to provide a light, but fully functional and flexible free operating system for both newcomers and experienced users of Linux. It should run on most computers, ranging from 256 MB old PIII systems with pre-configured swap to the latest powerful boxes. 256 MB RAM is recommended minimum for antiX. The installer needs minimum 2.7 GB hard disk size. antiX can also be used as a fast-booting rescue CD, or run "live" on a USB stick, with or without persistent file storage.
We have received the sad news that Didier Spaier, maintainer of the
blind-friendly Slackware-based Slint distribution, has recently passed
away. Philippe Delavalade, who posted the announcement to the
Slint mailing list, said:
Early 2015, I asked on the slackware list if brltty could be added
in the installer; Didier answered promptly that he could do it on
slint. Afterwards, he worked hard so that slint became as accessible
as possible for visually impaired people.
You all know that all these years, he tried and succeeded to answer
as quickly as possible to our issues and questions.
He will be irreplaceable.
The Open Source Initiative (OSI) has announced
that it will not be holding the 2026 spring board election. Instead,
it will be creating a working group to "review and improve OSI's
board member selection process" and provide recommendations by
September 2026:
The public election process was designed to gather community
priorities and improve board member selection, while final
appointments remained with the board.
Over time, that nuance has become a source of understandable
confusion for community members. Many reasonably expected elections to
function as elections normally do, and in fact, the board has
generally adopted the electorate's recommendations. When a process
feels unclear, trust suffers. When trust suffers, engagement becomes
harder. This is especially problematic for an organization whose
mission depends on legitimacy and credibility. [...]
OSI tried its experiment for the right reasons, but a variety of
factors resulted in "elections" that are performatively democratic
while being gameable and representative of only a small group, and
we've learned from the results. Now we are making space to align our
director selection process with our bylaws, to rebuild trust, and to
develop better, more durable and truly representative participation in
which the global stakeholder community can be heard.
LWN covered the
previous OSI election in March 2025.
OPNsense is a FreeBSD-based specialist operating system (and a fork of pfSense) designed for firewalls and routers. It is developed by Deciso B.V. in the Netherlands. Some of the features of OPNsense include forward caching proxy, traffic shaping, intrusion detection, two-factor authentication and easy OpenVPN client setup. The project's focus on security brings a number of unique features, such as the option to use LibreSSL instead of OpenSSL (selectable in the GUI). OPNsense also includes an update mechanism that delivers important security updates in a timely fashion.
Phones running Linux are ubiquitous these days and it has been that way
since Android started working toward dominance in the smartphone market.
Unfortunately, Android has slowly increased its freedom-unfriendliness and
has become something of a privacy nightmare. In a talk entitled "We need
an open-source phone OS" at
Open
Source Summit Japan 2025, Luca Weiss described the smartphone landscape
and gave an overview of
postmarketOS as an alternative Linux
operating system for mobile handsets.
Founded in 2014 by Oliver Pinter and Shawn Webb, HardenedBSD is a security-enhanced fork of FreeBSD. The HardenedBSD Project is implementing many exploit mitigation and security technologies on top of FreeBSD. The project started with Address Space Layout Randomization (ASLR) as an initial focal point and is now implementing further exploit mitigation techniques.
Version:next-20260128 (linux-next)
Released:2026-01-28
PC Gamer has run
an
amusing review of the
scx_horoscope
scheduler for Linux, which uses astrology to optimize scheduling
decisions.
The scheduler is full of bizarre features, like its ability to
perform real planetary calculations based on accurate geocentric
planetary positions, lunar phase scheduling (the full moon gives a
1.4x boost to tasking, apparently) and "zodiac-based task
classification".
That latter feature is easily one of my favourite bits. Specific
planetary bodies "rule" over specific system tasks, so the Sun is
in charge of critical system processes, the Moon (tied to emotions,
of course) rules over interactive tasks, and Jupiter is assigned to
memory-heavy applications, among others.
Creating fair governance models for open-source projects is not
easy; defining criteria for participants to receive membership and
voting rights is a particularly thorny problem for projects that have
elections for representative bodies. The Fedora
Council, the project's top-level governance body, is wrestling
with that conundrum now. This was triggered by a Fedora special-interest
group (SIG) granting temporary membership to at least one person for the
sole purpose of allowing them to vote in the most recent Fedora
Engineering Steering Council (FESCo) election. That opened a large can
of worms about what it means to be a contributor and how contributors
can be identified for voting purposes.
Security updates have been issued by AlmaLinux (java-1.8.0-openjdk), Debian (openssl), Fedora (assimp, chromium, curl, freerdp, gimp, and harfbuzz), Mageia (glibc, haproxy, iperf, and python-pyasn1), Red Hat (image-builder, openssl, and osbuild-composer), Slackware (mozilla), SUSE (avahi, cups, gio-branding-upstream, google-osconfig-agent, java-11-openjdk, java-17-openjdk, java-21-openjdk, kernel-firmware, libmatio-devel, libopenjp2-7, nodejs22, php8, python-python-multipart, python311-urllib3_1, qemu, and xen), and Ubuntu (ffmpeg, jaraco.context, openssl, and openssl, openssl1.0).
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