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Version:next-20260827 (linux-next) Released:2026-08-27

Virtualization can increase CPU utilization by allowing a large number of virtual CPUs to share a smaller number of physical CPUs. The amount of CPU time that is actually available does not change, though, so heavy activity on too many virtual CPUs can lead to contention and significant performance loss. The steal governor patch series from Shrikanth Hegde is an attempt to address that problem with a mechanism that allows virtual machines to voluntarily reduce the number of virtual CPUs they use when contention is high.

Greg Kroah-Hartman has announced the release of the 7.2.1, 7.1.11, 6.18.47, 6.12.106, 6.6.154, 6.1.185, 5.15.218, and 5.10.267 stable kernels. Each of these has important updates throughout the tree; users are advised to upgrade.

Security updates have been issued by AlmaLinux (assertj-core, attr, firefox, go-toolset:rhel8, golang, grafana, gstreamer1-plugins-good, httpd, kernel, mingw-openssl, mod_http2, nginx, nginx:1.24, pam, polkit, and sqlite), Debian (bubblewrap, cockpit, emacs, gimp, libdbi-perl, openjdk-11, openjdk-17, wireshark, and xrdp), Fedora (bluez, curl, emacs, golang, knot, libopenmpt, libsoup3, openbao, openssh, rsync, rust-anstyle-hyperlink, rust-anstyle-progress, rust-cargo, rust-cargo-c, rust-cargo-credential-libsecret, rust-cargo-util, rust-cargo-util-schemas, rust-cargo-util-terminal, rust-crates-io, and rust-rustfix), Gentoo (Chromium, Google Chrome, Microsoft Edge, Opera, Chromium, Google Chrome, Microsoft Edge, Opera, Vivaldi, Chromium, Google Chrome, Microsoft Edge. Opera, and OpenRGB), Oracle (abrt, assertj-core, attr, gstreamer1-plugins-base, gstreamer1-plugins-good, httpd, nginx:1.24, nginx:1.26, nodejs24, and polkit), SUSE (apache2-mod_auth_openidc, buildah, curl, docker, dracut, evince, go1.25-openssl, go1.26-openssl, go1.27, gstreamer-plugins-bad, kernel, kubernetes, kubernetes-old, libarchive, LibVNCServer, libwireshark19, pcp, python310-pip, qemu, rootlesskit, rsync, snpguest, and util-linux), and Ubuntu (bind9, libheif, and openssl, openssl1.0).

Version:7.2.1 (stable) Released:2026-08-27 Source:linux-7.2.1.tar.xz PGP Signature:linux-7.2.1.tar.sign Patch:full ChangeLog:ChangeLog-7.2.1

Version:7.1.11 (stable) Released:2026-08-27 Source:linux-7.1.11.tar.xz PGP Signature:linux-7.1.11.tar.sign Patch:full (incremental) ChangeLog:ChangeLog-7.1.11

Version:6.18.47 (longterm) Released:2026-08-27 Source:linux-6.18.47.tar.xz PGP Signature:linux-6.18.47.tar.sign Patch:full (incremental) ChangeLog:ChangeLog-6.18.47

Version:6.12.106 (longterm) Released:2026-08-27 Source:linux-6.12.106.tar.xz PGP Signature:linux-6.12.106.tar.sign Patch:full (incremental) ChangeLog:ChangeLog-6.12.106

Version:6.6.154 (longterm) Released:2026-08-27 Source:linux-6.6.154.tar.xz PGP Signature:linux-6.6.154.tar.sign Patch:full (incremental) ChangeLog:ChangeLog-6.6.154

Version:6.1.185 (longterm) Released:2026-08-27 Source:linux-6.1.185.tar.xz PGP Signature:linux-6.1.185.tar.sign Patch:full (incremental) ChangeLog:ChangeLog-6.1.185

Version:5.15.218 (longterm) Released:2026-08-27 Source:linux-5.15.218.tar.xz PGP Signature:linux-5.15.218.tar.sign Patch:full (incremental) ChangeLog:ChangeLog-5.15.218

Version:5.10.267 (longterm) Released:2026-08-27 Source:linux-5.10.267.tar.xz PGP Signature:linux-5.10.267.tar.sign Patch:full (incremental) ChangeLog:ChangeLog-5.10.267

Kader⁴² is an Arch-based Linux distribution featuring the KDE Plasma desktop. It is designed primarily for convertible laptops (the types that offer both laptop and tablet modes), with useful features such as display rotation, appropriate launchers and menus for notebook and tablet modes, pre-configured swipe gestures similar to those on Android or iOS, and on-screen keyboard in tablet mode working out of the box. The distribution ships with the Calamares system, LibreOffice office suite and a large number of popular productivity and multimedia applications.

NawaOS is a Debian-based Linux distribution designed for gamers, with Steam, Lutris, Wine and RetroArch pre-installed and configured. It also comes with support for Xbox, PlayStation and other controllers. The distribution features a customised Cinnamon desktop, the Calamares system installer, and OBS Studio for streaming any gameplay. NawaOS is suitable for users with no prior Linux experience.

Butterbian is a Debian-based Linux distribution with out-of-the-box support for the Btrfs filesystem and pre-configured Timeshift, an application that takes incremental snapshots of the installed filesystem at regular intervals. These snapshots can be restored, directly from the GRUB menu, to undo all changes to the system. Butterbian boots into a themed Xfce desktop and uses the Calamares system installer. Besides Butterbian, the project also develops Butterknife, a command-line only live image with a text-mode system installer that provides more choices in terms of filesystems and window managers.

TobbeOS is a minimalist, Arch-based Linux distribution featuring the Qtile tiling window manager. It provides a network installation image with a simple script that guides the user through the installation process; it downloads and installs the latest packages from Arch Linux repositories. The script offers a choice between the Btrfs and ext4 filesystem. TobbeOS also provides a pre-configured Emacs editor, while the default web browser is a privacy-focused Firefox fork called Zen Browser.

Snal Linux is a small Linux distribution based on Arch Linux. It features the i3 window manager and it includes the Firefox web browser, as well as a handful of network and filesystem utilities. It is intended to be used as a live image to troubleshoot hard disk, system and network problems.

Inside this week's LWN.net Weekly Edition:

• Front: AGPL violations; OpenMDW license; quantum computing and encryption; 7.3 merge window; Remind; Quickshell.
• Briefs: arrayref; RIP Steve French; Armbian 26.8; Vanilla OS 3; Emacs 31.1; KDE Gear 26.08; LibreOffice 26.8; RPM 6.1.0; Quotes; ...
• Announcements: Newsletters, conferences, security updates, patches, and more.

GXDE OS is a desktop-oriented Linux distribution that combines Debian with Deepin Desktop Environment (DDE), developed by the deepin project. It is based on Debian's "Testing" branch. It ships with up-to-date Linux kernel, base system and applications, and it includes a "Spark Store", a software application marketplace with support for Android applications. The distribution is available for the aarch64 and x86_64 processor architectures.

Haiku is an open-source operating system, currently in development, that specifically targets personal computing. Inspired by the Be Operating System (BeOS), Haiku aims to become a fast, efficient, simple to use, easy to learn and yet very powerful system for computer users of all levels. The key highlights that distinguish Haiku from other operating systems include: specific focus on personal computing, custom kernel designed for responsiveness, fully threaded design for great efficiency with multi-processor/core CPUs, rich object-oriented API for faster development, database-like file system (BFS) with support for indexed metadata, and unified, cohesive interface.