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There have been several recent announcements about Linux distributions changing the list of architectures they support, or adjusting how they build binaries for some versions of those architectures. Ubuntu introduced architecture variants, Fedora considered dropping support for i686 but reversed course after some pushback, and Debian developers have discussed raising its architecture baseline for the upcoming Debian 14 ("forky"). Linux supports a large number of architectures, and it's not always clear where or by whom they are used. With increasing concerns about diminishing support for legacy architectures, it's a good time to look at the overall state of architecture support on Linux.

The Homebrew project is an open-source package-management system that comes with a repository of useful packages for Linux and macOS. Even though Linux distributions have their own package management and repositories, Homebrew is often used to obtain software that is not available in a distribution's repository or to install more current versions of projects than are available from long-term-support (LTS) distributions. Homebrew 5.0.0, released on November 12, 2025, expanded Linux support to include 64-bit Arm packages in addition to x86_64, and turned on concurrent downloads by default to speed up package downloads.

Security updates have been issued by Debian (libwebsockets), Fedora (chromium and fvwm3), Mageia (apache, firefox, and postgresql13, postgresql15), Oracle (idm:DL1), Red Hat (bind, bind9.18, firefox, and openssl), SUSE (alloy, ghostscript, and openssl-1_0_0), and Ubuntu (ffmpeg and freeglut).

ZimaOS is an independently-developed, Linux-based operating system for personal servers and network-attached storage (NAS) devices. It features system-level support for remote access, RAID configuration, over-the-air (OTA) updates, and a browser-based user interface for managing the server. It is developed in China by IceWhale Technology Limited, which also produces and sells specialist storage hardware devices called "ZimaCube". Besides ZimaOS which is a complete, standalone operating system, the company also produces CasaOS, a lightweight software layer that can be installed on top of an existing Linux installation in order to turn it into a personal server or a NAS.

Br OS is a Brazilian Linux distribution based on Debian and featuring the KDE Plasma desktop. It is designed as an intuitive, easy-to-use, general-purpose operating system for web navigation and content creation, providing a selection of useful applications for daily use.

Version:next-20251118 (linux-next) Released:2025-11-18

Vendefoul Wolf is a lightweight, Devuan-based Linux distribution featuring the Trinity desktop. As the init software, it offers a choice of SysV or runit, instead of systemd. Some of the distribution's other main features include the LibreWolf web browser, the Calamares system installer, an application store, and its own repository of software packages. Besides the main edition, Vendefoul Wold also produces various community spins with alternative desktops and window manager, such as Cinnamon, Enlightenment, JWM, MATE and Xfce.

Version 2.52.0 of the Git source-code management system has been released. Changes include a new last-modified command to find the closest ancestor commit that touched one or more paths, a couple of git refs improvements, a new git repo command for obtaining information about the repository itself, and more. See the announcement and this GitHub blog entry for more information.

Finnix is a small, self-contained, bootable Linux CD distribution for system administrators, based on Debian. It can be used to mount and manipulate hard drives and partitions, monitor networks, rebuild boot records, install other operating systems, and much more.

AlmaLinux OS is an open-source, community-driven project that is built from the source code of Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL). AlmaLinux is a completely binary compatible fork of RHEL and it is maintained by AlmaLinux OS Foundation which is a register non-profit.

For better or for worse, the NUMA node is the abstraction used by the kernel to keep track of different types of memory. How that abstraction is used, though, is still an active area of development. Two patch sets focused on this problem are currently under review; one addresses the perennial problem of promoting heavily used folios from slower to faster memory, while the other aims to improve the kernel's handling of nodes containing special memory installed for a specific purpose.

Debian developer Simon Josefsson has announced the Debian Libre Live Images project, to allow installing Debian without any non-free software:

Since the 2022 decision on non-free firmware, the official images for bookworm and trixie contains non-free software.

The Debian Libre Live Images project provides Live ISO images for Intel/AMD-compatible 64-bit x86 CPUs (amd64) built without any non-free software, suitable for running and installing Debian. The images are similar to the Debian Live Images distributed as Debian live images.

He does warn that this is a first public release, so there may be problems. See the current list of known issues before trying the images out.

Security updates have been issued by Debian (gst-plugins-base1.0, lasso, and thunderbird), Fedora (bind9-next, chromium, containerd, fvwm3, luksmeta, opentofu, python-pdfminer, python-uv-build, ruff, rust-get-size-derive2, rust-get-size2, rust-regex, rust-regex-automata, rust-reqsign, rust-reqsign-aws-v4, rust-reqsign-command-execute-tokio, rust-reqsign-core, rust-reqsign-file-read-tokio, rust-reqsign-http-send-reqwest, suricata, uv, and xmedcon), Mageia (apache-commons-beanutils, apache-commons-fileupload, apache-commons-lang, botan2, python-django, spdlog, stardict, webkit2, and yelp-xsl), Slackware (xpdf), and SUSE (bind, chromedriver, firefox, kernel, libxml2, and openssh).

VyOS is a community fork of Vyatta, a Linux distribution discontinued in 2013. It is a network operating system that provides software-based network routing, firewall and VPN functionality. VyOS is based on Debian; its features include the ability to run on both physical and virtual platforms, and support for para-virtual drivers and integration packages for virtual platforms. VyOS was completely free to download and use until the release of version 1.2.0 in January 2019 when the project turned commercial, providing the operating system with various levels of support subscriptions. Daily "rolling" images are still available for free download though.

VyOS is a community fork of Vyatta, a Linux distribution discontinued in 2013. It is a network operating system that provides software-based network routing, firewall and VPN functionality. VyOS is based on Debian; its features include the ability to run on both physical and virtual platforms, and support for para-virtual drivers and integration packages for virtual platforms. VyOS was completely free to download and use until the release of version 1.2.0 in January 2019 when the project turned commercial, providing the operating system with various levels of support subscriptions. Daily "rolling" images are still available for free download though.

Gentoo Linux is a versatile and fast, completely free Linux distribution geared towards developers and network professionals. Unlike other distros, Gentoo Linux has an advanced package management system called Portage. Portage is a true ports system in the tradition of BSD ports, but is Python-based and sports a number of advanced features including dependencies, fine-grained package management, "fake" (OpenBSD-style) installs, safe unmerging, system profiles, virtual packages, config file management, and more.

Version:next-20251117 (linux-next) Released:2025-11-17

FreeBSD is a UNIX-like operating system for the i386, amd64, IA-64, arm, MIPS, powerpc, ppc64, PC-98 and UltraSPARC platforms based on U.C. Berkeley's "4.4BSD-Lite" release, with some "4.4BSD-Lite2" enhancements. It is also based indirectly on William Jolitz's port of U.C. Berkeley's "Net/2" to the i386, known as "386BSD", though very little of the 386BSD code remains. FreeBSD is used by companies, Internet Service Providers, researchers, computer professionals, students and home users all over the world in their work, education and recreation. FreeBSD comes with over 20,000 packages (pre-compiled software that is bundled for easy installation), covering a wide range of areas: from server software, databases and web servers, to desktop software, games, web browsers and business software - all free and easy to install.

DietPi is a Debian-based Linux distribution, primarily developed for single-board computers such as Raspberry Pi, Orange Pi or Odroid. It also supplies builds for 64-bit x86 personal computers and virtual machines, including VMware, VirtualBox, UTM, Hyper-V, Proxmox and Parallels. The base installation of DietPi comes without any desktop, but a desktop option can be activated via the built-in "dietpi-software" program. The distribution ships with a number of menu-driven configuration tools which can be run from the terminal.

Synex is a GNU/Linux distribution based on Debian's "Stable" branch, developed with the official Debian Live Build tool. It offers four separate desktop options with GNOME, LXDE, KDE Plasma and Xfce, all of which are composed of a rather frugal set of applications in its default state, without any development tools or offices suites. Some of the distribution's main features include Calamares installer with support for both BIOS and UEFI, CUPS integration for printing and network support, out-of-the box support for Flatpak applications, official NVIDIA driver installation assistant with support for both X11 and Wayland, and additional repositories containing Microsoft Edge, OnlyOffice and Zabbix.