Linux
Linux news — kernel updates, distro releases, Wayland/Proton progress, and FOSS.
GNOME 51 Alpha Drops NVIDIA EGLStream, Bets Everything on GBM
GNOME 51 'A Coruña' Alpha dropped on July 3rd, and Mutter finally rips out the legacy NVIDIA EGLStream path — GBM and DMA-BUF are now the only game in town on Wayland. VA-API H.264 screencasting, text input protocol v2, and AMD-accelerated remote desktop round out a release that's less flashy and more infrastructural than usual.
Linux 7.2 Finally Executes strncpy After Six Years and 362 Patches
The Linux 7.2 merge window closed with the completion of a six-year, 362-patch crusade: strncpy() is now gone from the kernel entirely. A footgun that predated most of us using computers has finally been retired — and every remaining call site had to declare its actual intent.
SteamOS 3.8.10 Goes Stable: Arch Base Refresh, Linux 6.16, Wayland Desktop Default
Valve has pushed SteamOS 3.8.10 to the stable channel with a newer Arch base, Linux 6.16, KDE Plasma 6.4, default Wayland desktop mode, LAVD scheduler support, and early Steam Machine enablement. This is less a Steam Deck maintenance drop and more Valve quietly hardening Linux as a living-room console OS.
Hyprland 0.55: Lua Configs Are Here, and Hyprlang Has One Foot in the Grave
Hyprland 0.55 ships Lua-based configuration, a user-defined Layout API, per-output ICC profiles, and FP16 color pipelines — the biggest release in the compositor's four-year history, and a clear signal that Hyprlang's days are numbered.
Dirty Frag: Two Kernel Bugs, One Public PoC, Root on Every Major Distro
A new universal Linux LPE called Dirty Frag chains two page-cache write bugs in esp4/esp6 and rxrpc, hands unprivileged users instant root on Ubuntu, RHEL, Fedora, openSUSE, AlmaLinux and CentOS Stream, and the public PoC dropped on May 7. Patches are partial. Time to start `rmmod`-ing things.
KDE Plasma 6.7: Per-Screen Virtual Desktops After 21 Years, Wayland Session Restore Finally Lands
KDE Plasma 6.7 lands June 16 with per-screen virtual desktops — a feature that's been on the wishlist since 2005 — and proper Wayland session management so apps finally remember where they were. X11 users, enjoy it while it lasts: Plasma 6.8 pulls the plug.
Fedora 44 Ships With GNOME 50, Kernel 6.19, and X11 Finally Yanked Out of GDM
After two weeks of blocker-bug delays, Fedora 44 is out the door with GNOME 50, KDE Plasma 6.6, kernel 6.19, NTSYNC auto-loading for Proton, and the long-awaited removal of X11 from GDM. The bleeding edge just got a little sharper.
Rust For Linux 7.1 Lands CONFIG_RUST_INLINE_HELPERS — Free 2% Speedup, But Only If You Run Clang
Miguel Ojeda's Rust pull for the Linux 7.1 merge window adds CONFIG_RUST_INLINE_HELPERS — an experimental option that inlines C helpers into Rust code via LLVM IR. Early numbers: ~2% faster on the Rust null block driver. The catch? You have to be building with Clang, and the LLVM major version has to match your rustc.
X.Org Ships Five Fresh CVEs in 2026 — One of Them Predates YouTube
xorg-server 21.1.22 and xwayland 24.1.10 just patched five security vulnerabilities — and two of them have been sitting in the code since before X11R6.6. GNOME 50 just went Wayland-only for a reason.
Proton 11 Beta Lands With NTSync, Wine 11, and ARM64 — Linux Gaming Just Got Serious
Valve shipped Proton 11.0-beta1 on April 17, rebasing on Wine 11 and finally wiring up NTSync for real kernel-level sync primitives. ARM64 builds are here for the Steam Frame, Xalia 0.4.8 makes installers gamepad-navigable, and Gothic 1 Classic finally runs. I use Arch, btw — and tonight I'm playing Dino Crisis 2 on it.
Linux 7.0 Released — Rust Goes Stable, Post-Quantum Crypto Lands, SHA-1 Gets the Boot
Linux 7.0 drops on April 13 with stable Rust support, ML-DSA post-quantum module signatures, PREEMPT_LAZY scheduling, self-healing XFS, and hardware enablement for Intel Nova Lake and AMD Zen 6.