Immutable Mode with transactionally updating a system with a read-only root filesystem is a big change for this release. Users who know Leap Micro will recognize it right away, because it is the same approach, now integrated directly into Leap. Leap 16.1 in Immutable Mode replaces Leap Micro, and there will be no Leap Micro 6.3 or 7.0. Users simply boot the regular Leap 16.1 install image and select Immutable Mode in Agama. Each update with transactional-update creates a new snapshot, and a single command rolls the system back if something goes wrong. Additional software can be consumed through containers with Podman or Distrobox or through Flatpak on the desktop. Leap Micro users will still feel at home. The familiar preconfigured appliances are available in the alternative downloads section at get.opensuse.org. These include a self-install image recommended for USB installations, images for KVM/Xen, Microsoft Hyper-V, VMware, Harvester and cloud environments, and a fully encrypted raw disk image.
This release presents the new Linux kernel 7.3.1 as well as the new version 156.0.8078.47-1 of the web browser Google-Chrome-Stable. In addition, among other things, Starbuntu has completely rewritten its installation routine so that this program runs much more user-friendly and reports every step going to be accomplished.
This release is mostly about stability. All of our runtime code (initrd, rc scripts, porteux-scripts and installer) went through an in-depth review, fixing many bugs and making things safer. The kernel also got some performance work: faster zstd decompression, page cache reads without locking, and a lighter file open path. These help with module loading and general disk access. New in Xfce: you can now drag files from a window in the background straight into another one, without changing focus, just like on Windows. Fixed Chrome and LibreWolf crashing; fixed cheatcodes not working when porteux.cfg was edited on Windows; fixed modules activated through a symlink not releasing their loop device; fixed modules showing twice in the Others section of PorteuX Modules application; fixed leftover processes at shutdown not being killed before unmounting; fixed virtual machines not booting from virtio storage....
There has been plenty of activity across the desktop and system stacks. Alongside the desktop updates, we've continued updating our kernels, graphics stack, compiler toolchains and the supporting libraries that make up the distribution. Some of the package highlights include: COSMIC 1.11.0 with COSMIC Viewer, GNOME 51.1, KDE Plasma 6.8.2, Budgie 10.10.4,, Hyprland 0.57, Mango 0.18.4, Miriway 26.10, Noctalia 5.4.1, Linux 7.2.14 and 6.18.60 LTS, Mesa 26.2.6, Firefox 159, QEMU 11.1.3, PipeWire 1.6.11, Thunderbird 159, Wine 11.21. Alongside the above, there have been many other updates, additions and rebuilds across the repository. We have landed GNOME 51 into the aerynOS repositories, with it now acting as the base of our latest ISO live environment. We've now landed COSMIC 1.11, together with updates to the wider COSMIC stack. We're particularly pleased to see COSMIC Viewer included.
The Lunduke Computer Operating System (LCOS) version 1.0, a Linux-compatible system for desktop computers, has officially shipped and is available to download, for free, for everyone. 'LCOS fixes the biggest problems plaguing operating systems today,' stated Bryan Lunduke, King of LCOS. 'Desktop computers are being attacked with garbage that none of us actually want - ID verification and data collection. Forced online accounts. Bloated, slow software. AI features shoehorned into simple text editors. Weaponized Codes of Conduct. And, of course, weird, woke politics. LCOS has none of that nonsense. Just great software.' The Lunduke Computer Operating System 1.0 is built from the best desktop software available: an LCOS-specific fork of the Linux kernel (built with no unnecessary Rust modules); high quality components, from non-woke, non-discriminatory, meritocracy-focused developers, such as: the XLibre X11 server; the Devuan project; the Brave Origin web browser; custom-built utilities focusing on speed, simplicity and a classic desktop computer style.