This week sees major shifts in the Linux ecosystem. GNOME formally drops X11 support in Mutter, as new releases like Fedora 43 and Ubuntu 25.10 go Wayland-only.
Desktop Environment Updates
GNOME: GNOME 49 has been released, shipping with new default applications "Showtime" (video player) and "Papers" (document viewer). This release officially disables the X11 session by default, though distros can re-enable it. Looking ahead, the X11 backend has been entirely dropped from Mutter (Gnome's window manager) in the development branch, meaning GNOME 50 (March 2026) will no longer support an X11 session. XWayland will continue to function for legacy apps. GNOME 49 also introduces a new, infrequent donation reminder notification.
KDE Plasma: Plasma 6.5 is out, focusing on UI polish. Changes include rounded bottom corners for windows and automatic light/dark theme switching, which also changes the wallpaper. The "Clipper" clipboard manager now supports pinned items, and KRunner search is improved.
COSMIC (System76): System76 has released the beta for its Rust-based Cosmic Desktop Environment. The DE is Wayland-only and features a layout manager, built-in tiling, and keyboard-driven workflows.
Cinnamon (Linux Mint): New graphical tools are coming to Linux Mint. "System Reports" is rebranded to "System Information", and a new "System Administration" tool manages boot menu (Grub) settings.
elementary OS: The project has released its own GTK4-based system monitor. The team is preparing for elementary OS 8.1, based on the Ubuntu 24.04 LTS HWE.
Distribution Releases
Fedora 43: Released, featuring the GNOME 49 desktop and Linux 6.17 kernel. This release is Wayland-only by default in the Workstation edition. It includes RPM 6.0 and makes the Anaconda Web UI installer the default for all spins.
Ubuntu 25.10: "Questing Quokka" is now available. This non-LTS release ships with GNOME 49 and the Linux 6.17 kernel. It also drops the Xorg session and introduces new default apps: the "Pixus" terminal and "Loop" image viewer. It also includes sudo-rs, a Rust-based sudo implementation.
openSUSE Leap 16.0: This major release is rebuilt on SUSE Linux Enterprise (SLE) sources with Kernel 6.12 LTS. It offers a 24-month maintenance window, uses the new "Agama" installer, and requires x86-64-v2 CPUs. It also switches to SE Linux by default.
Zorin OS 18: Based on Ubuntu 24.04.3 LTS, this release is targeted at users leaving Windows 10. It features a floating panel, window tiling (snapping), OneDrive integration, and PipeWire by default. The launch saw 100,000 downloads in two days, with 72% from Windows.
LMDE 7: Linux Mint Debian Edition 7 is out, based on Debian 13 stable and Kernel 6.12 LTS. It now uses a memory-based /tmp filesystem and supports full OEM installations.
Pop!_OS 24.04 LTS: The beta is available, featuring the new Cosmic DE. The final stable release, with Cosmic "Epoch 1," is planned for December 11th, 2025.
Core Infrastructure & Kernel
Linux Kernel 6.17: Released. Key features include enabled Intel Panther Lake XE3 graphics, AMD Smart Mux switching for hybrid laptops, and ARM64 live patching support. BcacheFS has been removed from the mainline kernel and will be maintained as an external module.
Debian & Rust: Debian's APT package manager will add a hard dependency on Rust, starting in May 2026. The goal is to improve memory safety for parsing package files and signatures. This may impact 11 unofficial Debian ports that lack a working Rust toolchain.
Flatpak: The project has new momentum with the release of Flatpak 1.17, the first in six months. This release adds a backwards-compatible permission system and the ability to install OCI images.
Broader Ecosystem News
Windows 10 End of Support: Official support for Windows 10 ended on October 14th. Users must move to Windows 11, pay for Extended Security Updates (ESU), or switch operating systems. The endof10.org campaign is underway by groups like OSI, KDE, and GNOME to help users migrate to Linux.
Linux Gaming: Linux has passed the 3% market share threshold for gaming on Steam for the first time. The Linux gaming market share has tripled since the Steam Deck's release.
Mozilla AI Controversy: Mozilla's Japanese support community (Sumo) disbanded after 20 years. The team cited the introduction of an AI tool, "Sumobot," which automatically edited and approved articles without human oversight. The bot reportedly erased existing community translations and disregarded guidelines.
That's all for this week's digest. Thank you for reading, and we'll see you next week with the latest in Linux and open-source news.
