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DistroWatch
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DistroWatch is a news, learning, and reviews website dedicated to open source operating systems, such as Linux and the BSDs.

[bridged from https://mastodon.social/@distrowatch on the fediverse by https://fed.brid.gy/ ]
DistroWatch Weekly talks about MX Linux, video drivers, the Xubuntu website hack, systemd experimenting with musl compatibility, and a release from Debian Libre Live: https://distrowatch.com/weekly.php?issue=20251124
DistroWatch.com: Put the fun back into computing. Use Linux, BSD.
News and feature lists of Linux and BSD distributions.
distrowatch.com
November 24, 2025 at 1:03 AM
We had a brute force attack happen last night against our torrent seed server. It has been blocked and things are running smoothly now, but traffic may have been a bit slow in recent hours. Thanks for bearing with us.
November 20, 2025 at 1:58 PM
The yt-dlp program (used for fetching video and audio streams from websites) now has an optional dependency. This soft dependency helps work around blocks put in place by Google to prevent access to YouTube:
https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/issues/15012
Yt-dlp:现需外部 JavaScript 运行时环境以实现完整的 YouTube 支持
Yt-dlp: External JavaScript runtime now required for full YouTube support (github.com) 11-12  ↑ 143 HN Points
github.com
November 20, 2025 at 12:34 AM
Proxmox has updated its Virtual Environment branch: https://distrowatch.com/12639
November 19, 2025 at 5:40 PM
About to remotely upgrade my Raspberry Pi 2 running Bookworm to Trixie. Let's see what happens....
November 19, 2025 at 2:52 PM
Xuubntu posts a summary about the attack on its website: https://distrowatch.com/dwres.php?resource=showheadline&story=20098
DistroWatch.com: Put the fun back into computing. Use Linux, BSD.
News and feature lists of Linux and BSD distributions.
distrowatch.com
November 19, 2025 at 12:49 PM
I love how easy it is to expand ZFS storage pools. Hot plug disk, run "zpool add zroot device-name" and the disk is immediately part of the pool. No formatting, no changes to fstab, no resizing the filesystem. Been using ZFS for over 15 years and it still feels like magic.
November 19, 2025 at 12:33 PM
Aurora 43 is an immutable distro, based on Fedora: https://distrowatch.com/12638
November 19, 2025 at 12:14 PM
Debian for people who want a free software only experience: https://distrowatch.com/dwres.php?resource=showheadline&story=20097
DistroWatch.com: Put the fun back into computing. Use Linux, BSD.
News and feature lists of Linux and BSD distributions.
distrowatch.com
November 18, 2025 at 1:27 PM
We will soon see the arrival of FreeBSD 15. I'm looking forward to trying out the pkgbase and pre-configured desktop. It's evolutionary steps forward, but an important shift for FreeBSD: https://distrowatch.com/12637
November 18, 2025 at 1:06 AM
New release of Finnix, a small, sysadmin distro based on Debian: https://distrowatch.com/12636
November 17, 2025 at 9:33 PM
Pretty cool story about replacing a failing drive on ZFS: https://tacticalbsd.substack.com/p/zfs-horror-story
ZFS Horror Story
The error logs tell you nothing, but you know something's wrong
tacticalbsd.substack.com
November 17, 2025 at 10:58 AM
DistroWatch Weekly talks about Zorin OS 18, deleting filenames with strange names, Ubuntu offering 15 years of support for Ubuntu, OpenBSD refining its upgrade process, NetBSD experimenting with sandboxing, postmarketOS unifying its documentation, refreshed install media for Debian 13 […]
Original post on mastodon.social
mastodon.social
November 17, 2025 at 1:01 AM
One of my least favourite things documentation can do (apart from not giving examples) is to have dozens of command line flags and say one flag does the same as another, forcing the reader to find _that_ flag.

For example, the GNU "cp" manual page says "-a" is the same as "-dR --preserve-all" […]
Original post on mastodon.social
mastodon.social
November 16, 2025 at 7:33 PM
Reposted by DistroWatch
I’ve been testing a theory: many people who are high on #ai and #LLMs are just new to automation and don’t realize you can automate processes with simple programming, if/then conditions, and API calls with zero AI involved.

So far it’s been working!

Whenever I’ve been asked to make an AI flow […]
Original post on hachyderm.io
hachyderm.io
November 14, 2025 at 3:29 PM
Canonical will now support Ubuntu LTS versions for up to 15 years: https://distrowatch.com/dwres.php?resource=showheadline&story=20094
DistroWatch.com: Put the fun back into computing. Use Linux, BSD.
News and feature lists of Linux and BSD distributions.
distrowatch.com
November 14, 2025 at 1:29 PM
Nice to see side-loading continue to be an option for Android, at least for now. https://android-developers.googleblog.com/2025/11/android-developer-verification-early.html
Android developer verification: Early access starts now as we continue to build with your feedback
_Posted by Matthew Forsythe Director - Product Management, Android App Safety_ We recently announced new developer verification requirements, which serve as an additional layer of defense in our ongoing effort to keep Android users safe. We know that security works best when it accounts for the diverse ways people use our tools. This is why we announced this change early: to gather input and ensure our solutions are balanced. We appreciate the community's engagement and have heard the early feedback – specifically from students and hobbyists who need an accessible path to learn, and from power users who are more comfortable with security risks. We are making changes to address the needs of both groups. To understand how these updates fit into our broader mission, it is important to first look at the specific threats we are tackling. Why verification is important Keeping users safe on Android is our top priority. Combating scams and digital fraud is not new for us — it has been a central focus of our work for years. From Scam Detection in Google Messages to Google Play Protect and real-time alerts for scam calls, we have consistently acted to keep our ecosystem safe. However, online scams and malware campaigns are becoming more aggressive. At the global scale of Android, this translates to real harm for people around the world – especially in rapidly digitizing regions where many are coming online for the first time. Technical safeguards are critical, but they cannot solve for every scenario where a user is manipulated. Scammers use high-pressure social engineering tactics to trick users into bypassing the very warnings designed to protect them. For example, a common attack we track in Southeast Asia illustrates this threat clearly. A scammer calls a victim claiming their bank account is compromised and uses fear and urgency to direct them to sideload a "verification app" to secure their funds, often coaching them to ignore standard security warnings. Once installed, this app — actually malware — intercepts the victim's notifications. When the user logs into their real banking app, the malware captures their two-factor authentication codes, giving the scammer everything they need to drain the account. While we have advanced safeguards and protections to detect and take down bad apps, without verification, bad actors can spin up new harmful apps instantly. It becomes an endless game of whack-a-mole. Verification changes the math by forcing them to use a real identity to distribute malware, making attacks significantly harder and more costly to scale. We have already seen how effective this is on Google Play, and we are now applying those lessons to the broader Android ecosystem to ensure there is a real, accountable identity behind the software you install. Supporting students and hobbyists We heard from developers who were concerned about the barrier to entry when building apps intended only for a small group, like family or friends. We are using your input to shape a dedicated account type for students and hobbyists. This will allow you to distribute your creations to a limited number of devices without going through the full verification requirements. Empowering experienced users While security is crucial, we’ve also heard from developers and power users who have a higher risk tolerance and want the ability to download unverified apps. Based on this feedback and our ongoing conversations with the community, we are building a new advanced flow that allows experienced users to accept the risks of installing software that isn't verified. We are designing this flow specifically to resist coercion, ensuring that users aren't tricked into bypassing these safety checks while under pressure from a scammer. It will also include clear warnings to ensure users fully understand the risks involved, but ultimately, it puts the choice in their hands. We are gathering early feedback on the design of this feature now and will share more details in the coming months. Getting started with early access Today, we’re excited to start inviting developers to the early access for developer verification in Android Developer Console for developers that distribute exclusively outside of Play, and will share invites to the Play Console experience soon for Play developers. We are looking forward to your questions and feedback on streamlining the experience for all developers. Watch our video below for a walkthrough of the new Android Developer Console experience and see our guides for more details and FAQs. We are committed to working with you to keep the ecosystem safe while getting this right.
android-developers.googleblog.com
November 13, 2025 at 11:03 PM
OpenBSD's upgrade tool to handle limited space on /usr more gracefully: https://distrowatch.com/dwres.php?resource=showheadline&story=20093
DistroWatch.com: Put the fun back into computing. Use Linux, BSD.
News and feature lists of Linux and BSD distributions.
distrowatch.com
November 13, 2025 at 4:42 PM
Red Hat has announced two new versions of RHEL: https://distrowatch.com/?newsid=12634
Distribution Releases: Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10.1, 9.7 (DistroWatch.com News)
News and feature lists of Linux and BSD distributions.
distrowatch.com
November 12, 2025 at 11:59 PM
Nitrux has undergone a whole new set of changes: https://distrowatch.com/12633
November 12, 2025 at 6:53 PM
A new minor update from SparkyLinux is now available: https://distrowatch.com/12632
November 12, 2025 at 5:41 PM
Volumio has your media needs covered: https://distrowatch.com/12631
November 10, 2025 at 6:59 PM