[Testing Update] 2025-09-27 - Kernels, Plasma 6.4.5, GNOME 49.0, Cosmic 1.0b1

Manjaro Linux
4 weeks ago

Hello community, here we have another set of package updates. Welcome to our new development cycle of Manjaro 25.1.0, code-named ‘Anh-Linh’. It is not sure yet if we will focus on Plasma 6.4 series or adopt 6.5 series early on. For sure we will introduce GNOME 49 and maybe Cosmic 1.0 (Beta).

Current Promotions Recent News Valkey to replace Redis in the [extra] Repository (click for more details) Previous News Finding information easier about Manjaro (click for more details) Notable Package Updates Additional Info Python 3.13 info (click for more details) Info about AUR packages (click for more details)

Get our latest daily developer images now from Github: Plasma, GNOME, XFCE. You can get the latest stable releases of Manjaro from CDN77.

Our current supported kernels
  • linux54 5.4.299
  • linux510 5.10.244
  • linux515 5.15.193
  • linux61 6.1.154
  • linux66 6.6.108
  • linux612 6.12.49
  • linux616 6.16.9
  • linux617 6.17.0-rc7
  • linux61-rt 6.1.151_rt54
  • linux66-rt 6.6.106_rt61
  • linux612-rt 6.12.43_rt12
  • linux615-rt 6.15.0_rt2
  • linux616-rt 6.16.0_rt3

Package Changes (Sat Sep 27 09:30:09 CEST 2025)

  • testing core x86_64: 26 new and 28 removed package(s)
  • testing extra x86_64: 2234 new and 2301 removed package(s)
  • testing multilib x86_64: 13 new and 13 removed package(s)

A list of all changes can be found here.

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philm

[Stable Update] 2025-09-26 - Kernels, NVIDIA, Systemd, LibreOffice, KDE Software

Manjaro Linux
4 weeks 1 day ago

Hello community, here we have another set of package updates. This will be most likely our last update to the Zetar release cycle. Let us know if there are any issues left.

Current Promotions Recent News Valkey to replace Redis in the [extra] Repository (click for more details) Previous News Finding information easier about Manjaro (click for more details) Notable Package Updates Additional Info Python 3.13 info (click for more details) Info about AUR packages (click for more details)

Get our latest daily developer images now from Github: Plasma, GNOME, XFCE. You can get the latest stable releases of Manjaro from CDN77.

Also help testing upcoming stable release ISOs, which include this update: Help testing 25.0.9 Release

Our current supported kernels
  • linux54 5.4.299
  • linux510 5.10.244
  • linux515 5.15.193
  • linux61 6.1.153
  • linux66 6.6.107
  • linux612 6.12.48
  • linux615 6.15.11 [EOL]
  • linux616 6.16.8
  • linux617 6.17.0-rc7
  • linux61-rt 6.1.151_rt54
  • linux66-rt 6.6.106_rt61
  • linux612-rt 6.12.43_rt12
  • linux615-rt 6.15.0_rt2
  • linux616-rt 6.16.0_rt3

Package Changes (Sat Sep 20 09:38:35 CEST 2025)

  • stable core x86_64: 84 new and 84 removed package(s)
  • stable extra x86_64: 3956 new and 3988 removed package(s)
  • stable multilib x86_64: 57 new and 50 removed package(s)

A list of all changes can be found here.

Click to view the poll.

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107 posts - 46 participants

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philm

Kernel 6.15.4 Performance Tuned, Networking Polished, Stability Reinforced

Linux Journal
4 weeks 1 day ago
by George Whittaker Introduction

In the life cycle of any kernel branch, patch releases, those minor “.x” updates, play a vital role in refining performance, patching regressions, and ironing out rough edges. Kernel 6.15.4 is one such release: it doesn’t bring headline features, but focuses squarely on stabilizing and optimizing the 6.15 series with targeted fixes in performance and networking.

While version 6.15 already introduced several ambitious changes (filesystem improvements, networking enhancements, Rust driver infrastructure, etc.), the 6.15.4 update doubles down on making those changes more robust and efficient. In this article, we'll walk through the most significant improvements, what they mean for systems running 6.15.*, and how to approach updating.

Release Highlights

The official announcement of Kernel 6.15.4 surfaced around late June 2025. The release includes:

  • A full source tarball (linux-6.15.4.tar.xz) and patches.

  • Signature verification via PGP for integrity.

  • A changelog/diff summary comparing 6.15.3 → 6.15.4.

This update is not a major feature expansion; it’s a refinement release targeting performance regressions, network subsystem reliability, and bug fixes that emerged in prior 6.15.* builds.

Performance Enhancements

Because 6.15 already brought several ambitious changes to memory, I/O, scheduler, and mount semantics, many of the improvements in 6.15.4 are about smoothing interactions, avoiding regressions, and reclaiming performance in corner cases. While not all patches are publicly detailed in summaries, we can infer patterns based on what 6.15 introduced and what “performance patches” generally target.

Memory & TLB Optimizations

One often-painful cost in high-performance workloads is flushing translation lookaside buffers (TLBs) too aggressively. Kernel 6.15 had already begun to optimize broadcast TLB invalidation using AMD’s INVLPGB (for remote CPUs) to reduce overhead in multi-CPU environments. In 6.15.4, fixes likely target edge cases or regressions in those mechanisms, ensuring TLB invalidation is more efficient and consistent.

Additionally, various memory management cleanups, object reuse, and page handling improvements tend to appear in patch releases. While not explicitly documented in the public summaries, such fixes help reduce fragmentation, locking contention, and latency in memory allocation.

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George Whittaker

Meet the Coolest (and Most Expensive) Raspberry Pi Yet

OMG! Ubuntu
1 month ago

Raspberry Pi today unveiled the new Raspberry Pi 500+ — a ‘premium’ version of its compact keyboard PC that uses mechanical switches, RGB backlighting and is pre-fitted with an SSD. “Raspberry Pi 500+ puts the power of Raspberry Pi 5’s quad-core 64-bit Arm processor and RP1 I/O controller into an ergonomic and tactile mechanical keyboard, combining uncompromising performance with 16GB RAM and 256GB NVMe storage,” they say. Those who dig the idea of the your keyboard being the PC — as someone old enough to have owned an Amstrad CPC 464, I do — but are too discerning to the quality of key clacking […]

You're reading Meet the Coolest (and Most Expensive) Raspberry Pi Yet, a blog post from OMG! Ubuntu. Do not reproduce elsewhere without permission.

Joey Sneddon

Python 3.13.5 Patch Release Packed with Fixes & Stability Boosts

Linux Journal
1 month ago
by George Whittaker Introduction

On June 11, 2025, the Python core team released Python 3.13.5, the fifth maintenance update to the 3.13 line. This release is not about flashy new language features, instead, it addresses some pressing regressions and bugs introduced in 3.13.4. The “.5” in the version number signals that this is a corrective, expedited update rather than a feature-driven milestone.

In this article, we’ll explore what motivated 3.13.5, catalog the key fixes, review changes inherited in the 3.13 stream, and discuss whether and how you should upgrade. We’ll also peek at implications for future Python releases.

What Led to 3.13.5 (Release Context)

Python 3.13 — released on October 7, 2024 — introduced several significant enhancements over 3.12, including a revamped interactive shell, experimental support for running without a Global Interpreter Lock (GIL), and preliminary JIT infrastructure.

However, after releasing 3.13.4, the maintainers discovered several serious regressions. Thus, 3.13.5 was accelerated (rather than waiting for the next regular maintenance release) to correct these before they impacted a broader user base. In discussions preceding the release, it was noted the Windows extension module build broke under certain configurations, prompting urgent action.

Because of this, 3.13.5 is a “repair” release — its focus is bug fixes and stability, not new capabilities. Nonetheless, it also inherits and stabilizes many of the improvements introduced earlier in 3.13.

Key Fixes & Corrections

While numerous smaller bugs are resolved in 3.13.5, three corrections stand out as primary drivers for the expedited update:

GH-135151 — Windows extension build failure

Under certain build configurations on Windows (for the non-free-threaded build), compiling extension modules failed. This was traced to the pyconfig.h header inadvertently enabling free-threaded builds. The patch restores proper alignment of configuration macros, ensuring extension builds succeed as before.

GH-135171 — Generator expression TypeError delay

In 3.13.4, generator expressions stopped raising a TypeError early when given a non-iterable. Instead, the error was deferred to the time of first iteration. 3.13.5 restores the earlier behavior of raising the TypeError at creation time when the supplied input is not iterable. This change avoids subtler runtime surprises for developers.

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George Whittaker