Changes

This set of unstable updates rolls up a few separate update pushes:

1. The first set of changes related to the 2026.03 ISO release
2. We upgraded our Python stack from Python 3.11 to 3.14 with the associated package rebuilds
3. We landed KDE Plasma 6.6.4 + KDE Frameworks 6.25.0
4. We landed COSMIC DE 1.0.9
5. We have reworked how we build our kernels and which kernel versions we offer.

Python stack upgrade

Due to diligent prep work by @ReillyBrogan, we finished the Python 3.11 -> 3.14 stack upgrade (including rebuilds) in less than a day.

This involved 200+ rebuilds. Since then, the CPython interpreter itself has been upgraded from 3.14.3 to 3.14.4.

Kernel changes + out-of-tree drivers

Spearheaded by @ReillyBrogan, this cycle also sees us reorganizing our kernel builds and offering the following, renamed kernel packages:

• linux-stable
  • Used to be linux-desktop.
  • Stable upstream kernel versions with a conservative set of patches.
  • Target audience is servers and conservative desktop/laptop users.
• linux-lts
  • New package.
  • Long Term Stable upstream kernel version.
  • Same target audience as above.
• linux-gaming (not yet available, will be added soon)
  • Used to be linux-handheld
  • Stable upstream kernel versions with additional patches for high performance and low latency.
  • Target audience is desktops, laptops and gaming handhelds users who want to squeeze out the last few percent of extra performance on their hardware.

As part of this new way of building kernels, we also added support for including out of tree drivers, including v4l2loopback-module and bcachefs-module driver support.

Currently, users will need to install BOTH bcachefs-tools and bcachefs-module-stable or bcachefs-module-lts depending on which kernels they have installed. The same applies to the v4l2loopback-module packages.

Note that we do not offer support for booting from bcachefs-formatted system root (/) partitions at this time.

Note also that, for this cycle, we are only expanding the number of kernel packages, and linux-desktop users should be automatically switched to linux-stable. The kernel package versions for linux-stable (and linux-gaming when that lands in the repo) will be upgraded to the upstream stable kernel versions over the coming weeks.

Highlights

• COSMIC DE 1.0.9
• KDE Plasma 6.4.4
• firefox 149.0.2
• fish 4.6.0
• libinput 1.31.1
• mesa 26.0.4
• pipewire 1.6.3
• prism-launcher 11.0.0 (Minecraft 26.1 and newer depend on openjdk 25 so we've made it so that openjdk-25 will be installed by default. You can still install openjdk-21/openjdk-17 for older Minecraft versions)
• python 3.14.4
• thunderbird 149.0.2
• vscode-bin 1.115.0
• vscodium: 1.112.01907

Major updates

• KDE Frameworks 6.25.0
• SDL3 v3.4.4
• alacritty 0.17.0
• bcachefs-tools 1.37.5
• discord 0.0.132
• docker 29.3.1
• flatpak 1.16.5
• golang 1.26.2
• gstreamer 1.28.2
• mullvad 2026.1
• nano 9.0
• nptd-rs 1.7.1
• openssh 10.3p1
• openssl 3.6.2 (security update)
• poppler 26.04
• qt 6.11.0
• signal-desktop 8.6.0
• wine 11.6

Other updates

Other updates include, but are not limited to:

• av1 3.13.3
• awww 0.12.0
• bitwarden 2026.3.1
• cmake 4.3.1
• dankmaterialshell 1.4.4.1
• fd 10.4.2
• gamescope 3.16.23
• gpu-screen-recorder 5.12.5
• godot 4.6.2
• htop 3.5.0
• jujutsu 0.40.0
• kitty 0.46.2
• zellij 0.44.1

Fixes

• ghostty: Fix possible search crash, fix debuginfo
• gparted and partitionmanager no longer depend on bcachefs-tools by default
• haruna: Fix crash caused by Qt stack update
• yubikey-manager: Fix completions being empty

New packages

• bcachefs-module 1.37.5 (will only be available after system boot; bcachefs system root (/) is not supported at this time)
• dunst 1.13.2 (customizable and lightweight desktop notification-daemon for custom Wayland compositor Desktop Experiences)
• libphonenumber 9.0.27 (parsing of phone numbers for PIM applications)
• openjdk-25 (openjdk-21 and openjdk-17 are still available)
• v4l2loopback-module 0.15.3 (v4l2 loopback devices can be used with e.g. Open Broadcasting Software)

Full git changelog

As usual, there are many other minor updates not mentioned as the list would get too long. You can see the full changelog here:

AerynOS/recipes@80e5d9b...65fd19e

How to Contribute

As ever, feel free to report any issues below and join the AerynOS Zulip server community.

How to sponsor us

If you appreciate the work we are doing and are in a position to do so, we would appreciate any sponsorship sent our way:

• Stripe Recurring: https://donate.stripe.com/9B628r5XS19l34y04RdAk02
• Stripe One-off: https://donate.stripe.com/4gM9ATfys8BNdJc5pbdAk01
• Ko-Fi: https://ko-fi.com/aerynos

We should note that we prefer Stripe donations if possible.

Thank you!

Thank you to all our supporters and contributors. You are making a difference! ❤️