Best of Linux — June 2026

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    Video
    Avatar of savvynikSavvyNik·9w

    Linus Torvalds: AI Won’t Replace Understanding Code

    Linus Torvalds shares his perspective on AI in software development, particularly its impact on the Linux kernel and open source projects. He acknowledges AI as a useful tool — comparable to compilers or assemblers — but warns it doesn't replace the need to understand code. He highlights a growing burnout problem among open source maintainers caused by low-quality, AI-generated bug reports and drive-by contributions. Torvalds advocates for local AI tools to avoid dependency on big tech, and stresses that developers who truly understand systems will use AI effectively, while those who don't will produce failing code. He distinguishes between throwaway 'vibe coding' projects and serious long-term software that requires deep understanding beyond just writing prompts.

  2. 2
    Article
    Avatar of xda-developersXDA Developers·11w

    WSL 3 will finally let Linux apps use your GPU and NPU without the performance tax

    WSL 3, announced at Build 2026, replaces the Hyper-V VM backend with a lighter paravirtualized machine that gives Linux apps near-native GPU and NPU access via DirectML 2.0. This removes the performance overhead that plagued WSL 2, enabling tools like Ollama, llama.cpp, and PyTorch to use hardware accelerators directly from Linux. It remains a free, standalone Microsoft Store package decoupled from Windows updates. The catch: at launch it's limited to Copilot+ machines with Intel/Qualcomm NPUs — AMD support is deferred. Broader hardware support is expected to follow the same gradual rollout pattern WSL 2 used.

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    Article
    Avatar of itsfossIt's Foss·9w

    I Finally Tried Niri, The New Way Of Tiling Linux Users Are Going Crazy About

    Niri is a Rust-powered, scrollable-tiling Wayland compositor that arranges windows in an infinite horizontal strip rather than a fixed grid. Unlike traditional tiling WMs like i3 or Sway, opening new windows never causes existing ones to resize — you simply scroll sideways to navigate. It uses a KDL-based config file and requires third-party tools for bars, launchers, and notifications. The review covers installation on Fedora, Arch, and Ubuntu, and introduces DankMaterialShell (DMS) — a complete desktop suite that pairs with Niri to provide dynamic Material You theming, a spotlight launcher, sidebar dashboard, system monitor, and a polished login screen via a single installer command. The author recommends Niri for experienced tiling WM users frustrated by window reshuffling, while noting the setup complexity may deter Linux newcomers.

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    Article
    Avatar of bleepingcomputerBleepingComputer·10w

    Over 400 Arch Linux packages compromised to push rootkit, infostealer

    Over 400 packages in the Arch User Repository (AUR) have been compromised to distribute a Linux rootkit and infostealer malware. Attackers spoofed trusted publishers and hijacked orphaned packages, modifying PKGBUILD scripts to install a malicious npm package called atomic-lockfile. This package drops a Linux ELF binary with credential-stealing capabilities targeting GitHub tokens, SSH keys, browser cookies, Slack, Discord, Teams, Telegram data, and more. An optional eBPF rootkit component can hide processes, files, and network interfaces at the kernel level. AUR maintainers are removing malicious commits and banning responsible accounts. Affected users are advised to rotate all credentials and consider a full reinstall, as rootkits may survive standard cleanup.

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    Article
    Avatar of itsfossIt's Foss·9w

    Linux Users Get This For Free! Brave Origin Costs $59.99 For Everyone Else

    Brave Origin is a stripped-down version of the Brave Browser that removes AI, crypto wallet, rewards, VPN, and other extras while keeping ad and tracker blocking. On Windows, Android, macOS, and iOS it costs a one-time $59.99 license, but Linux users get it completely free with no account required. Installation is covered for Ubuntu (apt), Fedora (dnf), and Arch Linux (AUR/yay). Origin is not a separate codebase — it's a minimal build of brave-core. It can run alongside regular Brave Browser without conflicts, and users can switch between Origin and standard Brave via a flag without reinstalling.

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    Article
    Avatar of tonskytonsky.me·10w

    Every Frame Perfect

    A critique of imprecise UI animations and how they erode user trust. Using real-world examples from Safari, YouTube, Photos, and Preview, the author argues that every frame of an animation must make sense in isolation — not just the start and end states. Desynchronized, janky, or inconsistent animations signal poor craftsmanship and undermine confidence in the overall product quality.

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    Article
    Avatar of itsfossIt's Foss·10w

    To Make Things Easier, CachyOS Created a RUST-Based GUI Package Manager

    CachyOS has switched its default graphical package manager from Octopi to Shelly, a new Rust-based GUI tool. Shelly supports package management from CachyOS repositories, AUR, Flathub, and AppImage all in one interface. It features a modern, clean UI with a home dashboard showing installed package counts and update status, unified search across all sources, and settings for parallel downloads and package purification. Compared to Pamac and Octopi, Shelly offers a more modern look and broader source support, though AppImage integration is still somewhat inconsistent.

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    Article
    Avatar of itsfossIt's Foss·11w

    Craving Hyprland But Don't Want to Configure It? Try Dank Linux

    Dank Linux is a pre-configured desktop shell suite that transforms a minimal Linux installation into a fully themed Hyprland experience using a single cURL command. Built on DankMaterialShell (using Quickshell and Go), it provides panels, a notification center, lock screen, app launcher, media controls, and automatic wallpaper-based color theming. Currently at v1.4.6, it supports Arch, Fedora, Ubuntu, Debian, openSUSE, and Gentoo on both x86_64 and ARM64. Installation involves running a cURL script with a few configuration prompts. The desktop experience is minimal but polished, with Material Design theming, configurable top bar, workspace switcher, and GUI-based settings rather than config file editing.

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    Article
    Avatar of phoronixPhoronix·12w

    COSMIC Desktop's Frosted Glass Is Giving Windows Aero Vibes

    System76 CEO Carl Richell has shared development screenshots of a new 'Frosted Glass' visual effect coming to the COSMIC desktop environment. The effect, reminiscent of Windows Aero, will be subtle by default but configurable — users can make it more pronounced or disable it entirely. It is being built into the COSMIC compositor and libcosmic toolkit and is described as getting close to release.

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    Article
    Avatar of xda-developersXDA Developers·11w

    Old laptops are the home server upgrade nobody talks about, and they beat a Pi every time

    Repurposing an old laptop as a home server is a practical and often overlooked alternative to buying a Raspberry Pi. Old laptops offer faster x86 CPUs with higher clock speeds, built-in batteries that act as a mini UPS, more ports, and the ability to upgrade RAM — none of which are possible on most SBCs. A Raspberry Pi 4 or 5 starts at $50-$60 and has inflated pricing, while an old laptop is essentially free if you already own one. For running multiple Docker containers or self-hosted web tools, a decade-old laptop with 4-8GB RAM will outperform an ARM-based SBC. Raspberry Pis still make sense for embedded or single-purpose projects, but for general self-hosting, an old laptop is the better starting point.

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    Article
    Avatar of omgubomg! ubuntu!·9w

    COSMIC desktop update delivers a new system monitor app

    COSMIC Epoch 1.1.0 has been released, bringing a new native system monitoring app called COSMIC Monitor built with the Iced toolkit. It will replace GNOME System Monitor in Pop!_OS 24.04. The update also includes fixes to prevent CPU usage creep in long-running sessions, recursive wallpaper directory scanning, named pinned workspaces, pointer-warp-v1 Wayland protocol support, improved COSMIC Files with proper icons and key navigation, and expanded mimetype icons for developer file types like .css and .json.

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    Article
    Avatar of xda-developersXDA Developers·10w

    GNOME 50 doesn't feel like Linux anymore, and that's exactly why I use it

    GNOME 50 goes Wayland-only, drops X11 sessions, and brings performance improvements for Nvidia drivers, better GPU detection, and GTK 4.22 polish. Despite persistent gaps like no default dock, limited tiling, and no window previews, the author argues that GNOME's extension ecosystem — particularly Dash to Dock, Vitals, and Caffeine — transforms it into a highly personalized desktop that feels nothing like a traditional Linux environment. The author frames GNOME's opinionated defaults not as a flaw but as a feature: they force deliberate customization choices that result in a cleaner, more focused workflow than out-of-the-box alternatives like KDE Plasma or Cinnamon.

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    Article
    Avatar of xda-developersXDA Developers·10w

    Linux 7.2 finally drops support for a 44-year-old graphics card

    Linux 7.2 removes driver support for the Hercules Monochrome ISA graphics adapter, a 1982-era GPU with a 720x348 monochrome display and 32KB of VRAM. The removal is part of a broader kernel cleanup of unused legacy hardware drivers. This follows Linux 7.1 dropping i486 support. While some Hercules cards still sell on eBay, no one is realistically running modern Linux distributions on them.

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    Article
    Avatar of lobstersLobsters·10w

    Oxygen 6.7 is here: a breath of fresh air for KDE’s classic theme

    KDE's classic Oxygen theme receives a major restoration update in Plasma 6.7, driven by a community effort that attracted new contributors and collaboration with Oxygen's original lead designer Nuno Pinheiro. Key improvements include: Oxygen icons returning to the KDE Frameworks release cycle with monthly updates and improved tray icon consistency; Dolphin file manager visual fixes including navigation bar and status bar rendering; window decoration glow fixed for fractional scaling; missing titlebar buttons added; the Oxygen global theme split into Oxygen Light and Oxygen Dark variants; a new official Oxygen Dark color scheme; the Air global theme restored; and two classic KDE wallpapers (Air and Horos) updated to modern resolutions. Future plans include accent color support, monochrome/colorful icon toggle, and extending Oxygen theming to other toolkits via the Union CSS-based style engine.

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    Article
    Avatar of collectionsCollections·12w

    Flathub bans LLM-generated code in new app submissions, citing rude submitters and low-effort slop

    Flathub has updated its submission policy to ban AI-generated or AI-assisted code, documentation, and automated submissions for new apps. The decision was driven primarily by a surge of low-effort, vibe-coded submissions paired with rude behavior from submitters toward volunteer reviewers. Maintainer Bart Piotrowski acknowledged personal ambivalence about LLMs but cited the unsustainable burden on the volunteer review queue. Existing apps with AI-generated code are grandfathered in, and exceptions may be made for mature, well-maintained projects. GNOME has made similar moves, and the Linux kernel community has faced comparable frustration with AI-generated bug reports.

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    Article
    Avatar of xda-developersXDA Developers·9w

    Most people will miss Ubuntu 26.04's biggest security upgrade — and that's the point

    Ubuntu 26.04 LTS will ship with Rust-based replacements for core system utilities, including sudo-rs and coreutils equivalents like cp, mv, ls, and cat. While GNOME 50 will grab headlines with its visual changes, the more durable improvement is the quiet shift to memory-safe implementations of the tools that underpin shell scripts, installers, and administrative workflows. For an LTS release meant to serve as a stable baseline for years, replacing C-based utilities with Rust equivalents reduces the attack surface without changing user-facing behavior — making it a security upgrade most users will never consciously notice.

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    Article
    Avatar of omgubomg! ubuntu!·10w

    Ubuntu flavours now need a beta release to ship

    Canonical has announced a mandatory beta release policy for all Ubuntu flavours, removing the ability to grant exceptions. Previously, flavours that missed the beta milestone could still ship a final release — as happened with Ubuntu Kylin during the 26.04 LTS cycle. Going forward, any flavour that does not submit a beta on schedule will not be considered for an official stable release. The change aims to improve stability by ensuring a wider pool of users tests the same build before final release, and gives flavour developers a clear deadline for bug fixes.

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    Article
    Avatar of phoronixPhoronix·11w

    GNOME File Previewer Finally Switches TO GTK4, Adds Dark Mode

    GNOME Sushi, the file previewer companion to the Nautilus file manager, has been updated to use the GTK4 toolkit during the GNOME 51 development cycle. The update also brings initial dark mode support, nicer floating toolbars, Blueprint and Glycin usage, and improved layouts for several file type previewers.

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    Article
    Avatar of phoronixPhoronix·10w

    Reading /proc/filesystems Is Surprisingly Done Very Often & Now As Much As 444% Faster

    The Linux 7.2 kernel includes a significant optimization for /proc/filesystems, delivering up to 444% faster reads. The improvement was motivated by the surprising frequency with which this file is accessed — primarily because libselinux reads it and is linked into many common programs, including sed. The optimization involves pre-generating and caching the /proc/filesystems string, RCU-ifying the filesystem list to eliminate reference counting overhead on open/close, and cleaning up a hand-rolled linked list. The change was authored by Christian Brauner and merged by Linus Torvalds.

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    Article
    Avatar of xda-developersXDA Developers·10w

    Microsoft paid $20 million to protect one letter from Linux

    In the early 2000s, Lindows OS attempted to bridge Linux and Windows by running Windows apps through Wine on a Debian base, even selling pre-built PCs at Walmart. Microsoft sued over trademark infringement, but Lindows fought back by arguing 'Windows' was a generic term predating Microsoft's product. Unable to win outright, Microsoft paid $20 million to purchase the Lindows name in 2004, effectively burying it. The company rebranded as Linspire and still exists today, while Microsoft quietly shelved the Lindows trademark forever.

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    Article
    Avatar of itsfossIt's Foss·10w

    There is a New X11 Server, Written in Rust, With the Help of AI

    A developer named Jos Dehaes has created yserver, a new MIT-licensed X11 display server written entirely in Rust with significant help from Claude Code, Anthropic's AI coding agent. Unlike X.Org, yserver drops decades of legacy baggage and focuses on what modern Linux desktops actually need. It uses DRM/KMS and Vulkan for direct hardware access, libseat for rootless seat management, and already boots into MATE, Xfce, and Cinnamon sessions across a range of hardware including AMD, Intel, NVIDIA, and Apple Silicon via Asahi Linux. The project is very early-stage with one contributor and an incomplete security model, but it demonstrates the growing prevalence of vibe coding for non-trivial systems software.

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    Article
    Avatar of phoronixPhoronix·11w

    Xfce Ported To Rust-Written Redox OS For Better X11 Experience

    Redox OS, the open-source Rust-based operating system, received several notable improvements in May. Developer Wildan Mubarok ported Xfce to Redox OS to provide a better X11 experience, as it proved more stable than the MATE desktop environment. Other highlights include the EEVDF scheduler implementation, a 4x performance improvement for I/O event wait, massive performance gains for RedoxFS inode handling, incremental compilation support in pre-built packages, a Rust compiler update, and the COSMIC Monitor app being ported as Redox's first graphical system monitor.

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    Article
    Avatar of itsfossIt's Foss·10w

    KDE is Going Wayland Only So This New Project Gives You KDE With X11

    SonicDE is a new open source project forking KDE Plasma components to maintain and advance X11 support after KDE announced Plasma 6.8 will drop the X11 session entirely. Starting from a KWin/X11 patchset, the project has grown to 40 GitHub repositories covering window management (sonic-win), desktop shell (sonic-desktop-interface), workspace, networking, audio, screen locking, and a custom Silver theme. It is init-system agnostic, targets BSD support, and is already packaged for Arch-based distros, Debian, Devuan, Artix, and Vendefoul Wolf, with Gentoo, NixOS, OpenMandriva, and FreeBSD packaging in progress.

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    Article
    Avatar of xda-developersXDA Developers·10w

    I stopped distro-hopping after Linux finally standardized on what actually matters

    After two decades of distro-hopping, the author argues that Linux has matured to the point where the core experience is now standardized across distributions. The fundamental stack — kernel, graphical layer (mostly Wayland), desktop environment, package manager, and default apps — is consistent regardless of distro. This standardization means users now choose distros based on philosophy and preference (accessibility, stability, freshness, user control) rather than feature availability. Universal package formats like Flatpak, Snap, and AppImage complement traditional package managers by serving different use cases, further reducing distro lock-in. The result is a healthier ecosystem where switching distros is a matter of taste, not necessity.

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    Article
    Avatar of omgubomg! ubuntu!·10w

    Linux 7.1 brings new NTFS driver, Steam Deck OLED audio fix + more

    Linux 7.1 has been released by Linus Torvalds with a wide range of improvements. Highlights include a new optional NTFS driver with write support built by the exFAT driver author, AMD CPU dynamic EPP power management that auto-switches performance profiles based on AC/battery state, and Intel FRED interrupt handling now enabled by default (offering up to 4-7% gains in request-heavy workloads). Apple Silicon MacBooks gain battery reporting via a new macsmc-power driver. The Steam Deck OLED audio bug present in mainline kernels for years is finally fixed. Over 140,000 lines of legacy code were removed, including ISDN, ham radio networking, and old Bluetooth protocols. Other changes include BPF support in io_uring, Btrfs shutdown graduating to stable, Intel 486 support beginning phase-out, a /proc/PID/mem security tightening, and the minimum Rust version raised to 1.85.0.

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