Six months after the previous 25.05 “Warbler” release, the new stable version, NixOS 25.11 “Xantusia,” is officially here. Targeted at advanced users and developers, NixOS bets on an immutable design and an atomic update model, emphasizing reproducibility and reliability with the Nix package manager.
Nixpkgs adds 7,002 new packages and updates 25,252 existing entries. A cleanup effort removed 6,338 outdated packages to keep the repository manageable and secure. On the NixOS side, the release introduces 107 new modules, adds 1,778 configuration options, and removes older, unused components.
The desktop stack is updated to GNOME 49. This version ends X11 session availability, includes a new video player and document viewer, and ships a redesigned calendar application. Other applications across the GNOME suite receive updates as part of the regular upstream cycle.
On top of that, Qt 5-based versions of KDE Gear, Plasma, Maui, and Deepin have been removed from the distribution, with users expected to migrate to Plasma 6 and Gear 25.08 provided under kdePackages. Plus, the COSMIC desktop environment moves to beta, delivering refreshed components and improved overall stability as it progresses toward its first stable release.
Networking gains more flexibility through native FirewallD integration. It can run as a standalone service via services.firewalld or operate as a backend for networking.firewall, which now exposes a backend selection option. NetworkManager no longer ships VPN plugins automatically, requiring explicit configuration of plugins through networking.networkmanager.plugins.
Bootloader support expands as well. Users can now enable the rEFInd graphical boot manager with boot.loader.refind.enable. Secure Boot is available for the Limine bootloader, which now supports kernel hashing and signature-based verification during system rebuilds.
Under the hood, the release updates the Linux kernel to 6.17 (with 6.12 LTS also available). On the compiler toolchains side, LLVM is updated to version 21, while GCC remains at version 14. CMake advances to version 4, bringing the latest build system improvements to developers working within the Nix ecosystem.
For more information, visit the announcement or check out the release’s highlights here for a complete list of changes. The distro is available for download in two variants: with a GUI installer and as a Minimal installation image for 64-bit AMD/Intel and ARM architectures.
The release follows the regular biannual cycle and will receive security and bugfix updates until June 30, 2026, while the previous version, NixOS 25.05 “Warbler,” reaches end-of-life on December 31, 2025.
