Welcome to Week 17 of Linuxiac’s 2026 Weekly Roundup, your source for Linux and open-source news. Below are the key Linux and FOSS highlights from April 20 to 26.
Linux Distributions
This week brought five updates in the Linux world, and I’ve covered each one in the articles below.
- Ubuntu 26.04 LTS (Resolute Raccoon) Released, This Is What’s New
- CachyOS April Release Brings Shelly Package Manager
- Arch-Based Omarchy 3.6 Improves Panther Lake Efficiency
- Tails 7.7 Adds Secure Boot Certificate Expiry Alerts
- Gentoo-Based Redcore Linux Hardened 2601 Released with Kernel 6.19
Software Updates
In addition, here is a summary of the latest open-source software updates featured this week.
- COSMIC Desktop 1.0.11 Released with File Manager and Workspace Improvements
- LXQt 2.4 Desktop Environment Released with Better Wayland Support
- VirtualBox 7.2.8 Released With Linux Kernel 7.0 Support and Wayland Fixes
- Mozilla Firefox 150 Now Available for Download, Here’s What’s New
- Mozilla Thunderbird 150 Released With Custom Accent Colors
- QEMU 11.0 Released With Dropped 32-Bit Host Support
- Niri 26.04 Brings Long-Awaited Blur Support to the Wayland Compositor
- Archinstall 4.3 Released with Security Fixes and Installer Improvements
- BleachBit 6.0 Lands as the Project’s Biggest Release in Years
- PipeWire 1.6.4 Multimedia Framework Released With JACK, Bluetooth, and ALSA Fixes
- Ventoy 1.1.12 Fixes Ubuntu 24.04.4 LTS Install Failure
- Fwupd 2.1.2 Adds AMD EntrySign HSI Check and More Hardware Support
- GNU Coreutils 9.11 Delivers Enhanced Performance and Multi-Byte Character Support
- Git 2.54 Released With New git history Command
- Stalwart 0.16 Mail Server Released with New WebUI
- OpenVPN 2.7.2 Fixes Two Security Flaws and Improves Password Handling
Must-Reads You Can’t Miss
The Linux and FOSS community also saw several notable developments this week. Key highlights include:
- Colorado Adds Open-Source Exemption to Age-Attestation Bill
- AlmaLinux Takes a Wait-and-See Stance on California Age Verification Law
- Someone Made a Windows 95 Subsystem for Linux
- Mozilla Firefox Quietly Adds Brave’s Adblock Engine
- Ubuntu 26.10 Stonking Stingray Officially Announced for October 15 Release
- Arch Linux Now Ships a Reproducible Docker Image
- Debian Names a New Leader for the Project
- Void Linux Switches Main NVIDIA Package to Open Kernel Modules
- Linux May Drop Legacy 3Com, AMD, and Xircom Ethernet Drivers
- Asahi Linux Improves Apple Silicon Support as Fedora Asahi Remix 44 Nears
- Bitwarden Confirms Short-Lived npm Compromise Affecting CLI Package
Tutorials That Make a Difference
Unsurprisingly, with this week’s major release of Ubuntu 26.04 LTS, our guide is all about it, specifically for anyone looking to upgrade from 24.04 (Noble Numbat) to 26.04 (Resolute Raccoon).
Hardware Updates
System76 unveiled the Ryzen AI 7 350-powered Pangolin Pro to its Linux laptop line – a true powerhouse positioned as an affordable desktop replacement.
That’s all for this week. If you missed our previous wrap-up from Week 16 of 2026 (Apr 13 – 19), you can catch up here, where you’ll find Solus 4.9, Zorin OS 18.1, Raspberry Pi OS April Update, COSMIC Desktop 1.0.10, Wine 11.7, GIMP 3.2.4, KDE Gear 26.04, Archinstall 4.2, NGINX 1.30, X.Org Is Still Alive, Federal Bill Would Bring OS-Level Age Verification to the Entire U.S., Linux Kernel 7.1 Merges New NTFS Driver, Linux Mint Targets Christmas 2026 for Next Major Release, and many more.
Be sure to keep an eye on Linuxiac for the latest updates from the Linux and open-source world.
Have a great week ahead!
I am amazed by your coverage of Linux.
Would you consider more articles on BSD?
Perhaps you could start with Fuguita (fuguita.org) which is an OpenBSD LiveDVD/USB. There’s not too many of those around anymore! Thanks for the news.