AerynOS, Ikey Doherty’s newly rebranded immutable (still-in-development) distro, has shared its latest project update. Here is what is more important to note.
Currently, the distribution is running Linux kernel 6.16. Although version 6.17 went live a couple of days ago, the developers are holding off for a bit. Their approach is to wait for a few point releases before upgrading to avoid early bugs that sometimes appear immediately after a major kernel release.
On the desktop side, GNOME 49 is now available in the AerynOS repositories, just weeks after its release. However, because many GNOME extensions have not yet been updated, the team is holding back the next live installer ISO until the extensions stabilize.
Infrastructure has been another focus for the distro this year. After rewriting major parts of the codebase in Rust back in Q2, the team now says their infra is stable. According to devs, hundreds of packages have been built without issues, and no new bugs have appeared for weeks.
System76’s COSMIC desktop environment is also on the checklist. A new contributor helped move its packaging forward before stepping back temporarily for personal reasons. Community members have already taken on his tasks, and COSMIC Beta packages are scheduled to be released before the next ISO release.
Lastly, beyond the core system, devs shared that work is additionally progressing in areas such as website development and documentation, where new contributors have begun lending a hand.
Regarding future plans, the team anticipates releasing the next ISO in October. The plan is to wait until GNOME extensions catch up, the COSMIC Beta stack is in place, and a few point releases of kernel 6.17 have proven stable. KDE Plasma 6.5, due on October 21, is also on the radar, though AerynOS isn’t planning to rush that update either.
For more information, see the report on AerynOS’ blog.
The rise of Cosmic has now started.