Arch Linux’s August 2026 ISO snapshot is now available for download, providing a refreshed installation medium powered by Linux kernel 7.1.5 and containing package updates published throughout July.
As usual, this is not a separate Arch Linux release or a new distribution version. Instead, the monthly ISO images are intended for new installations, giving users a more current starting point and reducing the number of packages to download immediately after installation.
The most notable update in the 2026.08.01 image is the move from Linux kernel 7.0.14 in last month’s ISO to Linux kernel 7.1.5. Meanwhile, the Linux LTS kernel available from the distribution’s repositories has been updated from version 6.18.37 to 6.18.41.
The guided Archinstall installer remains at version 4.4, which was introduced shortly before the July image.
Beyond the kernel, August’s snapshot includes several important changes to the system toolchain. GNU C Library moved from version 2.43 to 2.44, while GNU Binutils received a major update from 2.46.1 to 2.47. GCC remains on the 16.1.1 series, but Arch’s packages include a newer development snapshot from that branch.
Other core package updates include systemd 261.2, Coreutils 9.11, Findutils 4.11, Gawk 5.4.1, SQLite 3.53.4, Cryptsetup 2.8.7, OpenSSH 10.4p1, Btrfs-progs 7.1, XFSprogs 7.1.1, Shadow 4.20, NFS Utilities 2.9.2, and GnuPG 2.4.9.
On the desktop side, the repositories now include KDE Plasma 6.7.3, up from version 6.7.1 available when the July ISO arrived. KDE Frameworks has similarly moved from version 6.27 to 6.28, while the KDE Gear application collection remains on the 26.04 series.
GNOME continues on the GNOME 50.3 maintenance release, while Cinnamon has been updated to version 6.6.9. Users interested in System76’s Rust-based desktop environment will find a much newer COSMIC Desktop 1.5 package set, replacing the COSMIC 1.1 available at the beginning of July.
The updated collection covers the compositor, panel, launcher, settings, terminal, file manager, application store, text editor, media player, screenshot utility, and other core COSMIC components.
For everyday desktop use, the refreshed repositories include Firefox 153, Chromium 150, Thunderbird 153, and LibreOffice 26.2.5. Other available creative and multimedia applications include GIMP 3.2.4, Krita 6.0.2, Inkscape 1.4.4, Audacity 3.7.8, Blender 5.2, Darktable 5.6, and digiKam 9.1.
The graphics stack has also received a maintenance refresh. Mesa and its Vulkan Radeon and Intel drivers are now at version 26.1.6, compared with Mesa 26.1.3 in the previous monthly snapshot. NVIDIA users continue to receive the 610.43 driver series, while components from AMD’s ROCm 7.2.4 compute stack are also available.
Regarding virtualization, containers, and development tooling, the July package activity brought Docker 29.6.2, containerd 2.3.3, BuildKit 0.32, CRI-O 1.36.2, Go 1.26.5, Node.js 26.5, npm 12.0.1, Ansible 14.2, and Ansible Core 2.21.2.
Of course, existing Arch Linux users do not need to download the new ISO. Installed systems receive the same package updates through the regular rolling-release workflow. Running the usual system upgrade command (sudo pacman -Syu) is sufficient.
Good news. I will install on a new SSD.