July is laying the groundwork for the next big change in openmamba: the mass rebuild of Python from version 3.11 to 3.14, now nearly ready for release. In preparation for this operation, the package manager was upgraded from dnf 4 to dnf 5, rewritten in C++ and no longer dependent on Python. On the desktop side, KDE Gear 26.04.3, KDE Plasma 6.7.2 and KDE Frameworks 6.28.0 are also arriving.
Towards the Python 3.14 mass rebuild
The devel-misc repository already hosts around 790 source packages rebuilt against Python 3.14.6: not only python-* modules, but also applications that depend on Python for their build process or at runtime, including ansible, borg, ceph, certbot, freecad, gramps, lutris, meson and nmap. Promoting the entire rebuild from devel-misc to base is the step that will make Python 3.14 the distribution’s default version.
This update also drops the previous convention of appending a -py3 suffix to Python package names (e.g. python-example-py3): packages will now use the plain name (python-example).
A few suggestions to prepare for the transition, before the update becomes available:
- Make sure your system is updated with the latest version of dnf 5, recommended to handle the transition safely.
- Check your own projects or installations that don’t strictly depend on Python 3.11: the interpreter will remain available as the python311 package, but for managing your projects’ dependencies it’s recommended to use a virtualenv or pip, so you don’t depend on system modules.
- If you run into problems during the update, check the output of
sudo dnf update: if some obsolete dependencies are blocking the process, consider removing them. If in doubt, the openmamba forum remains the go-to channel for help.
dnf 5: the package manager rewritten in C++
openmamba’s update system has been migrated from dnf 4 to dnf 5.4.2.1, based on the libdnf5 library written in C++, with optional bindings for Python, Perl and Ruby but no longer a direct dependency on Python for its own operation. This update, carried out in preparation for the Python 3.14 mass rebuild, ensures the package manager keeps working correctly even while the system’s Python stack is transitioning between the two versions.
New packages in the base repository
A few new tools have been added to the base repository:
- dxvk 3.0.1 — Vulkan-based implementation of Direct3D 9/10/11 for native Linux applications; improves performance of many games run through Wine
- vokoscreenng 4.10.0 — tool for recording the screen, an area, or a single window
- ddcui 0.6.0 — graphical interface for ddcutil, to adjust brightness and contrast of external monitors via DDC/CI
- anubis 1.25.0 — reverse proxy designed to protect websites from automated scrapers
- stress-ng 6.5.1 — tool to stress-test CPU, memory and other subsystems, useful for hardware stability testing
- mdbook 0.5.4 — creates browsable HTML books and documentation from Markdown sources
KDE Gear 26.04.3
Maintenance update for KDE applications: KDE Gear 26.04.3 brings bug fixes across more than 150 packages in the suite, including Dolphin, Kate, Konsole, Okular, Gwenview, Kdenlive, KMail and Kontact.
KDE Plasma 6.7.2 and KDE Frameworks 6.28.0
KDE Plasma 6.7.2 updates all major desktop environment components with bug fixes and stability improvements. KDE Frameworks 6.28.0 updates the foundational libraries on which the entire KDE ecosystem is built.
Main updates
- kernel 6.18.33 — Linux kernel stability update
- glibc 2.43 — updated system C library
- LLVM/Clang 22.1.8 and Rust (rustc) 1.97.0 — updated compiler toolchains
- CMake 4.4.0 — updated cross-platform build system
- Node.js 26.5.0 and Go 1.26.5 — updated development runtimes and languages
- PHP 8.5.8 — updated server-side scripting language
- LibreOffice 26.2.5.1 — maintenance update for the office suite
- Firefox 152.0.5 and Thunderbird 152.0.1 — Mozilla browser and email client
- Chromium 149.0.7827.200 and Brave 1.92.139 — Chromium-based browsers
- Telegram 6.9.4 and Signal Desktop 8.18.0 — messaging clients
- Krita 6.0.2.1, Inkscape 1.4.4, Darktable 5.6.0 and digiKam 9.1.0 — graphics editors and photo processing
- KiCad 10.0.4 — electronic circuit design suite
- MuseScore 4.7.4 — music notation editor
- GnuCash 5.16 — personal and small business accounting software
- Wine 11.0 — new major version, for running Windows applications on Linux
- Steam 1.0.0.87 — updated gaming client
- Mesa 26.1.4 and NVIDIA 610.43.03 driver — updated graphics stack
- QEMU 11.0.2 and VirtualBox 7.2.12 — updated virtualization solutions
- Docker 29.6.1 — updated containerization platform
- systemd 261.1 — init system and service manager
- OpenSSH 10.4p1 and OpenSSL 3.6.3 — cryptographic and remote access tools
- Samba 4.24.4 — interoperability with Windows networks (SMB/CIFS)
- Wireshark 4.6.7 — network protocol analyzer
- Tailscale 1.100.0 and rclone 1.74.4 — mesh VPN and cloud sync
- pandoc-cli 3.9.0.2 — universal document format converter
openmamba API and internal tools
Internal build system tools updated: autodist 2.1.1, autospec 1.47 and distromatic 3.2.4.
Installation media
Images are available from the download page.
- livecd rolling (x86_64, 2.7 GB — June 26, 2026) — KDE Plasma desktop with basic applications
- livedvd rolling (x86_64, 3.7 GB — June 27, 2026) — KDE Plasma desktop with full software suite
- livecd-light rolling (x86_64 2.2 GB and i586 2.0 GB — June 28, 2026) — LXQt desktop for resource-limited systems
- diskimg-raspberrypi rolling (LXQt, aarch64, 2.7 GB — June 23, 2026) — Raspberry Pi image with lightweight desktop
- diskimg-raspberrypi-plasma rolling (KDE Plasma, aarch64, 3.1 GB — June 24, 2026) — Raspberry Pi image with KDE Plasma
- rootfs rolling (x86_64 2.1 GB, aarch64 1.9 GB — June 22, 2026) — base filesystem for advanced installations
- rootfs-light rolling (x86_64 1.7 GB, aarch64 1.6 GB, i586 1.6 GB — June 21, 2026) — lightweight filesystem, a leaner alternative to rootfs
- rootfs-base rolling (x86_64 226 MB, aarch64 205 MB, i586 232 MB — July 9, 2026) — minimal system for experts and developers
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.