Linux

A Canonical engineer has proposed removing support for ZFS, Btrfs, RAID and encryption from the Secure Boot version of GRUB in Ubuntu 26.10 to enhance security. The change would limit booting to unencrypted ext4 partitions, blocking upgrades for systems using the dropped features. Community members have raised strong objections, citing reliance on these features in default installations and common setups.

March 26, 2026 Reported by AI

Dylan M. Taylor, a longtime open source contributor, added an optional birthDate field to systemd's user database to help Linux distributions comply with US state age verification laws. The change sparked intense controversy in the Linux community, leading to harassment and death threats against Taylor. In an interview, he defended the addition as simple attestation rather than verification.

Germany's Deutschland-Stack framework specifies ODF and PDF/UA as the only permitted document formats for public administrations, excluding proprietary options like .doc and .xls. Published by the Federal Ministry for Digital Transformation and Government Modernisation, it applies nationwide from federal to municipal levels.

March 20, 2026 Reported by AI

Opera GX, the gamer-focused web browser, has officially launched on Linux, supporting Debian, Ubuntu, Fedora, and openSUSE-based systems—fulfilling the January announcement for a Q1 2026 release. Features like GX Control for limiting RAM/network usage and Hot Tabs Killer for resource-heavy tabs are now available.

A group of 19 Manjaro team members has signed a manifesto demanding the project separate from its parent company and restructure as a nonprofit. They threaten to fork if leadership does not agree. Project lead Philip Müller has responded cautiously.

March 17, 2026 Reported by AI

Hilary Carter, SVP of research at the Linux Foundation, shares insights from a new report in a blog post. The post highlights Zephyr's ten years of adoption and evolution.