On December 24 2025, Linus Torvalds posted a strongly worded message celebrating a ruling in the ongoing GPL-compliance lawsuit filed against VIZIO by the Software Freedom Conservancy (SFC). This case and Torvalds's response have put a spotlight on an old debate over the extent to which the source-code requirements of the GNU General Public License (version 2) extend to keys and other data needed to successfully install modified software on a device. It is worth looking at whether this requirement exists, the subtleties in interpretation that cloud the issue, and the extent to which, if any, the SFC is demanding that information.

Inside this week's LWN.net Weekly Edition:

• Front: What to expect in 2026; LAVD scheduler; libpathrs; Questions for the TAB; Graphite; 2025 timeline.
• Briefs: shadow-utils 4.19.0; Android releases; IPFire 2.29-199; Manjaro 26.0; curl strcpy(); GNU ddrescue 1.30; Ruby 4.0; Partial GPL ruling; Quotes; ...
• Announcements: Newsletters, conferences, security updates, patches, and more.

Android Authority reports that Google will be reducing the frequency of releases of code to the Android Open Source Project to only twice per year.

A spokesperson for Google offered some additional context on this decision, stating that it helps simplify development, eliminates the complexity of managing multiple code branches, and allows them to deliver more stable and secure code to Android platform developers. The spokesperson also reiterated that Google's commitment to AOSP is unchanged and that this new release schedule helps the company build a more robust and secure foundation for the Android ecosystem.

The release schedule for security patches is unchanged.

The calendar has flipped over to 2026; a new year has begun. That means the moment we all dread has arrived: it is time for LWN to put out a set of lame predictions for what may happen in the coming year. Needless to say, we do not know any more than anybody else, but that doesn't stop us from making authoritative-sounding pronouncements anyway.

The 6.19-rc4 kernel prepatch is out for testing.

So this rc is still a bit smaller than usual, but it's not _much_ smaller, and I think next week is likely going to be more or less back to normal.

Which is all exactly as expected, and nothing here looks particularly odd. I'll make an rc8 this release just because of the time lost to the holidays, not because it looks like we'd have any particular issues pending (knock wood).

Greg Kroah-Hartman has written an overview of how the kernel's security team works.

The members of the security team contain a handful of core kernel developers that have experience dealing with security bugs, and represent different major subsystems of the kernel. They do this work as individuals, and specifically can NOT tell their employer, or anyone else, anything that is discussed on the security alias before it is resolved. This arrangement has allowed the kernel security team to remain independent and continue to operate across the different governments that the members operate in, and it looks to become the normal way project security teams work with the advent of the European Union's new CRA law coming into effect.

Nate Graham looks back at how 2025 went for the KDE project.

Today Plasma is the default desktop environment in a bunch of the hottest new gaming-focused distros, including Bazzite, CachyOS, Garuda, Nobara, and of course SteamOS on Valve's gaming devices. Fedora's Plasma edition was also promoted to co-equal status with the GNOME edition, and Asahi Linux — the single practical option for Linux on newer Macs — only supports KDE Plasma. Parrot Linux recently switched to Plasma by default, too. And Plasma remains the default on old standbys like EndeavourOS, Manjaro, NixOS, OpenMandriva, Slackware and TuxedoOS — which ships on all devices sold by Tuxedo Computers!

Linus has released 6.19-rc3 for testing. "Another week, another -rc release. Except the past week has obviously been the holiday week, and this rc release is pretty small as a result. Very much as expected."

The judge in the Vizio GPL-compliance lawsuit has ruled, in a summary judgment, that the GNU General Public License, version 2, does not require the provision of signing keys needed to install modified software on a device.

Read as a whole, the Agreements require Vizio to make the source code available in such a manner that the source code can be readily obtained and modified by Plaintiff or other third parties. While source code is defined to include "the scripts used to control compilation and installation," this does not mean that Vizio must allow users to reinstall the software, modified or otherwise, back onto its smart TVs in a manner that preserves all features of the original program and/or ensures the smart TVs continue to function properly. Rather, in the context of the Agreements, the disputed language means that Vizio must provide the source code in a manner that allows the source code to be obtained and revised by Plaintiff or others for use in other applications.

As the Software Freedom Conservancy, the plaintiff in the case, has pointed out, the judge has ruled against a claim that was never actually made.

SFC has never held the position, nor do we today hold the position, that any version of the GPL (even including GPLv3!) require "that the device continues to function properly" after a user installs their modified version of the copyleft components.

Linus Torvalds, meanwhile, has posted his own take on the ruling that has, as one might imagine, sparked an extended discussion as well.

Another year has reached its conclusion. That can only mean one thing: the time has come to take a look back at the predictions we made in January and evaluate just how badly they turned out. Much to our surprise, not all of our predictions were entirely accurate. It has been a wild year in the Linux community and beyond, to say the least.

Arnd Bergmann began his 2025 Linux Plumbers Conference session on the future of 32-bit support in the Linux kernel by saying that it was to be a followup to his September talk on the same topic. The focus this time, though, was on the kernel's "high memory" abstraction, and when it could be removed. It seems that the kernel community will need to support 32-bit systems for some time yet, even if it might be possible to remove some functionality, including support for large amounts of memory on those systems, more quickly.

Version 17.1 of the GDB debugger is out. Changes include shadow-stack support, info threads improvements, a number of Python API improvements, and more, including: "Warnings and error messages now start with an emoji (warning sign, or cross mark) if supported by the host charset. Configurable." See the NEWS file for more information.

Version 4.3.0 of the security-oriented Qubes OS distribution has been released. Changes include more recent distribution templates, preloaded disposable virtual machines, and the reintroduction of the Qubes Windows Tools set. See the release notes for more information.

Ian Jackson (along with Sean Whitton) has posted a manifesto and status update to the effect that, since Git repositories have become the preferred method to distribute source, that is how Debian should be distributing its source packages.

Everyone who interacts with Debian source code should be able to do so entirely in git.

That means, more specifically:

1. All examination and edits to the source should be performed via normal git operations.
2. Source code should be transferred and exchanged as git data, not tarballs. git should be the canonical form everywhere.
3. Upstream git histories should be re-published, traceably, as part of formal git releases published by Debian.
4. No-one should have to learn about Debian Source Packages, which are bizarre, and have been obsoleted by modern version control.

This is very ambitious, but we have come a long way!

The 6.19-rc2 kernel prepatch is out for testing. "I obviously expect next week to be even quieter, with people being distracted by the holidays. So let's all enjoy taking a little break, but maybe break the boredom with some early rc testing?"

The 2025 election for members of the Linux Foundation Technical Advisory Board has concluded; the winners are Greg Kroah-Hartman, Steven Rostedt, Julia Lawall, David Hildenbrand, and Ted Ts'o.

Stephen Rothwell, who has maintained the kernel's linux-next integration tree from its inception, has announced his retirement from that role:

I will be stepping down as Linux-Next maintainer on Jan 16, 2026. Mark Brown has generously volunteered to take up the challenge. He has helped in the past filling in when I have been unavailable, so hopefully knows what he is getting in to. I hope you will all treat him with the same (or better) level of respect that I have received.

It has been a long but mostly interesting task and I hope it has been helpful to others. It seems a long time since I read Andrew Morton's "I have a dream" email and decided that I could help out there - little did I know what I was heading for.

Over the last two decades or so, the kernel's development process has evolved from an unorganized mess with irregular releases to a smooth machine with a new release every nine or ten weeks. That would not have happened without linux-next; thanks are due to Stephen for helping to make the current process possible.

Linus Torvalds is famously averse to presenting prepared talks, but the wider community is always interested in what he has to say about the condition of the Linux kernel. So, for some time now, his appearances have been in the form of an informal conversation with Dirk Hohndel. At the 2025 Open Source Summit Japan, the pair followed that tradition for the 29th time. Topics covered include the state of the development process, what Torvalds actually does, and how machine-learning tools might fit into the kernel project.

Inside this week's LWN.net Weekly Edition:

• Front: Civil Infrastructure Platform; COSMIC desktop; Calibre adds AI; Maintainer's Summit; ML tools for kernel development; linux-next; Rust in the kernel; kernel development tools; Linux process improvements; 6.19 merge window part 2.
• Briefs: capsudo; Asahi Linux 6.18; Pop!_OS 24.04; Vojtux; KDE Gear 25.12; Rust 1.92.0; Quotes; ...
• Announcements: Newsletters, conferences, security updates, patches, and more.

The Civil Infrastructure Platform (CIP) first launched in that form in April 2016, so it has a tenth-anniversary celebration in its near future. At the 2025 Open Source Summit Japan, Yoshitake Kobayashi talked about the goals of this project and where it is headed in the future. Supporting a Linux system for even one year is a challenging task; maintaining that support for a decade or more is rather more so, and a changing regulatory environment complicates the task further.