Python's random and secrets modules both include utilities for obtaining random values, but only one of them is suitable for generating passwords and security tokens. For much of Python's history, random was used for passwords and tokens anyway, despite documentation that called it unsuitable for cryptography. In 2015, Python's core team debated whether to fix that misuse by making random secure by default. Instead, in 2016, Python 3.6 added a second module: secrets. The random module is still misused at times, so it is instructive to look into how the random-number modules should be used.

Version 10.6 of OpenSSH has been released. The announcement notes that the OpenSSH team has been receiving a large number of AI-assisted security bug reports. "We very much welcome these reports, especially when combined with human triage, analysis, test-cases and particularly when accompanied by proposed fixes". As a result, the project expects to be making more frequent releases to get updates to users more quickly rather than batching the bug fixes until the next planned release.

Notable changes in this release include enabling the hybrid post-quantum ssh-mldsa44-ed25519 signature algorithm, addition of a -p option for sftp's lmkdir/mkdir commands, as well as disabling the LZ77 dictionary coder in ssh and sshd to mitigate side-channel leaks (which will result in reduced effectiveness of the Compression option). The scp -R option, which allows copies between two remote hosts, is being deprecated due to security risks; the option will be ignored in the future. See the announcement for full details of all changes and bug fixes.

Security updates have been issued by AlmaLinux (gd, gimp, kernel, kernel-rt, libpcap, librabbitmq, mariadb-connector-c, osbuild-composer, ruby:2.5, and sudo), Debian (libmodule-cpants-analyse-perl, libpng1.6, libreoffice, roundcube, ruby-oauth2, and sabnzbdplus), Fedora (0install, alt-ergo, apron, brltty, chromium, coccinelle, cri-o1.36, emacs-common-tuareg, flocq, frama-c, freetennis, gappalib-coq, guestfs-tools, haxe, hevea, hivex, kernel, lem, libguestfs, libnbd, nbdkit, not-ocamlfind, ocaml, ocaml-afl-persistent, ocaml-alcotest, ocaml-astring, ocaml-atd, ocaml-augeas, ocaml-b0, ocaml-base, ocaml-base64, ocaml-benchmark, ocaml-bin-prot, ocaml-biniou, ocaml-bisect-ppx, ocaml-bos, ocaml-cairo, ocaml-calendar, ocaml-camlbz2, ocaml-camlidl, ocaml-camlimages, ocaml-camlp-streams, ocaml-camlp5, ocaml-camlp5-buildscripts, ocaml-camlpdf, ocaml-camomile, ocaml-capitalization, ocaml-cinaps, ocaml-cmdliner, ocaml-compiler-libs-janestreet, ocaml-cpdf, ocaml-cppo, ocaml-crowbar, ocaml-cryptokit, ocaml-csexp, ocaml-csv, ocaml-ctypes, ocaml-cudf, ocaml-curl, ocaml-curses, ocaml-dbus, ocaml-domain-name, ocaml-dose3, ocaml-dune, ocaml-easy-format, ocaml-expat, ocaml-extlib, ocaml-facile, ocaml-fieldslib, ocaml-fileutils, ocaml-findlib, ocaml-fmt, ocaml-fpath, ocaml-gen, ocaml-gettext, ocaml-graphics, ocaml-gsl, ocaml-integers, ocaml-intrinsics-kernel, ocaml-jane-street-headers, ocaml-jsonm, ocaml-jst-config, ocaml-lablgl, ocaml-lablgtk, ocaml-lablgtk3, ocaml-labltk, ocaml-lacaml, ocaml-lambda-term, ocaml-libvirt, ocaml-linenoise, ocaml-logs, ocaml-luv, ocaml-lwt, ocaml-mccs, ocaml-mdx, ocaml-menhir, ocaml-merlin, ocaml-mew, ocaml-mew-vi, ocaml-mlgmpidl, ocaml-mlmpfr, ocaml-monolith, ocaml-mtime, ocaml-mysql, ocaml-num, ocaml-obuild, ocaml-ocamlbuild, ocaml-ocamlgraph, ocaml-ocamlnet, ocaml-ocp-indent, ocaml-ocplib-endian, ocaml-ocplib-simplex, ocaml-omake, ocaml-omd, ocaml-opam-0install-cudf, ocaml-opam-file-format, ocaml-ounit, ocaml-parmap, ocaml-parsexp, ocaml-patch, ocaml-pcre2, ocaml-perl4caml, ocaml-postgresql, ocaml-pp, ocaml-pprint, ocaml-ppx-assert, ocaml-ppx-base, ocaml-ppx-bench, ocaml-ppx-bin-prot, ocaml-ppx-cold, ocaml-ppx-compare, ocaml-ppx-custom-printf, ocaml-ppx-derivers, ocaml-ppx-deriving, ocaml-ppx-deriving-yaml, ocaml-ppx-deriving-yojson, ocaml-ppx-enumerate, ocaml-ppx-expect, ocaml-ppx-fields-conv, ocaml-ppx-globalize, ocaml-ppx-hash, ocaml-ppx-here, ocaml-ppx-inline-test, ocaml-ppx-let, ocaml-ppx-optcomp, ocaml-ppx-sexp-conv, ocaml-ppx-stable-witness, ocaml-ppx-variants-conv, ocaml-ppxlib, ocaml-ppxlib-jane, ocaml-psmt2-frontend, ocaml-ptmap, ocaml-pyml, ocaml-qcheck, ocaml-qtest, ocaml-re, ocaml-react, ocaml-res, ocaml-result, ocaml-rresult, ocaml-SDL, ocaml-sedlex, ocaml-sexplib, ocaml-sexplib0, ocaml-sha, ocaml-spdx-licenses, ocaml-sqlite, ocaml-ssl, ocaml-stdcompat, ocaml-stdio, ocaml-stdlib-random, ocaml-store, ocaml-swhid-core, ocaml-testo, ocaml-time-now, ocaml-topkg, ocaml-trie, ocaml-unionfind, ocaml-uucd, ocaml-uucp, ocaml-uunf, ocaml-uuseg, ocaml-uutf, ocaml-variantslib, ocaml-version, ocaml-xml-light, ocaml-xmlm, ocaml-xmlrpc-light, ocaml-yaml, ocaml-yamlx, ocaml-yojson, ocaml-zarith, ocaml-zed, ocaml-zip, ocaml-zmq, ocamlify, ocamlmod, opam, perl-DBI, planets, plplot, prooftree, python3.12, rocq, rocq-stdlib, supermin, unison, utop, virt-top, virt-v2v, why3, xen, z3, and zenon), Oracle (bind, expat, gawk, gdb, ghostscript, gimp, gvfs, kernel, libpcap, libvirt, mod_auth_openidc, openssh, rsync, thunderbird, and webkit2gtk3), Red Hat (vim), Slackware (cups), SUSE (apache-sshd, binutils, cups, docker-stable, java-11-openjdk, libraw-devel, libX11, pcre2, perl-DBI, python-msgpack, python312, python313-tokenizers, rpcbind, rpm, rubygem-rails-html-sanitizer, squid, sssd, terraform-provider-susepubliccloud, valkey, and wpa_supplicant), and Ubuntu (aodh, watcher, edk2, libreoffice, libxmltok, linux, linux-aws, linux-aws-5.15, linux-aws-fips, linux-azure, linux-azure-5.15, linux-azure-fde-5.15, linux-azure-fips, linux-fips, linux-gke, linux-gkeop, linux-hwe-5.15, linux-ibm, linux-ibm-5.15, linux-intel-iot-realtime, linux-intel-iotg, linux-intel-iotg-5.15, linux-kvm, linux-lowlatency, linux-lowlatency-hwe-5.15, linux-oracle, linux-realtime, linux-xilinx-zynqmp, linux-azure-5.4, linux-azure-fde, linux-gcp, linux-gcp-fips, linux-gcp-5.15, linux-oracle-5.15, linux-raspi, rabbitmq-server, and unbound).

Patch review has long been one of the limiting constraints for the kernel project (and most others); there just aren't enough people to properly review all of the code that is submitted for inclusion. The Sashiko system, which uses a large language model (LLM) to generate reviews automatically, offers the prospect of some relief, and has already become an important part of the kernel's development process. At the 2026 edition of Kernel Recipes, Roman Gushchin, the maintainer of Sashiko, provided an overview of how the system works and what is being done to improve it.

Version 3.0 of the MusicBrainz Picard tag editor has been released. "This release brings many changes, including an upgrade to Qt6, a completely new plugin system, several improvements to the user interface, cover art processing, [International Standard Recording Code (ISRC)] submission and many more."

LWN covered Picard in April.

Security updates have been issued by AlmaLinux (ghostscript, libvirt, and osbuild-composer), Debian (freecad, linux-6.12, node-lodash, pcre2, perl, php8.2, ruby-rack-session, wireshark, and xen), Fedora (assimp, budgie-control-center, budgie-desktop, budgie-desktop-services, budgie-desktop-view, chromium, cri-o1.36, curl, flatpak, lemonldap-ng, libX11, nagios-plugins, nanosvg, noctalia, openssl, pgbouncer, pocillo-gtk-theme, prometheus, python-streamlink, python-urllib3, python-uv-build, python3.12, ruff, rust-libcst, rust-libcst_derive, rust-salsa, rust-salsa-macro-rules, rust-salsa-macros, ty, and uv), Red Hat (rhc-worker-script), SUSE (amazon-ecs-init, binaryen-133, bind, chromium, distribution, firefox, firefox-esr, glib2, gnumeric, helm, jline3, kubevirt-1.6, libparted-fs-resize0, libslirp-devel, libtcnative-1-0, libtcnative-2-0, tomcat, tomcat10, tomcat11, libwireshark19, openai-codex, python313-litellm, rpcbind, rustup, sccache, suseconnect-ng, valkey, wget, and xdg-dbus-proxy), and Ubuntu (ceph).

The 7.3-rc6 kernel prepatch is out for testing. Linus said:

Next week might look a bit different: we've got the annual maintainer summit and the Linux plumbers conference going on , so I'll be on the road, as will a number of other maintainers. That may or may not end up changing the stats for -rc7. But it's unlikely to affect the release schedule, although the fact that I have my yearly family vacation the week after that might make the next merge window a bit wonky.

Version 0.17 of the Zig programming language has been released.

This release features 5 months of work: changes from 206 different contributors, spread among 925 commits.

Originally predicted to be shorter, this release cycle ended up [being] substantial, with the Build System reworked, including the introduction of the Build Server Protocol, and the ELF Linker enhanced to the point where we expect Incremental Compilation to work for everyone on x86_64-linux.

LWN last covered Zig in December 2025.

Greg Kroah-Hartman has announced the release of the 7.2.9, 6.18.55, 6.12.112, 6.6.158, 6.1.189, 5.15.222, and 5.10.271 stable kernels. Each contains a large number of important fixes throughout the tree; users are advised to upgrade.

The Linux Test Project has announced its latest stable release for September 2026. There have been 382 patches from 41 authors since the May 2026 release. See the announcement for a list of new tests, changes, and more.

Security updates have been issued by AlmaLinux (dogtag-pki, expat, freerdp, gawk, gdb, ghostscript, gvfs, kernel, kernel-rt, libpcap, openssh, pki-core, rsync, thunderbird, and webkit2gtk3), Debian (chromium, firefox-esr, libio-compress-perl, libpng1.6, nodejs, open-iscsi, redis, thunderbird, and webkit2gtk), Fedora (sos), Mageia (libgcrypt, python-tornado, python-urwid, python-wcwidth, and wireshark), Oracle (corosync, dogtag-pki, expat, firefox, freerdp, gawk, glib2, ipa, kernel, libXfont2, nodejs:24, openssh, osbuild-composer, perl-DBI, pki-core, postgresql:12, python-cryptography, resteasy, ruby, ruby4.0, ruby:3.3, ruby:4.0, thunderbird, and xmlrpc-c), Red Hat (skopeo), SUSE (chromium, emacs, glib2, glibc, gnome-shell, helm3, ImageMagick, imagemagick, kernel-devel, libtcnative-1-0, libtcnative-1-0, libtcnative-2-0, tomcat, tomcat10,, libtcnative-2-0, libX11, libX11-6, libXi-devel, libXpm-devel, libXtst-devel, mistral-vibe, openssl-3, perl-DBI, perl-Protocol-HTTP2, php-composer2, php8, python, rpcbind, sccache, and valkey), and Ubuntu (kf6-kcoreaddons, libxpm, linux, linux-aws, linux-fips, linux-kvm, linux-lts-xenial, linux-fips, linux-gke, linux-raspi-5.4, and openssl).

By now it is no secret that large language models (LLMs) have made it easy for people to identify security bugs, and that has resulted in a flood of bug reports to almost every free-software project, including the kernel. At the 2026 edition of Kernel Recipes, Greg Kroah-Hartman took the stage to talk about how the kernel's security team is handling this deluge. His core message was "don't panic".

Version 1.99.0 of the Rust language has been released. Changes this time include support for extern "C" variadic functions, the establishment of functions for obtaining the size and alignment of raw pointers, a number of stabilized APIs, and more.

Security updates have been issued by AlmaLinux (corosync, gawk, gdb, nodejs24, and thunderbird), Debian (expat, firefox-esr, libsmpp34, mkvtoolnix, network-manager-l2tp, pgextwlist, python-django, ruby-oj, and tor), Fedora (apptainer, ckermit, ffmpeg, freerdp, librabbitmq, openbao, php, python-cssselect2, python-uv-build, ruff, rust-libcst, rust-libcst_derive, rust-salsa, rust-salsa-macro-rules, rust-salsa-macros, sos, ty, uv, weasyprint, and xdg-dbus-proxy), Mageia (python-pillow), Red Hat (acl, glib2, go-toolset:rhel8, golang, libxml2, mingw-sqlite, nodejs-nodemon, nodejs22, nodejs24, nodejs:22, nodejs:24, sqlite, tesseract, and vim), Slackware (libpng and mozilla-thunderbird), SUSE (alloy, chromedriver, emacs, gdb, gimp, gpsd, jawn, libpoppler-cpp3, libtesseract5, multipath-tools, netty, ntfs-3g_ntfsprogs, pcapplusplus-devel, pi-coding-agent, python-PyYAML, python-tornado, python-tornado6, python311, python313, and wicked2nm), and Ubuntu (designate, gst-plugins-bad1.0, gvfs, imagemagick, kdenlive, mlt, keystone, libauthen-sasl-perl, linux-aws, linux-aws-6.8, linux-nvidia-tegra, linux-nvidia-tegra-igx, linux-oracle-7.0, opensbi, openvpn, and python-django).

Inside this week's LWN.net Weekly Edition:

• Front: PostgreSQL and the kernel; Rust on the GPU; KDE Plasma; C and memory safety; Rust radio; KDE funding; Chromium development.
• Briefs: File-notification attacks; Kernel report; TAB election; F-Droid 2.0; Firefox 157.0; GDB 18.1; Git v2.56.0; Quotes; ...
• Announcements: Newsletters, conferences, security updates, patches, and more.

The full set of videos from the recently concluded Kernel Recipes conference has been posted. Also noteworthy are the associated caricature drawings, by Frank Tizzoni, of attendees and the speakers.