There are fresh new releases of two of the more controversial and divisive projects in the Linux world for everyone to argue about… and then adopt anyway.

The one that’s right here with us now is systemd version 258. Back in July, when the first release candidate appeared, we published a deep dive into the new version and its many changes.

The reason that we took a longer look at this version in its release candidate stage was that it’s a big release with a lot of changes. That’s presumably also why it arrived late. So, it looks like it was too late for this spooky season’s big betas. It’s not mentioned in the release notes for Ubuntu 25.10, and there’s no mention of systemd in the Fedora 43 Change Set either.

Its delayed arrival may have knock-on effects, but it’s too soon to tell. It’s possible that systemd version 258 will still be current by March or April next year, in which case it will be the init system in Fedora 44, and also in Ubuntu 26.04… which is an LTS release, and so will also be the basis of Linux Mint, Linux Lite, and other downstream distros. Or, perhaps, after this big release, Agent P and his collaborators may scale back their ambitions for a while, hasten the version 259 release cycle, and so the next version will be out in time for inclusion in the April 2026 distro releases. If that’s the case, then the only penitents who receive Herr Poettering’s 258th benediction will be the users of rolling-release distros such as Arch and openSUSE Tumbleweed.

Benvenuti a Brescia

The other new release that’s just fallen from the tree is GNOME 49, codenamed “Brescia” after the venue for this year’s GUADEC conference.

We mentioned some of the changes in Brescia when we reported on Ubuntu 25.10’s feature freeze. To recap, several established GNOME accessories are being retired. They’re being replaced with newer apps, designed around the new Gtk4 “building blocks” we discussed looking at the latest Linux Mint. Typically, being designed around Gtk4 means simpler, more phone-like user interfaces. Say goodbye to the Totem video player, Evince document viewer, and Devhelp manual browser. In their places, welcome Showtime, Papers, and Manuals. There’s a new terminal emulator called Ptyxis, which replaces GNOME Console – itself quite new, debuting with GNOME 42.

GNOME Calendar has been extensively reworked to improve its keyboard controls and hence its accessibility, which is one of the best reasons we can think of to violate Joel Spolsky’s advice from way back in 2000. There are also improvements to GNOME Maps, the GNOME Software app store, the GNOME Remote Desktop client, and GNOME Web – AKA the Epiphany web browser, one of the few Webkit-based browsers on Linux.

There are further enhancements to GNOME’s handling of high dynamic range (HDR) displays, including colorful new wallpapers to show off the broader range of colors. These use 16 bits per channel. Those old enough to own reading glasses will remember when 24-bit color (eight bits each for red, green, and blue) was said to exceed human visual abilities. Well, now GNOME has 48-bit wallpapers.

Two new apps join the GNOME Circle collection of official accessories: an implementation of Mahjongg solitaire and a dictionary app called Wordbook. Several new controls have been added to GNOME’s lock screen, such as for media playback, and shutdown and restart options. The “Do not disturb” control has been moved to the Quick Settings panel.

The October releases of both Canonical’s and Red Hat’s distros are now in beta test, and both Ubuntu 25.10 and Fedora 43 will feature the new GNOME – although, as the BBC might put it, other desktop environments are also available. ®