Tech News Digest - 2025-04-18

📢 Simulcast on Crazy People's Fillings

Ubuntu 25.04 released

Category: Linux
Tags: General
Published: Thu, 17 Apr 2025 16:35:04 +0000
TL;DR: Here is a 2-sentence summary:

Ubuntu 25.04, code-named "Plucky Puffin", has been released with features including Linux 6.14, GNOME 48, and APT 3.0. This interim release also introduces an Arm64 desktop ISO for installing Ubuntu Desktop on Arm64 systems and includes support through January 2026.
Version 25.04 ("Plucky Puffin") of the Ubuntu Linux distribution has been released. This release includes Linux 6.14, GNOME 48, APT 3.0, and introduces a Arm64 desktop ISO to install Ubuntu Desktop on Arm64 systems. This is an interim release, with support through January 2026. See the release notes for a detailed list of new features and changes.

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## Tor Browser 14.5 released Category: Linux
Tags: General
Published: Thu, 17 Apr 2025 15:04:23 +0000
TL;DR: Here is a 2-sentence summary: The Tor Browser has released version 14.5, which includes the addition of Connection Assist on Android to help establish connections to the Tor network and language support for Belarusian, Bulgarian, and Portuguese. The Connection Assist feature was made possible after a multi-year effort to refactor tor integration across platforms, reaching an important milestone with its release on Android.

Version 14.5 of the Tor Browser has been released. Notable features in this release include the addition of Connection Assist for the Android version of the Tor Browser, and language support for Belarusian, Bulgarian, and Portuguese for all versions of the browser.

Should Tor Browser fail to establish a direct connection to the Tor network, Connection Assist will offer to find and try bridges for you. But before this feature could be made available on Android, we had to embark on a multi-year effort to refactor our tor integration across each platform first. This project has now reached an important milestone, and we're proud to announce the release of Connection Assist for Android today.

See the full changelog for all changes in this release, and the issues page for known problems.

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[$] Memory controller performance improvements

Category: Linux
Tags: Linux
Published: Thu, 17 Apr 2025 14:23:45 +0000
TL;DR: Here is a summary of the text in 2 sentences:

The kernel's memory controller enforces memory limits on groups of processes using the control-group mechanism, but it has historically had performance issues. To address this, experts like Shakeel Butt have been exploring ways to optimize the memory controller at Linux summits, such as the 2025 Linux Storage, Filesystem, Memory-Management, and BPF Summit.
The kernel's memory controller works within the control-group mechanism to enforce memory-usage limits on groups of processes. This component has often had performance problems, so there is continual interest in optimizing it. Shakeel Butt led a session during the memory-management track of the 2025 Linux Storage, Filesystem, Memory-Management, and BPF Summit to look at the current state of the memory controller and what can be done to reduce its overhead.
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Security updates for Thursday

Category: Linux
Tags: Linux
Published: Thu, 17 Apr 2025 14:19:57 +0000
TL;DR: Here is a 2-sentence summary:

Multiple software vendors have released security updates to address various vulnerabilities, including Debian (chromium and libapache2-mod-auth-openidc), Oracle (expat, freetype, glibc, grub2, gvisor-tap-vsock, and kernel), Red Hat (grub2 and webkit2gtk3), and SUSE (multiple packages). The updates aim to patch vulnerabilities in a range of software products, including web browsers, authentication libraries, and other components.
Security updates have been issued by Debian (chromium and libapache2-mod-auth-openidc), Oracle (expat, freetype, glibc, grub2, gvisor-tap-vsock, and kernel), Red Hat (grub2 and webkit2gtk3), and SUSE (apache2-mod_auth_openidc, cosign, gitoxide, govulncheck-vulndb, GraphicsMagick, haproxy, hauler, mozjs52, oci-cli, pam, perl-Data-Entropy, poppler, python-lxml-doc, python311-aiohttp, rekor, rubygem-rexml, and webkit2gtk3).
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[$] LWN.net Weekly Edition for April 17, 2025

Category: Linux
Tags: General
Published: Thu, 17 Apr 2025 01:00:42 +0000
TL;DR: Here is a summary of the article in 2 sentences:

The LWN.net Weekly Edition features articles on recent developments in Linux and open source software, including the release of APT 3.0, Fedora 42, and other news on Linux Security Features Modules (LSFMM) and Binary Format Parsing (BPF). The edition also includes briefs on various security vulnerabilities, announcements, newsletters, conferences, and patches.
Inside this week's LWN.net Weekly Edition:

• Front: APT 3.0; Fedora 42; Lots more LSFMM+BPF coverage.
• Briefs: CVE funding; Yelp vulnerability; Fedora 42; Manjaro 25.0; GCC 15; Pinta 3.0; Quotes; ...
• Announcements: Newsletters, conferences, security updates, patches, and more.

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