Category: Uncategorized

FreeBSD 15.2 Beta 2

November 15th, 2026

“FreeBSD 15.2 brings a fix for bsdinstall for installing from a remote pkgbase repository, updated OpenSSH, using ML-DSA-44/Ed25519 SSH host keys by default, VirtIO improvements, and other fixes:

– bsdinstall can now install from a remote pkgbase repository; in BETA1 this failed due to the installer’s small /tmp.

– OpenSSH has been updated to 10.6p2.

– ML-DSA-44/Ed25519 SSH host keys are now generated by default.

– virtio_random(4) now works with modern virtio PCI devices, such as QEMU’s q35 machine type.

– Kernel bug fixes relating to TCP RACK, inotify, and Linux getdents(2) emulation.”

https://www.phoronix.com/news/FreeBSD-15.2-Beta-2

https://lists.freebsd.org/archives/freebsd-stable/2026-November/004379.html
Anki 26.11b1

November 12th, 2026
What’s Changed

Notable Changes
- Fix the “User interface size” preference not taking effect since 26.09.3 by @4RH1T3CT0R7 in #5686
- Fix software rendering not fully taking effect on Windows/macOS since 26.09.3 by @LouisVct in #5701
- Fix Windows Smart App Control blocking Anki on some systems by @abdnh in #5854
- Fix existing media filename with different case not used when adding duplicate files by @iamllama in #5683
- Fix image occlusion toolbar not being scrollable by @andrewwbuilds in #5803
- Fix broken audio playback on macOS 13/14 by @abdnh in #5776 and #5908
- Rename the “Get Shared” button to “Get Decks” by @Luc-Mcgrady in #5747
- Significantly improve performance of browser selections by @Expertium @user1823 @Luc-Mcgrady @abdnh (#5755, #5756, #5768, #5771)
- Add the {{type:ci:}} template filter for case-insensitive answer checking by @criticalAY in #5264
- Add a new search syntax for numerical fields and ranges by @JSchoreels in #4768
- Enable Bahasa Indonesia language support by @ardanngrha in #5824
https://github.com/ankitects/anki/releases/tag/26.11b1

FreeBSD pkgbase-update(8) Tool by vermaden

November 10th, 2026

Overview

New tool: Vermaden introduces pkgbase-update(8), a BSD-licensed utility designed to simplify FreeBSD base-system upgrades using PKGBASE.
Motivation: FreeBSD 15.x is the final major version supporting the traditional freebsd-update(8) mechanism.
FreeBSD 16.0: PKGBASE is intended to become the exclusive method for installing and updating the FreeBSD base system.
Main objective: Provide a familiar, straightforward interface resembling freebsd-update, avoiding complicated manual package-management procedures. 𝚟𝚎𝚛𝚖𝚊𝚍𝚎𝚗

Why the Tool Was Created

The official FreeBSD 15.2-BETA1 upgrade instructions require multiple manual operations:

Updating the pkg package manager.
Creating temporary repository configurations.
Upgrading FreeBSD base-system packages and kernel modules.
Updating the EFI bootloader manually.
Checking .pkgnew configuration files.
Cleaning temporary files and rebooting.

Vermaden considered this process unnecessarily complicated and developed pkgbase-update in approximately 2–3 hours.

Available Commands

Command	Purpose
`pkgbase-update upgrade -r VERSION`	Upgrade to a specified FreeBSD release
`pkgbase-update install`	Install the selected upgrade
`pkgbase-update loader`	Handle bootloader updates
`pkgbase-update pkgnew`	Check newly installed configuration files
`pkgbase-update modules`	Handle kernel-module-related checks

The tool provides a simplified interface around the existing PKGBASE infrastructure.

Demonstrated Upgrade

Vermaden demonstrates upgrading FreeBSD 15.1-RELEASE → 15.2-BETA1 using:

pkgbase-update upgrade -r 15.2-BETA1

Key observations:

The package manager upgrades from pkg 2.6.2_1 to 2.8.4.
The upgrade processes 213 FreeBSD base-system packages.
The tool handles the base-system upgrade and checks the kernel-module repository.
It checks for .pkgnew configuration files requiring manual review.
An interactive confirmation remains for package upgrades rather than automatically accepting every action.

After rebooting, freebsd-version -kur reports:

			
2-BETA1
2-BETA1
2-BETA1

This confirms that the installed userland and running kernel match the intended release. 𝚟𝚎𝚛𝚖𝚊𝚍𝚎𝚗

Availability and Limitations

Open source: Available on GitHub — vermaden/pkgbase-update.
License: BSD.
Development stage: First public release.
Automation: Most upgrade operations are simplified, but some user confirmation and configuration review remain necessary.
Validation: The article demonstrates one successful upgrade scenario, not comprehensive testing across different hardware and configurations.

https://github.com/vermaden/pkgbase-update

New FreeBSD pkgbase-update(8) Tool

Claude Fable 5.2

November 9th, 2026

Introducing Claude Fable 5.2 and Claude Mythos 5.2, designed to tackle the most daunting technical challenges.

They’re capable collaborators on ambitious projects in many fields, and show improvements in areas like coding, reasoning, and vision. pic.twitter.com/jP0AutLxXb
— Claude (@claudeai) November 9, 2026
FreeBSD 15.2 Beta 1 Released

November 7th, 2026
FreeBSD 15.2 Beta 1 introduces experimental cross-platform build support, security fixes, updated system components, and hardware improvements. The stable release is scheduled for December 8, 2026.

1. Experimental Cross-Platform Builds
- FreeBSD base system packages can now be cross-built on Linux and macOS.
- Requires manual configuration of the pkg utility on the build host.
- Functionality remains experimental.
2. Security Improvements
- Dozens of security fixes addressing:
  - Use-after-free vulnerabilities.
  - Heap buffer overflows.
  - Missing input validation.
  - Potential remote code execution.
- The article highlights the growing number of security issues being identified in the AI/LLM era.
3. Updated System Components

Component Version / Change
OpenZFS 2.4.4
LLVM 21.1.8
OpenSSH 10.4p1
XZ Utils 5.8.4
Default linker LLVM ld.lld

– Clang now uses LLVM’s ld.lld linker by default unless explicitly overridden.

4. Laptop and Hardware Improvements
- New backlight_enable option in rc.conf saves and restores display brightness across reboots.
- Additional hardware driver fixes and new hardware identifiers improve device compatibility.
5. Cloud and Desktop Improvements
- FreeBSD EC2 desktop AMIs on Amazon AWS now boot into a KDE desktop environment.
- XRDP is enabled for remote desktop access.
6. Release Schedule
- November 6, 2026: Beta 1 released.
- November–December: Weekly beta releases followed by at least one release candidate.
- December 8, 2026: Planned stable release.
For additional technical details, consult the official FreeBSD release documentation.
FreeBSD introduced LLM src code review

November 5th, 2026
FreeBSD srcmgr@ has launched llm-postcr, an opt-in service that runs each src commit through an LLM (currently Claude) and reports bugs after the commit.

Opting in: run touch ${HOME}/.llm-postcr-opt-in on freefall. If your home directory isn’t readable by others, email srcmgr privately. Reports go to the committer if they’ve opted in, otherwise to srcmgr.

What it reports: only concrete, observable problems, not style(9) issues. It also flags pre-existing bugs in the code a commit touches, and fixing those is generally up to the committer. The exception is a commit that fixes some instances of a problem but misses others, where the missed ones should be addressed.

Results so far: after a couple of weeks of running with manual validation, it found about 100 new and 50 pre-existing bugs in the last 500 commits, with widely varying severity.

Limits: it doesn’t replace code review or testing.

Plans:
- An opt-in pre-commit review service is in the works.
- Reports are logged in a database and may become public later, for example in Bugzilla.
Feedback goes to srcmgr.
FreeBSD – ports-mgmt/pkg: update to 2.9.0

November 4th, 2026
Major changes
- Security hardening everywhere
- libpkg: add the pkg_repo_meta_extra() API
- full support for musl
- keys: fall back on the host keys when using a root directory
- pkg set -v: store the vital flag as a user override combined with the
  package’s own flag
- clean: keep the exact archives of the installed packages
- db: add out-of-schema pkg_local and pkg_attr to improve changes
  without schema incompatibilities
- upgrade/install: report why each installed package that the plan
  removes
- upgrade/install: require an explicit confirmation before removing
  explicitly installed packages
- upgrade/install: require an explicit confirmation before removing
  explicitly installed packages
- upgrade/install: add -N/–no-remove and NEVER_REMOVE to refuse
  removing unrequested packages
- solver: hold an upgrade back instead of removing an explicitly
  installed package, and report the packages that are held back
- libpkg: recognize loongarch64 ELF objects and the loongarch:64 ABI
- scheduler: order the packages providing a shared library or a named
  provide before the packages requiring them
- signing: add an ML-DSA-87 signer, keys are created with pkg key
  –create -t mldsa and repositories are signed with –sign-type mldsa,
  with SHA512 as the digest
Minor changes:
- config: make PKG_CONFIG_FILE a configuration variable
- libpkg: escape spaces in metalog filenames
- fetch: detect up-to-date responses that do not carry a 304 Not
  Modified
- repo: keep the previously fetched catalogue when an update fails
- checksum: add the z-base-32 and hex encodings for sha256, blake2 and
  blake2s
- support for openssl 4
- signing command can override the checksum algorithm
- rwhich performance improvements
- fix: a plist variable name matching
- db: the read-only commands can read a database created by an older
  pkg(8) (skipping upgrades)
- solver: do not install a package offered by several repositories when
  nothing needs it.
- libfetch: sync with FreeBSD-current
- update vendored softwares to latest versions
- pkg add: remove the temporary files and directories left by a failed
  extraction
- triggers: honour RUN_SCRIPTS
https://cgit.freebsd.org/ports/commit/?id=f16b6dd0f7c1c3a2e0447e192e39e72f21d85eb0
The History of Arch Linux

November 2nd, 2026

A very cool video depicting the history, foundation and leadership of Arch Linux, one of the most famous Linux distributions.

Component	Version / Change
OpenZFS	2.4.4
LLVM	21.1.8
OpenSSH	10.4p1
XZ Utils	5.8.4
Default linker	LLVM `ld.lld`

AI-Generated ZFS Configuration!

October 29th, 2026

1. Main Argument

AI-generated ZFS tuning recommendations can be inaccurate, outdated, or misleading.
Large language models may confuse ZFS versions, operating systems, default values, and parameter behavior.
Incorrect configuration changes can degrade performance or increase the risk of data loss.
Klara recommends retaining sensible defaults unless workload-specific evidence justifies changing them. Klara Systems

2. Examples of Incorrect AI Recommendations

ZFS parameter	Problem identified
`spa_slop_shift`	AI incorrectly explained the default and reserved-space calculation.
`zfs_arc_min_prescient_prefetch_ms`	AI suggested 10 ms instead of the actual 6000 ms default.
`zfs_dirty_data_max`	AI inadequately explained the risks of accumulating unwritten data in RAM.
`dnodesize`	AI incorrectly described the default and supported sizes.
Metaslab allocation tuning	AI confused defaults and claimed performance benefits without justification.
`redundant_metadata`	AI incorrectly described redundancy behavior and the default setting.

Klara Systems

3. Why AI-Based ZFS Tuning Is Risky

Version differences: Recommendations may apply to obsolete OpenZFS releases.
Platform differences: Linux and FreeBSD may expose different tunables or defaults.
Parameter interactions: Changing one setting can affect other aspects of ZFS behavior.
False confidence: Plausible technical explanations can conceal fundamental errors.
Data integrity: Certain changes can increase the amount of data vulnerable to an unexpected shutdown.

4. Recommended Approach

Start with OpenZFS defaults.
Consult current official documentation before changing tunables.
Understand the purpose and side effects of each parameter.
Benchmark changes against representative workloads.
Validate performance improvements rather than assuming they exist.
Seek experienced ZFS engineering assistance for critical production deployments.

5. Conclusion

Klara Systems argues that general-purpose AI models should not be trusted as authoritative sources for ZFS performance tuning.

Key takeaway: AI can assist with researching ZFS concepts, but configuration decisions should rely on current documentation, measured workload behavior, and technical validation.

For a TrueNAS deployment, this means avoiding arbitrary ARC, RAIDZ, metadata, or write-cache tuning based solely on AI recommendations.

Source: Why You Can’t Trust AI to Tune ZFS — Klara Systems

Your AI Configured Your ZFS. Are You Sure That’s Right?

KDE Plasma 6.8.2, Bugfix Release for October

October 29th, 2026

Today KDE releases a bugfix update to KDE Plasma 6, versioned 6.8.2.

Plasma 6.8 was released in October 2026 with many feature refinements and new modules to complete the desktop experience.

This release adds a week’s worth of new translations and fixes from KDE’s contributors. The bugfixes are typically small but important and include:

https://kde.org/announcements/changelogs/plasma/6/6.8.1-6.8.2/

https://kde.org/announcements/plasma/6/6.8.2
FreeBSD 15.2 Release Schedule

October 24th, 2026
General
- Release engineering details: Release Engineering section of the FreeBSD website
- Discussion of the pending release and known issues: freebsd-stable mailing list
Completed milestones
- 15 Jul 2026: Initial schedule announced to developers
- 10 Oct 2026: Schedule reminder sent (planned for 9 Oct)
- 23 Oct 2026: Code slush began on stable/15. Commits no longer need explicit approval, but new features should be avoided.
Upcoming milestones
- 6 Nov 2026: releng/15.2 branch created (further release engineering happens there); BETA1 builds begin
- 13 Nov 2026: BETA2 builds begin
- 20 Nov 2026: BETA3 builds begin
- 27 Nov 2026: RC1 builds begin
- 4 Dec 2026: 15.2-RELEASE builds begin
- 8 Dec 2026: 15.2-RELEASE announcement
End-of-life dates
- 15.1: 31 Mar 2027
- 15.2: 30 Sep 2027
- stable/15 branch: 31 Dec 2029
https://www.freebsd.org/releases/15.2R/schedule

jstatus — Service Monitoring for FreeBSD Bastille Jails

October 16th, 2026

jstatus is a lightweight shell utility that provides an at-a-glance overview of all Bastille jails and their enabled services on a FreeBSD host.

It automatically discovers jails and services without requiring configuration.

Key Features

Automatic discovery: Detects all Bastille jails and enabled services dynamically.
Zero dependencies: Written in POSIX sh; requires only FreeBSD base utilities and Bastille.
Service monitoring: Checks whether enabled daemon services are running.
Color-coded status: Quickly identifies healthy, partially failed, and stopped jails.
Script integration: Returns exit code 0 for healthy systems and 1 when failures are detected.
Flexible filtering: Monitor all jails or select specific ones.

Status Indicators

Status	Meaning
UP	Jail running; all monitored services healthy.
WARN	Jail running; one or more services failed.
DOWN	Jail stopped despite being configured to start.
STOPPED	Jail intentionally stopped (`boot="off"`).

Example output:

			
calendar             UP       4/4 services
db                   UP       3/3 services
llama                STOPPED  (boot=off)
mail                 WARN     8/9 services
                     KO: dovecot
minecraft-bedrock    UP       4/4 services
webmail              DOWN

		

Installation and Usage

Install:

install -m 755 jstatus /usr/local/sbin/jstatus

Run as root:

			
jstatus            # Check all jails
jstatus mail db    # Check specific jails

Use in automation:

jstatus && echo "all good"

How It Works

Retrieves the jail list using bastille list jail.
Checks jail state using jls.
Identifies enabled services using service -e inside each running jail.
Excludes services marked nojail and most one-shot startup scripts.
Executes each daemon’s status command and evaluates its exit code.
Reports failed services without parsing their output.

Configuration

All configuration is optional.

Variable	Default / Purpose
`JSTATUS_IGNORE`	`newsyslog`; services to exclude
`JSTATUS_BASTILLE_CONF`	`/usr/local/etc/bastille/bastille.conf`
`JSTATUS_JAILSDIR`	Read from Bastille configuration
`NO_COLOR`	Disables colored output

Known Limitations

Process checks only: Does not verify ports, network connectivity, or application responsiveness.
Service detection: May miss daemons without recognized rc-script variables.
Status reliability: Depends on the correctness of each service’s status command.
One-shot scripts: Some may require manual exclusion.
FreeBSD-specific: Does not support Linux-compatibility jails.
Bastille dependency: Relies on Bastille’s configuration layout.

Compatibility and License

Tested on FreeBSD 14.5 with Bastille.
Written entirely in POSIX shell.
Licensed under BSD 2-Clause.
Repository: Creep29257/jstatus on GitHub.

https://github.com/Creep29257/jstatus

KDE Plasma 6.8

October 15th, 2026

Released on KDE’s 30th anniversary, Plasma 6.8 introduces accessibility improvements, better performance, enhanced remote desktop functionality, and major changes to theming and Wayland support.

1. Accessibility & System Monitoring

Dwell Clicker: Automatically clicks when the mouse pointer stops moving, improving accessibility.
CPU Affinity: Assign processes to specific CPU cores directly from System Monitor.
VRAM Monitoring: GPU memory utilization is now displayed as a percentage.
Localization: Support for the Bikram Sambat calendar and Amharic on-screen keyboard.

2. Remote Desktop & Screen Recording

Improved Remote Desktop: Better performance, lower latency, and adaptive quality on slower networks.
Exclusive Mode: Locks the physical display while providing a virtual screen matching the remote client’s window size.
Clipboard Synchronization: Bidirectional clipboard sharing between client and server.
Spectacle: Screen recordings can capture system audio and microphone input simultaneously.
Virtual Displays: Custom resolutions for virtual screens used in screen sharing, replacing the previous 1920 × 1080 limitation.
Improved overall screen recording and screencasting quality.

3. Window Management

Steam Integration: New KWin window rules provide shadows, outlines, and rounded corners for Steam windows.
New Keyboard Shortcuts:
- Meta + Ctrl + Page Up/Down: Cycle through tasks.
- Meta + Ctrl + Shift + Page Up/Down: Move the active task backward or forward in task order.

4. Union Theming — Beta

Union progresses from alpha in Plasma 6.7 to beta in Plasma 6.8.
Now supports both:
- Qt Quick applications.
- Qt Widgets applications, including Dolphin, Kate, and Konsole.
Aims to provide consistent styling across KDE applications.
Not yet enabled by default.

5. Wayland Replaces X11 Sessions

Plasma 6.8 retires support for starting native X11 desktop sessions.
Wayland becomes the standard session technology.
Legacy X11 applications continue working through XWayland.
KDE applications will continue supporting X11 independently for the foreseeable future.

6. Performance, NVIDIA & HDR

Reduced memory consumption and faster Plasma startup.
Discover’s update notifier uses less memory.
NVIDIA: Triple buffering is now enabled by default in KWin.
HDR Improvements:
- Better HDR rendering when using ICC color profiles.
- Support for the HLG (Hybrid Log-Gamma) transfer function, improving compatibility with HDR content and applications.

7. Additional Improvements

kscreenctl: New command-line tool for display configuration and automation.
Kup: KDE’s backup utility is now distributed as part of Plasma.
VPN: EAP-TTLS authentication support for StrongSwan.
Autostart: Enable or disable startup applications without deleting entries.
Display Configuration: Pixel-by-pixel positioning using arrow keys.
Printing: Notifications when attempting to use unavailable printers.
Clipboard Security: Clearer explanations when copied passwords are excluded from clipboard history.
Emoji Selector: Adjustable emoji display sizes.

Key Takeaways

Area	Most important change
Desktop architecture	Native X11 sessions retired in favor of Wayland
Theming	Union beta supports Qt Quick and Qt Widgets
NVIDIA	Triple buffering enabled by default
Performance	Faster startup and reduced memory usage
HDR	Better ICC handling and HLG support
Remote Desktop	Lower latency, exclusive mode, clipboard sync
Monitoring	CPU affinity controls and VRAM percentage
Screen recording	Simultaneous system and microphone audio
Automation	New `kscreenctl` command-line utility

https://kde.org/announcements/plasma/6/6.8.0

AnkiDroid 2.25.2 available!

October 13th, 2026

The complete change log: https://github.com/ankidroid/Anki-Android/compare/v2.25.2…main

https://github.com/ankidroid/Anki-Android/releases/tag/v2.25.2
Immich v3.3.1

October 13th, 2026
This patch addresses various bugs around people sharing, as well as a scroll issue on mobile. Further, there is now an indicator showing which people are shared.

What’s Changed

🌟 Enhancements
- feat: shared person indicator by @danieldietzler in #32223
🐛 Bug fixes
- fix(mobile): keep memories full screen while swiping by @santoshakil in #32171
- fix(server): read ISO values above 65535 by @bo0tzz in #32182
- fix: include partner shared assets for people even without showInTimeline by @danieldietzler in #32219
- fix: clarify people sharing does not share assets by @jrasm91 in #32231
- fix(mobile): prevent rapid toggling and rerendering of cells by @agg23 in #32200
- fix: include unamed people in otherPeople by @jrasm91 in #32237
- fix: run workflow steps in their configured order by @infocus13 in #32240
- fix: show date on memories page by @alextran1502 in #32206
https://github.com/immich-app/immich/releases/tag/v3.3.1

Category: Uncategorized

What’s Changed

Notable Changes

Overview

Why the Tool Was Created

Available Commands

Demonstrated Upgrade

Availability and Limitations

1. Experimental Cross-Platform Builds

2. Security Improvements

3. Updated System Components

4. Laptop and Hardware Improvements

5. Cloud and Desktop Improvements

6. Release Schedule