Arch Linux in September 2023 #

Staff #

We would like to welcome Fabian Bornschein (fabiscafe) as part of the Arch Linux Package Maintainer team.

Bug weekend #

During the 1st to 3rd of September, we conducted a bug weekend with the aim of resolving old bugs and implementing proposed solutions. This effort not only reduced the backlog but also contributed to streamlining the upcoming bug tracker migration, resulting in the resolution of approximately 200 bugs.

devtools #

We’ve released devtools v1.0.4, concentrating on bug fixes. Additionally, we implemented unique scope names for nspawn containers, enabling them to fit within a slice hierarchy for better resource management. Also, we now generate a .SRCINFO file in the Git repository, simplifying the retrieval of release and source metadata.

OCI images #

With the exception of the official DockerHub library image, all Arch Linux OCI images are now signed using the built-in sigstore feature in podman and can be verified through cosign.

RFC #

We proposed and accepted an RFC to extend our LDFLAGS in order to reduce the size of relocations. You can find more details about this RFC on GitLab. By making this change, we ensure to reduce the installed size of native packages.

systemd-boot #

Starting from version 254.2-1, the systemd package includes IA32 systemd-boot EFI binaries. This change allows users with IA32 UEFI systems to opt for the more straightforward systemd-boot instead of being restricted to the Grub bootloader.

TU bylaws #

In September, we discussed and implemented a change in the Trusted User Bylaws. This update migrates proposed amendments to be submitted as GitLab merge requests, streamlining our workflows and aligning with modern practices applied across our distribution.