The 312th installment of the 9to5Linux Weekly Roundup is here for the week ending October 4th, 2026, keeping you updated on the most important developments in the Linux world. If you missed last week’s 9to5Linux Weekly Roundup, catch up on everything GNU/Linux/Open Source here. Thank you!

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This week, we got lots of cool software and distro releases, including Firefox 157, OpenMandriva Lx 26.09, Thunderbird 157, Shotcut 26.9, Parrot OS 7.4, OpenShot 4.0.1, antiX Linux 26.1, Audacity 4.0.1, Emmabuntüs DE6 1.03, qBittorrent 5.2.4, Nitrux 7.0, LibreOffice 26.8.1, Darktable 5.6.2, Git 2.56, and Flatpak 1.18.4.

On top of that, I show you how to upgrade your Ubuntu 24.04 LTS installations to Ubuntu 26.04 LTS. Below, you can check out this week’s hottest news and access all the distro and package downloads released this past week in the 9to5Linux roundup for October 4th, 2026. Hot news of the week

Shotcut 26.9 Video Editor Improves the VA-API HEVC Hardware Encoder on Linux
OpenShot 4.0.1 Video Editor Released with Timeline and Zoom Improvements
Flatpak 1.18.4 Linux App Sandboxing Framework Fixes Security Issues
Mozilla Firefox 157 Is Now Available for Download with Brand-New Design
Git 2.56 Adds New Options for Cleaning Up Branches and Resolving Conflicts
qBittorrent 5.2.4 Open-Source BitTorrent Client Released with WebUI Improvements
Mozilla Firefox 158 Enters Public Beta Testing with Better PDF Handling on Linux
Emmabuntüs Debian Edition 1.03 Adds New Accessibility Features, Debian 13.7 Base
Tutorial: How to Upgrade Ubuntu 24.04 LTS to Ubuntu 26.04 LTS
OpenSSL 4.0.3 Is Out as Another Security Patch Release, Update Now
Debian-Based and systemd-Free antiX Linux 26.1 Released with Updated Kernels
Archinstall 4.5 Arch Linux Installer Adds AArch64 Support for GRUB and Limine
Audacity 4.0.1 Audio Editor Restores Keyboard Shortcuts from Audacity 3
Mozilla Thunderbird 157 Email Client Released with New Enterprise Policies
Systemd-Free Nitrux 7.0 Released with Linux Kernel 7.2 and Hyprland 0.55.4
OpenMandriva Lx 26.09 “ROME” Released with KDE Plasma 6.7 and Linux Kernel 7.2
Arch Linux ISO Release for October 2026 Ships with the ArchInstall 4.5 Installer
Ubuntu 26.10 Beta Released with Linux Kernel 7.3 and GNOME 51
Latest Debian 13 “Trixie” Kernel Security Update Patches More Than 1300 CVEs
LibreOffice 26.8.1 Open-Source Office Suite Released with 40 Bug Fixes
Parrot OS 7.4 Released with AnonSurf 6.0, Updated Raspberry Pi Images
Darktable 5.6.2 Adds White Balance Presets for Leica SL3-P and Sony Alpha 7R VI

Linux distributions released this week

Parrot OS 7.4 Security
Parrot OS 7.4 Home
Qubes OS 4.3.2
Arch Linux 2026.10.01
Kodachi Linux 10.0.3 Xfce
Tails 7.14
antiX Linux 26.1
Emmabuntüs DE6 1.03
CentOS Stream 10-20260928

Linux apps, drivers, desktops, and kernels released this week

DBeaver 26.2.2
Darktable 5.6.2
LibreOffice 26.8.1
Linux kernel 7.2.9
Linux kernel 6.18.55 LTS
Linux kernel 6.12.112 LTS
Linux kernel 6.6.158 LTS
Linux kernel 6.1.189 LTS
Linux kernel 5.15.222 LTS
Linux kernel 5.10.271 LTS
Chromium 154.0.8037.92
CMake 4.4.4
Mozilla Thunderbird 157.0.1
Mesa 26.2.4
Apache 2.4.69
Rust 1.99.0
Python 3.14.8
Docker 29.8.2
Audacity 4.0.1
Qt 6.12
Tor Browser 15.0.24
OpenSSL 4.0.3
QEMU 11.1.2
NTFS-3G 2026.9.28
qBittorrent 5.2.4
Git 2.56
FreeCAD 1.1.4
Mozilla Firefox 157.0
Flatpak 1.18.4
VueScan 9.8.59
Shotcut 26.9
OpenShot 4.0.1

Coming up next week

KDE Gear 26.08.2
KDE Frameworks 6.31
…and hopefully many other exciting Linux news and releases!