The AerynOS developers have wrapped up August with their third release of 2025. The fast-moving distribution continues to evolve with new desktop options, fresh tooling, and infrastructure changes aimed at making it easier to scale over time. It is worth noting, the developers are technically still classifying the operating system as “alpha,” so you should proceed with caution.
One of the biggest additions is the introduction of package sets, which group related packages together for a base system or for each desktop environment. Users can now choose between recommended, minimal, or full configurations depending on the environment, with the long-term goal of supporting reproducible installs across systems.
The installer, called lichen, now takes advantage of these package sets to provide a curated setup experience. Because it’s a network installer, it always pulls down the latest packages, sparing users from a heavy post-install update step. Usability has also improved, with better prompts if a system isn’t formatted or connected to the internet.
Desktop variety is expanding too. KDE Plasma is now packaged and offered directly from the ISO, something many users have requested. Cosmic has been updated to Alpha 7, with the developers planning to track System76’s rapid update cycle more closely. Sway has reached version 1.11 in the repository with Waybar and related tools, while a new console-only option has been introduced for users who prefer starting from the bare minimum. GNOME 48.4 thankfully remains the default.
On the package side, AerynOS now ships with Linux 6.15.11, Mesa 25.2.1, LLVM 20.1.8, ffmpeg 7.1.1, and other new additions like Waydroid 1.5.4 and OpenVPN 2.6.14. The repository also gained scx-scheds, with scx_flash set as the default scheduler to improve responsiveness even under heavy workloads.
Tooling continues to progress. The moss package manager gained two new commands: moss state diff, which lets users compare package states, and moss search-file, which makes it easier to identify which package owns a file. Work on PackageKit integration is also underway, laying the foundation for moss to work within software centers like GNOME Software, KDE Discover, and Cosmic Store.
The developers have also put effort into documentation, adding more details on updates, desktop environments, and how AerynOS differs from other Linux distributions. Expanded contribution guides are also in the works.
With three releases already out the door this year, AerynOS is clearly gaining momentum. The project is positioning itself as a forward-looking Linux distribution with flexible tooling, curated desktop experiences, and a growing contributor community.
You can download the latest ISO from the AerynOS website now.
