MX Linux 25.1 Infinity is now available, arriving one week after its beta and officially restoring dual-init support with systemd and sysvinit on the same ISO. The release is based on Debian 13.3, includes updated Linux 6.12 kernels for most editions, a 6.18 liquorix kernel for Xfce AHS, and Mesa 25.3.3 for AHS builds. Users can choose their init system at boot, with the installer preserving that choice for the installed system.
The MX team says the new approach eliminates past issues with polkit and dbus while reducing maintenance overhead by letting systemd receive security updates directly from Debian. Single-init installs remain fully supported, and dual-init is not forced via updates. Live USB users should note a temporary persistence limitation, but installed systems are unaffected.
The headline change in this release is the return of dual-init support, which allows both systemd and sysvinit to coexist on the same ISO. This is not a half-measure or a compatibility hack. It is a deliberate design choice that reduces the number of ISO builds the project needs to maintain while restoring a feature that once set MX Linux apart from nearly every other Debian-based distribution. Many users missed this flexibility, and it is now back in a cleaner and less fragile form.
When booting a live system for the first time, users can now select their preferred init system directly from the boot menu. Whatever init is running during installation becomes the default for the installed system. The alternate init remains available in the GRUB advanced menu, just as systemd used to be in earlier MX releases. This approach keeps things simple while still giving users real control, which is something MX Linux has always prioritized.
One practical benefit of the new setup is improved reliability around polkit and dbus. In MX 23, some users experienced broken privilege escalation prompts after logout and login cycles when systemd-shim was in use. Those issues appear to be gone with the new dual-init approach, which is welcome news for anyone who ran into confusing permission problems in the past.
Another important change is how systemd itself is handled. With MX Linux 25.1, systemd now receives its security updates directly from Debian instead of being maintained separately by the MX team. Maintaining a custom systemd package was a long-standing pain point, and its removal should make updates smoother and reduce maintenance overhead for developers. For users, this mostly means fewer surprises and less chance of breakage during routine updates.
There are a few caveats worth knowing about, particularly for live USB users who rely on persistence. When running a live system with dual-init enabled, semi-automatic persistence saving does not currently work in modes where the root filesystem is loaded into RAM. In these cases, the shutdown console will not accept keyboard input, so the system falls back to automatic persistence saving if semi-automatic is configured. The MX team has already acknowledged the issue and is working on a fix. Traditional installed systems are unaffected, and live systems using static persistence options will continue to work as expected. For many users, this limitation will never come into play.
It is also worth noting that dual-init is not being forced onto existing users via updates. If you are already running a single-init MX 25 system and everything works the way you like, you can simply keep it that way. The single-init releases are fully supported for the entire MX 25 lifecycle, and you already have access to all updates. For those who want to transition, the project has published instructions on its blog explaining how to make the switch safely.
Behind the scenes, this work is built on the init-diversity efforts originally developed for the antiX distribution, particularly the contributions from ProwlerGr. While antiX supports a wide range of init systems, MX Linux is keeping things focused on a dual-init model with systemd and sysvinit. Users who want to experiment with even more init options are encouraged to test antiX betas, but MX is clearly aiming for balance rather than experimentation overload.
MX Linux 25.1 Infinity is not a flashy release, but it is a thoughtful one. It reinforces the project’s long-standing identity as a distribution that values user choice, stability, and practical engineering decisions over trends. For Debian-based Linux users who want flexibility without chaos, this release is another reminder of why MX Linux continues to attract such a loyal following.
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