The PorteuX project released version 2.9 on November 1, 2026, with Linux 7.3.1 and a changelog focused mostly on stability. Its listed fixes include Chrome and LibreWolf crashes, virtual machines that failed to boot from virtio storage, and installer problems with paths containing spaces and target detection. (PorteuX 2.9 release notes)
What changed in PorteuX 2.9
The project says it reviewed PorteuX’s runtime code, including the initrd, rc scripts, porteux-scripts and installer, to fix bugs and improve safety. The kernel also received changes to zstd decompression, page-cache reads and the file-open path. The project says these changes help with module loading and general disk access; it provides no benchmark figures.
The fixes cover more than the two browsers and virtio storage. The notes also list corrected memory reporting, issues with modules activated through symlinks, and processes left running during shutdown. Laptop and desktop fixes include brightness and battery controls in KDE Plasma, microphone problems on some AMD laptops, and battery-charge limits and keyboard backlighting on Dell laptops.
Security, drivers and desktop changes
PorteuX 2.9 changes file permissions so shadow files are no longer world-readable and removes world-writable configuration files. The release also updates the NVIDIA driver to 615.78.08, adds firmware for Qualcomm Bluetooth and Cirrus audio, and adds dependencies for MPV to work with Vulkan.
The project lists updated COSMIC 1.11.0, GNOME 51.1 and KDE Plasma 6.8.2. It also adds wget2 in place of wget, PDF thumbnails in Dolphin and cosmic-viewer to COSMIC. In Xfce, a draggable item in a background window now focuses and raises that window when the mouse button is released.
9to5Linux reported eight separate desktop editions, with live ISOs for 64-bit machines: KDE Plasma, GNOME, Xfce, LXQt, Cinnamon, LXDE, COSMIC and MATE. Each edition is a separate flavor, rather than one image bundling all eight desktops.
