Alpine Linux 3.11.0 Released With Initial GNOME & KDE Support
Update: Yesterday (January 16th, 2020) version 3.11.3 was released, containing loads of security upgrades. See the offical release notes for additional info.
Alpine Linux, a security-oriented, lightweight Linux distribution based on musl libc and busybox, released version 3.11.0.
It ships with a new LTS Linux kernel (5.4 LTS), support for Raspberry Pi 4, support for Vulkan graphics functionality (including DXVK support) and, surprisingly, initial support for GNOME and KDE.
While Alpine Linux was previously used mostly for small / embedded systems or minimal maintenance distributions, the support of GNOME and KDE as desktop environments shows that Alpine is aiming for a broader audience.
Xfce was the standard desktop environment and can still be installed and used. For those who are eager to try out the new GNOME and KDE desktops, can do so by installing packages as usual.
It’s interesting that GNOME seems to be functioning “okay”, even without systemd installed. Just as other distributions, elogind shenanigans are in order to make GNOME behave.
Also interesting is the fact that Alpine Linux stands by its credo “small, simple and secure” and maintains their musl libc involvement, replacing the “standard” standard C library with something else.
The complete changelog can be found in the Git logs for this unique Linux distribution: https://git.alpinelinux.org/aports/log/?h=v3.11.0
