We are happy to announce the general availability of Alpaquita Linux 25, which is a Long-Term Support (LTS) version that will receive the functional fixes and security patches until 2029.
Alpaquita Linux 25 deliverables include ISO, minirootfs, microVM images, Docker images, Hardened Docker images, package repositories, and docker images. The following platforms are supported:
- Intel (x86-64-v2)
- AMD 64-bit (x86-64-v2)
- AArch64 (ARMv8-A)
This release includes many updates, as well as a number of bug and security fixes, the most essential of which are summarized below. A more detailed description of these and other changes can be found in the release notes.
Install New Alpaquita Linux Version
Table of Contents
Summary of Key Enhancements
Updated Kernel to 6.12
Alpaquita Linux 25 is based on a new LTS kernel version 6.12, which is optimized for smaller memory footprint, stronger security, and better performance, namely:
- Lower latency and better responsiveness,
- Compressed modules to save disc space,
- Removed several old modules with improper support or known CVEs.
OSV-Scanner Package for Security Scanning and SBOMs
For this release, BellSoft has adapted the OSV-scanner version that can scan OS images for security issues and produce a Software Bill of Materials (SBOM) as a result. This version fully supports the BellSoft ecosystem, i.e., Alpaquita Linux and BellSoft Hardened Containers.
Owing to this update, security scanning and SBOM generation can be seamlessly integrated into the enterprise security practices when using Alpaquita Linux for enhanced transparency, compliance, and better security management.
For more information on using the tool with Alpaquita, see Getting Started with OSV-Scanner for Alpaquita Linux.
The microVM Images
Alpaquita Linux works seamlessly with Firecracker VM, an open-source virtualization technology for creating secure and lightweight virtual machines (microVMs). The microVMs combine the security and isolation of a virtual machine with the resource efficiency of a container. Therefore, they are a good match for serverless functions such as AWS Lambdas and other short-lived workloads.
This release of Alpaquita Linux includes a pre-built microVM vmlinux and rootfs, ready to use with FirecrackerVM and QEMU.
See Alpaquita Linux: Using Firecracker and QEMU microVMs for more information.
The x86-64 packages built with -fno-plt
The x86-64 packages are now built with -fno-plt by default. This change reduces the overhead of function calls to shared libraries by avoiding the Procedure Linkage Table (PLT), resulting in slightly more efficient code, faster startup and lower call-latency.
Updated glibc
The glibc library in Alpaquita Linux 25 was upgraded to version 2.39, which includes several new functions and enhancements, including
- New tunables for x86-64 PLT rewrite,
- Richer memory map details,
- Vector math library libmvec support added to AArch64,
- New spawn-related functions, including cgroupv2-safe and pidfd-based variants, and
- Handy string functions strlcpy and strlcat.
In addition, the utmps library, which provides implementation of utmp/wtmp functions, was removed from the glibc variant of Alpaquita, because glibc natively supports the utmp/wtmp functionality.
Updated musl
Alpaquita Linux comes with two musl variants: musl default and musl-perf, which is 100% compatible with the default version but has better performance.
Both packages were upgraded to the musl release 1.2.5 with new functions and changes, including:
- New statx function for more detailed file info,
- New preadv2/pwritev2 functions with extra flags to fine-tune behavior per call,
- Updated printf family to better match newer standards.
Apart from that, musl-perf package has switched to the high-performance allocator implementation mimalloc v2 release, replacing the default allocator in musl, known as mallocng. As a result, the users using musl-perf should see the improved performance for all types of workloads.
Other updates to musl-perf include:
- glibc-2.39 memory function implementations,
- ldd can now detect static-pie binaries to avoid printing misleading information about required shared objects.
Conclusion
This release of Alpaquita Linux makes it an even stronger option for lightweight, secure, and cloud-friendly environments. Get the latest musl or glibc build now and start your next deployment with a smaller, faster base.
