The Manjaro project releases a new testing update featuring kernel refreshes, application upgrades, and a major change in NVIDIA graphics support as it prepares for the upcoming ‘Bian-May’ rollout scheduled for August.
Manjaro has pushed a new testing update as it continues work towards the upcoming “Bian-May” release, which the project says should arrive in mid to late August. The forum announcement suggests development may slow slightly over the next few weeks, but the team is still asking testers to report any problems they encounter.
The update centres on package refreshes across the testing repositories, with new builds for the Linux 6.1, 6.6, 6.12, 6.18 and 7.1 kernel lines, along with application updates including Firefox Developer Edition 154.0b7, OpenSearch 3.8.0, SyncThing 2.1.3 and Bazaar 0.9.2. The package list also shows wide-ranging updates for desktop components, development tools and server software, reflecting the breadth of Manjaro’s rolling testing branch.
The release comes shortly after Manjaro 26.1 Preview was highlighted by Phoronix, which said the forthcoming edition will ship GNOME 50, KDE Plasma 6.6 and Xfce 4.20, alongside Linux 7.0 stable and Linux 6.18 LTS. Manjaro’s own forum post also notes several newer kernel branches have already reached end of life, which makes the distribution’s recommendation to move to supported long-term kernels more relevant for users who want to avoid breakage.
Manjaro also flagged a major graphics compatibility change: NVIDIA’s 590 driver no longer supports Pascal-based GTX 10xx cards or older hardware. The forum warns that updating on such systems can leave the graphical environment unusable unless users switch to a legacy 580xx package. That mirrors guidance from Arch Linux, which said Pascal support is being dropped in favour of open kernel module packages and advised older card owners to stay on the 580xx line for continued support.
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