NixSanctuary Bulletin: Issue 0
Firefox 141.0 released with enhanced local AI features and reduced memory usage on Linux
Mozilla released Firefox version 141.0 on 22nd this month. It comes with on-device AI models that help you organize similar tabs into groups by automatically suggesting names for them when you try to group them. This feature is part of a progressive rollout and may not be available to you immediately.
Starting with this version, Firefox uses much less memory on Linux, and you no longer have to restart Firefox after an update.
Autofill addresses have been enabled for users in Brazil, Spain, and Japan. Additional languages are now available for the built-in Firefox translation tool, including Hindi, Hebrew, Persian, Malay, and many more.
You can now use the Firefox address bar as a unit converter. It supports converting units of length, temperature, mass, force, angular measurement, and time zones.
Did you know that the built-in math calculator has been available since Firefox version 137?
Wayback 0.1 released - a wayland-based X11 environment
The first preview release of Wayback, version 0.1, was released on the 23rd. It is an X11 compatibility layer that enables running full X11-only desktop environments (DE) using Wayland.
Wayback is not a fork of Xorg and does not claim its legacy.
Don't confuse it with XLibre. They are both separate projects.
The goal of Xwayback is to replace Xorg while allowing you to run your favorite X11 window managers (WMs). It is essentially a glue for Xwayland, but it will be much more than that in the future. Technically, the fact that it uses Wayland internally is irrelevant to the user because it's an implementation detail. Also, you can't run other Wayland apps with it. However, it should make it much easier for distro maintainers to maintain support for X11 WMs alongside Wayland.
Compared to Xlibre, the Wayback team is interested in building sustainable solutions rather than arguing about DEI etc.
It is essentially an X11 server backed by Wayland, leveraging wlroots and Xwayland.
As expected, Wayback is currently considered alpha software, so many of its features are buggy or nonfunctional, including multi-monitor support.
The origin story of Wayback, from its founder Ariadne Conill (a developer for the infamous Alpine Linux), is a must-read.
Ghost CMS version 6.0.0-rc.0 released with native Web Analytics and Federated Ghost sites
On the 23rd, Ghost CMS made a release candidate version 6.0.0-rc.0 available on GitHub, and the changelog includes two exciting entries by Hannah Wolfe, the founder and CTO of Ghost. The release notes state that Ghost CMS will now come with native web analytics powered by Tinybird. Also, Ghost sites will be federated over ActivityPub (social web).
It looks like you won't need any external analytics software for your Ghost instance. The ActivityPub protocol and its integration into Ghost brings tremendous possibilities for people to subscribe to and interact with your work.
With Ghost 6, all support for AMP (Accelerated Mobile Pages) has been removed from the codebase. Additionally, Node.js v20 has already entered the maintenance LTS release cycle, and v18 is no longer supported. Node.js v18 has already reached EoL on March 27, 2025. According to the Node.js project, production applications should only use active LTS or maintenance LTS releases.
Thunderbird Version 141.0 released, and it now includes an "Archive" action and an improved focus on OpenPGP
Mozilla released Thunderbird Desktop version 141.0 on July 22.
Now, the Composer will remind you when your OpenPGP key is about to expire. For those who frequently use keys, this feature can be useful. Mail notifications now come with an archive option so you can quickly archive important or specific emails.
While there isn't much that can be done with an email client, the above additions to the already nearly perfect email client are welcome nonetheless.
This release fixes a number of issues and includes visual and UX improvements.
Do you need a U.S. student or exchange visa? Make your social media accounts public now!
In a press release dated June 18, the U.S. Department of State announced expanded screening and vetting for U.S. visa applicants.
The new guidelines thoroughly vet the online presence of all applicants in the F (academic students), M (vocational or nonacademic students), and J (exchange visitors) nonimmigrant classifications.
A U.S. visa is a privilege, not a right.
Basically, anyone coming to the United States temporarily for educational or cultural purposes must keep their social media profiles public to allow this vetting of online presence.
In other words, if you seek admission to the USA for educational purposes, you can't have private business on social media. According to the press release, this is being done to ensure that applicants are seeking admission for the intended purpose and not to harm Americans or America's national interests.
Proton's Lumo - privacy-first confidential AI
The nonprofit Proton Foundation introduced its new service, Lumo, on July 23. Lumo is a privacy-first AI service with no logs or data sharing; it isn't used to train AI. The foundation claims to operate from Proton’s European data centers and to have no partnership with OpenAI or other American or Chinese AI companies.
Lumo supports file uploads and has built-in Proton Drive integration. Lumo is available for free, even if you don't have a Proton account. Visit lumo.proton.me to try it out.
Upgrade to Lumo Plus for premium features, including high-speed chats, unlimited queries, and support for multiple and large files.
FSF is turning 40! Registration is open for the FSF40 celebration at the Wentworth Institute of Technology in Boston, Massachusetts
On October 4th, our beloved Free Software Foundation will turn 40. Many of you, like me, have replaced Microsoft Windows with GNU/Linux after learning about the FSF's hard work and dedication.
"Four decades, four freedoms, four all users" is the slogan for the 40th anniversary year.
Those in and around Boston, MA, USA, should join the FSF for the celebration. The in-person event is free for students and FSF associate members. Bring your friends and family by paying the regular price of 50 USD.
If you aren't in the US or can't visit, you can still participate in the event online for gratis. Everything will be livestreamed using free software.
Visit their website post for more details.
Microsoft's GitHub: Open Source Is Everywhere, Valuable Yet Underfinanced
In a July 23 blog post, GitHub raised important points about open source and discussed a need for European Sovereign Tech Fund or EU-STF.
The idea revolves around the German Sovereign Tech Agency, one of the most successful government programs in the open-source world. According to GitHub, what if we could scale it up to the level of the European Union?
European Commission’s own research shows that OSS contributes a minimum of €65-95 billion to the EU economy annually.
GitHub aims to bridge the gap between the value the public derives from open-source software (OSS) and the funding made available for it. If formed, the EU's STF is expected to invest no less than 350 million euros in the project.
Regardless of your role in the open-source development community, GitHub urges you to contact the European Commission, your elected representatives in the European Parliament, and your national government to voice your support for the creation of the EU-STF.
GitHub and OpenForum Europe will give a presentation on the topic at the upcoming "Open Source Summit Europe 2025" on August 26th.
Hestia Control Panel (HestiaCP) Open-source web-server control panel updated to version 1.9.4
HestiaCP was updated to version 1.9.4 on July 21st. This update is not a major or feature release, but rather a service or maintenance release. Support for Ubuntu 20.04 has been dropped for new installations. Standard support for Ubuntu LTS 20.04 has ended in May 2025 already.
Roundcube, a free and open-source webmail solution, has been updated to the latest stable version, 1.6.11.
HestiaCP v1.9.4 displays users' disk and bandwidth quotas on the dashboard.
There are also various other fixes and improvements.
Jack Dorsey's Bitchat: rewritten to be more secure, now uses the Noise Protocol
On the 25th of this month, the newly released decentralized peer-to-peer messaging application from Twitter's co-founder Jack Dorsey received a significant update. For now, it operates over Bluetooth mesh networks. There are significant changes to the BitChat protocol stack's encryption layer. It now deploys the Noise protocol with forward secrecy for direct messages.
Communication occurs directly between devices over transports like Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE).
Other than code cleanup and a completely rewritten foundation for greater robustness and efficiency, one major new addition is delivery acknowledgments (ACKs) and read receipts in the application layer of the protocol stack. It also states that it has been thoroughly tested for compatibility with Bitchat for iOS version 1.1.0 (New Moon), which is now ready for the App Store.
The updated version 1.1 white paper, which includes details about the four-layered BitChat protocol stack and its various layers and protocols, has also been released on GitHub.
