2.0.0

v2.0.0 - The Declarative Revolution

AnduinOS v2.0.0 marks a fundamental, ground-up rewrite of our entire operating system. Listening to community feedback regarding maintainability and package management, we have completely reimagined how AnduinOS is built, distributed, and maintained.

Welcome to the era of Distro Engineering. Our source code and packaging pipelines are fully open: AnduinOS-2 (OS Builder), AnduinOS-Packages (Package Sources), and Apkg (Declarative build tool).

AnduinOS 2 is shipped with GPL-v3 license. Apkg project is shipped with MIT license.

The Declarative Architecture

• Deprecation of Imperative Scripts: We have entirely eliminated legacy Bash scripts for system configuration. The OS is now assembled within a clean, sandboxed debootstrap + chroot pipeline. While not strictly bit-for-bit reproducible, this declarative approach guarantees a highly predictable and consistent build output, completely preventing imperative edge-case failures.
• Introducing aosproj & apkg: We engineered a custom, XML-based declarative Domain Specific Language (aosproj) to define system states. Powered by an automated compilation toolchain and static syntax linter, it outputs standard native .deb packages.
• The AnduinOS-Packages Repository: The system core is now modularized into 56 standalone packages across three tiers: Hard Replacements (e.g., overriding ubuntu-desktop), Soft Overrides (e.g., apt-config), and Branding/Capability extensions.
• 100% Native APT Compatibility: Custom updaters (do_anduinos_upgrade, do-anduinos-autorepair) are officially retired. AnduinOS now relies purely on sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade, preserving seamless compatibility with standard Ubuntu repositories and the broader software ecosystem.
• Dracut Ready: We rigorously validated our packages under the dracut initramfs framework (supporting both initrd and initrd.gz conventions). Users can now safely replace initramfs-tools if they prefer.
• Optimized Package Delivery: Refactored Fluent themes into pure file-extraction packages for better performance, split anduinos-core-system into anduinos-container and anduinos-core-system for container readiness, and merged extension dconf updates into single postinst scripts for atomic, stable upgrades.

Global Infrastructure & Project Stewardship

• Backed by AIURSOFT LIMITED: The project is now officially maintained by AIURSOFT LIMITED (Hong Kong) to transition from a solo-maintained project to an internationally backed ecosystem. All AnduinOS 2 projects and shell extensions are proudly licensed under GPL-v3.
• Global CDN Package Network: All APT repositories have migrated to packages.anduinos.com. Powered by Cloudflare load balancing, our US, Europe, and Asia nodes deliver low-latency updates worldwide. We also enforced [arch=amd64] explicitly to prevent multi-arch dependency pollution.

Base System & Performance Tuning

• Next-Gen Foundations: Transitioned the system base from Ubuntu 25.10 (Questing) to the cutting-edge Ubuntu 26.04 (Resolute), shipped with Linux Kernel 7 for extensive out-of-the-box hardware and modern graphics support.
• Desktop-Optimized Kernel Parameters: We overhauled upstream defaults to deliver a highly responsive desktop experience with lower latency:
  • Memory: Adjusted vm.swappiness=10 and vm.vfs_cache_pressure=50 for better responsiveness.
  • Disk I/O: Set vm.dirty_background_ratio=5 and vm.dirty_ratio=10 to eliminate UI freezes during heavy writes.
  • Network: Enabled BBR congestion control and tcp_fastopen=3 for maximized throughput.
  • Workloads: Raised fs.inotify limits to 524288 for developer-heavy file-watching tasks.
• Intel SOF Audio Fix: Shipped firmware-sof-anduinos to deliver the always-latest Intel SOF audio firmware without breaking Secure Boot.

The "Single ISO" Multilingual Experience

• Runtime Language Selection: We shifted our localization strategy from "build-time forking" to "runtime selection." All 28 officially supported languages now ship in a single ISO.
• Multilingual GRUB Boot Menu: Users can now select their native language directly from the GRUB boot menu before entering the live session. We embedded unicode.pf2 to ensure proper rendering of CJK, Arabic, and Thai scripts right at the bootloader stage.
• Smart Installer & Keyboards: Ubiquity now explicitly filters and displays only our 28 curated languages. Keyboard layouts dynamically adapt to the user's chosen language, dropping the hardcoded US default.
• Zero-Pollution Chinese Input: Using the dpkg-divert mechanism, anduinos-rime is installed as the exclusive Chinese input method for zh_* users. This prevents pulling 20+ unrelated legacy input method packages from upstream, keeping the system incredibly clean.
• Expanded Locales: Added Danish, Ukrainian, Indonesian, Finnish, Hindi, and Greek, bringing the total supported locales to 28 across the globe.

Streamlined Footprint (~2.5GB ISO)

• Build Quality Enforcement: The CI pipeline now hard-fails if unwanted Ubuntu junk packages (like snapd or telemetry) are detected during the build, guaranteeing a pristine ISO output.
• Modern Lightweight Default Apps: To reduce ISO bloat while maintaining a modern GNOME experience, we swapped legacy apps for their modern lightweight counterparts:
  • Image Viewer: Loupe (replaced shotwell)
  • Video Player: Celluloid (replaced showtime, shipping with ffmpeg and yt-dlp for broad format and streaming support)
  • Task Manager: Resources (replaced gnome-system-monitor)
  • Email Client: Geary
  • Calculator: gnome-calculator (replaced qalculate)
  • Music Player: Amberol (replaced gnome-music, rhythmbox, and rhythmbox-plugins)
  • Text Editor: vim-tiny (replaced full vim)
• Developer Tools Unbundled: build-essential, gdb, gcc, and git are no longer pre-installed to save space. They remain easily installable via APT.
• First-Party Firewall GUI: Introduced anduinos-ufwall-gtk, a brand-new native GTK4 GUI for UFW to easily manage your firewall rules.
• Refined Extensions:
  • Replaced the legacy tray icons extension with AppIndicator and KStatusNotifierItem Support for robust GNOME 45+ compatibility.
  • Disabled simple-weather-extension by default out of respect for privacy (easily toggleable in the Extensions app).
  • Removed the legacy media-controls extension to resolve system freezes during browser video playback.
• Next-Gen Font Stack: Completely replaced Ubuntu's default fonts with an elegant typographic stack: Cascadia Code, Noto Sans/Serif, and Nerd Fonts Symbols. Emoji rendering is now powered by Twemoji COLRv1 (with Noto Color Emoji as a fallback).

Out-of-the-Box Conveniences:

• AppImage Ready: Pre-configured with libfuse2t64 and OpenGL libraries to run AppImages instantly.
• Seamless Permissions: Integrated policykit-desktop-privileges to allow passwordless prompts for standard desktop actions like mounting drives and running simple updates.
• Desktop Shortcuts: Custom deskmon.service automatically allows executing .desktop files in the ~/Desktop directory.
• Office & Hardware Ready: Pre-installed printing (cups, system-config-printer) and scanning (sane-airscan) utilities.

Refined Desktop Experience & Customization

• AnduinOS Appearance: First-party GTK4/Adwaita settings app with full 28-language i18n. Supports taskbar style switching (Windows 11 centered icons vs. Classic left-aligned), taskbar position (bottom/top/left/right), grouping behavior (Vista-style launcher separation), and an About dialog with hamburger menu.
• GDM Wallpaper & Fluent Theming: Built-in login-screen wallpaper selector with image preview, backed by pkexec + anduinos-gdm-set-wallpaper engine. The GDM login screen now surgically injects the complete Fluent CSS + SVG assets — including perfectly rounded a11y buttons — to match your desktop seamlessly, auto-regenerating on every package upgrade. We are proud to officially sponsor @vinceliuice for the stunning Fluent GTK and Icon themes that power our desktop interface.
• Taskbar & Multitasking: Dash-to-Panel now renders 1px Fluent-style panel borders. The taskbar isolates monitors and workspaces for multi-display setups by default, with layout changes reliably applied across all displays.
• Right-Click Menu Localization: Dash-to-Panel panel menu (4 items × 22 languages), DING desktop menu (renamed to "AnduinOS Appearance Settings" × 30 languages), and ArcMenu (Pin/Unpin × 35+ languages) — all localized via .mo injection.
• Wallpaper Pack: 4 new wallpaper pairs (New Mountain, New Bubbles, 11, AnduinOS); default changed to New Bubbles.
• System Cleanup: Removed GTK4 Desktop Icons NG and no-overview extensions for a leaner desktop experience.

Under-the-Hood Polishes

• Fixed a blur-my-shell bug to ensure the taskbar is blurred correctly.
• Updated Ubiquity installer screenshots to reflect the new 2.0 design language.
• Bumped Fluent-icon-theme to include the latest icons for modern apps like Resources and Celluloid.
• Bumped alsa-ucm-conf to v1.2.16.1 for broader audio hardware compatibility.
• Fixed DING ding.js crash (spawnv + chmod +x).
• Fixed Fluent icon theme tarball bloat (--exclude='.git').
• Fixed 6 CI ↔ aosproj dependency inconsistencies.
• Added missing dconf update calls across 12 extension postinst scripts.

Standing on the Shoulders of Giants

AnduinOS 2.0.0 is built upon the incredible work of the open-source community. From the Linux Kernel and Ubuntu foundation, to the GNOME desktop and the Rust/Cargo ecosystem powering our native tools, we owe our existence to these projects. Please review our Third-Party Open Source Software Acknowledgements for a comprehensive list of the upstream projects and licenses that make AnduinOS possible.