This is it, the one that adds systemd to postmarketOS! We have talked about the decision at length on this blog, make sure to read the initial announcement if this is the first time you are hearing about this.
↫ postmarketOS v25.06 release announcement
While adding systemd to postmarketOS is certainly the tentpole feature of this release, it also updates the various user interfaces – GNOME’s and KDE’s mobile shells and applications – and moves to Alpine Linux 3.22 as its base. The mobile user interfaces for both Firefox and Thunderbird have been updated as well, there’s a ton of improvements and additions for individual devices, and a lot more.
PostmarketOS, in case you are unaware, is a Linux distribution optimised for smartphones, focused on running mobile shells and applications. It’s not ready for prime-time quite yet, and device support will probably be the biggest hurdle for anyone wanting to try it out.
Finally took the plunge, and flashed my Librem 5.
And wow, is the plasma-mobile shell a lot more polished and snappy than the official pureos phosh. Waydroid also seems to work. Now to find actually usable programs. Terminal is fun, but only up to a point.
Alpine Linux with systemd is just a travesty
Normally I would agree, but if you read the initial announcement it explains why: KDE and GNOME are becoming more and more dependent on systemd and postmarketOS is focusing on Plasma and GNOME as its two main GUI choices, so this move was inevitable. I don’t like it; I feel that systemd is a bit of a “when all you have is a hammer, everything is a nail” approach which makes little sense on a mobile device, but I’m also far from an expert on OS development so I may be completely wrong in that assessment. I do have faith that the postmarketOS devs know what they are doing, and if this makes things easier for them then so be it.
Regardless, Alpine Linux itself is not affected by this change, and it along with Void Linux remain good musl-friendly, systemd-less choices for those so inclined.