CachyOS GUI Installer Changelog

Announcements Releases
1

24.04

Features:

  • Plymouth: Use plymouth to provide a themed boot animation
  • ISO: Switch back to X11 due to issues when setting the keyboard layout in calamares
  • rEFInd: New partitioning layout (seperate /boot and /boot/efi)
  • netinstall: KDE: Install xwaylandvideobridge by default
  • netinstall: Use lightdm instead of ly for various Desktop Environments, due to a bug in ly
  • systemd-boot: Use @saved for systemd-boot to allow it to remember the previously selected boot entry
  • cachyos-keyring: Refactor cachyos-keyring package and provide a cachyos-trusted keyring
  • ISO: Use ZSTD 19 Compression for the mkinitcpio image of the ISO
  • Package Updates: xz 5.6.1-3, linux-cachyos 6.8.2, pacman 6.1.0-5, mesa 24.0.4, Plasma 6.0.3, nvidia 550.67 and cachyos-settings 39-2

Bug-Fixes:

  • Autologin: Fixed the autologin option when used together with sddm
  • xz: Provide a patched xz package
  • libarchive: Mitigate commit from malicious xz actor
  • cachyos-settings: udev-rule: don’t set watermark_scale_factor to 125, since it siginificantly increases RAM usage
  • calamares: pacman-keyring: Use simpler method to integrate the keyring into the installation

24.03.1

Features:

  • netinstall: Remove extra kernels in the netinstall selection to avoid confusion by users. Other custom kernels can be installed via Kernel Manager
  • Kernel Manager: NVIDIA Modules are automatically installed when detected, Rebased for QT6, Fixed custom names when using LTO Option
  • Package Installer: Rebased on QT6, updated for pacman 6.1
  • Package Updates: linux-cachyos 6.8.1, pacman 6.1, mesa 24.0.3, Plasma 6.0.2, llvm 17.0.6

Bug-Fixes:

  • NVIDIA: patched nvidia module to take the owner ship of nvidia.drm.modeset earlier to avoid issues on nvidia graphics
  • Refind: Don’t install the lts kernel to avoid issues
  • shellprocess: Remove the liveusers directory completely

24.03

Features:

  • ISO: Plasma 6 is now shipped in the ISO and uses Wayland as default, GNOME ISO got dropped to avoid confusion about netinstall
  • Calamares: Rebased for QT6
  • refind: Add f2fs and zfs as option including luks2 encryption
  • mirrors: We provide now 2 global CDNs. One hosted by Cloudflare R2 and one hosted by Digital Ocean
  • mirrorlist: Fetch the online installer directly from cdn to provide a faster delivery
  • initcpiocfg: Use the new microcode hook for early loading the ucode
  • bootloader: Dont load the microcode with the bootloader anymore
  • Package Updates: linux-cachyos 6.7.9, mesa 24.0.2, zfs-utils 2.2.3

Bug-Fixes:

  • pacstrap: Do not install config packages to provide the user a more clean selection of the installation
  • shellprocess_pacman: Also copy the ranked cachyos-v4-mirrorlists to the target

24.02

Features:

  • refind: Change layout from /boot/efi to /boot to provide more options of filesystems and encryption
  • Live-ISO: Cleanup and Sync the Live-ISO
  • Launch Installer: Add recommendation for the online installation
  • shell-configs: Add option to disable fastfetch when starting the terminal and add an “update” alias
  • netinstall: Add phonon-qt5-vlc to kde
  • Package Updates: linux-cachyos 6.7.5, mesa 23.3.5, gcc 13.2.1-12, glibc 2.39, mesa 24.0.1, nvidia 550.54.14

24.01

Features:

  • x86-64-v4: Autodetection and enabling the repository at installation
  • linux-cachyos: the sched-ext scheduler framework is now provided in the default kernel
  • xwayland: Provide explicit sync patches as default
  • Package Updates: linux-cachyos 6.7, mesa 23.3.3, gcc 13.2.1-8, xorg-xwayland 23.2.4

Bug Fixes:

  • chwd: For Ada Lovelace Nvidia cards the nvidia modules get directly packed into the initramfs to avoid issues with the early kms

23.12

Bug-fixes:

  • zfs: Add compatibility=grub to the pool options to ensure the compatibility
  • grub/xfs: Add a patch to grub to have compatibility with the new xfs bigtime default
  • netinstall: xdg-desktop-portal-hyprland instead of xdg-desktop-portal-hyprland-git

23.11

Features:

  • nvidia: Use nvidia module instead of dkms
  • Calamares synced with upstream
  • Package updates: linux-cachyos 6.6.1, nvidia-utils 545.29.02, mesa 23.2.1, zfs-utils 2.2.0, mkinitcpio 37

Bug-fixes:

  • nvidia-hook: Added nvidia-hook back to avoid issues at installation time with the new module
  • netinstall: Packages got renamed due the recent changes at the KF5 packaging
  • netinstall: xdg-desktop-portal-gnome got added to the GNOME Installation

23.09

Features:

  • systemd-boot: Default to luks2
  • netinstall: Provide a own category for CachyOS Packages
  • Calamares synced with upstream
  • Package updates: linux-cachyos 6.5.3, nvidia-utils 535.104.05, mesa 23.2.7

Bug-fixes:

  • shellprocess_sdboot: Avoid using “sudo”, when generating the boot entries at the installation process

23.08

Features:

  • Calamares synced with upstream
  • Package updates: linux-cachyos 6.4.10, nvidia-utils 535.98

Bug-fixes:

  • Keyring got updated and works now correctly

23.07

Features:

  • CachyOS-Settings includes now “bpftune”, which automatically tweaks the network settings depending on the usage
  • CachyOS-Qtile-Settings: Quality of Life changes, better icons, …
  • Package updates: linux-cachyos 6.4.2, cachy-browser 115.0.1, mesa 23.1.3,

Bug-fixes:

  • rate-mirrors got fixed
  • chwd (Hardware Detection) got multiple fixes
  • fixed installation of nonfree drivers for hybrid setup in the installer
  • fixed Calamares freezes, which happened in some rare configurations, mainly VM
  • Slides: Slide 6 typo fix

23.06

Bug-fixes:

  • Offline Installation: Fix calamares

23.05

Features:

  • CachyOS Git Migration layout is now reflected in the installation
  • chwd (mhwd) got multiple fixes
  • Pacman: We added a feature, which makes it possible to provide a message to our users before updating
  • Calamares got synced with upstream
  • Package updates: linux-cachyos 6.3.4, cachy-browser 113.0.1, mesa 23.1.1, python 3.11

Bug-fixes:

  • netinstall: minimal fixes due package changes
  • Slides: Slide 6 got updated to reflect the lastest chang

23.04

Features:

  • Introduce the Qtile desktop enviroment
  • Reworked mhwd: Rust rewrite; Simplified profiles for GPUs and network cards; Removed bunch of ancient code
  • Package updates: linux-cachyos 6.2.12, cachy-browser 112.0.1, mesa 23.0.3, zfs-utils 2.1.11

Bug-fixes:

  • f2fs: Remove “atgc” mount options since it has issues with systemd

23.03.1

Features:

  • Package updates: linux-cachyos 6.2.7, cachy-browser 111.0

Bug-fixes:

  • Calamares got fixed with the lightdm displaymanager due faulty calamares upstream commits
  • Offline installation keyring issue got fixed
  • Refind: Use linux-cachyos-lts as defaullt. Current 6.2 seems not to work well together with refind

23.03

New Features:

  • Added the refind bootloader
  • Automatic Nvidia driver installation using MHWD
  • Encryption support for ZFS installation
  • Added Hyprland to netinstallation
  • CachyOS-KDE-Settings now uses the KDE default theme, but the CachyOS Themes are still preinstalled and available for use
  • Package updates: linux-cachyos 6.2.2, mesa 23.0.0, cachy-browser 110.0.1, plasma 5.27.2
  • Fully reworked and improved the bootloader calamares module
  • The ISO gets now signed with a GPG key
  • MHWD got improved and updated
  • Synced Calamares with upstream

Bug-fixes:

  • The “replace partition” option now offers a filesystem selection
  • Fixed a typo in slide 3
  • nouveau got fixed and does now proper load the module
  • MHWD: Use modesetting for INTEL/ATI and Nouveau
  • Removed the zfs hook from mkinitcpio on the live iso, which caused issues when booting
  • You can download the update from our mirrors on SourceForge.

23.02

New Features:

  • The cachyos-community-v3 repo has been added
  • Budgie, Mate, and LXDE desktop environments have been added to the Netinstallation
  • Bluetooth.service is now enabled by default
  • F2FS and grub are enabled and working again
  • Package Updates: linux-cachyos 6.1.10, mesa 22.3.4, zfs-utils 2.1.9, glibc 2.37, cachy-browser 109.0.1

Bug-fixes:

  • Rate-mirrors now fall back to unranked mirrors if it fails to rate them
  • cachyos-rate-mirrors has a longer fetch-mirrors-timeout
  • Github has been added to the hosts to avoid mirrorlist issues
  • Boot entries for BIOS have been updated in syslinux

23.01

Features:

  • Calamares Slides got reworked and updated
  • UKUI Desktop Enviroment got added to the Netinstallation
  • Cinnamon Desktop Enviroment got added to the Netinstallation
  • Cmdline: zswap is now disabled as default because CachyOS provides zram as default
  • Calamares updated to the latest commit
  • LLVM 15 is now shipped as default
  • Package Updates: linux-cachyos 6.1.7, mesa 22.3.3, Plasma 5.26.5, llvm 15.0.7, gcc 12.1.1, binutils 2.40, zfs-utils 2.1.8, nvidia 525.85.05
  • CLI Installer got updated

Bug-fixes:

  • remove-ucode shellprocess does also run now at the offline installation
  • pamac got removed from the netinstall
  • The ranked cachyos mirrors gets now correctly copied to the install target
  • power-profile-daemon don’t gets enabled anymore as default

22.12

Features:

  • New GRUB background at the ISO bootloader
  • memtest is now included for UEFI Systems
  • CachyOS-sddm-theme got added to the KDE Installation
  • Automatic version script added when creating the ISO
  • Calamares updated to the latest commit
  • The mirrors are now ranked with “cachyos-rate-mirros”, which ranks our mirrors and the arch ones
  • Packages Update: 6.1.1 Kernel, mesa 22.3.1, plasma 5.26.4,…
  • The Kofuku Desktop Enviroment got removed
  • extra ISO with llvm 15 included to provide support for newer AMD Cards

Bug-fixes:

  • Calamares got fixed when using GNOME as ISO
  • zfshostid does now work proper for the offline and online installation
  • Add “kms” hook to the initcpiocfg module to follow archlinux defaults
  • And more ISO fixes

22.11

Features:

  • Calamares and its config are shipped in one package
  • Complete Cleanup of the packages in the netinstall
  • Add a module which automatically removes the not needed ucode
  • required RAM decreased to 2.5GB
  • Packages which are required for btrfs, are now only installed for btrfs
  • Calamares updated to the latest commit
  • The ISO Bootloader has now a background
  • Common package upgrades (mesa, kernel, …)
  • Replace systemd-network with networkmanager

Bug-fixes:

  • qemu-quest-agent.service got removed from the ISO
  • copytoram got completly disabled, it breaks the offline installation
  • mkinitcpio.conf got updated
  • And more ISO fixes

22.10

Features:

  • Pacman uses now Architecture=auto for x86-64-v3 installation, since we added a patch that pacman does autodetect x86-64-v3
  • Pacman does show now, from which repo a package was installed
  • Bootloader selection auto detect if EFI is present, if not it will default to grub
  • Swap choice has been disabled now as default, since zram gets automatically dynamically generated
  • Calamares updated to the latest commit
  • Minimum RAM requirement has been set to 4GB
  • cachyos-grub-theme got removed

Bug-fixes:

  • SSD and hdd fstab detection has been disabled until there is a upstream fix
  • double BTRFS subvolume has been fixed
  • Added missing microcode to the ISO grub bootloader
  • Added a fallback bootmode, which does not set any modeset (nomodeset)
  • And more ISO fixes

22.09

Features:

  • Calamares is now on the latest 3.3 branch. Its brings bugfixes and new features to calamares
  • TUI-Installer is now included in the GUI ISO, you can use it with “cachyos-installer”
  • Calamares does now auto detect, if the target filesystem is a ssd or hdd and adjust to it the fstab options
  • Nvidia for latest gpu’s (starting at 9xx) has now a own boot entry, to avoid issues with nouveau
  • fstab and zfs mount options got updated
  • FireFox won’t be installed as default anymore since cachy-browser is installed as default

Bug-fixes:

  • cachyos-gaming-meta has been removed from the netinstall module to avoid issues at the installation process
  • netinstall packages has been updated and got some fixes
  • OpenBox installation has been fixed
  • usual translation fixes

22.07

Features:

  • Boot-loader selection: User can now choose on the online installation between grub and systemd-boot
  • At online installation will now always the newest calamares installed, which helps to do bug fixes on the “air”
  • Calamares has now a mhwd module which automatically installs the needed drivers (free drivers)
  • Calamares has new picture slides at the installation
  • fstab and zfs mount options got updated
  • HiDPI support

Bug-fixes:

  • The locales bug in calamares got fixed
  • F2FS has been removed for the grub boot loader since it is currently not working (calamares issue), it can be still with systemd-boot used
  • Calamares shows now the correct default filesystem
  • Gnome ISO got fixed
  • Missing packages at the live ISO has been added for the offline installation
  • btrfs swap luksencryption got fixed
  • usual translation fixes

22.06

Following known bugs has been fixed:

  • Install failed when a generic CPU was used
  • KDE did automatically mount zfs paritions which resulted that the auto login into the ISO did not worked anymore

Improvements:

  • The firewall from the server has been corrected, cloudflare did blocked users as “bots”, which resulted then into a error at installing
  • Added theming support for Gnome, XFCE, OpenBox
  • Updated our wiki

CachyOS - Kernel - Manager
Also we are excited to announce our CachyOS-Kernel-Manager.
Their you have the possibility to install the kernel from the repo and also configure with a GUI your own kernel build which makes is very easy to customize it to his own suits.

Following options you can select for a kernel compile:

  • Scheduler (BMQ, BORE, cacULE, cfs, PDS, TT)
  • NUMA disabled or enabled
  • KBUILD CFLAGS (-O3 or -O2)
  • Set performance governor as default
  • Enable BBR2
  • Tickrate (500Hz, 600Hz, 750Hz, 1000Hz)
  • tickless (idle, perodic, full)
  • disable MQ-Deadline I/O Scheduler
  • disable Kyber I/O Scheduler
  • Enable or disable MG-LRU
  • Enable or disable DAMON
  • Enable or disable Speculative page fault
  • Enable or disable LRNG (Linux Random Number Generator)
  • Apply Kernel automatic Optimization (Does automatically detect your CPU March)
  • Apply Kernel Optimization slecting (You will see a list of different CPU-Marches and can select with a number yours)
  • Disable debug (it lowers the size of the kernel)
  • Enable or disable nf cone
  • Enable LTO (Full, Thin, No)

22.05

CachyOS was founded a year ago. After almost one year of development, we are really proud to announce our first Stable Release of GUI Installer.
We spent a lot of time investigating repo management, kernel development, infrastructure, theming, … and finally put them all into the CachyOS GUI Installer.
All the features we worked on and implemented into the Installer are just trying to offer users a completely customizable experience.

The most exciting changes are that we use now for the online install pacstrap which provide then a complete clear installed environment and we do support a complete native support for the zfs filesystem

Since Discord restrict the length of the messages the full announcement can be found here:

Download can be found here:
https://mirror.cachyos.org/ISO/kde/220522/