A new SCS On The Road episode has just arrived! Buckle up and join us as we take you along for the amazing Volvo Days: Influencer Day event, where we were invited by Volvo Construction Equipment.
After the last one two years ago, Volvo CE once again hosted its well-known Volvo Days event at their Customer Center in Eskilstuna, Sweden, showcasing its latest products to customers and the public.
This year, Volvo invited us to attend the event and also approached us to help connect them with content creators from our community to take part in the Influencer Day, held on May 28. Together, we joined fellow influencers such asGamekeepers_cz, TheNorthernAlex, Polmanzan, Iwona Blecharczyk, and others for a day that began with an amazing machine show and continued with hands-on experience operating Volvo CE equipment and Volvo trucks. Now, let's watch the episode!
We would like to extend a huge thank you to Volvo Construction Equipment and their staff for inviting us to this incredible event, providing great hospitality, and giving us the opportunity to experience their vast product line hands-on! You can find more information about the Volvo Days event here.
And if you would like to transport some Volvo CE machines in our games, you can check out the Volvo Construction Equipment DLC for Euro Truck Simulator 2 here, and for American Truck Simulator here.
The DistroWatch news feed is brought to you by TUXEDO COMPUTERS. Barry Kauler has announced the release of EasyOS 7.4. The new version focuses on polishing classic software options, providing X11 support, fixes for the ROX-filer file manager, and improving video playback by swapping out Celluloid for SMPlayer. "Version 7.4 is a 'milestone' release, consolidating EasyOS as supporting 'legacy'....
At the MiniDebConf Hamburg, Andrew Lee
had prepared a talk on how Debian accidentally chooses Go compatibility.
Helmut joined Tobias Quathammer and Andrew Lee in looking into the problem.
Go has a compatibility system where modules declare a desired Go version to be
compatible with. This influences various features such as whether RSA keys
smaller than 1024 bits are accepted. Unfortunately, Debian’s way of building Go
packages is unique in setting GO111MODULE=off, which practically implies a
very old compatibility version that enables a number of insecure settings. Most
Linux distributions use the default GO111MODULE=on and therefore consult a
go.mod file that often declares a sensible version. While doing so is the way
for Debian longer term, getting there involves major changes so we also sought
a more short term workaround. We developed a
patch to the Go compiler
that would enable it to pick up a compatibility version from the environment.
Tobias uploaded it to unstable. The next step is
communicating the declared compatibility version
from go.mod to the compiler via the new variable. Then, rebuilding the archive
resolves the immediate symptoms. This does not save us from having to perform
the larger transition to GO111MODULE=on, but this shortcut can be backported
to trixie.
Trimming build-essential, by Helmut Grohne
One of the harder problems of the architecture cross bootstrap is correctly
expressing the Build-Depends of glib during the toolchain bootstrap. It
implicitly depends on build-essential, which happens to depend on libc6-dev.
This poses a cycle. It applies even for cross building, because it is
interpreted for the host architecture and that there is no way of satisfying
this dependency during the toolchain bootstrap.
Given discussions at MiniDebConf Hamburg
with Jochen Sprickerhof and others, a seemingly stupid idea evolved: Let’s
delete build-essential. What looks insane on the surface might deserve a
second look. Given how we moved away from C, C++ and autotools, what is in
build-essential no longer is required by much of the archive. With the rise of
debputy, debian/rules no longer has to be a makefile. While the task would
be huge, those packages relevant to architecture bootstrap could explicitly
support building without the implied dependency making their dependencies
explicit. In a number of cases, this amounts to issuing a dependency on
g++-for-host. This dependency requires the use of architecture-prefixed tools.
Therefore, Helmut wrote a debhelper change
that makes it always pass build tools to various build systems. This also
enables more packages to honour environment variables such as CC and CXX.
Python upstream engagement, by Stefano Rivera
Stefano attended PyCon US (at personal expense)
to improve upstream relations and ensure Debian’s voice is heard where it needs
to be. On Friday there was a packaging summit
(notes) with good
discussion on the future of the wheel format, and some discussion of the new
abi3t shared library format for free-threaded python.
In preparation for the event, Stefano did a complete review of the current patch
stack.
Stefano’s primary goal was to get some of Debian’s patches merged during the
sprints, and results were mixed. Some trivial patches
(e.g. GH-150098, made progress
and merged, but the most consequential patch Debian is carrying
is still blocked. Stefano will
continue to try to drive progress on this.
Miscellaneous contributions
Carles worked on po-debconf-manager:
Reviewed Catalan translations for 6 packages, submitted 10 packages to
maintainers, and removed 3 packages from po-debconf-manager.
Carles worked on check-relations:
Continued improving the backend, including importing source package build
dependencies to better support analysis of Debian blends. Added support for
ignoring packages using regular expressions and source package names in response
to user feedback. Used the tool to report 5 new bugs and followed up on
previously reported issues.
Helmut sent a cross build patch on behalf of a customer.
Helmut uploaded debvm and guess_concurrency both featuring improved
reproducibility and documentation.
Helmut continued maintaining rebootstrap and made it correctly handle binNMUs
of gcc-defaults. Additionally, he poked at existing gcc patches giving answers,
rebasing or closing them.
Helmut supported the video team in Hamburg mixing audio.
Helmut continued to report undeclared file conflicts of various kinds and
corresponded with maintainers about them.
Antonio attended a debate during the Brazil Internet Forum
about the impacts of the child protection regulation (ECA Digital) on free
software operating systems.
Antonio worked on Debian CI to improve the system transparency for users. This
included listing any pending jobs explicitly in the job lists for each
package/architecture/suite page, as well as adding a
queue status page that users can check
for an estimate of test latency.
Antonio worked on several Debian CI maintenance tasks, including but not
limited to some monitoring improvements, replacing usage of fonts-font-awesome
with fonts-fork-awesome, and adding the ability in debci to configure a global
notice (which is being used in Debian CI to point to the system status pages).
Antonio started doing some tests related to the change of default Debian CI
backend from lxc to incus-lxc. This helped identify an omission in the creation
of incus-lxc images. It was missing dpkg-dev, which caused a few packages that
assumed its presence to fail. In the end, the incus-lxc backend will be fixed to
include dpkg-dev by default in the image, but that uncovered an undeclared
dependency in gem2deb (Ruby packaging helper) and in ruby-byebug, both
already fixed in unstable.
May included the discovery of several high-severity Linux kernel root
exploits. Stefano updated kernels and rebooted debian.social infrastructure
several times.
Stefano supported the Hamburg miniDebConf’s
wafer website during the event, and set up an instance
for the 2027 edition too.
Stefano supported the bursary team issuing bursaries for
DebConf 26.
Stefano uploaded routine updates of python-pip, pystemmer, snowball-data,
snowball (making up a mini, uncoordinated snowball transition),
python-authlib, python-discovery, python-installer, python-mitogen,
python-pipx, python-cachecontrol, platformdirs, and python-virtualenv.
Stefano fixed a small number of bugs in dh-python, culminating in the
7.20260524 upload.
Thorsten finally managed to upload a new upstream version of hplip. He also
uploaded a new upstream version of epson-inkjet-printer-escpr. Last but not
least with the help of other contributors he could fix bugs in lprng.
Lucas and Santiago contributed significantly to the DebConf 26 Content team;
helping to organize the team, review and rate talk proposals.
Lucas also supported a packaging sprint held in India by rebuilding and
publishing the latest results of the Ruby 3.4 transition effort.
Santiago continued contributing to the efforts to organize DebConf 26,
especially supporting the local team with different tasks.
In collaboration with Emmanuel Arias, Santiago is mentoring Aryan Karamtoth,
a GSoC participant that is working to introduce linux live-patching support in
Debian. The GSoC project started in May, with community bonding and coding.
Santiago reviewed a merge request
to prepare the clang-extract package for debian. clang-extract is one of the
building blocks that will help to extract specific functions from large C code,
so only relevant code can be patched, without recompiling the whole original
basecode.
Anupa assisted Jean-Pierre Giraud with the point release announcements for
Debian 13.5 and Debian 12.14.
Colin backported various security fixes from OpenSSH 10.3 to all supported
releases (including LTS and ELTS).
Colin backported IP quality-of-service fixes to OpenSSH in trixie. The
situation there had been unsatisfactory for some time, and upstream reworked
their QoS support in OpenSSH 10.1 in a way that typically produces much better
results.
Colin imported new upstream versions of 26 Python packages, and fixed around
25 RC bugs for the Python team.
Quick note to share that rbenchmark
is back on CRAN! The rbenchmark
package makes it easy to benchmark (and compare) simple R
expressions.
This package has been on CRAN for many years. At one point
fourteen years ago it appeared to be rudderless so I offered help but
things realigned. Now it was just tossed off CRAN, taking a number of packages
depending on it with it (as shown in this CRANberries
skeet listing a set of removed packages) so I offered again to help,
and CRAN agreed. So here we
are.
So far I just made a number of small ‘editing’ changes, added CI
support, and enable dbsr-universe coverage . I do not expect to change
the package materially. So far the package has no NEWS file either so
maybe glance at the ChangeLog
at the git
repo.
The DistroWatch news feed is brought to you by TUXEDO COMPUTERS. This week in DistroWatch Weekly:
Review: RakuOS 44 and TROMjaro 2026.05.08
News: Ubuntu MATE updates status of distribution, Asahi Linux fixes dual-boot issue with MacOS 27, Antergos gets new life, Arch Linux suffers repeat incidents in AUR repository
Questions and answers: Setting variables across multiple shells
Released last....
This version contains security fixes, it is recommended to update to this version immediately.
Important
If you are using Part-DB it would be helpful if you fill out this short survey on your usage of Part-DB (Google Forms): https://forms.gle/Q15twx3YYq3qCNfe8
Part-DB 2.12.2
Security fixes
MEDIUM: Fixed XSS vulnerability in project BOM import
MEDIUM: Fixed XSS vulnerability in project BOM table
Fixed problem that sidebar hide state was not persisted over page reloads (PR #1404, @d-buchmann)
Do not log deprecations as the files can quickly get very large, old behavior can be reenabled via env setting. This might also give a small performance boost (fixes #1405)
UNAM’s El Carro de
Comedias is an
itinerant theater company that often presents in this same spot (but you
can see the stage is foldable, and they do have presentations elsewhere, of
this same play even). I went with my family, and we enjoyed a very fun
adaptation of this great play (written by teenager Alfred Jarry in
1894). One of those plays that could be inspired any day by current
geopolitical events…
I know most of the people that happen to stumble upon my blog are not in
Mexico City. But if you happen to be here, do consider going to their
function. Check their
schedule;
being it an itinerating show, they can also be found at other places, but
they are scheduled at the same place we saw them, every Saturday and Sunday
until June 28, 11:00AM. They mentioned they will likely continue during
August, but AFAICT it is not confirmed (or, at least, announced) yet.
Some pics, shot randomly by me throughout the play:
Two weeks ago, we had the pleasure of opening our doors to the public as part of the Open House Praha Festival, welcoming visitors to our headquarters in Prague. As a festival dedicated to architecture, urbanism, and exceptional spaces that are not normally accessible to the public, Open House Praha offers a unique opportunity to explore some of the city's most interesting buildings and interiors.
As the first tenant of the Roztyly Plaza office building in Chodov, awarded Building of the Year 2024, we were proud to take part in this event and share our workplace with visitors. Throughout the weekend, guests joined guided tours across our offices, discovering not only where we create our games but also the architectural and technological solutions that make this space unique.
Designed by Studio Perspektiv, our offices span several floors and are built around the concept of an adventurous journey through a microworld where nature and technology intertwine. During the tours, visitors learnt more about the architectural vision behind the interior design, as well as the technical aspects of the workspace, including its acoustic design, ventilation systems, and the solutions implemented to create a comfortable and inspiring environment for our teams.
Guests were also able to explore many of the facilities available to employees, including the fitness center, rooms dedicated to massages and meditation, spaces for board games, and even our own movie theater. One of the most striking features of the interior is the monumental red staircase known as Diamant, which connects all three floors of the company and serves as a central architectural element of the space.
Alongside the architectural and technical aspects of the offices, we were happy to share more about SCS Software, our projects, and the work that takes place within these spaces every day. It was a pleasure to meet so many visitors, answer their questions, and showcase the environment where our teams collaborate and create.
A big thank you goes out to everyone who stopped by, as well as to the organizers of Open House Praha for making this event possible. We truly enjoyed welcoming you to our offices and sharing this experience with you.
If you weren't able to visit us during Open House Praha, or would simply like to take another look around, you can explore our offices virtually through Google Street View.
My youngest daughter and I recently started playing the tabletop game
HeroQuest. Specifically, the recently-issued, cut-down variant
HeroQuest: First Light. This is quite advanced for her age, and I'm
a little surprised she's taken to it, but she's really loving it,
It's pushed her to read bits of lore on cards and quest books that is
way above her expected reading level, and we've been exercising her
maths by adding up the gold we find on our quests and calculating what
the heroes can buy with it in the store afterwards.
Originally from 1989,
Hasbro re-issued HeroQuest in 2020. I read about it at the time but didn't
buy it. I wasn't
sure who I would play it with. It also seemed expensive to me. It probably
wasn't unusually expensive in 2020, nor now, for the sheer volume of
finely-sculpted miniatures included.
I also knew I had the original game in the loft, and
I wasn't that keen on buying something I already had,
although untangling the contents from several similar boxed games would
take me many hours, and I wasn't sure how much of the game I would find.
mix of old and new
First Light was compelling because it is much, much cheaper than the full
remake, so I was happy
to take a punt. It's cheaper because it doesn't have any plastic monsters or
furniture: instead cardboard cut-outs that stand up on plastic stands. For us,
that is a significant drawback: 3D miniatures are much more immersive, But I
can re-use the plastic miniatures I can find from the original game. First
Light has a newly written adventure, better suited to beginners than the
original game.
The re-issue(s) have new art and new model sculpts that look fantastic. They've
changed anything which tied into Games Workshop's IP and I'm really happy about
that. They've made an effort to add women, almost entirely absent from the
original. I'm certain my daughter wouldn't have tried it otherwise.
For almost two decades, the PackageKit package management abstraction layer has shipped with pkcon as its command-line client. pkcon does its job, but it was always kind of a “testing” front-end for the PackageKit daemon rather than a tool designed for everyday use. The focus has instead been on the GUI tools, automatic system updates, GUI application managers and other front-ends. Its command names mirror the D-Bus API almost one-to-one (get-details, get-updates, get-depends), output is very plain, and there is no machine-readable mode for scripting. Most importantly though, there has been no development on it at all for almost a decade, so pkcon was stuck in its rudimentary state from that era.
Since a lot of changes will be coming to PackageKit, and testing the daemon and working with it from the command-line was not very pleasant anymore in 2025/2026, I decided to modernize the tool as part of my work as fellow for the Sovereign Tech Agency last year. pkgcli is the new command-line client for PackageKit. It is built from the ground up to be pleasant to use interactively and easy to drive from scripts.
Why a new tool?
Of course, instead of introducing a new tool, I could have just expanded pkcon instead. The problem with that approach is that the pkcon utility has been around for so long and its command-line API had ossified so much, that rather than changing it and potentially breaking a lot of scripts relying on its quirks, I decided to introduce a new tool instead. pkcon can still be optionally compiled for people who need it in their scripts and workflows.
The goals for pkgcli, and the features it now has are:
Human-friendly command names. Verbs that read the way you’d describe the task, instead of mirroring the D-Bus API 1:1: show, search, list-updates, what-provides, instead of get-details and friends.
Readable, colored output by default (still respecting NO_COLOR and degrading gracefully).
A real scripting mode. A global --json flag emits JSONL instead of fully human-readable output when possible, to make it easier to use the tool for scripting purposes.
Sensible defaults. A few defaults have been changed, such as the metadata cache-age, or automatic cleanup of unused dependencies being enabled by default. This is more in line with current defaults by other tools and frontends. We also print package information in a slightly different, more readable way.
Better handling of internationalized text. Text should now align properly in the terminal window, and we should no longer have completely chaotic text output on non-English locales (especially Chinese/Japanese).
Why not pkgctl?
Originally, this tool was called pkgctl, to match other common cross-distro tool names. However, that name was already taken by an Arch-specific distro development tool. When this issue was raised, we decided to just rename our tool to pkgcli with the next release, to avoid the name clash on Arch Linux.
Examples!
Here are some examples on how to use the new tool (some of which include the abridged output pkgcli prints).
Search for anything containing the string “editor” in name or description, then look at the details of one result:
$ pkgcli search editor
Querying [████████████████████████████████████████] 100%
▣ace-of-penguins1.5~rc2-7.amd64 [debian-testing-main]
▣acorn-fdisk3.0.6-14.amd64 [debian-testing-main]
▣ardour1:9.2.0+ds-1.amd64 [debian-testing-main]
✔audacity3.7.7+dfsg-1.amd64 [manual:debian-testing-main]
✔audacity-data3.7.7+dfsg-1.all [auto:debian-testing-main]
▣augeas-tools1.14.1-1.1.amd64 [debian-testing-main]
▣emacs1:30.2+1-3.all [debian-testing-main]
▣gedit48.1-9+b1.amd64 [debian-testing-main]
▣gedit-common48.1-9.all [debian-testing-main]
▣gedit-dev48.1-9+b1.amd64 [debian-testing-main]
[...]
$ pkgcli show nano
Package: nano
Version: 9.0-1
Summary: small, friendly text editor inspired by Pico
Description: GNU nano is an easy-to-use text editor originally designed as
a replacement for Pico, the ncurses-based editor from the non-free mailer
package Pine.
[...]
URL: https://www.nano-editor.org/
Group: publishing
Installed Size: 2.9 MB
Download Size: 646.0 KB
Search only within package names rather than descriptions:
$ pkgcli search name python3
Check for updates. refresh updates the metadata, then list-updates reports what’s available:
You can also have JSON output for most commands! Attach --json to any query and pipe the result straight into jq. Each line is a self-contained JSON object:
pkgcli is built by default alongside the rest of PackageKit since PackageKit 1.3.4. If your distribution ships a recent enough PackageKit, it should already be on your PATH. You can read its man page man pkgcli for more information. Feedback, bug reports, and patches are very welcome.
Expanding American Truck Simulator into Canada is much more than just adding new roads and cities. As our teams work on bringing British Columbia, our first Canadian province to ATS, a lot of work is taking place behind the scenes to ensure it feels authentic and recognizable.
From unique architecture and roadside infrastructure to region-specific environmental details, creating a believable Canadian setting requires a lot of effort. To learn more about the process, we spoke with Wety, one of our Map Designer on the British Columbia DLC, who is responsible for coordinating many of the generic assets that will help bring the province to life.
Could you introduce yourself to our readers and tell us a little about your role on the British Columbia DLC?
"Hi! I'm Wety, and I've been working as a Map Designer on Davido's team for the past five years. I joined SCS as a junior map designer with no previous experience in game development, but with a huge passion for video games. I've loved games ever since I was a kid playing DooM on a 486 PC.
Alongside building parts of the map itself, many designers also take on additional responsibilities. Some focus on vegetation and biomes, while others specialize in roads and intersections. My area of responsibility is generic assets, which means helping identify, plan, and coordinate the assets that will be used throughout a DLC."
For players who may not be familiar with the term, what exactly are generic assets?
"In game development, assets are essentially everything the game is made from. Buildings, roads, vehicles, trees, sound effects, animations, and much more all fall under that category. Generic assets are assets that can be reused multiple times across different locations. Things like houses, small stores, power lines, trash bins, and countless other environmental details. Their purpose is to reduce development time while still creating a believable world. If every object in the game had to be unique, it would take an incredibly long time to build a map of this scale."
British Columbia is our first Canadian province in American Truck Simulator. From your perspective, what are some of the biggest visual differences between Canada and the United States that players will notice?
"One of the first things that stood out to me is how much the landscape is dominated by mountains. In British Columbia, it often feels like you're constantly surrounded by them. While there are mountainous regions in the United States as well, the areas I worked on previously didn't have quite the same feeling.
The southern part of the province still has some similarities to the American landscapes players may be familiar with, but further north and inland, the scenery becomes distinctly Canadian. Another thing I noticed is how bike-friendly many Canadian communities are. Dedicated bicycle lanes and cycling infrastructure are everywhere, and they quickly become a recognizable part of the environment."
How many new generic assets are being created specifically for British Columbia?
"Players will encounter around 130 new models throughout cities and rural areas, along with roughly 40 additional assets created specifically for depots and ferry terminals. We're also introducing several decorative Canadian-themed brands to help strengthen the province's identity, with around 14 new brands planned alongside numerous smaller advertisements and environmental details."
How does the creation process work, and how do you decide which assets should be made?
"The process starts with our Research Team. They travel through the region and identify things that appear frequently enough to justify creating dedicated assets for them. After that, I review the list together with other map designers and the DLC Lead. At this stage, we already need a fairly good idea of how the map will look so we can prioritize assets that will actually be used.
We also check whether similar assets already exist from previous DLCs and can be reused. Once we've decided what needs to be created, we prepare documentation for our Asset Team. This includes reference photos, approximate dimensions, colour variations, and other important details. Then our talented 3D artists work their magic. Afterwards, we review the finished assets, provide any necessary feedback, and once everything looks right, they're ready to be placed in the map." How closely do you work with the Asset Team throughout development?
"Ideally, not too much! That might sound strange, but it usually means everything is progressing smoothly. Once the initial documentation is prepared, the Asset Team generally has everything they need. Of course, questions still come up from time to time. Sometimes they need clarification on a specific detail, and occasionally we realize we've overlooked something and request additional assets later in development. It's very much a collaborative process."
Can you share a few examples of new assets that really help capture the character of British Columbia?
"One of my favourite examples is the Canadian bear-resistant trash bins you'll find throughout the province. They're designed so people can open them easily, but bears cannot. They're a small detail, but they instantly help establish a sense of place. Another great example would be the dry toilets commonly found at rest areas and recreational sites.
They're surprisingly distinctive and appear throughout British Columbia. I also really like some of the new residential houses we've created. Many feature steeply sloped roofs designed to prevent heavy snowfall from accumulating during winter. It's a practical design choice that immediately gives the architecture a distinctly Canadian feel."
You had the opportunity to visit British Columbia for research. What were some of your biggest takeaways from seeing the province in person?
"What impressed me most was how much nature dictates everything. In many parts of the United States, towns and roads can spread across relatively flat terrain, making straight roads and grid-like layouts common. British Columbia is very different. Roads often follow rivers, valleys, and mountain passes because that's simply where the terrain allows them to exist. As a result, roads constantly rise, fall, twist, and turn. It creates some incredible scenery, but it also makes recreating the region much more challenging from a map-building perspective."
Were there any locations, towns, or details that immediately stood out to you?
"My favourite place we visited was Whistler. Many people know it as the mountain resort that hosted events during the 2010 Winter Olympics and Paralympic Games, but it's also simply a beautiful place surrounded by spectacular mountains and forests. The entire area has a unique atmosphere, and it's easy to see why it's such a popular destination. It was memorable for another reason too, I ended up buying a hat there after accidentally sunburning my bald head while we were in Vancouver!"
How important is real-world research when creating assets and making a region feel authentic?
"It gives you perspective. A lot of details that you see in photos or videos don't seem significant at first. But then you're there, trying to get rid of some trash, and you find one of these anti-bear trash bins that resists your attempts to open it. Then you realize why, and it all makes sense. Suddenly, you know those big boys are in the forests around you."
Or you have to almost get hit and yelled at by a cyclist on a sidewalk to realise that those lines are for bicycles, and that people take them there seriously. And all those mountains you can see in pictures? In real life, they're way bigger than you can even imagine.
When players first hit the road in British Columbia, what details should they keep an eye out for?
"Beyond the obvious road-related additions such as new crash barriers, reflective posts, and road markings, players should pay attention to the architecture and agricultural areas. You'll encounter new apartment buildings and residential neighbourhoods inspired by the suburbs surrounding Vancouver, as well as large fruit farms complete with distinctive farmhouses and hacienda-style buildings.
Players may also spot wind machines used to protect crops from freezing temperatures, a detail commonly found in orchard regions. Another familiar sight making a return with a new look are the towering grain elevators that stand as landmarks across the landscape. One of these will be located very close to the border and should be easy to spot during your travels. And of course, don't forget to watch for the large 'Welcome to British Columbia' signs when entering the province." Finally, what are you most excited for players to experience when they explore British Columbia for the first time?
"More than anything, I hope players enjoy it. We can spend countless hours researching, building, and refining every detail, but ultimately what matters most is whether players have fun driving through the world we've created. So I simply hope everyone has a great time truckin' through British Columbia."
We'd like to thank Wety for taking the time to share the work that goes into creating the assets that help define a region's identity. We hope you've enjoyed this behind-the-scenes look at the process and perhaps learned a thing or two along the way! If you'd like to see more articles like this, be sure to leave a comment and let us know what other topics you'd like us to explore.
We look forward to sharing more from the British Columbia DLC in the future. If you're excited for this new region, be sure to add it to your Steam Wishlist! Until then, keep on truckin'!
The DistroWatch news feed is brought to you by TUXEDO COMPUTERS. The AnduinOS team has announced the availability of a development snapshot of AnduinOS 2.0.0, the upcoming major update of the project's Ubuntu-based Linux distribution featuring a highly customised GNOME desktop. This version is derived from the long-term supported Ubuntu 26.04: "Today, AIURSOFT Limited is thrilled to announce the....
In the process of preparing a major Ubuntu Touch release (v24.04-2.0, coming soon...) we will also update Ayatana Indicators in Ubuntu Touch.
Last week various new features have been added to some of the indicators (toggle switch to keep the display switched on permanently, blue tooth pairing agent, redesign of the keyboard indicator, etc.) and those changes require translation updates.
If you can, please visit [1] this weekend and help translating Ayatana Indicators into your native language. Thanks so much!!!
I have been looking at seL4 some more recently, and had a small
patch
merged today to remove a legacy Python module from a helper script.
(I was trying to run the script on a system without that module
installed, and it was almost easier to patch it out.)
However, the more I think about this code and how it’s used, the more
it seems wrong on at least five other levels.
The patch itself is quite uninteresting; this script was importing the
past module (part of future?) to use the xrange function.
Python 2 used to have separate xrange and range functions, where
range returned a list in memory while xrange generated an
iterator. Because this seL4 script is iterating over a large range of
values, it’s important the list is not generated in-memory. But
Python 3 removed the xrange function and just has range return an
object, so it’s trivial to avoid the module import.
Having thought carefully some more about the specific line, there’s
surely an off-by-one error in it - range iterates over 0 to n-1, so
this line shouldn’t be subtracting one if it’s looking to test all
32-bit values:
for i in range(2**32-1):
But then again, this is being used for a ‘sanity check’ of a magic bit
shift algorithm that speeds up division operations to convert CPU
ticks to microseconds on 32-bit arm platforms. Surely if the
algorithm’s good, it shouldn’t be necessary to validate it
exhaustively against every possible 32-bit value?
Also, 32 bits isn’t enough, because this is 64-bit division.
include/api/types.h shows that ticks_t is always a uint64_t, so
if this were a proof by exhaustion it should run to 2**64 (though that
would take infeasibly long).
As discussed in issue
#1352, lots of people have
been running this code with the wrong divisor anyway. But because the
bit shift path is only used on 32-bit platforms, it’s not clear to me
that there’s even any point in specifying CLK_SHIFT/MAGIC on platforms
which are 64-bit only (e.g. the tx2 port).
And to follow this rabbit hole to the very end, in comments on PR
#1435
and issue #1509 it’s clear
that the future of this code is to remove it, as it’s 1. unnecessarily
clever (on 64-bit platforms the equivalent code just uses a division,
so performance can’t be that important), and 2. the entire concept of
converting to microseconds breaks the seL4 principle of not
abstracting away details of the hardware.
So this has left me unclear on whether my small patch was a good thing
or not, but I certainly learnt something about this corner of seL4
timer handling. And I’ve ordered a copy of “Hacker’s Delight” on the
recommendation of a code comment.
Our #BestCommunityEver, today we'd like to share with you an early look at a feature currently in development for both Euro Truck Simulator 2 and American Truck Simulator, known internally as the Multi-Function Display (MFD).
As many of you know, over the years, both games have continued to grow with new systems, gameplay features, assists, vehicle options, and controls. While this has allowed players to tailor their experience in a variety of ways, it has also gradually increased the amount of information, shortcuts, and menus players need to manage on the road.
With the MFD, our goal is to create a more unified and intuitive way to access vehicle functions directly in-game, without needing to interrupt your experience or remember dozens of key-binds.
Introducing the Multi-Function Display
The MFD is an in-game interface accessible from both interior and exterior camera views. From there, you can quickly navigate through various categories and vehicle systems such as driving assists, lighting controls, vehicle adjustments, media functions, trip information, and more.
One of the main goals of this feature is to reduce interruptions while accessing vehicle systems and information. In most situations, opening the MFD will not pause gameplay, and vehicle controls will remain responsive during interaction.
At the same time, we know usability and minimising distraction are extremely important. So, a lot of our work during prototyping and testing is focused on making sure the system feels quick, readable, and comfortable to use. We’ve also drawn inspiration from modern vehicle interfaces in an effort to create a more believable menu, while still keeping quick access to some of the more abstract gameplay settings for convenience.
Designed Around Accessibility and Discoverability
Another important goal behind this feature is discoverability.
Over time, ETS2 and ATS have accumulated a very large number of functions and controls that many players may never fully discover or use. The MFD is intended to help surface these systems more naturally by presenting available functions together in-context, while also displaying their related key-binds directly within the menu.
This does not mean we expect every player to suddenly change the way they interact with the game overnight. Some players prefer using dedicated key-binds and muscle memory, and those methods will continue to remain important. Instead, we see the MFD as an additional layer that can make operating your vehicle easier and more approachable, especially as both games continue to evolve.
Different control setups are also something we are carefully considering throughout development. The MFD is being designed to support keyboard, mouse, wheel, and controller users alike, with customisable navigation controls.
Building on Recent Interface Improvements
The MFD has been part of a vision to improve the overall in-game driving interface and accessibility of vehicle systems for quite some time. At the same time, we know recent interface-related changes have sparked a lot of discussion within the community, and many of your comments and observations have helped shape internal conversations about where improvements can still be made.
This ongoing feedback has already led to several additions to the updated Route Advisor. Since its release, we have introduced a Damage Widget displaying truck, trailer, and cargo condition, a Finances Widget for tracking your company savings and income, and, with 1.60, a Job Info Widget with details about your current delivery, each of which may be individually hidden.
We are also reworking the Quick Info menu to better align with other in-game interfaces and reflect community feedback. Our current direction is focused on creating a simpler layout that does not obstruct the view while still allowing quick access to functions such as the controls layout, widget settings, Photo Mode, and Services and Adjustments. Functions related to Services and Adjustments are also being integrated into the MFD, allowing players to access them from either interface.
These are relatively small additions on their own, but they're part of a much larger ongoing effort to improve usability, information access, and customisation while driving. We know there is still more work ahead, and we are continuing to explore further improvements and adjustments throughout development.
That is also one of the reasons we wanted to begin sharing this feature earlier in its development process.
Still a Work in Progress
The MFD is still in active prototyping. While the core direction and functionality are already taking shape, many details may continue to evolve as we conduct further internal testing and gather feedback during later stages of development.
We are very excited about the possibilities this system opens up, not only for trucks, but eventually for other vehicle types as well.
As always, we look forward to hearing your constructive thoughts once the time comes to put the feature into your hands. Until then, we hope you enjoyed this early look at what is currently being worked on behind the scenes.
26.2 Release Candidate 2 (known as 26.2-rc-2 in the launcher) is the second release candidate for Java Edition 26.2, released on June 12, 2026, which fixes a softlocking issue with sulfur cubes.
Full changelog: https://minecraft.wiki/Java_Edition_26.2-rc-2
Added keyboard-editable date entry directly in the datetime field. The field shows its formatted value at rest and swaps to editable date segments on focus, while a calendar button still opens the picker popup. (#27693 by @robluton)
Added inline editing support to the JSON repeater interface. (#26863 by @bryantgillespie)
Fixed license modals being impossible to dismiss when shown above a route drawer (e.g. field detail pages) by keeping dialog focus traps stacked in visual order, and scoped license dismissal cookies to the whole app so dismissals persist across navigation (#27714 by @dstockton)
@directus/api
Fixed revision snapshots being assigned to the wrong items during batch updates when read order differs (#27407 by @luciemdx)
The Extended Stable channel has been updated to 148.0.7778.265for Windows and Mac which will roll out over the coming days/weeks.
A full list of changes in this build is available in the log. Interested in switching release channels? Find out how here. If you find a new issue, please let us know by filing a bug. The community help forum is also a great place to reach out for help or learn about common issues.
The Stable channel has been updated to 149.0.7827.114/.115 for Windows andMac and 149.0.7827.114 for Linux, which will roll out over the coming days/weeks. A full list of changes in this build is available in the Log
Security Fixes and Rewards
Note: Access to bug details and links may be kept restricted until a majority of users are updated with a fix. We will also retain restrictions if the bug exists in a third party library that other projects similarly depend on, but haven’t yet fixed.
This update includes 28 security fixes. Below, we highlight fixes that were contributed by external researchers. Please see the Chrome Security Page for more information.
[N/A][516731749] Critical CVE-2026-12007: Use after free Core. Reported by Google on 2026-05-26
[N/A][516942828] Critical CVE-2026-12008: Use after free DigitalCredentials. Reported by Google on 2026-05-27
[N/A][517332006] Critical CVE-2026-12009: Insufficient validation of untrusted input Accessibility. Reported by Google on 2026-05-28
[N/A][517531647] Critical CVE-2026-12010: Heap buffer overflow GPU. Reported by Google on 2026-05-28
[N/A][518108291] Critical CVE-2026-12011: Use after free WebMIDI. Reported by Google on 2026-05-30
[N/A][499182801] High CVE-2026-12012: Use after free Network. Reported by Google on 2026-04-03
[TBD][514229805] High CVE-2026-12013: Use after free Media. Reported by Henock Habte, Independent Security Researcher on 2026-05-18
[N/A][514742747] High CVE-2026-12014: Use after free Cast. Reported by Google on 2026-05-19
[N/A][515463295] High CVE-2026-12015: Use after free Autofill. Reported by Google on 2026-05-21
[N/A][516482138] High CVE-2026-12016: Insufficient validation of untrusted input DevTools. Reported by Google on 2026-05-25
[N/A][516797143] High CVE-2026-12017: Insufficient validation of untrusted input Extensions. Reported by Google on 2026-05-26
[N/A][516808201] High CVE-2026-12018: Inappropriate implementation Mojo. Reported by Google on 2026-05-26
[N/A][516872067] High CVE-2026-12019: Out of bounds write Codecs. Reported by Google on 2026-05-26
[N/A][516907083] High CVE-2026-12020: Use after free Autofill. Reported by Google on 2026-05-27
[N/A][516929496] High CVE-2026-12022: Race Safe Browsing. Reported by Google on 2026-05-27
[N/A][517018374] High CVE-2026-12023: Use after free GPU. Reported by Google on 2026-05-27
[N/A][517086161] High CVE-2026-12024: Insufficient policy enforcement DevTools. Reported by Google on 2026-05-27
[N/A][517153191] High CVE-2026-12025: Insufficient validation of untrusted input Network. Reported by Google on 2026-05-27
[N/A][517347084] High CVE-2026-12026: Out of bounds read Video. Reported by Google on 2026-05-28
[N/A][517517155] High CVE-2026-12027: Insufficient policy enforcement Headless. Reported by Google on 2026-05-28
[N/A][517555461] High CVE-2026-12028: Use after free GPU. Reported by Google on 2026-05-28
[N/A][518002958] High CVE-2026-12029: Use after free Video. Reported by Google on 2026-05-29
[N/A][518007423] High CVE-2026-12030: Heap buffer overflow GPU. Reported by Google on 2026-05-29
[N/A][518045638] High CVE-2026-12031: Inappropriate implementation Views. Reported by Google on 2026-05-30
[N/A][518128953] High CVE-2026-12032: Inappropriate implementation Passwords. Reported by Google on 2026-05-30
[N/A][519248779] High CVE-2026-12033: Out of bounds read VideoCapture. Reported by Google on 2026-06-02
[N/A][519258799] High CVE-2026-12034: Insufficient validation of untrusted input Linux Toolkit Theming. Reported by Google on 2026-06-02
[N/A][520210566] High CVE-2026-12035: Use after free Views. Reported by Google on 2026-06-05
We would also like to thank all security researchers that worked with us during the development cycle to prevent security bugs from ever reaching the stable channel.
Interested in switching release channels? Find out howhere. If you find a new issue, please let us know byfiling a bug. Thecommunity help forum is also a great place to reach out for help or learn about common issues.
The DistroWatch news feed is brought to you by TUXEDO COMPUTERS. Gaming Linux FR has announced the release of GLF OS Quasar, a major update of the project's NixOS-based distribution focused on gaming. This version updates the GNOME desktop to version 50 and introduces numerous enhancements: "Based on NixOS 26.05, Quasar delivers a major update to the GLF OS....
Behind every new feature in our games is a dedicated team of talented people working together to bring ideas to life. In this special edition of our Meet the Team, we'd like to introduce some of the people who have been instrumental in creating Game Radio, from the earliest concepts to its implementation in both Euro Truck Simulator 2 and American Truck Simulator.
Mrazik - Producer
"During our console development efforts, I've quickly realised that the game's soundscape is an underexplored territory within our games. There's a saying that 'sound is half of the picture', and especially when you're chilling out with a controller in hand, you appreciate a well-tailored musical experience smoothly integrated into the game. I have made it my personal challenge to tackle this effort and venture into the unknown, forming a vision and a team to deliver a result I would personally love as a player myself, and I'm extremely proud of everyone who fell in love with the idea and helped make it a reality.
We've got many plans on how to develop the radio platform in the future, and this is just the starting line. I genuinely hope you love the end result as much as I do, because every road trip is better with a soundtrack!"
Damiana - Radio Producer & Audio Designer
"Before joining SCS Software, I spent over five years shaping the sonic identity of Czech Radio podcasts as a sound designer, composer, and co-editor. When I got the opportunity to bring that experience to SCS nine months ago as Radio Producer & Audio Designer and to lead the Game Radio project, it was a no-brainer.
As someone who lives and breathes music, I know how much a single song can change an experience. It sets the mood, triggers unexpected emotions, and makes a fictional world feel real. That mindset naturally carried over to SCS, where I took full creative ownership of the in-game radio stations from the ground up. I’m responsible for defining each station’s brand and sonic identity, curating and processing music for in-game use, and coordinating closely with the whole team (who are amazing, by the way) to make every frequency feel alive.
I’m incredibly excited to hear feedback from the community and to keep building the next chapter of our game’s radio world."
Zuzka - Junior Game Designer
"Hi, truckers! My name is Zuzka, and I’ve been working at SCS Software for almost three years now. I started out as a 2D graphic designer, then moved on to leading the 2D branding team for ATS, and finally landed my current position as a UX game designer. In this role, I took on the task of creating Game Radio. In addition to designing the behaviour of the feature and solving all related issues, I also helped establish guidelines for the creation of the visual identity of each Game Radio station, so I had the opportunity to combine my skills as a UX designer with my graphic design background. All of this has been done with the support of an enthusiastic team of great colleagues who did their very best to bring you an enjoyable experience.
I hope you will love Game Radio as much as we do! Rest assured that the development of the radio is just getting started with this update, and we have plenty of exciting ideas in store for you."
Raivis - Junior Programmer
"I've been at SCS for almost two years now, though it really doesn't feel that long. During this time, I've worked as a programmer on various features, both for the game itself and for the supporting tools.
These past few months, I've been the main programmer for Game Radio, which was exciting because I got to create something new, not just tweak an existing feature, although there were plenty of things that needed to be changed for existing stuff as well.
As for the future, I'm excited for what we have planned for this feature, and I can't wait to work on it."
Petr - Console & UI/UX QA Lead
"Hi, my name is Petr, and I've been part of SCS Software for five and a half years. During the development of Game Radio, I worked closely with our Game Design team, brainstorming what we wanted the radio feature to offer and how we could improve the overall user experience. I also helped coordinate production efforts, organised internal playtesting sessions across the company, and participated in functional testing to ensure everything worked as intended.
Throughout development, I gathered a lot of valuable feedback from both our colleagues at SCS and members of the community on social media. Seeing people's reactions and suggestions has been incredibly rewarding, and I'm excited about the future of Game Radio and the opportunities we have to continue expanding the feature with new ideas and improvements."
Misha - Researcher
"My name is Misha, and I've been working at SCS Software for the past 3 years as a researcher, with my biggest project so far being the British Columbia DLC. For the radio feature, alongside research, I've mainly focused on building the identities of the radio stations - defining their philosophy, values, and overall creative direction.
What I enjoy most about this work is turning a large amount of ideas and research into something clear and meaningful. The process can feel chaotic at first, but over time, each station develops its own distinct personality, which then shapes everything from the visual identity to the content itself.
Outside of work, my two biggest passions are composing music and playing video games, so working on the radio feature has been an ideal combination of both worlds for me. I'm really excited for players to experience our in-game world while listening to the new radio stations we've been creating!"
Ales - Junior Producer
"Hi, I’m Aleš, and July marks my first completed year onboard the SCS truck. Prior to working here, I dedicated my working efforts in the gaming industry to community management, PR, and marketing. In SCS, I have the privilege to explore possibilities of being a producer, which I very much enjoy. Generally, I focus on the production of map DLCs for American Truck Simulator, but as a producer, I have the option to try to lend a helping hand to various projects, such as Game Radio.
Unlike other members of the team, my contribution was mostly indirect, focusing on operational support, coordination of tasks and meetings, and overall team progress.
I am very much looking forward to any endeavours of Game Radio, since, in my honest opinion, it has huge potential to add a nice melodic flavour to further enhance the experience of driving the roads of Euro Truck Simulator 2 and American Truck Simulator."
Karina - 2D Graphic Designer
"My journey with SCS Software started almost five years ago, back when I was still a university student. Since then, I’ve become a 2D artist and had the opportunity to work with the 2D design team on the branding for the in-game radio stations. We especially enjoyed this unique task because each station had its own atmosphere and visual style that we needed to capture. It was a refreshing change from our usual routine, and I’m really looking forward to seeing the stations become part of the game."
We hope you've enjoyed getting to know some of the talented people who helped bring Game Radio to life. Features like this are the result of collaboration across multiple departments, and we're always proud to shine a spotlight on the individuals whose passion and expertise make them possible.
Game Radio will make its debut in update 1.60 for both Euro Truck Simulator 2 and American Truck Simulator, and we can't wait for you to experience it for yourself. We'd like to thank everyone involved in the project for sharing their insights, and we hope this behind-the-scenes look has given you a deeper appreciation for the work that goes into every update. You can find out more about Game Radio here.
As always, thank you for your continued support, and be sure to let us know what you think once you hit the road with Game Radio. Don’t forget to follow us on X, Instagram, Facebook, and Bluesky, and subscribe to our newsletter. Until next time, keep on truckin'!
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