SparkyLinux has officially launched version 2025.12, codenamed "Tiamat," based on the Debian Testing/Forky repositories as of December 14th, 2025. This release is part of their semi-rolling distribution series and comes with the default Linux kernel version 6.17.11. Users can also install the newly released Linux 6.18 from Sparky’s software repositories, alongside long-term support (LTS) kernels like 6.12 and 6.6.
The latest version also brings updates to the bootloader, which is now Grub 2.14~git20250718. Users will find Mozilla Firefox 140.5.0 ESR as the default web browser, with the option to update to Firefox 146 through the repositories, and Mozilla Thunderbird 140.5.0 ESR as the email client.
For optimal performance, the developers recommend installing SparkyLinux on UEFI-enabled machines that have an active internet connection, utilizing the Calamares graphical installer. For those using older BIOS systems, the command-line installer is suggested.
Users can download SparkyLinux 2025.12 now from the official website, which offers various editions, including LXQt 2.2, Xfce 4.20, MATE 1.26, KDE Plasma 6.5.3, MinimalGUI (Openbox), and MinimalCLI (text mode) options for 64-bit systems.
Current users of SparkyLinux Rolling can update their installations without the need to download new ISO images. They should simply open a terminal and run the command sudo apt update && sudo apt full-upgrade or utilize a graphical package manager like Synaptic or Plasma Discover to receive the latest packages.