# Alpine Linux 3.24 Arrives with GNOME 50, KDE Plasma 6.6, and COSMIC

- **Published on:** 2026-06-09
- **Category:** News
- **Original page:** https://linuxgratis.com/en/articles/alpine-linux-3-24-gnome-50-plasma-6-6-cosmic

Alpine Linux 3.24 ships the Linux 6.18 LTS kernel, the GNOME 50, KDE Plasma 6.6, and COSMIC desktops, Sway 1.12, and Limine bootloader support with IPv6 in the installer.

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The Alpine Linux team has released **Alpine Linux 3.24**, the new stable series of this independent, security-oriented distribution. Alpine is one of the smallest distros around and the base for most of the Docker images you run every day, so a new series moves more than it looks.

This release runs on the **Linux 6.18 LTS kernel**, which means long-term support in the core from day one. On top of that, Alpine 3.24 brings a solid batch of updated desktops for anyone who wants to use it on the desktop too, not only on servers and containers.

## Desktops and what's new in Alpine Linux 3.24

The most visible changes are in the graphical environments:

- **GNOME 50** and **KDE Plasma 6.6** (the latter built on Qt 6.11), the two usual full-desktop options.
- The **COSMIC** desktop, the Rust-written environment from System76, lands in the `community` repository and can now be installed.
- The **Sway 1.12** Wayland compositor for anyone who prefers a tiling setup.

The `setup-alpine` installer also got attention. It now supports the **Limine bootloader** with **IPv6**, a modern alternative to GRUB for booting the system. When you install from a serial console, the bootloader and kernel are configured automatically with serial console support, handy for headless installs with no screen attached.

Under the hood the toolchains are current: **Rust 1.96**, **Go 1.26**, and **LLVM 22**, plus components such as **GRUB 2.14**, **nginx 1.30**, and **Qt 6.11**. The series also does some cleanup: GTK+ 3.0 moves to the `community` repo, old GTK 2, Qt5, and libsoup 2 packages are gone, and the `qemu-binfmt` service is deprecated in favor of `binfmt.d` files. Python setuptools moves to 82.0.0 and drops the `pkg_resources` module.

## Editions and architectures

Alpine 3.24 is available in the usual editions: **Standard**, **Extended**, **Netboot**, **Raspberry Pi**, **Generic ARM**, and the **Mini Root Filesystem** aimed at containers and embedded systems. Images cover several architectures, from an x86_64 server to a small ARM board.

Shortly after the initial release came **Alpine 3.24.1** (June 13, 2026), a maintenance update that fixes 15 OpenSSL CVEs published on June 9. That's the usual Alpine cadence: fast security patches throughout the life of the series.

Who is this for? If you build containers, Alpine is still the minimal base of choice. And if you wanted to try it as a desktop, you now get GNOME 50, Plasma 6.6, and COSMIC on an LTS kernel. You'll find the requirements and downloads on the [Alpine Linux](/en/alpine-linux) page, and if you're curious how it became Docker's base image, we cover it in [the history of Alpine Linux](/en/history-of-alpine-linux).

## Source

- [9to5Linux: Alpine Linux 3.24 Released with GNOME 50, KDE Plasma 6.6, and COSMIC Desktops](https://9to5linux.com/alpine-linux-3-24-released-with-gnome-50-kde-plasma-6-6-and-cosmic-desktops)
- [Official announcement: Alpine 3.24.1 released](https://www.alpinelinux.org/posts/Alpine-3.24.1-released.html)