The NixOS project has released NixOS 25.11, codenamed “Xantusia”, the new stable version that landed officially on November 30, 2025. Like every six-month release, it bundles thousands of package updates and new configuration options, staying true to what sets NixOS apart: declarative configuration and reproducible builds.
This one is a big release. The team added 7002 new packages and updated 25252 existing packages, dropping outdated software along the way. The distribution itself gains 107 new modules and 1778 additional configuration options, while shedding 41 modules and 807 options that nobody was maintaining anymore.
The standout changes in Xantusia:
- GNOME 49 “Brescia”: the desktop gets a new video player, a new document viewer and a redesigned calendar. This version drops X11 session support in GNOME.
- LLVM 21: the LLVM-based toolchain moves to version 21, while GCC stays at 14 and CMake advances to version 4.
- Docker 28.x by default: the 28 branch takes over because 27.x stopped receiving security patches after May 2, 2025.
- PostgreSQL 17: new installations (with
system.stateVersion >= 25.11) start with PostgreSQL 17 as the default version. - systemd-based initrd by default: stage 1 of boot now runs on systemd. The old scripted implementation is deprecated and slated for removal in 26.11.
- Qt 5 KDE cleanup: the Qt 5-based versions are gone. If you rely on them, it’s time to migrate to Plasma 6.
NixOS is an unconventional Linux distribution. Rather than managing the system with traditional packages, the entire system state is described declaratively in configuration files through the Nix package manager. That lets you rebuild the whole system reproducibly, roll back atomically to previous states and keep several system generations side by side. It fits developers, system administrators and anyone who puts reliability and reproducibility first.
This release came together thanks to 2742 contributors, who authored 59430 commits since the previous version. The 25.05 “Warbler” branch is now officially deprecated and will stop receiving security updates after December 31, 2025.
You’ll find all the details on its page at /en/nixos.
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