Qubes OS 4.1-rc2 has been released! https://www.qubes-os.org/n | Qubes OS📢

Qubes OS 4.1-rc2 has been released!
https://www.qubes-os.org/news/2021/11/17/qubes-4-1-rc2/

We’re pleased to announce the second release candidate for Qubes 4.1!

Qubes 4.1-rc2 contains fixes for bugs that were discovered in the first
release candidate (4.1-rc1). For existing Qubes 4.1-rc1 users, a regular
update (https://www.qubes-os.org/doc/how-to-update/) is sufficient to upgrade to 4.1-rc2.

In case you haven’t heard, Qubes 4.1 includes several major new
features, each of which is explained in depth in its own article:


Qubes Architecture Next Steps: The GUI Domain (https://www.qubes-os.org/news/2020/03/18/gui-domain/)
Qubes Architecture Next Steps: The New Qrexec Policy System (https://www.qubes-os.org/news/2020/06/22/new-qrexec-policy-system/)
New Gentoo templates and maintenance infrastructure (https://www.qubes-os.org/news/2020/10/05/new-gentoo-templates-and-maintenance-infrastructure/)
Reproducible builds for Debian: a big step forward (https://www.qubes-os.org/news/2021/10/08/reproducible-builds-for-debian-a-big-step-forward/)


There are also numerous other improvements and
bug fixes listed in the release notes (https://www.qubes-os.org/doc/releases/4.1/release-notes/) and in the issue
tracker (https://github.com/QubesOS/qubes-issues/issues?q=milestone%3A%22Release+4.1%22+is%3Aclosed+-label%3A%22R%3A+duplicate%22+-label%3A%22R%3A+invalid%22+-label%3A%22R%3A+cannot+reproduce%22+-label%3A%22R%3A+not+an+issue%22+-label%3A%22R%3A+not+our+bug%22+-label%3A%22R%3A+won%27t+do%22+-label%3A%22R%3A+won%27t+fix%22+).

Finally, Qubes 4.1 features the following updated default components:


Xen 4.14
Fedora 32 in dom0
Fedora 34 template
Debian 11 template
Whonix 16 Gateway and Workstation templates
Linux kernel 5.10


How to test Qubes 4.1-rc2

If you’re willing to test (https://www.qubes-os.org/doc/testing/) this release candidate, you can help to
improve the stable release by reporting any bugs you encounter (https://www.qubes-os.org/doc/issue-tracking/).
Experienced users are strongly encouraged to join the testing team (https://forum.qubes-os.org/t/joining-the-testing-team/5190)!

How to migrate to 4.1-rc2:


If you’re already on 4.1-rc1, simply perform a normal update (https://www.qubes-os.org/doc/how-to-update/).
If you’re not on 4.1-rc1, you have two options:

Back up (https://www.qubes-os.org/doc/how-to-back-up-restore-and-migrate/#creating-a-backup) your current installation, download (https://www.qubes-os.org/downloads/) 4.1-rc2, perform a
fresh install (https://www.qubes-os.org/doc/installation-guide/), then restore (https://www.qubes-os.org/doc/how-to-back-up-restore-and-migrate/#restoring-from-a-backup) from your backup.
Perform an in-place upgrade (https://www.qubes-os.org/doc/upgrade/4.1/).




Release candidate planning

As with any release candidate, it’s possible that user testing will
reveal important bugs that we’ll want to fix before the stable release.
We plan to release the next release candidate in approximately five
weeks. As explained in our general release schedule (https://www.qubes-os.org/doc/version-scheme/#release-schedule), this cycle will
continue until no major bugs are discovered, at which point the latest
release candidate will be declared the stable 4.1 release.