China’s KylinOS Linux takes a great leap forward to v11 and kernel 6.6
- Reference: 1756441572
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2025/08/29/kylinos_11/
- Source link:
KylinOS 11, announced on Wednesday, uses version 6.6 of the Linux kernel and runs on processors from AMD and Intel, plus eight Chinese CPUs that mostly use their own instruction set architectures. The OS can also work with seven Chinese GPUs, plus accelerators from AMD and Nvidia.
Versions for desktops and servers arrived at the same time, complete with an AI assistant, model context protocol, cloud integration, and enhanced security.
[1]
Chen Zhihua, party secretary of Kylin Software and the company’s Chairman, said KylinOS is already China’s most-used domestic OS with 16 million installations. In a nation of 1.4 billion people, that’s minuscule market share. But state media talked up the new release as a significant moment in China’s effort to create a domestic tech ecosystem, because it represents a shift from a "functional support platform" to an "intelligent connection base."
[2]Kylin: The multiple semi-official Chinese versions of Ubuntu
[3]China's openKylin 1.0 arrives. Our verdict? Not a bad-looking, er, Ubuntu remix
[4]China’s preferred desktop Linux, openKylin, chases the AI PC in version 2.0
[5]China’s chip champ Loongson teases trio of new processors for lappies, factories, maybe servers too
Version 6.6 of the Linux kernel was 2023’s Long Term Support release, meaning support ends in December 2026, just 16 months after this release. KylinOS 10 debuted in 2020 with version 4.19 of the Linux kernel under the hood. Support for that version of the kernel ended in December 2024, so presumably KylinSoft is comfortable keeping a distro alive with an unsupported kernel.
The launch event for the new OS featured luminaries from China’s tech ecosystem pledge to support KylinOS 11 and its adoption across the economy.
[6]
Interestingly, The Register can’t find references to the new OS supporting China’s proposed [7]Bluetooth alternative or HDMI competitor. Both emerged in the last year, so maybe it’s too soon for their incorporation into the OS. ®
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[1] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/oses&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2aLF6P4c6XxRy2hSBY0vskQAAANE&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[2] https://www.theregister.com/2022/08/30/kylin_the_multiple_semiofficial_chinese/
[3] https://www.theregister.com/2023/07/07/openkylin_is_ubuntu/
[4] https://www.theregister.com/2024/08/08/openkylin_2/
[5] https://www.theregister.com/2025/04/04/loongson_cpu_update/
[6] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/oses&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44aLF6P4c6XxRy2hSBY0vskQAAANE&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[7] https://www.theregister.com/2024/12/16/china_starflash_universal_remotes_standard/
[8] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
Umm.... The Linux kernel is completely open source and can be forked, adjusted and configured however you wish before being recompiled. There is literally nothing "Western influenced" inside the kernel that can't be removed or replaced in a fork of the kernel that is then compiled for use in a custom distro. Do you think the Chinese government is using a generic LTS kernel in their distro builds?
Why would China not adopt a Linux base for their own OS?
Even if the US were to implement sanctions and US based projects had to stop KylinOS developers from contributing to it, since its FOSS the Chinese devs could simply fork any existing code and work on it themselves. As Linux isn't like Windows or iOS that one company controls everything and can just block access if told to do so by the US gov.
The EU and UK should be focusing more on using FOSS that isn't controlled by big American tech firms, as we have seen how the US has treated its allies since Trump came to power, and should be moving ourselves away from US big tech. Especially for our government computers.
IMO
Sanction or otherwise restrict country's ability to buy high tech and they'll find ways to bypass those rules, either by sanction busting, home grown development (if they can afford it) or both.
China is not close to bankruptcy like Russia was after the cold war and has become a powerful contender that needs to be taken seriously.
My prediction?
With mainstream OS support those Chinese chips will make their way out to the rest of the world and gain a foothold in the low/mid range market before more performant chips appear and become a serious challenger to the current market leaders
Re: IMO
Necessity is the mother of all invention after all.
Big event ...
According to the pictures on the official website, they made a big song and dance about it all
https://www.kylinos.cn/about/news/1960318011530870785.html
Say what?
"the nation’s ambition to develop operating systems that match and exceed the capabilities of western products."
Wait ... They are using a Western product to showcase how they don't need Western products?
Emperor Pooh shouldn't have skipped out on the Logic classes in Junior High ...
Re: Say what?
They're using the linux kernel which is A. not an operating system and B. contributed to by people from all over the world not just from "the west" (Although granted I believe commits form Russian contributors to the mainline have been excluded for a numbered of years now). As I stated earlier in the thread, the kernel is open source and can be forked and modified however anyone chooses before being compiled and used as the basis for a custom OS. So no, they're not just "using a western product" to create their own OS. That's like saying that the USA didn't go to the moon, the Nazi's did because the Saturn V was built using their knowledge, technology and scientists. (Hi Godwin).
> Beijing hailed as a great leap forward for the nation’s ambition to develop operating systems that match and exceed the capabilities of western products.
They seem strangely ignorant of what happened to Russian developers during the start of the Russo-Ukrainian war. Linux might have originated in Finland, but it is very much a US-owned product hosted on US-owned infrastructure, maintained exclusively by US-sanctioned developers. It's an especially stark contrast to their newfound distrust in NVidia hardware. You'd think China would be supporting their homegrown BlueOS or something instead.