[Armbian newsletter] - Github Highlights

This week's changes center on expanded board and platform support, a modernized build and release pipeline anchored on Debian Trixie and ISO output, and a substantial documentation and release-process overhaul.

On the hardware side, the EmbedFire LubanCat 4 (RK3588S) and Xiaomi Pad 6S Pro (sheng) join as new boards, Tanix TX6S is promoted to Supported, and Banana Pi R2 (MT7623) returns with kernel 6.18, edge 7.1, and U-Boot 2026.07. The reComputer RK3588 moves to the Panthor open-source GPU stack, NanoPCT6 U-Boot advances to v2026.07, and reComputer RK3576/RK3588 receives U-Boot fixes for SPI boot, NVMe, and rockusb. Several Rockchip and Qualcomm device trees are corrected, and RTL8852BS, RTL88x2CS, and related wireless drivers are refreshed with substantial warning cleanup.

Build infrastructure sees the official host and default Docker image switch to Debian Trixie, Ubuntu Noble dropped from release and SDK targets, and image signing extended to every format. UEFI current/edge targets now ship as ISO for both minimal and desktop variants, nightly builds are restricted to platinum boards, and SDK CI moves to self-hosted runners with auto-retry and dispatch-driven index updates. A weekly stable build with automatic version bump is now scheduled.

Documentation and release tooling receive extensive rework: armbian-config pages are reorganized under /config/ with per-subcategory splits, per-app SEO pages and category hubs are emitted, and the manual changelog is replaced by per-release pages with a quarterly digest published to docs.armbian.com. Release-summary generation now groups by source repository, recovers PR links, and is anchored to release windows.

#Armbian #EmbeddedLinux #Rockchip #DebianTrixie #ReleaseEngineering

Changes

• action: include .iso images in the release assets manifest. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/build#10495
• action: sign every image format, not only .img.xz. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/build#10497
• Add board: EmbedFire LubanCat 4 (RK3588S). by @miskin-lee in armbian/build#10505
• Add support for Xiaomi Pad 6S Pro (sheng). by @code002-2 in armbian/build#9988
• arm64: dts: rockchip: rk3588s-orangepi-5: route ES8388 MCLK to the IO…. by @defcom5-rockchip in armbian/build#10493
• arm64: dts: rockchip: youyeetoo-r1: fix PCIe reset gpio and drop spi0 stub. by @SuperKali in armbian/linux-rockchip#530
• assets: add 8 missing app logos + improve the Home Assistant logo. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/configng#994
• Banana Pi R2 (mt7623): back from the dead — kernel 6.18 + edge 7.1, u-boot 2026.07. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/build#10457
• board-images: add lubancat-4.png. by @miskin-lee in armbian/armbian.github.io#418
• board: add BT support to bananpim5pro edge kernel. by @efectn in armbian/build#10445
• board: rk3588: switch reComputer RK3588 to Panthor open-source GPU stack. by @Mkiring in armbian/build#10320
• Board: tanix-tx6s-axp313 promote to Supported. by @alnahian2011 in armbian/build#10459
• bootscripts: seeed-rk35xx: harden armbianEnv.txt import against CRLF and invalid fdtfile. by @Mkiring in armbian/build#10474
• chore(license): declare GPL-2.0-or-later and add SPDX headers. by @SuperKali in armbian/imager#182
• ci: also publish an .iso from the SDK build. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/sdk#38
• ci: auto-retry SDK runs killed by runner stalls. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/sdk#42
• ci: compress qcow2 again + move image builds to self-hosted runners. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/sdk#41
• ci: dispatch download-index from the build, drop the separate workflow + watchdog. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/sdk#44
• ci: keep the mirror schedule alive. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/phytium-linux-kernel#1
• ci: weekly stable build on Mondays + automatic version bump. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/ci#56
• config: add git_sources.json with pinned source SHA1s. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/build#10453
• css: uniform app-page logo size (.app-logo). by @igorpecovnik in armbian/documentation#981
• delete-old-releases: keep last N stable releases by version. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/ci#57
• docs(markdown): clean up the armbian-config section pages. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/configng#995
• docs(markdown): emit per-app SEO pages + category link hubs. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/configng#991
• docs(markdown): point in-page armbian-config links at /config/. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/configng#996
• docs(markdown): tag app-page logos with .app-logo for uniform sizing. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/configng#993
• docs: move armbian-config pages to /config/ (keep old URLs). by @igorpecovnik in armbian/documentation#992
• docs: official build host is Debian Trixie. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/documentation#974
• docs: split armbian-config System into per-subcategory pages. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/documentation#989
• external: add arm64 to google-chrome. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/os#485
• feat(flash): show the kernel version in the confirm summary. by @SuperKali in armbian/imager#184
• Fix -Warray-bounds, -Wformat-truncation and -Wframe-larger-than (73/8/2 -> 0). by @iav in armbian/wifi-rtl8852bs#19
• Fix two clang findings: sscanf %7s overflow in mp ioctl, uninitialised max_bw in rtw_vht. by @iav in armbian/wifi-rtl8852bs#21
• fix(firstlogin): remove .not_logged_in_yet marker via EXIT trap. by @Mkiring in armbian/build#10450
• fix(rockchip64-6.18): drop 8250 DMA reopen patch, fixed upstream in 6.18.y. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/build#10482
• fix(rockchip64-7.1): drop 8250 DMA reopen patch, fixed upstream in 7.1.9. by @iav in armbian/build#10479
• fix(sm8250-6.18): rebase fastrpc revert patches onto current 6.18.y. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/build#10483
• fix(system): make overlayfs work out of the box. by @f00b4r0 in armbian/configng#989
• generate-armbian-images-json: fix empty nightly (ci) feed. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/armbian.github.io#415
• generate_CODEOWNERS: handle multi-dir KERNELPATCHDIR (fixes malformed spacemit-k3 entry). by @igorpecovnik in armbian/build#10499
• generate_targets: assemble riscv64 images on X64 runners, not native riscv. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/armbian.github.io#409
• generate_targets: update artifact/image runner mappings. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/armbian.github.io#405
• hal_ld_file: compose the external parameter file path after the folder is known. by @iav in armbian/wifi-rtl8852bs#25
• hal_ld_file: restore the missing continue in the TX power limit column-define stage. by @iav in armbian/wifi-rtl8852bs#24
• image-output-abl: wait for loop partition node before blkid (fix flaky build). by @igorpecovnik in armbian/build#10491
• images json: promote an image in .iso as well as .img.xz. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/armbian.github.io#412
• install-engine: silence null-byte warnings from the Rockchip probe. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/configng#986
• kernel config hash: ignore modifications the source config already declares. by @iav in armbian/build#10367
• kernel-debug-tiers: tier 2 enables PROC_KCORE and KALLSYMS_ALL for post-mortem tooling. by @iav in armbian/build#10458
• make-yaml-redirector: pass inputs through env, not inline ${{ }}. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/actions#38
• mirrors: add Poland and Sweden to the flag map. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/documentation#976
• nanopct6(-lts): u-boot: bump to v2026.07. by @rpardini in armbian/build#10511
• nav: point Unit Test Status at the unit tests. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/documentation#987
• osdep_service_linux: release the path reference taken by kern_path(). by @iav in armbian/wifi-rtl8852bs#23
• patching: tolerate non-ASCII From:/Subject: headers (fix sunxi 'got Header' build abort). by @igorpecovnik in armbian/build#10481
• phytium-embedded: switch to Armbian kernel mirror, rename current->vendor, drop legacy. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/build#10467
• PocketBeagle 2 - Disable building Desktop images. by @Grippy98 in armbian/build#10466
• proc: read only what was written in the sa_query / tx_deauth / tx_auth handlers. by @iav in armbian/wifi-rtl8852bs#22
• reComputer RK3576/RK3588: U-Boot fixes for SPI boot, NVMe, rockusb. by @Mkiring in armbian/build#10471
• recomputer-rk3588: do not fail the image when Panthor firmware is absent. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/build#10487
• recomputer-rk35xx-common: drop bluez juggle vs fcs960k-aic-bluez. by @rpardini in armbian/build#10358
• redirector: use download_path_archive for the archive variant. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/armbian.github.io#416
• Refactor CDN redirector workflow (dedupe + fix status classification). by @igorpecovnik in armbian/armbian.github.io#404
• release targets: drop Ubuntu noble. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/armbian.github.io#413
• release-doc: group by source repo, recover missing PR links. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/armbian.github.io#423
• release-summary: publish the quarterly digest to docs.armbian.com. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/armbian.github.io#420
• release-summary: push the docs PR as armbianworker. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/armbian.github.io#422
• release-summary: weekly-only GitHub releases, release-anchored quarterly window. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/armbian.github.io#421
• release-targets: add Raspberry Pi 5 virtual board. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/armbian.github.io#408
• release-targets: nightly only for platinum boards, block the rest. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/armbian.github.io#410
• release-targets: ship generic UEFI apps as .iso, not raw. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/armbian.github.io#414
• release-targets: UEFI current/edge images output ISO (minimal + desktop). by @igorpecovnik in armbian/armbian.github.io#411
• releases: replace the manual changelog with per-release pages. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/documentation#984
• replace patch From: headers across the framework with something meaningful. by @EvilOlaf in armbian/build#10472
• RK3506: Update ddr / tee / loader blobs. by @vidplace7 in armbian/rkbin#51
• rockchip64: rk356x rkvdec2: drop stray 4th interrupt cell. by @iav in armbian/build#10455
• rtl8852bs: bump driver to 58840d11 (2026-08-18). by @iav in armbian/build#10460
• rtl88x2cs: bump driver to a2066739 (2026-08-20). by @iav in armbian/build#10501
• runner-clean: ensure gh and mktorrent on self-hosted runners. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/actions#39
• runners: authenticate the release lookup and verify before removing anything. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/configng#990
• RV1103/RV1106: Update ddr / tee / loader blobs. by @vidplace7 in armbian/rkbin#52
• sc8280xp: drop DP patches now upstreamed in the 7.0.11 vendor kernel. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/build#10504
• sdk: ship .iso and .img.qcow2 uncompressed. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/sdk#40
• sdk: stop generating noble images. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/sdk#37
• seo: per-app software pages + per-page og/meta tags. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/documentation#978
• Silence -Wmaybe-uninitialized (84 -> 0) and bound the mp ioctl input copy. by @iav in armbian/wifi-rtl8852bs#20
• sm8550-sheng: scope clang to kernel build (fix linux-headers postinst clang: not found). by @igorpecovnik in armbian/build#10468
• SpacemiT K1: Revert USB boot and add SPI flash support to Musebook & MusePi Pro. by @pyavitz in armbian/build#10462
• spacemit-k3: fix ethercat K3 stmmac build (xsk_tx_metadata_request 4-arg API). by @igorpecovnik in armbian/build#10484
• Switch the build host and default Docker image to Debian Trixie. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/build#10494
• Tune low-memory Beagle board release targets. by @Grippy98 in armbian/armbian.github.io#403
• v4l2loopback-dkms: raise kernel skip cutoff from 6.12 to 7.2. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/build#10490
• wireless drivers: bump rtl8189es pin, re-point rtl8723ds pin. by @iav in armbian/build#10502
• xiaomi-sheng: add resolute (Ubuntu 26.04) to supported userspaces. by @code002-2 in armbian/build#10464
• youyeetoo-r1: fix M.2 PCIe reset gpio. by @SuperKali in armbian/build#10469

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