FreeBSD 14.1-RC1 Adds More Packages To The DVD Images - Including The Sway Compositor

FreeBSD 14.1-RC1 is now available for testing as this incremental update to FreeBSD 14 prepares for its stable release in June.

Changes to arrive with FreeBSD 14.1-RC1 include addressing several kernel panics, man page updates, sound driver enhancements, and various bug fixes. Arguably most interesting is this change with FreeBSD 14.1-RC1:

"DVD images have been updated to include a set of packages likely to be more useful on modern systems."

When digging up that change, indeed it's quite interesting. The change to modernize the DVD package set includes various package adjustments but most notably is now adding seatd and Sway to the FreeBSD DVD images. Yes, the Sway Wayland compositor is now bundled onto the FreeBSD DVDs for those opting for a desktop and wanting to run with this i3-inspired Wayland compositor.

Earlier this cycle, FreeBSD 14.1 pulled in fixes back-ported from FreeBSD 15 development along with other changes like the date program now supporting nanoseconds, updated OpenSSH and other application updates, various device driver updates, upgraded OpenZFS file-system driver, more reproducible kernel builds, compiler updates and more.

The FreeBSD 14.1-RC1 announcement can be read on the mailing list. FreeBSD 14.1-RELEASE should be out around the middle of June while at least two more weekly release candidates are expected before that 18 June target.