GNU Guix 1.3 Released With Better User Experience, Initial POWER9 Support

GNU Guix as a cross-platform package manager based on Nix and also being the package management solution for the Linux-based GNU Guix system distribution is out with a new version.

After being in development the past half-year, GNU Guix 1.3 is out as the newest feature release. GNU Guix 1.3 offers user experience improvements in dealing with manifests for installing/removing multiple packages, a "--with-latest" option for ensuring the latest software components, new developer tool improvements, numerous performance optimizations, and initial support for the POWER9 architecture. With GNU Guix 1.3, the POWER9 architecture support is being treated as a technical preview.

On the packaging side, there were some two thousand packages added this cycle including Xfce 4.16, GCC 10.3, GNU Glibc 2.31, and many other new/updated packages. The Guix services catalog also now supports WireGuard and other additions.

More details on the GNU Guix 1.3 release at guix.gnu.org.