Nineteen new GNU software packages were released in February 2026, according to an announcement from the GNU Project. The releases span a wide range of tools, from core system utilities to specialized programming languages and cryptographic libraries.
Among the most prominent updates is Binutils 2.46.0, a collection of essential binary tools including the linker, ‘ld’, and the assembler, ‘as’. These tools are fundamental to the process of compiling and linking programs, providing the facilities needed to build software for the GNU system and GNU/Linux, as detailed on the GNU project website.
Coreutils, the foundation of basic command-line tools in a POSIX environment, also received an update to version 9.10. These utilities provide essential file, shell, and text manipulation functions. Other notable releases include Gawk 5.4.0, the GNU implementation of the Awk programming language, and GnuTLS 3.8.12, a secure communications library implementing SSL, TLS, and DTLS protocols.
The releases also encompass more specialized tools. GNU Moe, a text editor designed for simplicity and intuitive keybindings, was updated to version 1.16. Parallel, a tool for executing shell jobs in parallel, received a release dated February 22, 2026. GNU Units, a utility for converting between units of measure, was updated to version 2.26.
Several releases target developers. G-Golf 0.8.3 provides a library for developing applications in Guile Scheme, although libunistring 1.4.2 offers functions for manipulating Unicode strings. GNU Octave 11.1.0, a high-level language for numerical computation, also saw an update.
The GNU Project also announced two new co-maintainers, Collin Funk, for GNU Hello and GNU Time. The project continues to seek assistance with maintaining various packages, with a list of opportunities available on the GNU website.
The GNU Project provides access to its software via FTP servers, with mirrors available for faster download speeds. The latest releases can be found at https://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/ and a list of mirrors is published at https://www.gnu.org/prep/ftp.html.
