News : Darktable 5.6.1: Stability, GPU fixes and AI improvements for Fedora and other Linux distributions.

Darktable 5.6.1 was released on August 27, 2026, with a technical focus on improving stability, memory handling, and GPU compatibility specifically on Fedora and other Linux distributions that adopt cutting‑edge toolchains and graphics stacks.

Fedora users benefit from native Wayland support in the official AppImage, allowing Darktable to run directly on GNOME’s Wayland session without relying on XWayland, while still providing automatic fallback to X11 for systems with incomplete OpenCL or Vulkan implementations.

The update addresses AMD GPU issues encountered frequently on Fedora due to Mesa Rusticl, eliminating pixel corruption and reducing OpenCL buffer allocation failures that previously caused crashes in modules such as denoise, sharpen, and tone equalizer.

Darktable 5.6.1 improves the RAW processing pipeline by enhancing ONNX model handling, adding automatic retry for interrupted downloads, and ensuring full metadata preservation for AI‑generated images, including EXIF, geotags, ratings, and color labels.

The AI RAW denoise module now rejects Fujifilm Super CCD sensors explicitly, preventing incorrect processing results caused by unsupported training data and ensuring predictable behavior across Fedora’s diverse camera workflows.

Multiple stability issues in wavelet decomposition, path masks, and raster masks are resolved, addressing crash patterns that were more visible on Fedora due to its early adoption of GCC 14 and Clang 18, whose aggressive optimizations exposed subtle bugs in previous Darktable builds.

Export reliability is improved through corrections in JPEG 2000 YCbCr 4:2:0 decoding and PNG 16‑bit color handling, fixing inconsistencies triggered by Fedora’s up‑to‑date libpng and openjpeg libraries.

On macOS, Darktable 5.6.1 provides separate builds for x86_64 and ARM64, ensuring optimized performance on Apple Silicon devices through improved integration with Metal and OpenCL layers, although the primary technical impact of this release remains centered on Linux and Fedora.

The update reduces crash frequency on macOS when applying 3D LUTs or running AI modules, thanks to adjustments aligned with recent Apple Clang and SDK changes, maintaining parity with Fedora’s stability improvements.

Windows users receive a fix for AMD OpenCL devices that were previously disabled, restoring full GPU acceleration, but Fedora remains the distribution with the most significant improvements due to its modern graphics stack and rapid package updates.

Package distribution for Linux is updated through OBS, PPA, Flatpak, and Fedora’s community repositories, ensuring that Fedora users receive the latest Darktable 5.6.1 builds compiled against current system libraries and toolchains.

Fedora 36 : Fill out this survey for a badge.

I've always liked Fedora distro because it applies a concept of interactivity between developers and users.

Even if not everything works, you can see the progress made from the older versions.

Today I completed my feedback in a survey requested by them and I also got a small badget for my effort.

You can find it on this webpage.

Fedora 36 : Inkscape 1.2 with Huion WH 1409 graphic tablet.

In this tutorial I will show you how to install and use the Huion WH 1409 graphics tablet with the new release of Inkscape 1.2 software.

You will need to use the DKMS feature of the kernel and the tablet-specific drivers.

Let's start with the following command to get the driver and show the files:

[root@fedora mythcat]# git clone https://github.com/DIGImend/digimend-kernel-drivers.git
Cloning into 'digimend-kernel-drivers'...
remote: Enumerating objects: 1475, done.
remote: Counting objects: 100% (26/26), done.
remote: Compressing objects: 100% (19/19), done.
remote: Total 1475 (delta 9), reused 15 (delta 7), pack-reused 1449
Receiving objects: 100% (1475/1475), 447.25 KiB | 1.66 MiB/s, done.
Resolving deltas: 100% (969/969), done.
[root@fedora mythcat]# cd digimend-kernel-drivers/
[root@fedora digimend-kernel-drivers]# dir
compat.h    dracut.conf        hid-uclogic-params.c  README.md
COPYING        hid-ids.h        hid-uclogic-params.h  udev.rules
debian        hid-kye.c        hid-uclogic-rdesc.c   usbhid
depmod.conf    hid-polostar.c        hid-uclogic-rdesc.h   xorg.conf
digimend-debug    hid-rebind        hid-viewsonic.c
dkms.conf    hid-uclogic-core.c  Makefile

Let's create it using the command

[root@fedora digimend-kernel-drivers]# make dkms_install
...

dkms add .
Creating symlink /var/lib/dkms/digimend/11/source -> /usr/src/digimend-11
dkms build digimend/11

Building module:
cleaning build area...
make -j1 KERNELRELEASE=5.17.9-300.fc36.x86_64 KVERSION=5.17.9-300.fc36.x86_64...
...

Let's check and reboot.

[root@fedora digimend-kernel-drivers]# dkms status
digimend/11, 5.17.9-300.fc36.x86_64, x86_64: installed (original_module exists)
[root@fedora digimend-kernel-drivers]# reboot

After rebooting the diver must be activated and you will see that Linux responds to the movement of the tablet pen.

[root@fedora mythcat]# modprobe -r hid-kye hid-uclogic hid-viewsonic

Install the latest version of inkscape 1.2 using the DNF utility.

Start the inkscape software:

[mythcat@fedora ~]$ inkscape
static bool Inkscape::UI::Dialog::DialogContainer::recreate_dialogs_from_state(InkscapeWindow*, const Glib::KeyFile*): Key
file does not have group “Windows”
Gdk-Message: 15:09:10.534: Error flushing display: Broken pipe

It seems that inkscape does not detect and set the tablet if you use the settings of this software, but you can use the tablet with this software even if you do not set it.