RPM Project releases version 6.1.0 with new release cadence

The RPM Project has released RPM 6.1.0, marking the first stable version under a new release cadence inspired by the Linux kernel. This new model aims to provide predictable biannual or quarterly updates, moving away from the unpredictable versioning of the previous 4.x era to prevent major breakage during minor updates.

Key technical improvements include the restoration of Name Service Switch (NSS) based user and group lookups. Additionally, the update offers significant performance gains; by utilizing close_range() for file descriptor processing on Linux 5.11 and glibc 2.34 environments, installation times can be reduced by approximately 26 percent in certain large-scale transactions.

Other notable features include support for PKCS#11 token signing, new macro modifiers, improved keystore locking mechanisms, and enhanced support for systemd journal in the rpm-plugin-syslog.