title: “How to Try Vanilla OS 3 Reunion: GNOME 50, ARM64, Continuity”
slug: vanilla-os-3-reunion-2026
category: linux-distros
tags: [vanilla-os, linux-distros, immutable-linux, gnome-50, arm64]
date: 2026-08-29
Two years is a long time for any Linux distribution to stay quiet, but on August 24, 2026 the Vanilla OS project finally broke the silence with Vanilla OS 3 “Reunion” — the first major release since Vanilla OS 2 “Orchid” shipped back in July 2024. Reunion is not a quiet refresh: it ships GNOME 50, Linux kernel 7.1.3, full ARM64 support, reproducible builds, a brand-new snapshot backup tool, and a long-overdue rewrite of every system tool around ABRoot. If you have ever wanted to see what a truly modern, immutable Ubuntu-flavoured Linux desktop looks like in 2026, this is the release you have been waiting for.
This guide walks through what is new, why it matters, how to install it on x86_64 or ARM64, and what to expect if you are upgrading an existing Vanilla OS 2 install.
What is Vanilla OS, again?
Vanilla OS is a Debian-based desktop distribution built around immutability and atomicity. The root filesystem is managed by a tool called ABRoot that keeps two root partitions (A and B) in lockstep. When you run an upgrade, the system applies the new OCI image to the inactive root, then swaps over on the next reboot. If anything goes wrong, the previous root is still bootable — there is always a known-good system to roll back to.
On top of ABRoot, Vanilla OS layers a containerised package manager called Apx, which lets you install packages from any distribution (Debian, Ubuntu, Arch, Fedora, openSUSE) inside per-application containers — without polluting the immutable host. The original vision was to give Linux users a desktop that “just works” while staying clean, predictable, and easy to roll back.
What is new in 3 “Reunion”
GNOME 50 “Tokyo” — Wayland-only
Reunion ships GNOME 50, the “Tokyo” release. The biggest user-visible change is that only the Wayland session is installed — the legacy X11 session is gone from the default image. Fractional scaling on Wayland has been polished further, and the default GNOME Core/Circle apps have been swapped for newer alternatives:
- Ptyxis replaces Black Box as the terminal. Ptyxis is a GNOME-Circle terminal that knows about Apx subsystems and the host shell, so you can launch a quick subshell in any container with one click.
- Papers replaces Evince as the document viewer.
- Resources replaces GNOME System Monitor with a more detailed, modern interface.
File Roller and GNOME Photos have been dropped from the default install entirely. A new First Setup update mode runs automatically after you upgrade from Orchid, letting you install the new defaults and uninstall the deprecated ones with a few clicks.
ARM64 across the board
This is the headline feature for anyone running a Raspberry Pi 5, an Apple-silicon-as-a-server setup, an ARM laptop, or any of the new wave of UEFI-compatible single-board computers. Vanilla OS 3 ships official images for both x86_64 and ARM64, every package is built for both architectures, and the experience is identical on each.
ABRoot was rewritten to be aware of multi-arch images. If you upgrade manually with abroot upgrade, make sure you are running ABRoot 2.4 or newer before you start — the older versions do not understand the new image layout.
Reproducible builds
With the exception of the NVIDIA image (whose proprietary kernel modules cannot be reproduced), every official image is now bit-for-bit reproducible. That means anyone — not just the Vanilla OS team — can re-run the build from the same sources and verify that the published image matches what they produce. This is a meaningful security upgrade: it removes the implicit trust in GitHub Actions and makes tampering detectable by the wider community.
Vanilla Continuity — snapshot backups
The biggest user-facing addition is Vanilla Continuity, a snapshot-based backup and restore tool that ships in the image and works hand-in-glove with ABRoot.
Continuity can back up:
- your home directory,
- the list of installed Flatpak apps,
- ABRoot metadata (so it knows which root you were on).
Snapshot destinations are flexible:
- a directory on your local system (the default),
- an external drive encrypted with LUKS2,
- a remote server over SFTP, FTP, or NFS.
The CLI in 1.0.0 looks like this:
host-shell pkexec continuity backup [backup-label]
host-shell pkexec continuity list
host-shell pkexec continuity restore <snapshot-id>A graphical front-end is on the roadmap. Until then, the CLI is the only interface, and the project is actively collecting feedback on the continuity GitHub repo.
Apx v3 and the Apx GUI on Flathub
Apx — the tool that lets you install packages from any distribution inside a per-app container — has been rewritten on top of the new Vanilla OS SDK. The CLI has new command names (apx export/unexport --app instead of --app-name), and two new default stacks are available out of the box: Debian and openSUSE Leap, in addition to the existing Ubuntu stack. Ubuntu 26.04 subsystem support is included.
The bigger news for non-Vanilla-OS users is that the Apx GUI is now on Flathub. Anyone on any Linux distribution can install it to get a graphical wrapper around Apx subsystems, and it ships preinstalled inside Vanilla OS 3 as a Flatpak.
Distrobox v2.0.0-rc.4
The bundled Distrobox has been updated to 2.0.0-rc.4, which is the new Go-rewritten codebase. Vanilla OS validates Apx v3 against the new Distrobox, so all the typical Distrobox workflows (distrobox enter, distrobox export, distrobox assemble) keep working.
Vib 1.1.0 — declarative custom images
If you build your own Vanilla OS images, Vib (Vanilla Image Builder) 1.1.0 adds a cleanup recipe property for removing unnecessary directories, a new module to bundle Flatpak applications directly into a custom image, and a hardened container build path. Combined with the reproducible-builds pipeline, this makes custom Vanilla OS images a credible base for OEM-style deployments.
How to install Vanilla OS 3 “Reunion”
1. Download the right image
Head to the Vanilla OS download page and pick the ISO for your architecture. As of writing, both the official x86_64 image and the official ARM64 image are available, with the NVIDIA image as a separate download for users who need proprietary GPU drivers.
You can also fetch the latest ISO with a direct link, or grab a torrent if you prefer. The project does not gate ISO downloads behind anything.
2. Write the image to a USB drive
Use any tool that can flash an ISO to a USB stick. From the command line on Linux, dd is fine for most setups:
sudo dd if=vanillaos-3.0-reunion-amd64.iso of=/dev/sdX bs=4M status=progress oflag=syncIf you are flashing to an SD card for an ARM device, point of= at the SD card reader instead of a USB stick. The image is small enough that this takes under a minute on any USB 3 stick.
3. Boot and run the installer
Boot from the USB (or SD card), and the Calamares-based Vanilla OS installer will guide you through:
- language and keyboard layout,
- disk selection (it will warn you if you pick the disk the installer itself is on),
- user account, hostname, and timezone,
- encryption (LUKS2 with a passphrase) — strongly recommended for laptops.
When the installer finishes, it asks you to remove the install media and reboot. The first boot takes a moment longer than usual because ABRoot is finalising the active root partition.
4. First boot and First Setup update mode
After the first reboot, the system runs the new First Setup update mode. It walks you through choosing which new defaults to install (Ptyxis, Papers, Resources) and which deprecated apps to remove (File Roller, Photos). Click through, reboot, and you are on the freshly minted Reunion desktop.
5. Verify the install
Open a terminal (Ptyxis is now the default) and run:
cat /etc/os-release
abroot status
host-shell apx --versionYou should see Vanilla OS 3.0 (Reunion) in the os-release file, ABRoot 2.4 or newer in the status output, and apx 3.x from the host shell.
Upgrading from Vanilla OS 2 “Orchid”
If you already run Vanilla OS 2 Orchid (version 1.4.0 or newer), you do not need a clean install — Reunion supports in-place upgrade. The simplest path is:
abroot upgradeThat command pulls the new OCI image, applies it to the inactive root, and asks you to reboot. After the reboot, the First Setup update mode walks you through the new defaults.
If you have been running manually with abroot upgrade and the older ABRoot, update ABRoot first:
abroot pkg upgrade
abroot upgradeThen reboot. The new multi-arch image layout requires ABRoot 2.4+; older versions will fail with a partition-label error.
Who should try Vanilla OS 3 Reunion?
- Developers who want a clean, reproducible workstation. ABRoot + reproducible builds + Vib is a powerful combo for teams that need predictable Linux images.
- Anyone who has been burned by an Ubuntu update. Atomic, A/B-root updates with one-click rollback are a real productivity win.
- Raspberry Pi / ARM laptop users. First-class ARM64 support is finally here, and the experience is identical to x86_64.
- Tinkerers who like the Apx idea. Apx v3 + the Apx GUI on Flathub is the most polished containerised-distro playground on Linux today.
If you are a fan of bleeding-edge rolling-release distros like Arch or openSUSE Tumbleweed and you never touch a terminal, Vanilla OS 3 will feel a little quiet at first. But if your workflow depends on the system staying in a known-good state, Reunion is one of the most interesting releases of 2026.
Wrapping up
Vanilla OS 3 “Reunion” is a confident answer to the question “what should an immutable Ubuntu-flavoured desktop look like in 2026?” — GNOME 50, ARM64, reproducible builds, ABRoot 2.4, Apx v3 with a GUI on Flathub, and Continuity for snapshots. The CLI surfaces are tighter, the documentation is current, and the upgrade path from Orchid is genuinely painless. If any of that sounds interesting, grab the ISO and try it on a spare machine this weekend.
Comments