Linux Mint 21 won't use systemd-oom, and it's almost ready for beta

Mint-flavored Ubuntu has a relatively large user base, and for a reason. Canonical makes its decisions, and they are not always to everyone's taste or the most successful, and Clement Lefebvre and company go their own way, sometimes following the path that Canonical marks and sometimes going out and taking their own. That's something they seem to do in Linux Mint 21, not adopting something that at the moment is giving Ubuntu users headaches.

Ubuntu 22.04 enabled systemd-oomd by default, something that was intended to improve the management of RAM memory use, but that is doing things that are not asked of it, such as closing applications that are being used when it seems appropriate. Lefebvre does not explain if the problems that have been transmitted to him have been in Linux Mint or refer to those of Ubuntu users, but has decided not to add systemd-oomd on Linux Mint 21.

Linux Mint 21 beta is coming in days

With the beta just around the corner, Lefebvre has mentioned more news than usual in a monthly note, As:

• Home directory encryption is still available in the installer.
• Added support for WebP in xviewer and thumbnailers.
• Blueman 2.3 is already in and has replaced Blueberry.
• In rsync mode, Timeshinft now calculates the space needed for the next capture and skips it if doing so will leave less than 1GB of free space.
• mintupdate 5.8.3 came with some changes that didn't go well, and later they released mintupdate 5.8.4 without that regression. In Linux Mint 21, mintupdate 5.8.5 no longer depends only on systemd timers/services.

What has been missing from this month's note is to say when the Linux Mint 21 beta will arrive, which will use the new Cinnamon 5.4. They have just said that it is ready, so they should release the ISO in the next few days.