Microsoft's in-house Linux distribution CBL-Mariner that is used for a variety of purposes from Azure to WSL has seen its first release of 2024. While the distribution has at times released up to a few new versions per month, there hadn't been a new release since late November given the holidays.

With a month and a half since the prior update, CBL-Mariner 2.0.20240112 is a big one with many package updates and other changes pulled into this server/cloud/edge-oriented Linux platform. The new CBL-Mariner 2.0 update has initial Mariner OS Modifier (EMU) files support, a new meta package for Kata containers, support for the SquashFS image format, various security fixes, enhancements to the CBL-Mariner Image Customizer, and a variety of routine package updates. A number of different Perl and Ruby packages, among others, have also been promoted from the "extended" repository into CBL-Mariner core.

Those interested in Microsoft's CBL-Mariner Linux distribution can learn more about the new release via GitHub .

Microsoft has also begun bi-monthly community calls on Teams to discuss new uses for their Linux distribution, discuss new features, hear feedback, etc. Those interested in those public community calls on Microsoft Teams can find those details here with their next community meeting happening on 25 January.