Dear Garudians!
It's once again time for a new release, and we have got quite some nice changes for this one!
Even though December has been a rough month due to big infrastructure changes we still had time to improve a lot of things - apart from much needed QoL changes some of our Garuda applications got some major improvements to how it handles user interaction.
But let's dive in... 
Chaotic-AUR and Fosshost
As many of you might have noticed, there was a post about Chaotic-AUR having packages cleared and rebuilt (ChaoticAUR is being cleared and rebuilt ) due to losing the 380GB RAM main cluster. Actually recovering all of our distro-native packages was quite a time-consuming task but we managed to get every required application back fairly quickly.
This couldn't have been possible without the help of Fosshost, which merged our barely-used BigBlueButton instance with our build VM so building wouldn't take as long. Also, Chaotic-AUR as a whole was now split into three clusters which build individual packages - our build VM being one of them.
This being said, Chaotic-AUR will not be able to provide the same amount of packages as before. But that shouldn't be much of an issue for you as the AUR still has it all. The only thing that changes is that your packages now need to be built/compiled at update/install time. Pamac handles this automatically. 
Now on to the edition changes!
Edition changes
Since the setup assistant effectively replaced our Ultimate editions it plays a big role for people who need a GUI to install packages. This is now even easier than before due to a major code rework by @TNE which fixed a lot of little bugs - it also uses pamac-installer now for convenience!
All editions now ship with Nextcloud & Bitwarden Firefox addons to encourage trying out these services, also only mpv is shipped as video player as VLC often has choppy playback.
Garuda dr460nized has found a lot of users actually which is why there is now a gaming version of that edition as well. It also has finally SDDM theming enabled by default (what a ride). Theming is even more immersive than before as quite a lot of missing icons have been added, and most Garuda apps now use system icons instead of hard-linked ones!
KDE-multimedia continues where the "regular" KDE version left allowing users which prefer a more "traditional" KDE experience to have a fitting edition. 
Speaking of edition changes: as Garuda grows in popularity we have to do some adjustments to how we handle different editions. That's why we sadly had to drop Deepin & UKUI editions as they proved to be buggy even with zero configuration done - things we aren't able to fix as these are upstream issues. This combined with a lack of maintainers for the above mentioned editions unfortunately means that we have no other choice but to drop them.
Welcome Rohit and Qtile
But there is also some nice news! We have a new team member, @RohitSingh who maintains the new "Qtile" version we added to our repertoire! For those who do not know Qtile: Qtile is a dynamic extensible window manager which is easy to customize. Garuda Qtile uses jgmenu which makes it very easy and convenient to launch application without remembering key bindings. Make sure to check it out (there is a wiki article on how to operate this desktop)
Welcome TNE and improved Garuda tools
Some more nice news: @TNE has joined our team to improve the tools we have.
So, apart from the already mentioned changes to our Garuda applications, there is even more: Garuda Gamer now allows multiple choice and installing applications altogether, Garuda Network Assistant got new options as well as Garuda Assistant. Garuda Welcome now allows uninstalling unneeded Garuda applications and prompts to install if a clicked application isn't installed. Most of the code for all these little, useful changes were also contributed by @TNE!
garuda-chroot will correctly handle BTRFS now. The default prompts have been changed to use a patched paleofetch as system info (will print instantly!) and the fish config will also correctly apply ~/.profile.
Final note
So that's it for now, only one last note:
As there has been a massive increase of Telegram users lately (962 at the time of writing this post!) its impossible to do proper support there. Please use the forum as a place to search for help!
The forum serves as a big database for all users which means everyone profits from that (only if the user is able to use the search function of course).
While we want to provide support for all users, there are some basic guidelines to follow for successful interaction - all available right in the wiki
Downloads
BSPWM - Torrent
Cinnamon - Torrent
Dr460nized - Torrent
Dr460nized-gaming - Torrent
GNOME - Torrent
GNOME-Barebones - Torrent
i3 - Torrent
KDE-Multimedia - Torrent
KDE-Barebones - Torrent
Lxqt-Kwin - Torrent
MATE - Torrent
Qtile - Torrent
Recbox - Torrent
Wayfire - Torrent
XFCE - Torrent
Exhaustive changelog
Edition changes:
- Every edition:
- Added nextcloud & Bitwarden by default
- No more asking for password in live sessions for polkit enabled programs
- Switched to mpv + frontend (working hw accel)
- Setup assistant got code reworked, now feels much better to use and closes correctly & has internet connectivity check
- You are now prompted to use the setup assistant on first boot & prompted to uninstall when done with it
- Seperated setup-assistant and initial user setup
- Flatpak/Snapd prompt removed, no more "official" support for that - we have ChaoticAUR (still need? -> read the Wiki)
- Garuda BSPWM:
- Font changed to FiraSans/FantasqueSansMono
- Garuda dr460nized:
- Added pdf thumbnails
- Fixed bluetooth
- Some adjustments to layout
- Even more themed custom icons!
- Finally enabled SDDM theming
- Rearranged latte dock + Pamac launcher fixed
- Alacritty config fixed + font size decreased to fit console
- Nightcolor now "opt-in" as it confused many users
- Garuda dr460nized-gaming:
- Basically dr460nized + required packages for gaming on top
- Garuda GNOME:
- Updated ArcMenu & Unite to latest versions
- Font changed to FiraSans/FantasqueSansMono
- Garuda KDE-multimedia:
- The continued "regular" KDE theming + multimedia packages
- Garuda LXQt-Kwin:
- Fixed wallpaper paths
- Garuda Wayfire:
- Fix cursor for nouveau users
- Garuda XFCE:
- Updated Whiskermenu
- Update to 4.16
- Garuda Qtile:
- Qtile is a dynamic extensible window manager with small resource consumption and easy to customize. Garuda Qtile uses jgmenu which makes it very easy and convenient to launch application without remembering keybindings.
Applications & settings:
- Garuda Gamer:
- Code rework (now faster & smaller file size)
- Added keymapper & another emulator
- You can now check the applications and install them all together using pamac-installer
- Garuda Network Assistant:
- Added wifi powersafe
- Added disable MAC address randomization
- Garuda Assistant:
- Added some more settings
- Garuda Boot Options:
- Dont show save last choice on BTRFS (broken)
- Garuda Setup Assistant:
- Moved to own package
- Removed Snaps/Flatpaks. We no longer support those as we got almost every package in the repo.
- Garuda Welcome:
- Using system icons
- Make all linked Garuda apps optional depends
- Prompt to install if package massing
- Fix not detecting packages in LiveCD
- Garuda-chroot:
- Fixed BTRFS handling
- Garuda Settings Manager:
- Using system icons
- Mhwd-garuda:
- Sync with upstream Manjaro
- Garuda-icons:
- Added BeautyLine Garuda logo
- Fixed update-gtk-icon-cache warning
- Mhwd-db-garuda:
- Added chaotic nvidia driver db
- Fixed video-virtualmachine on QXL graphics
- Added nvidia-390xx-dkms support
- Garuda-fish-config:
- Correctly apply .profile
- Use paleofetch instead of neofetch
- Changed color of Lambda to red
- Garuda-zsh-config:
- Use paleofetch
- Garuda Homepage:
- Added links to projects in the feature list
- Enhanced download button
Xfce is now at 4.16 
