Open Beta v9.17 | Please help testing and hardening our upcoming release

[MichaIng]

RC version	v9.17.1
v9.17.0 PR	#7717
v9.17.1 PR	#7736
Raw changelog	https://github.com/MichaIng/DietPi/blob/beta/CHANGELOG.txt
Code changes	master...beta
Release date	2025-09-20

How to apply: https://github.com/MichaIng/DietPi/blob/master/BRANCH_SYSTEM.md

Related/solved issues: https://github.com/MichaIng/DietPi/issues?q=is%3Aissue+milestone%3Av9.17

---

Beta v9.17.1

(2025-09-19)

Enhancements

• Images | Our images are now shipped without ext3/ext4 journal, and instead the dietpi-fs_partition_resize script creates it after the root filesystem has been expanded. This allows smaller images, but more importantly a properly located and sized journal, depending on the final root filesystem size and layout, potentially enhancing performance. Since the journal can often only be added if the filesystem expansion was successful, and is a critical element for data crash resilience on ext3/ext4, it is now checked on first login whether it exists, else a prompt is shown, to make aware and fix the underlying issue, before seriously using DietPi. Please report if you see this prompt. The script overall seems to run more stable due to other structural changes, but as always, there might be points of failure we could not identify via tests yet.
• Raspberry Pi | Support for HiFiBerry sound cards in dietpi-config has been updated, to include recent models, and take into account the newly split overlays for DAC+/AMP2/AMP4 and DAC+ Pro/DAC2. If you run an older system with Linux 6.1 and migrate to the new Linux 6.12 kernel stack (with our dedicated script or dietpi-config Advanced Options), using one of these HiFiBerry sound cards, a prompt allows you to re-select the matching sound card to keep it functional. Many thanks to @Daoro for making us aware of this change: Debian Trixie | Upgrade script support thread #7644 (comment)
• DietPi-Backup | If multiple backups are created (and kept), the rsync --link-dest option is now used to create files which did not change between last and current backup iteration as hard links to the last iteration. This usually leads to massively reduced effective disk usage and backup speedups, since unchanged files do not need to be copied, while every backup iteration however remains fully self-contained. Many thanks to @nicojx for making us aware of rsnapshot, which uses the same technique: Use rsnapshot for backups #7711
• DietPi-Software | Navidrome: Our default config now follows the upstream default, fetching album art not only from images embedded in media files, but also from common dedicated directory names and online from Last.fm as last resort. The change, however, is not applied retrospectively. If needed, remove the CoverArtPriority line from /mnt/dietpi_userdata/navidrome/navidrome.toml, or adjust it to your needs: https://www.navidrome.org/docs/usage/artwork/#albums. Many thanks to @ImNoExpertButOK for suggesting this enhancement: Add more parameters for the Navidrome CoverArtPriority setting in config file. #7719
• DietPi-Software | Roon Server: A new dialogue and related dietpi.txt setting SOFTWARE_ROONSERVER_EARLYACCESS allows to select and switch between stable and early access builds. Information about the Roon Early Access Program can be found here: https://help.roonlabs.com/portal/en/kb/articles/roon-early-access-program. Many thanks to @Wade_Oram for raising this topic: https://community.roonlabs.com/t/272420
• DietPi-Software | NZBGet: Our default config does not apply the insecure and (hopefully) widely unsupported RC4-MD5 TLS cipher for news server connections anymore, and removes the setting as well on DietPi update, if it was not changed already. This enhances the security of news data transfers and solves connections throwing Could not select cipher for TLS: error:0A0000B9:SSL routines::no cipher match errors. Many thanks to @maartenlangeveld for reporting this issue: nzbget: cannor reach newsserver #7726

Bug fixes

• General | Resolved an issue where in case of a /boot bind mount or Btrfs subvolume, the block device path of the mount source was falsely detected, containing a [/path] suffix. The findmnt -v/--nofsroot option is now consequently used when querying the mount SOURCE. Many thanks to @AnonymousMonkeyNo12 for reporting a related issue when our Quartz64 kernel package attempts to flash the bootloader: firmware-soquartz update fails due to broken lsblk / findmnt command #7698
• Raspberry Pi | Resolved an issue on Debian Trixie where the LightDM did not work without enabling KMS/DRM, and hence the related dietpi-autostart option, as well as desktop autologin as non-root user. It is strictly required for recent LightDM and is hence now done automatically. Many thanks to @TheRaven500 for reporting this issue: Debian Trixie | Upgrade script support thread #7644 (comment)
• Rockchip SoCs | Resolved an issue where flashing the SPI bootloader could fail, since dialog was called if multiple U-Boot images were available, e.g. to select between M.2 NVMe and SATA support. These calls are now replaced with whiptail, which is pre-installed on DietPi.
• Rockchip SoCs | Resolved an issue where flashing the SPI bootloader could fail on Bullseye systems, since flashcp was called with the -p flag in some cases, supported only from Bookworm on. Many thanks to @Arkem for reporting this issue: https://dietpi.com/forum/t/23426/46
• DietPi-Config | Resolved a v9.13 regression where setting CPU frequency limits was not possible. This has been solved for DietPi v9.16 as well via live patch. Many thanks to @gitlankford for reporting this issue: CPU scaling available frequencies missing #7696
• DietPi-Software | Resolved a v9.16 regression where installations failed if respective services were previously masked. Many thanks to @wiedehopf for reporting this issue: dietpi software fails due to unsupported systemctl argument #7712
• DietPi-Software | Portainer: Resolved a v9.16 regression where the installation could not manage the local Docker environment since the Docker socket was mounted to a wrong path. This has been solved for DietPi v9.16 as well via live patch. Many thanks to @pappv-dd for reporting this issue: DietPi-Software | Portainer (185): Failed loading environment #7691
• DietPi-Software | Home Assistant: Resolved an issue where the first start setup failed because of a missing new dependency. Many thanks to @mike1 and @Dynamic5912 for reporting this issue: https://dietpi.com/forum/t/24135, Home Assistant - fresh install on Trixie missing components #7731
• DietPi-Software | Icecast: Resolved an issue where using & or < as default software password resulted in a failing service start, since those characters have a special meaning in XML. They are now automatically HTML-encoded, which is treated correctly by the web UI for authentication. Many thanks to @gilou for reporting this issue: https://dietpi.com/forum/t/24175

[MichaIng]

Beta v9.17.1 has been merged: #7736