Darktable has released a new nightly build (version 20251109), which is the current state of development, pulled from its Git repo. This is not a polished release, but rather a snapshot designed for testing; it's ideal for users eager to explore new features before their official release. Users should proceed with caution, as stability isn't guaranteed and there may be bugs or issues that can break the software occasionally.

Darktable 5.3 Nightly Build 20251109 released

A new nightly build of Darktable is available for testing. If you're wondering what that means... it’s basically the current state of development, pulled right from the Git repo.

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This isn't one of those polished "distribution releases" (though note: if you've got a system with glibc version 2.35 or newer, think most recent Ubuntu/Fedora/Debian versions, then this AppImage build should run fine for you). It's here, unfiltered, for folks who want to jump into the deep end and try out new features before they make it into an official release.

Beware though! Since it’s a snapshot of ongoing development (where bugs are actively being hunted as well as complex code is being introduced), stability isn't guaranteed. This process can be a bit like testing software in beta form; things might break occasionally, so proceed with caution if you rely on Darktable for serious work!

Also worth noting: newer builds sometimes tweak how the image data is stored internally (the database schema). If you run this directly on your usual library, you might encounter issues later. The safest approach? Run it on a separate copy of your images dedicated to testing.

Now, let's talk about compatibility specifics:

For Linux users, things look positive if your distribution has glibc version 2.35 or above; Ubuntu 22.04 and newer Debian systems generally fit that bill nicely.

What is the *.AppImage.zsync file that you may encounter in the download section? Ignore it entirely for now. It’s purely technical data meant for AppImage auto-updaters like AppImageUpdate; it's not something intended for direct local use.

Windows users: this build requires Windows with the Universal C Runtime (UCRT), which was properly included starting with Windows 10 itself. If you're running Windows 8.1 or older, don't worry, Darktable might still run, but you'll likely need to install a UCRT package yourself for everything to work smoothly.

And finally, for our Mac fans: the macOS package is currently available as *-arm64.dmg, meaning it's built for Apple Silicon (M-series chips). This implies you’ll probably need macOS 14.0 (Sonoma) or newer installed on your machine.

Darktable-org/darktable Release Darktable nightly build 20251109

This is a nightly build of Darktable.

Release Darktable nightly build 20251109 · darktable-org/darktable