Over time, Redcore Linux has grown into something slightly different from what was originally imagined. It started as a way to bring Gentoo’s power to more people, with faster installs and ready‑made binaries, without forcing everyone to go through the full source‑based experience from day one. Along the way, something interesting happened: the way the branches were used by real users drifted away from what they were meant to represent.
For a long time, there were three branches:
Even though next was never formally promoted as “the recommended” branch, the fact that it had up‑to‑date binaries and behaved decently meant people just used it. In a recent poll, it became clear that the vast majority of users both preferred and actually ran next. At the same time, there has always been a thread of feedback saying Redcore did not feel “Gentoo enough” — that it smoothed over too much of what makes Gentoo what it is, especially for those who wanted to be closer to the source‑based core.
The change now being made is about aligning the branches with how they are intended to behave, and being honest about what each one means. To make this transition smooth, for the next few days master and next will remain in sync. Users can switch between them without any immediate differences, giving everyone time to make an informed choice about where they want to be long-term.
This is the branch for people who want the experience that many have enjoyed on next up until now: a system that “just works”, reasonably fresh, with binaries available without too much waiting. If you liked the old next because it was a good daily driver with working binaries, master is now where that experience lives.
This becomes the true testing and development branch. It is where changes from Gentoo land first, where transitions are incomplete, and where things may break. Binary packages will still be built, but they will lag behind the git state. That means there will be times when the newest changes exist only in source form for a while, and running next will feel much closer to tracking raw Gentoo, with all the sharp edges that implies. The difference from before is that this level of risk is now exposed directly to users, instead of being tucked away in edge.
The hidden danger zone is being removed. Its spirit — a place where anything can land, and users consciously accept the risk — moves to next, but now in a way that is visible, documented, and clearly opt‑in.
There are two main reasons behind this shift.
First, sustainability. Maintaining multiple visible and invisible tracks (stable, semi‑stable, hidden‑experimental) as a single maintainer is demanding. Simplifying the model to “stable” and “testing/dev” makes it more realistic to keep things moving without burning out, while still giving users a choice in how close they want to be to the bleeding edge.
Second, expectations. Users on next have effectively been getting a semi‑stable experience, while some people also wished Redcore felt more like Gentoo. That tension created confusion: a branch that was supposed to be rough became comfortable, and the truly rough work was hidden on edge. By swapping the roles — making master the “comfortable” branch and next the truly raw branch — the meaning of each choice becomes much clearer.
Put simply:
What this means for current next users
If you are currently running next because it had fast binaries and felt stable enough, this change is important for you.
For the next few days, you can switch to master with no disruption — the branches will stay identical during this grace period. The change will be fully in place on January 16th 2026. After that:
So, if you want your Redcore system to continue behaving the way your next install has behaved so far, the recommendation is clear: switch to master and its stable binary repository during the sync period. If instead you are excited by the idea that next will now show you the real, messy, evolving face of a Gentoo‑based distribution — the part that used to be hidden on edge — then you can stay on next with full awareness of what that entails.
However, if you decide to stay on next, but later decide it's too overwhelming, you can switch to master at any point further down the line. Branches have always been fully compatible, making it easy to jump between them — and that won't change. After all, next in source form (raw Gentoo) becomes master in binary form (Redcore).
In a way, this change is a response to the recurring feeling that Redcore was not “Gentoo enough”. By letting next behave like the old edge, and by accepting that binaries there will lag and sometimes be missing, the Gentoo nature of the system becomes much more visible. At the same time, master preserves what made Redcore attractive in the first place: a Gentoo‑based system that is actually approachable and pleasant to use day to day.
The hope is that this clearer split gives everyone a place where they feel at home: those who want a stable, binary‑first desktop built on Gentoo, and those who want to live on the edge and see the raw Gentoo‑style development process up close, with all the risks that come with it