Roon new version to come, shall Roon users worry?

Audio Systems
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As seen on Roon’s forum recently:

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Don’t know why, but I’m a bit scared by this “new version” announcement without any more details given…

Edit: barely more from their latest newsletter, but a better RAM management AND the abandon of “old” machines/operating-systems…

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I sure hope they improve stability

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Don’t know what you mean. My Roon has been rock solid for so many years it’s like the sun coming up and going down every evening.

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A worrying thought for some.., :thinking:

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Same for me, until recently where the Roon server couldn’t restart after the last update.
Impossible to reboot the Rock OS either. I had to power it off and then on and everything restarted eventually.

Sources of concern are for me the change of UI, deprecation of MacOS systems can be dramatic for some users as well.

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If you read the full article you will see that the incompatibility only relates to Roon Server running on some very old MacOS and Linux distributions. May affect users of some older NAS drives. No device compatibility is affected.

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Thanks Andrew for that clarification.

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???

David - I think you have spent too many years on the Naim forum

Andrew does not look like Mr. Dane :rofl:

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Much more details provided Today in the headlines of the Roon community forum (same as what @AndrewS found - But Big-Sur/MacOS-11 isn’t that old, it was still updated earlier this year):

On April 20, 2026, we’ll release a new version of Roon that brings performance improvements and significantly reduced memory usage. However, it will not be compatible with a small number of older systems.

What minimum system requirements are changing?

Starting with this release on April 20th, 2026:

  • Roon on macOS will require macOS 12 (Monterey) or later
  • Roon on Linux will require glibc 2.27 or later and OpenSSL 1.1.1

How can I check I am impacted?

Windows

  • Windows is not impacted.

MacOS

Linux

  • If you are running Roon OS (ROCK or Nucleus), you are not impacted.
  • If you are running a modern Linux distribution since approximately 2019+, you should not be impacted. We know popular distributions such as Ubuntu, Debian, Arch, and Fedora are not impacted. If you aren’t sure, continue reading on how to test your system.
  • NAS operating systems, including QNAP, Synology, ASUSTOR, Unraid, and FreeNAS, may be impacted depending on the product you own. Continue reading on how to test your system.
  • Check OpenSSL
$ openssl version
OpenSSL 1.1.1, 11 Sep 2018
  • Check glibc
$ ldd --version
ldd (Ubuntu GLIBC 2.27-3ubuntu1.6) 2.27
Copyright (C) 2018 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
This is free software; see the source for copying conditions.  There is NO
warranty; not even for MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.
Written by Roland McGrath and Ulrich Drepper.
  • Check glibc, alternative:
$ getconf GNU_LIBC_VERSION
glibc 2.27, February 1, 2018

If affected

  • Update your OS
    • Windows
      • Windows is not affected.
    • MacOS
    • Linux
      • Update your Linux distribution to a version that supports glibc 2.27 or above, and openssl-1.1.1 or above.
    • NAS
      • Update your NAS’s operating system to one that supports glibc 2.27 or above, and openssl-1.1.1 or above.

What if I can’t update my Linux computer or NAS?

  • Run RoonServer via Docker - Docker is an operating system-level virtualization technology that will let you run a newer set of software on top of your older operating system. We are launching an official supported Docker image for RoonServer. Early access users will get it first, with a production release shortly after.
  • Run ROCK - If your Linux machine is dedicated for Roon Server, you can consider running Roon’s own operating system for Intel NUC hardware. See here for more information.
  • Get a Nucleus - Roon’s dedicated hardware, designed to run Roon Server out of the box

Can I stay on an older Roon version?

We will make a pre-update Roon software packages available for users who need more time to plan their transition. A few things to keep in mind if you choose this path:

  • You’ll need to disable automatic updates to remain on older software
  • This software will not receive updates, which includes security fixes
  • Over time, it will drift further from the current version, which may make it incompatible with software deployed on phones and tablets.
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By the way, this is a very good news to me…
:+1:

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Clearly! :laughing: Sorry, what was your name again? :laughing: :rofl:
I have edited my reply to Andrew.

Cheers Gregg :+1:

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you still are not getting it right :rofl:

“Sorry, what was your Naim again”

didn’t have your wake up coffee this morning?

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in the beginning this was true for me as well, but over the past year things have changed. (and I have a rock solid 1.5g fibre pipe)

  • Searching has slowed down (perhaps because I added Qobuz) but really my own database should be prioritized when searching
  • Roon has issues with discovering many of my devices (often requiring a restart of the end point) Thankfully this is rare with my Bartok
  • Graphics performance is lousy - scrolling through albums lists is choppy on certain devices (even ones with graphics boards that generate more heat than a class A amp)

IMHO Roon really needs to optimize their code across Mac, Win and Linux.