diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -4,10 +4,16 @@
 The format is based on Keep a Changelog (https://keepachangelog.com/),
 and this project adheres to Semantic Versioning.
 
-## [Unreleased]
+## [0.4.2] - 2026-06-29
 
 ### Added
-- this observer now sends your journal a small, diagnostics-only health note alongside its regular check-in — its name, version, how long it's been running, and whether syncing is keeping up. it carries none of what it experiences with you: no screen, audio, file paths, or titles — just enough for you to see at a glance that an observer is alive and in good health.
+- this observer now sends your journal a small, diagnostics-only health note alongside its regular check-in, covering its name, version, how long it's been running, and whether syncing is keeping up. it carries none of what it experiences with you: no screen, audio, file paths, or titles. just enough for you to see at a glance that an observer is alive and in good health.
+
+### Changed
+- this observer now carries the sol mark across your desktop, in the app launcher and menus. the tray status icons are unchanged.
+
+### Fixed
+- installing solstone-linux now works cleanly on current debian and ubuntu. the earlier steps could fail while rebuilding the desktop graphics libraries from scratch; the updated install reuses the ones already on your system, so it goes through.
 
 ## [0.4.1] - 2026-06-17
 
diff --git a/pyproject.toml b/pyproject.toml
--- a/pyproject.toml
+++ b/pyproject.toml
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 [project]
 name = "solstone-linux"
-version = "0.4.1"
+version = "0.4.2"
 description = "Standalone Linux desktop observer for solstone"
 readme = "README.md"
 license = "AGPL-3.0-only"
diff --git a/src/solstone_linux/__init__.py b/src/solstone_linux/__init__.py
--- a/src/solstone_linux/__init__.py
+++ b/src/solstone_linux/__init__.py
@@ -3,4 +3,4 @@
 
 """Standalone Linux desktop observer for solstone."""
 
-__version__ = "0.4.1"
+__version__ = "0.4.2"