 DistroWatch Weekly |
| DistroWatch Weekly, Issue 871, 22 June 2020 |
|
Welcome to this year's 25th issue of DistroWatch Weekly!
One of the great strengths of open source software is the ability to take one project's code and modify it, making it into something different. Often developers want to add features or customize settings to make a distribution function better and this allows for a great deal of diversity in the Linux ecosystem. This week we begin with a look at Devuan GNU+Linux, a project which takes Debian and strips out the systemd software in favour of alternative init software and other low-level tools. Read on to hear how the latest version of Devuan performs. Devuan is one of a few Linux distributions which attempt to support multiple init implementations and we would like to hear what you think of projects offering different init systems in our Opinion Poll. In our News section we discuss Fedora making the upgrade process between versions safer and we talk about DragonFly BSD gaining automatic filesystem snapshots. We also share a notice for Tumbleweed users about a potential wireless issue in the latest kernel. Then we talk about how the BSDs vary in their approach to operating system development compared to Linux distributions and how some flavours of Linux are now taking a similar approach. Plus we are pleased to welcome Rescuezilla, a fork of Redo Backup & Rescue, to our database. We wish you all a terrific week and happy reading!
Content:
- Review: Devuan GNU+Linux 3.0.0
- News: Fedora to make upgrades more secure, DragonFly BSD automates HAMMER2 snapshots, openSUSE warns of wireless issues in kernel update
- Questions and answers: BSD versus Linux distribution development
- Released last week: CentOS 8.2.2004, FreeBSD 11.4, Emmabuntus DE3-1.02
- Torrent corner: Absolute, Calculate, CentOS, Emmabuntus, FreeBSD, KDE neon, Redo Rescue, Rescuezilla, Robolinux, Star
- Opinion poll: Distributions supporting multiple init systems
- New additions: Rescuezilla
- Reader comments
Listen to the Podcast edition of this week's DistroWatch Weekly in OGG (17MB) and MP3 (13MB) formats.
|
| Feature Story (by Jesse Smith) |
Devuan GNU+Linux 3.0.0
Devuan is a Debian-based distribution which removes systemd, along with dependencies on systemd, from the operating system. Devuan uses SysV init software by default and the release notes mention OpenRC is available as an optional service/runlevel manager while runit is in the repositories as an alternative init implementation.
Devuan 3.0.0 is based on Debian 10 and has builds available for the 32-bit (x86), 64-bit (x86_64), armhf, arm64, and ppc64el architectures. The project further makes available Desktop, Server, Minimal, and Net-install editions. We are also offered Live and Install flavours of media for most editions. In other words, Devuan follows Debian's example in having a lot of download options before we even begin the install process.
I thought it worth noting that while Debian's default install media does not include non-free firmware which is often used for wireless networking, and users who require non-free firmware need to download alternative media. In contrast, Devuan's editions all ship with non-free firmware and provide the option of removing it.
All Devuan 3 Beowulf install media make non-free firmware packages available at install time. These are only installed if your networking hardware requires them in order to function. You can avoid the automatic installation of non-free firmware by selecting the "Expert install" option in the installation menu.
Devuan 3 Beowulf desktop-live and minimal-live images come with non-free firmware packages pre-installed. You can remove these packages after boot using the "remove_firmware.sh" script available under /root.
I downloaded both the Live and Install media for the project's Desktop edition. The Live media is a 1.1GB download while the Install media is 3.6GB in size. I began with the Live build which boots directly into the Xfce 4.12 desktop. There is a panel placed along the top of the screen. The application menu is located to the left, the system tray to the right, and a task switcher takes up the middle of the panel. A second panel which houses quick-launch icons for starting commonly used applications sits at the bottom of the screen.
The Xfce's default wallpaper is dark red. On the desktop we find icons for launching the system installer, opening documentation, and launching the Thunar file manager. There are also icons which, when clicked, enlarge and shrink the desktop's font size. I found Xfce worked very quickly from the live media and my hardware was all detected so I dived into the installer.
Devuan GNU+Linux 3.0.0 -- Customizing the disk layout
(full image size: 102kB, resolution: 1360x768 pixels)
Installing
I experimented with three different approaches to setting up Devuan. When working from the Install media, I launched a text installer which appears to be Debian's installer with little to no changes. I talked about Debian's installer when I reviewed Debian 10. I also tried running the installer from Devuan's Live media, which I am about to discuss. Later in my trial I experimented with the Expert Install option on Devuan's Install media and I will cover the highlights of that experience later.
Launching Devuan's installer from the Live media kicks off an unusually long procedure for setting up the operating system. At first we are presented with a graphical application that displays a list of checkboxes and we can select which options we wish to enable. Most of these options deal with partitioning layouts (such as whether to have separate /boot and /home directories and whether to use swap space. There are other options though which toggle whether we wish to enable features such as automatic logins.
The next screen of the installer warns us the operating system needs at least one partition to be set up ahead of time and it offers to launch either GParted or cfdisk to help us partition local disks. The installer then asks us to pick the name of the disk we will be using for the installation. We are given the chance to pick which filesystem to use for Devuan, though options are limited to the ext2/3/4 family.
The installer then walks us through picking our time zone from drop-down lists. Then we are asked to pick our language locale from a cryptic list of language abbreviations (the default option is American English), and then we can pick our keyboard layout from another list. Then the installer confirms it should continue and begins copying its files to our local hard drive. A terminal window shows each file being transferred.
Once the files finish copying we are offered the chance to install a boot loader and pick the location where it will be set up. We then create a username and password for ourselves and, optionally, enable sudo access. We are also given the chance to disable the root account. When the installer is done it returns us to the Xfce desktop where we can restart the computer.
Early impressions
When my new copy of Devuan first started up I noticed it identified itself as Debian in the boot menu. This can be changed, but it's a minor cosmetic detail. The system then booted to a graphical login screen where I could sign into the Xfce 4.12 desktop again.
The desktop is fairly clean, with no pop-ups or other distractions. I often find myself adjusting font sizes to better fit in menus or to make documents easier to read so I liked having the Enlarge/Shrink Font icons on the desktop.
Early on I noticed there was no volume control in the system tray. We can work around this limitation by launching the audio mixer from the application menu or by installing a system tray mixer such as pnmixer.
Hardware
Devuan performed very well in both of my test environments. When running in VirtualBox the operating system was stable, booted quickly, and Xfce was highly responsive. I did need to manually adjust the desktop resolution through the settings panel as Devuan was unable to dynamically resize its desktop to match my VirtualBox window.
Devuan GNU+Linux 3.0.0 -- Running Thunar and Firefox
(full image size: 169kB, resolution: 1360x768 pixels)
When running on my laptop, Devuan performed beautifully. It started up quickly, ran smoothly and detected all of my hardware, including my wireless card. This was a pleasant change from Debian which was unable to access my wireless card until I had manually tracked down the missing firmware package.
When installed from the Live media, Devuan required 285MB of memory to sign into Xfce and consumed 4.1GB of disk space. These amounts varied depending on how I installed the system and I will talk more about that later.
Applications
Devuan, with the Xfce desktop installed, ships with a collection of common, and less-common yet lightweight, applications. The Firefox browser and LibreOffice are included along with the Parole media player and the Quod Libet audio player. The distribution includes codecs for playing popular media formats.
The Ristretto image viewer, Atril document viewer, and Xfburn disc burning software are included too. There is a utility for performing bulk file renaming operations and the Thunar file manager. The mutt e-mail client is included along with Java, a text editor, and a system monitor.
By default Devuan uses the SysV init software, though the release notes promise alternatives. Behind the scenes the distribution runs on version 4.19 of the Linux kernel.
While I was exploring the available software I noted the Xfce settings panel works nicely. It provides a clear approach to customizing the look and behaviour of the desktop. Lower level system settings are not accessible through the Xfce panel and generally require a trip to the command line.
Devuan GNU+Linux 3.0.0 -- The Xfce settings panel
(full image size: 150kB, resolution: 1360x768 pixels)
There were a few minor issues I ran into. For instance there is a launcher called Mail Reader in the application menu which, when clicked, fails to launch any program. However, the mutt e-mail client is installed and can be opened through another launcher. In a similar fashion, pressing the Print Screen button does nothing even though there is a screenshot tool installed.
Switching to runit or OpenRC
The Devuan release notes mention OpenRC is available as an alternative to managing services while using SysV init. The release notes also mention the runit software is available as an alternative to the /sbin/init program, also known as PID 1. However, I was unable to locate any tips on how to swap out these components in the release notes or in the project's documentation. I also didn't find any guide in the project's unofficial wiki or on the forums. The one reference I could find to performing the switch suggested choosing the init software was an option in the Expert Install process on the Install media.
I feel it worth mentioning that the Install disc has a number of options the Live disc does not. For example, we can use the default text installer, which works like Debian's installer. We can also enable an Expert Install option which is again similar to Debian's, with a few different options. Plus we can enable speech synthesis for either installer as an accessibility option.
The Expert Install is a long, tedious process. It took about two hours in my case as the installer stops after about every third screen to download packages or configure something and each of the many steps takes us back to a menu that lists all the available steps so we can do them out of order.
When I got to the screen that allows us to pick our init software, there were just two options: SysV init and OpenRC. There was no option for using runit. Both options install SysV init as the /sbin/init (PID 1) program, however, the latter uses OpenRC to manage services.
As far as I could tell, OpenRC was not faster (or slower) to boot or shutdown the system. OpenRC does have some nice features, though from a practical point of view it doesn't seem to matter to the end user which service manager is used, with one exception. Sometimes when using OpenRC my system would not reboot, Devuan would shutdown services, but not power off or restart. This happened rarely, but only when I was running OpenRC; the restart process always went smoothly when using a pure SysV init setup.
At one point I tried installing the runit package to see if it would replace SysV init, but it did not. Devuan continued to boot with SysV init as PID 1. I still have yet to find documentation on the Devuan website on swapping out one init for the other.
On the subject of trying different install methods, I noticed a significant difference when I set up Devuan from the Install media versus the Live media. Though I stayed with the default settings as much as possible and, in each case, ended up with the same desktop and applications, there was a big difference in resource usage. The Install media resulted in a system which used 40MB less memory and 1GB less disk space when compared next to the system I installed from the Live media. At the time of writing I'm not sure what accounts for the difference, but the Install media seems to create a system that is about 20% lighter.
Devuan GNU+Linux 3.0.0 -- Running LibreOffice on the Xfce desktop
(full image size: 212kB, resolution: 1360x768 pixels)
Software management
Devuan ships with the classic Synaptic package manager. Synaptic, while it takes a low-level approach to dealing with software, does its work quickly. We can check off packages we wish to download, upgrade, or remove and process these actions in batches. Synaptic may not be the most friendly package manager, but it was dependable and fast during my trial.
Devuan GNU+Linux 3.0.0 -- The Synaptic package manager
(full image size: 147kB, resolution: 1360x768 pixels)
We can also manage software from the command line using the APT collection of tools. The first time I ran APT it warned me there had been recent changes to the repositories, switching the repositories from Testing to Stable. We are asked to confirm this is okay and expected before APT will continue its work.
During my trial there were just 4 new updates, 41kB in size. These had to be checked for and downloaded manually as Devuan does not have any update notification system.
For people who wish to use portable package formats, Flatpak is not installed by default, but is available in Devuan's repositories. Snap depends on systemd being used as init and is understandably not in the repositories.
Conclusions
As we might expect, Devuan looks and feels almost exactly like Debian. The functionality is the same, most of the supported desktops and other packages are the same, just with the underlying init software replaced. Most people, I suspect, would not notice whether they were running Debian or Devuan, unless they had to manage background services manually.
The one practical difference I noticed during my trial was with firmware and hardware support. There are alternative downloads for Debian that include non-free firmware and therefore wireless support, but it takes some digging to find it, assuming you know to look for these alternative downloads. With Devuan, all possible hardware is supported from the start with the option to remove unused firmware later.
I was disappointed that while runit is listed as an alternative to SysV init, I could not find any practical documentation on performing this switch. Using the Expert Install option did not change init software, only the service manager, though the step in the installer is labelled as choosing the init implementation. I hope the steps required to switch to runit are made more clear in the documentation at some point.
Devuan, to my mind, is a solid operating system. It is fast, light, and stable. However, the steps to install the distribution are lengthy and likely to confuse newcomers. It was also released about a year behind Debian, which means most of the included software is now a year and a half old. Probably not a big deal for most people, in a practical sense, but if you crave up to date packages, Devuan's Stable branch will not appeal.
For most people, those who don't tinker with the underlying operating system, I don't think Devuan holds much attraction over Debian (apart from more accessible firmware). However, for people who like the classic init and OpenRC approaches to managing the underlying system, I think Devuan does hold appeal. It is essentially Debian, or what Debian would have been if it had not migrated to systemd.
* * * * *
Hardware used in this review
My physical test equipment for this review was a de-branded HP laptop with the following
specifications:
- Processor: Intel i3 2.5GHz CPU
- Display: Intel integrated video
- Storage: Western Digital 700GB hard drive
- Memory: 6GB of RAM
- Wired network device: Realtek RTL8101E/RTL8102E PCI Express Fast
- Wireless network device: Realtek RTL8188EE Wireless network card
* * * * *
Visitor supplied rating
Devuan GNU+Linux has a visitor supplied average rating of: 9/10 from 171 review(s).
Have you used Devuan GNU+Linux? You can leave your own review of the project on our ratings page.
|
| Miscellaneous News (by Jesse Smith) |
Fedora to make upgrades more secure, DragonFly BSD automates HAMMER2 snapshots, openSUSE warns of wireless issues in kernel update
Ben Cotton has put forward a proposal which would make upgrading packages across versions of Fedora more secure and less likely to leave obsoleted packages on a user's system. The proposal suggests marking unmaintained packages as being obsolete so that it will not be carried across to new versions of the operating system when Fedora is upgraded. "If the user wants to preserve the package (e.g., because it moved to Copr), he simply uninstalls and protects the installation of fedora-retired-packages. But that will be an informed decision. The benefits are: We do not leave unmaintained packages on a user's machine. We make sure that archaic packages do not break upgrade between two
versions of Fedora." Other proposals can be found in the Fedora wiki.
* * * * *
The DragonFly BSD team has introduced a new, optional feature which will take automatic filesystem snapshots when the HAMMER2 advanced filesystem is being used. "The first version of HAMMER took automatic snapshots, set within the config for each filesystem. HAMMER2 now also takes automatic snapshots, via periodic like most every repeating task on your DragonFly system." This change will make it easier for administrators to recover from accidental file deletion and broken software upgrades.
* * * * *
People who run openSUSE Tumbleweed, the project's rolling release edition, way wish to proceed with caution when it comes to upgrading the kernel this week. The openSUSE team is warning that a new kernel update could cause problems with some wireless networking cards. "The arrival of Linux Kernel 5.7.1 came in snapshot 20200612, which is also trending unstable at a rating of 76, and could affect people relying on iwlwifi. The next update should correct the issue." This advisory and other news relating to Tumbleweed can be found on openSUSE's news page.
* * * * *
These and other news stories can be found on our Headlines page.
|
| Questions and Answers (by Jesse Smith) |
BSD versus Linux distribution development
Comparing-apples-to-BSDs asks: I was reading one of the old articles from the archive. One of the things mentioned was how the BSDs have a distinct approach in terms of packaging the base system relative to userland apps, and that the Linux distros at the time were not following the same practice. Are there Linux distros that have adopted the same approach in modern times? If not, are there technical limitations that are preventing them from doing so, such as some distros supporting multiple kernel versions maybe?
DistroWatch answers: In the article mentioned above, I made the observation that Linux distributions tend to take one of two approaches when it comes to packaging software. Generally a Linux distribution will either offer a rolling release, where virtually all packages are regularly upgraded to their latest stable releases, or a fixed release where almost all packages are kept at a set version number and only receive bug fixes for the life cycle of the distribution. Projects like Arch Linux and Void are popular examples of rolling, always-up-to-date distributions while Fedora and Ubuntu offer fixed platforms.
Basically, with few exceptions, Linux distributions all fell into those two categories where the rolling releases were constantly changing and fixed releases tended to fall behind (or out of date).
The BSDs, in contrast, tend to take an alternative approach. Operating systems like FreeBSD and OpenBSD provide a fixed core (or base) operating system. The base tends to be small, stable, and only changes in small evolutions on a set schedule. The cores of the main BSD branches are fixed. Meanwhile most applications which you can install on the BSDs (LibreOffice, Firefox, the desktop environment, etc) are kept up to date with their upstream versions. The base operating system is fixed and stable while the applications the user runs can be kept up to date with the latest and greatest. This allows the BSDs to offer close to cutting-edge applications without risking a routine update breaking the core of the operating system.
A big part of why the BSDs have this stable core (and updated third-party applications) while Linux distributions tend to take an all-or-nothing approach to version upgrades is the BSDs are developed with all the core operating system components as part of one large project. The FreeBSD kernel, command line tools, filesystems, and base libraries are all handled by the same team. Third-party applications (typically called ports) are made available by another team. In other words, FreeBSD is a whole operating system with almost all the key parts made by one organization.
Linux distributions, on the other hand, are mostly collections of third-party components that are wedded together and managed by a package manager. Debian and Slackware, for the most part, don't develop much of their own software. Most of the work these projects do is to take separate components and weld them together to make an operating system out of independently developed parts. The Linux kernel is made by one team, the core libraries by other teams, the installer by another team, the userland tools by yet another team - all of them operating with their own separate goals and schedules. Linux distributions are made up of hundreds, sometimes thousands, of packages made by teams other than the one publishing the distribution.
This means that Linux distributions do not have one core operating system with key components managed by one team. The kernel, C library, init software, and userland tools come from separate places and their updates are generally not coordinated. This makes it hard for Linux projects to maintain a small, static core while end-user applications get updated.
While difficult, it is not entirely unheard of for some Linux distributions to attempt to maintain a small, stable core platform while regularly updating desktop applications. Some projects take a semi-rolling release approach. If you have used PCLinuxOS or Chakra GNU/Linux you will have seen this in action. The kernel, lower level graphics libraries, and core tools tend to upgrade slowly while desktop applications are updated as new releases come out. Semi-rolling releases can work for a while, but eventually the core components need to "jump ahead" occasionally to keep up.
Some Linux projects attempt to make an image of an operating system and add third-party bundles or containers on top of them. The Fedora CoreOS distribution does this. It maintains a fixed core on which people can add containers or package bundles. The core system in this case is not necessarily fixed, but because it is updated as a whole (rather than as individual packages) the idea is that the core image should always work. The core image approach allows for faster upgrades and keeps the core system somewhat isolated from the applications running on it, but lacks flexibility compared to the semi-rolling and BSD approaches.
A more flexible, and increasingly common solution, is to have a minimum Linux distribution that runs portable packages, such as Flatpak or Snap packages. Portable packages ship with their own dependencies, making them independent of the core operating system and therefore able to update separately from the base distribution and they can be frequently upgraded. The base distribution can then act as a long-term support (LTS), fixed release that is rarely upgraded, much the same way the BSDs handle upgrades. Unfortunately, portable packages are often very large, do not integrate with the host desktop properly, and managing them requires a second package manager to be installed on the operating system.
One more solution is backports. A backport is an updated program which is built to run on an older, fixed-release distribution. Generally backports are kept in their own, separate package repository and added to LTS distributions such as CentOS, Debian or Ubuntu. A backport can be handled by the distribution's default package manager, which is convenient when compared to portable package solutions. However, backports are rarely well tested (compared to the core package repositories), and in my experience, frequently break things on the parent distribution. This makes backports flexible but adds risk of breaking functionality or dependencies on the base operating system.
In short, while there are technical hurdles (such as distributed development) which make it harder for Linux distributions to provide the same sort of base platform isolated from third-party applications, it is possible for Linux distributions to offer this approach. There are several solutions available, each with their strengths and weaknesses. None of these approaches is exactly the same as the BSDs, but some of them are similar and offer some of the same benefits.
* * * * *
Additional answers can be found in our Questions and Answers archive.
|
| Released Last Week |
Emmabuntüs DE3-1.02
Emmabuntüs is a lightweight, Debian-based distribution featuring the Xfce and LXQt desktop environments. the project's latest release is Emmabuntüs Debian Edition (DE) 3-1.02. The latest version is based on Debian 10.4 and swaps out the LXDE desktop for LXQt. "The LXQt environment which replaces LXDE, and is natively installed in the ISO and no longer needs a additional post-installation step; the web browser Falkon , which consumes only 1GB of RAM under LXQt; the inxi / inxi-gui utilities to improve the user support through our forum; the gThumb image viewer / organizer, replacing Nomacs, which allows you to easily manage your picture library; the SMTube application as well as the font-manager, mediainfo-gui and mdadm utilities for a better handling of our distribution; the KeePassXC and Onboard utilities to replace their obsoleted equivalents (KeePassX and Florence)." Further details and screenshots can be found in the project's release announcement.
CentOS 8.2.2004
Brian Stinson has announced the release of an updated build of CentOS, a Linux distribution build from the source code of Red Hat Enterprise Linux. The new version, labelled as CentOS 8.2.2004, is available for the aarch64, ppc64le and x86_64 architectures. "We are pleased to announce the general availability of CentOS Linux 8. Effectively immediately, this is the current release for CentOS Linux 8 and is tagged as 2004, derived from Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8.2 source code. Updates released since the upstream release are all posted, across all architectures. We strongly recommend every user apply all updates, including the content released today, on your existing CentOS Linux 8 machine by just running 'dnf update'. As with all CentOS Linux 8 components, this release was built from sources hosted at git.centos.org. Sources will be available from vault.centos.org in their own dedicated directories to match the corresponding binary RPMs." See the release announcement and the detailed release notes for further information and known issues.
FreeBSD 11.4
Glen Barber has announced the release of FreeBSD 11.4, the latest (and final) stable update in the product's legacy branch. It will continue receiving security support until September 2021. "The FreeBSD Release Engineering team is pleased to announce the availability of FreeBSD 11.4-RELEASE. This is the fifth and final release of the stable/11 branch. Some of the highlights: the Clang, LLVM, lld, lldb and compiler-rt utilities as well as libc++ have been updated to upstream version 10.0.0; OpenSSL has been updated to version 1.0.2u; Unbound has been updated to version 1.9.6; the pkg(8) utility has been updated to version 1.13.2; the KDE desktop environment has been updated to version 5.18.4; the GNOME desktop environment has been updated to version 3.28; support for renaming ZFS bookmarks has been added; the certctl(8) utility has been added; several feature additions and updates to userland applications; warnings for features deprecated in future releases will now be printed on all FreeBSD versions.... See the release announcement and the release notes for further details.
Rescuezilla 1.0.6
Shasheen Ediriweera has announced the release of Rescuezilla 1.0.6, developed by a project which has given a new life to the abandoned "Redo Backup & Restore" distribution. The 64-bit edition of Rescuezilla 1.0.6 is based on Ubuntu 20.04, while the 32-bit variant is still derived from Ubuntu 18.04; both flavours feature tools for backing up and rescuing individual files or complete operating systems through a simple user interface. From the changelog: "Version 1.0.6 (2020-06-17). Added 64-bit edition (this fixes the slow transfer rates issue on systems with more than 16GB of RAM); added support for booting on EFI-only machines (including with Secure Boot enabled, 64-bit only); switched ISOLINUX bootloader to GRUB affecting all boot approaches: BIOS, EFI and CD-ROM; upgraded OS base to Ubuntu 20.04 LTS 'Focal' from 18.04 LTS 'Bionic' (64-bit only); Ubuntu 20.04 has dropped 32-bit edition, so Rescuezilla 32-bit remains based on Ubuntu 18.04; fixed issue preventing backup/restore of partitions smaller than typically 40MB; fixed broken GRUB backup affecting some 1MB-aligned file systems on MBR-formatted disks.... Please visit the project's home page at Rescuezilla.com for a complete list of features, screenshots and other useful information.
Rescuezilla 1.0.6 -- Running the LXDE desktop
(full image size: 117kB, resolution: 1920x1080 pixels)
Robolinux 11.02
John Martinson has announced the release of Robolinux 11.02, an upgraded build of the project's Ubuntu-based distribution which integrates VirtualBox to run various guest operating systems within the main host. Despite the bump in the version number, the new release of Robolinux is still based on Ubuntu 18.04; its major new feature is an option to purchase a commercial application called "Untracker" which updates a computer's MAC address at every reboot or at selected intervals: "The Robolinux 'Untracker' series 11 operating systems also come with an entirely new set of modern icons. After extensive Ubuntu 20.04 code base testing we found that it was not stable enough to use at this time, so the Robolinux Series 11 versions are built around the robust Ubuntu 18.04 code base with an upgraded 5.3 Linux kernel which provides users with the newest hardware drivers and other important upgrades. The most important and useful feature of our new Series 11 release is the built-in Robo Untracker which makes it impossible for a PC or laptop to be contact-traced or tracked because it automatically changes all of your MAC addresses every time you reboot." Read the full release announcement for more details.
Oracle Linux 8.2
Oracle Linux, an enterprise-class server distribution built from the source code of Red Hat Enterprise Linux, has been updated to version 8.2. The announcement was actually made on 6th May, but the product's installation ISO image only appeared on public download servers yesterday. This release is the first in the 8.x series that installs Oracle's Unbreakable Enterprise Kernel (UEK) by default: "Oracle is pleased to announce the general availability of Oracle Linux 8 Update 2. Individual RPM packages are available on the Unbreakable Linux Network (ULN) and the Oracle Linux yum server. Starting with Oracle Linux 8 Update 2, the Unbreakable Enterprise Kernel Release 6 (UEK R6) is included on the installation image along with the Red Hat Compatible Kernel (RHCK). For new installations, UEK R6 is enabled and installed as the default kernel on first boot. UEK R6 is a heavily tested and optimized operating system kernel for Oracle Linux 7 Update 7, and later, and Oracle Linux 8 Update 1, and later." See the release announcement and the release notes for further information.
Calculate Linux 20.6
Alexander Tratsevskiy has announced the release of Calculate Linux 20.6, a new version of the project's Gentoo-based, rolling-release distribution set available in KDE Plasma, Cinnamon, LXQt, MATE and Xfce editions: "To celebrate the 20th anniversary of Calculate Ltd, we are pleased to unveil the new Calculate Linux 20.6 release. This new version provides numerous optimizations, namely shorter boot-up time, reduced memory requirements, and added pre-configured web browser extensions for Nextcloud support. Main changes: by default, Zram is used instead of the physical swap partition; Zstd compression for the kernel, the modules and initramfs; Linux kernel modules installed as packages come as Zstd archives too; PulseAudio is used by default, but you can choose ALSA if you like; Chromium comes with the pre-configured uBlock Origin plug-in; the Passman and FreedomMarks can be also added to your web browser...." Continue to the release announcement for a full list of changes and fixes.
Calculate Linux 20.6 -- The KDE Plasma desktop and application menu
(full image size: 699kB, resolution: 1920x1080 pixels)
* * * * *
Development, unannounced and minor bug-fix releases
|
| Torrent Corner |
Weekly Torrents
The table below provides a list of torrents DistroWatch is currently seeding. If you do not have a bittorrent client capable of handling the linked files, we suggest installing either the Transmission or KTorrent bittorrent clients.
Archives of our previously seeded torrents may be found in our Torrent Archive. We also maintain a Torrents RSS feed for people who wish to have open source torrents delivered to them. To share your own open source torrents of Linux and BSD projects, please visit our Upload Torrents page.
Torrent Corner statistics:
- Total torrents seeded: 2,032
- Total data uploaded: 32.3TB
|
| Upcoming Releases and Announcements |
|
Summary of expected upcoming releases
|
| Opinion Poll (by Jesse Smith) |
Distributions supporting multiple init systems
We talked about the latest version of Devuan this week, one of a few distributions which strives to support using multiple init implementations. Some other distributions, such as MX Linux and Artix Linux also support running a variety of init systems. Some people appreciate the flexibility of these projects and how they can provide a number of ways to manage the boot process. Others see supporting multiple approaches as providing little benefit as most users do not interact directly with the init software and its low-level tools.
What do you think of projects like Devuan striving to offer a variety of init implementations for users to run?
You can see the results of our previous poll on tagging files in last week's edition. All previous poll results can be found in our poll archives.
|
Supporting multiple init systems
| I like being able to choose which init is installed: | 560 (37%) |
| I like having multiple init options at boot time: | 119 (8%) |
| I prefer to have my distro focus on one init: | 855 (56%) |
|
|
| Website News (by Jesse Smith) |
New projects added to database
Rescuezilla
Rescuezilla is a specialist Ubuntu-based distribution designed for system rescue tasks, including backups and system restoration. It was forked from the "Redo Backup & Rescue" project which was abandoned in 2012. Like its predecessor, it allows a "bare-metal restore" after any hardware failure directly from the live image. Some of the features include: works directly from the live CD/USB image; works with Linux, macOS and Windows; automatically searches a local area network for drives to backup to or restore from; recovers lost or deleted data files; includes configuration tools for managing disk and drives. Rescuezilla uses a simplified LXDE user interface.
Rescuezilla 1.0.6 -- Running the LXDE desktop
(full image size: 117kB, resolution: 1920x1080 pixels)
* * * * *
DistroWatch database summary
* * * * *
This concludes this week's issue of DistroWatch Weekly. The next instalment will be published on Monday, 29 June 2020. Past articles and reviews can be found through our Article Search page. To contact the authors please send e-mail to:
- Jesse Smith (feedback, questions and suggestions: distribution reviews/submissions, questions and answers, tips and tricks)
- Ladislav Bodnar (feedback, questions, donations, comments)
- Bruce Patterson (podcast)
|
|
| Tip Jar |
If you've enjoyed this week's issue of DistroWatch Weekly, please consider sending us a tip.
(Tips this week: 3, value: US$125.70) |
|
|
|
 bc1qxes3k2wq3uqzr074tkwwjmwfe63z70gwzfu4lx  lnurl1dp68gurn8ghj7ampd3kx2ar0veekzar0wd5xjtnrdakj7tnhv4kxctttdehhwm30d3h82unvwqhhxarpw3jkc7tzw4ex6cfexyfua2nr  86fA3qPTeQtNb2k1vLwEQaAp3XxkvvvXt69gSG5LGunXXikK9koPWZaRQgfFPBPWhMgXjPjccy9LA9xRFchPWQAnPvxh5Le paypal.me/distrowatchweekly • patreon.com/distrowatch |
|
| Extended Lifecycle Support by TuxCare |
|
|
|
| TUXEDO |
TUXEDO Computers - Linux Hardware in a tailor made suite
Choose from a wide range of laptops and PCs in various sizes and shapes at TUXEDOComputers.com. Every machine comes pre-installed and ready-to-run with Linux. Full 24 months of warranty and lifetime support included!
Learn more about our full service package and all benefits from buying at TUXEDO.
|
| Archives |
| • Issue 1156 (2026-01-19): Chimera Linux's new installer, using the DistroWatch Torrent Corner, new package tools for Arch, Haiku improves EFI support, Redcore streamlines branches, Synex introduces install-time ZFS options |
| • Issue 1155 (2026-01-12): MenuetOS, CDE on Sparky, iDeal OS 2025.12.07, recommended flavour of BSD, Debian seeks new Data Protection Team, Ubuntu 25.04 nears its end of life, Google limits Android source code releases, Fedora plans to replace SDDM, Budgie migrates to Wayland |
| • Issue 1154 (2026-01-05): postmarketOS 25.06/25.12, switching to Linux and educational resources, FreeBSD improving laptop support, Unix v4 available for download, new X11 server in development, CachyOS team plans server edtion |
| • Issue 1153 (2025-12-22): Best projects of 2025, is software ever truly finished?, Firefox to adopt AI components, Asahi works on improving the install experience, Mageia presents plans for version 10 |
| • Issue 1152 (2025-12-15): OpenBSD 7.8, filtering websites, Jolla working on a Linux phone, Germany saves money with Linux, Ubuntu to package AMD tools, Fedora demonstrates AI troubleshooting, Haiku packages Go language |
| • Issue 1151 (2025-12-08): FreeBSD 15.0, fun command line tricks, Canonical presents plans for Ubutnu 26.04, SparkyLinux updates CDE packages, Redox OS gets modesetting driver |
| • Issue 1150 (2025-12-01): Gnoppix 25_10, exploring if distributions matter, openSUSE updates tumbleweed's boot loader, Fedora plans better handling of broken packages, Plasma to become Wayland-only, FreeBSD publishes status report |
| • Issue 1149 (2025-11-24): MX Linux 25, why are video drivers special, systemd experiments with musl, Debian Libre Live publishes new media, Xubuntu reviews website hack |
| • Issue 1148 (2025-11-17): Zorin OS 18, deleting a file with an unusual name, NetBSD experiments with sandboxing, postmarketOS unifies its documentation, OpenBSD refines upgrades, Canonical offers 15 years of support for Ubuntu |
| • Issue 1147 (2025-11-10): Fedora 43, the size and stability of the Linux kernel, Debian introducing Rust to APT, Redox ports web engine, Kubuntu website off-line, Mint creates new troubleshooting tools, FreeBSD improves reproducible builds, Flatpak development resumes |
| • Issue 1146 (2025-11-03): StartOS 0.4.0, testing piped commands, Ubuntu Unity seeks help, Canonical offers Ubuntu credentials, Red Hat partners with NVIDIA, SUSE to bundle AI agent with SLE 16 |
| • Issue 1145 (2025-10-27): Linux Mint 7 "LMDE", advice for new Linux users, AlmaLinux to offer Btrfs, KDE launches Plasma 6.5, Fedora accepts contributions written by AI, Ubuntu 25.10 fails to install automatic updates |
| • Issue 1144 (2025-10-20): Kubuntu 25.10, creating and restoring encrypted backups, Fedora team debates AI, FSF plans free software for phones, ReactOS addresses newer drivers, Xubuntu reacts to website attack |
| • Issue 1143 (2025-10-13): openSUSE 16.0 Leap, safest source for new applications, Redox introduces performance improvements, TrueNAS Connect available for testing, Flatpaks do not work on Ubuntu 25.10, Kamarada plans to switch its base, Solus enters new epoch, Frugalware discontinued |
| • Issue 1142 (2025-10-06): Linux Kamarada 15.6, managing ZIP files with SQLite, F-Droid warns of impact of Android lockdown, Alpine moves ahead with merged /usr, Cinnamon gets a redesigned application menu |
| • Issue 1141 (2025-09-29): KDE Linux and GNOME OS, finding mobile flavours of Linux, Murena to offer phones with kill switches, Redox OS running on a smartphone, Artix drops GNOME |
| • Issue 1140 (2025-09-22): NetBSD 10.1, avoiding AI services, AlmaLinux enables CRB repository, Haiku improves disk access performance, Mageia addresses service outage, GNOME 49 released, Linux introduces multikernel support |
| • Issue 1139 (2025-09-15): EasyOS 7.0, Linux and central authority, FreeBSD running Plasma 6 on Wayland, GNOME restores X11 support temporarily, openSUSE dropping BCacheFS in new kernels |
| • Issue 1138 (2025-09-08): Shebang 25.8, LibreELEC 12.2.0, Debian GNU/Hurd 2025, the importance of software updates, AerynOS introduces package sets, postmarketOS encourages patching upstream, openSUSE extends Leap support, Debian refreshes Trixie media |
| • Issue 1137 (2025-09-01): Tribblix 0m37, malware scanners flagging Linux ISO files, KDE introduces first-run setup wizard, CalyxOS plans update prior to infrastructure overhaul, FreeBSD publishes status report |
| • Issue 1136 (2025-08-25): CalyxOS 6.8.20, distros for running containers, Arch Linux website under attack,illumos Cafe launched, CachyOS creates web dashboard for repositories |
| • Issue 1135 (2025-08-18): Debian 13, Proton, WINE, Wayland, and Wayback, Debian GNU/Hurd 2025, KDE gets advanced Liquid Glass, Haiku improves authentication tools |
| • Issue 1134 (2025-08-11): Rhino Linux 2025.3, thoughts on malware in the AUR, Fedora brings hammered websites back on-line, NetBSD reveals features for version 11, Ubuntu swaps some command line tools for 25.10, AlmaLinux improves NVIDIA support |
| • Issue 1133 (2025-08-04): Expirion Linux 6.0, running Plasma on Linux Mint, finding distros which support X11, Debian addresses 22 year old bug, FreeBSD discusses potential issues with pkgbase, CDE ported to OpenBSD, Btrfs corruption bug hitting Fedora users, more malware found in Arch User Repository |
| • Issue 1132 (2025-07-28): deepin 25, wars in the open source community, proposal to have Fedora enable Flathub repository, FreeBSD plans desktop install option, Wayback gets its first release |
| • Issue 1131 (2025-07-21): HeliumOS 10.0, settling on one distro, Mint plans new releases, Arch discovers malware in AUR, Plasma Bigscreen returns, Clear Linux discontinued |
| • Issue 1130 (2025-07-14): openSUSE MicroOS and RefreshOS, sharing aliases between computers, Bazzite makes Bazaar its default Flatpak store, Alpine plans Wayback release, Wayland and X11 benchmarked, Red Hat offers additional developer licenses, openSUSE seeks feedback from ARM users, Ubuntu 24.10 reaches the end of its life |
| • Issue 1129 (2025-07-07): GLF OS Omnislash, the worst Linux distro, Alpine introduces Wayback, Fedora drops plans to stop i686 support, AlmaLinux builds EPEL repository for older CPUs, Ubuntu dropping existing RISC-V device support, Rhino partners with UBports, PCLinuxOS recovering from website outage |
| • Issue 1128 (2025-06-30): AxOS 25.06, AlmaLinux OS 10.0, transferring Flaptak bundles to off-line computers, Ubuntu to boost Intel graphics performance, Fedora considers dropping i686 packages, SDesk switches from SELinux to AppArmor |
| • Issue 1127 (2025-06-23): LastOSLinux 2025-05-25, most unique Linux distro, Haiku stabilises, KDE publishes Plasma 6.4, Arch splits Plasma packages, Slackware infrastructure migrating |
| • Issue 1126 (2025-06-16): SDesk 2025.05.06, renewed interest in Ubuntu Touch, a BASIC device running NetBSD, Ubuntu dropping X11 GNOME session, GNOME increases dependency on systemd, Google holding back Pixel source code, Nitrux changing its desktop, EFF turns 35 |
| • Issue 1125 (2025-06-09): RHEL 10, distributions likely to survive a decade, Murena partners with more hardware makers, GNOME tests its own distro on real hardware, Redox ports GTK and X11, Mint provides fingerprint authentication |
| • Issue 1124 (2025-06-02): Picking up a Pico, tips for protecting privacy, Rhino tests Plasma desktop, Arch installer supports snapshots, new features from UBports, Ubuntu tests monthly snapshots |
| • Issue 1123 (2025-05-26): CRUX 3.8, preventing a laptop from sleeping, FreeBSD improves laptop support, Fedora confirms GNOME X11 session being dropped, HardenedBSD introduces Rust in userland build, KDE developing a virtual machine manager |
| • Issue 1122 (2025-05-19): GoboLinux 017.01, RHEL 10.0 and Debian 12 updates, openSUSE retires YaST, running X11 apps on Wayland |
| • Issue 1121 (2025-05-12): Bluefin 41, custom file manager actions, openSUSE joins End of 10 while dropping Deepin desktop, Fedora offers tips for building atomic distros, Ubuntu considers replacing sudo with sudo-rs |
| • Issue 1120 (2025-05-05): CachyOS 250330, what it means when a distro breaks, Kali updates repository key, Trinity receives an update, UBports tests directory encryption, Gentoo faces losing key infrastructure |
| • Issue 1119 (2025-04-28): Ubuntu MATE 25.04, what is missing from Linux, CachyOS ships OCCT, Debian enters soft freeze, Fedora discusses removing X11 session from GNOME, Murena plans business services, NetBSD on a Wii |
| • Issue 1118 (2025-04-21): Fedora 42, strange characters in Vim, Nitrux introduces new package tools, Fedora extends reproducibility efforts, PINE64 updates multiple devices running Debian |
| • Issue 1117 (2025-04-14): Shebang 25.0, EndeavourOS 2025.03.19, running applications from other distros on the desktop, Debian gets APT upgrade, Mint introduces OEM options for LMDE, postmarketOS packages GNOME 48 and COSMIC, Redox testing USB support |
| • Issue 1116 (2025-04-07): The Sense HAT, Android and mobile operating systems, FreeBSD improves on laptops, openSUSE publishes many new updates, Fedora appoints new Project Leader, UBports testing VoLTE |
| • Issue 1115 (2025-03-31): GrapheneOS 2025, the rise of portable package formats, MidnightBSD and openSUSE experiment with new package management features, Plank dock reborn, key infrastructure projects lose funding, postmarketOS to focus on reliability |
| • Issue 1114 (2025-03-24): Bazzite 41, checking which processes are writing to disk, Rocky unveils new Hardened branch, GNOME 48 released, generating images for the Raspberry Pi |
| • Issue 1113 (2025-03-17): MocaccinoOS 1.8.1, how to contribute to open source, Murena extends on-line installer, Garuda tests COSMIC edition, Ubuntu to replace coreutils with Rust alternatives, Chimera Linux drops RISC-V builds |
| • Issue 1112 (2025-03-10): Solus 4.7, distros which work with Secure Boot, UBports publishes bug fix, postmarketOS considers a new name, Debian running on Android |
| • Issue 1111 (2025-03-03): Orbitiny 0.01, the effect of Ubuntu Core Desktop, Gentoo offers disk images, elementary OS invites feature ideas, FreeBSD starts PinePhone Pro port, Mint warns of upcoming Firefox issue |
| • Issue 1110 (2025-02-24): iodeOS 6.0, learning to program, Arch retiring old repositories, openSUSE makes progress on reproducible builds, Fedora is getting more serious about open hardware, Tails changes its install instructions to offer better privacy, Murena's de-Googled tablet goes on sale |
| • Issue 1109 (2025-02-17): Rhino Linux 2025.1, MX Linux 23.5 with Xfce 4.20, replacing X.Org tools with Wayland tools, GhostBSD moving its base to FreeBSD -RELEASE, Redox stabilizes its ABI, UBports testing 24.04, Asahi changing its leadership, OBS in dispute with Fedora |
| • Issue 1108 (2025-02-10): Serpent OS 0.24.6, Aurora, sharing swap between distros, Peppermint tries Void base, GTK removinglegacy technologies, Red Hat plans more AI tools for Fedora, TrueNAS merges its editions |
| • Issue 1107 (2025-02-03): siduction 2024.1.0, timing tasks, Lomiri ported to postmarketOS, Alpine joins Open Collective, a new desktop for Linux called Orbitiny |
| • Issue 1106 (2025-01-27): Adelie Linux 1.0 Beta 6, Pop!_OS 24.04 Alpha 5, detecting whether a process is inside a virtual machine, drawing graphics to NetBSD terminal, Nix ported to FreeBSD, GhostBSD hosting desktop conference |
| • Issue 1105 (2025-01-20): CentOS 10 Stream, old Flatpak bundles in software centres, Haiku ports Iceweasel, Oracle shows off debugging tools, rsync vulnerability patched |
| • Full list of all issues |
| Star Labs |
Star Labs - Laptops built for Linux.
View our range including the highly anticipated StarFighter. Available with coreboot open-source firmware and a choice of Ubuntu, elementary, Manjaro and more. Visit Star Labs for information, to buy and get support.
|
| Random Distribution | 
Redox OS
Redox is a Unix-like, general-purpose, microkernel-based operating system written in Rust. Redox aims to bring the innovations of Rust to a modern microkernel. The project also provides a full set of custom programs and tries to be a complete alternative to Linux and BSD. Redox OS attempts to be source-compatible with Linux and the BSD family, making porting between operating systems easier. Redox is available in Server and Desktop editions, featuring components of the COSMIC desktop in the latter edition.
Status: Active
|
| TUXEDO |
TUXEDO Computers - Linux Hardware in a tailor made suite
Choose from a wide range of laptops and PCs in various sizes and shapes at TUXEDOComputers.com. Every machine comes pre-installed and ready-to-run with Linux. Full 24 months of warranty and lifetime support included!
Learn more about our full service package and all benefits from buying at TUXEDO.
|
| Star Labs |
Star Labs - Laptops built for Linux.
View our range including the highly anticipated StarFighter. Available with coreboot open-source firmware and a choice of Ubuntu, elementary, Manjaro and more. Visit Star Labs for information, to buy and get support.
|
|
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
