 DistroWatch Weekly |
| DistroWatch Weekly, Issue 878, 10 August 2020 |
Welcome to this year's 32nd issue of DistroWatch Weekly!
On this website we mostly talk about Linux-powered desktop operating systems. However, while there are millions of desktop computers running Linux distributions, where Linux really shines is in the server market. This week we kick off with a quick look at Zentyal Server, an Ubuntu-based distribution that ships with a convenient, user-friendly interface. Read on to hear how the latest release of Zentyal performs. In our News section we share user survey results from the CentOS project and a similar overview of how Linux Mint is utilised. Plus we are pleased to share network security tips from the IPFire team and link to a new list of devices which work with the mobile UBports operating system. How to package software and how to make the many pieces of an operating system work together is an ongoing debate among developers. In our Questions and Answers column we look at one aspect of this debate: dynamic versus static linking where we talk about some of the benefits and drawbacks to these approaches of linking applications to their dependencies. Last week we discussed a GRUB security patch which caused some systems to no longer boot and we would like to hear if you were affected by this issue in our Opinion Poll. Plus we are pleased to list last week's releases and share the torrents we are seeding. We wish you all an incredible week and happy reading!
Content:
- Review: Zentyal Server 6.2
- News: CentOS shares survey results, Linux Mint gives version usage overview, IPFire shares DNS security tips, UBports updates list of working devices
- Questions and answers: Pros and cons of dynamic linking versus static linking
- Released last week: BSD Router Project 1.97, Ubuntu 20.04.1
- Torrent corner: BSD Router Project, KDE neon, Kubuntu, Lubuntu, Redo Rescue, Robolinux, Ubuntu, Ubuntu Budgie, Ubuntu Kylin, Ubuntu MATE, Ubuntu Studio, Xubuntu
- Opinion poll: Were you affected by the GRUB Boothole security patch?
- Reader comments
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| Feature Story (by Jesse Smith) |
Zentyal Server 6.2
Zentyal is an Ubuntu-based server distribution which is designed to be easy to set up and then manage using a friendly, web-based interface. The distribution targets small and medium office and business environments. The Zentyal distribution is intended to take on such tasks a as a storage server, Internet gateway, or to provide other office IT infrastructure - all through a convenient, point-n-click web portal.
The latest version of Zentyal is based on Ubuntu 18.04.4 and mostly features minor updates. There are new anti-virus packages, improved DNS management, easier management of hard drives, and the AppArmor security software is enabled by default.
The download for Zentyal is 1GB in size and is available for 64-bit (x86_64) machines only. Booting from the install media brings up a menu asking us to select our preferred language from a list. Then we are given the choice of wiping the hard drive and installing Zentyal or launching an expert installer. Both menu options launch a text-based installer which should be familiar to people who have set up Ubuntu Server or used Debian's text installer.
Installing
Setting up Zentyal through the expert install mode brings up a series of text-based menus where we are asked to supply our preferred language (again), choose our keyboard layout, time zone, and to make up a username and password for ourselves. The installer then asks if we want to use guided or manual partitioning. The former takes over the entire disk, creating an ext4 formatted LVM volume, while the manual option walks us through an unusually long series of partitioning and filesystem options screens.
The installer then asks if we would like to install a graphical desktop environment (LXDE in this case). Packages are copied to our hard drive and then we are presented with a few more configuration steps. We are asked if we wish to enable a web proxy and if we want to install the GRUB boot loader. Then we confirm our system clock settings and the system offers to restart itself.
The installer uses an unusual combination of white text on a bright green background for text entry boxes which I found difficult to read. The rest of the interface uses a high contrast, but entering text into fields was hard on the eyes.
After the installer finished its work and offered to reboot the computer I ran into my first serious issue. The shutdown process started off well, showing systemd status messages about services being shutdown. However, the process took a long time. In fact, once the system reached a point where it was reportedly cleaning up temporary directories and had been stuck on that task for 15 minutes (longer than the installer had taken to set up the operating system) I finally forced a hard reset.
Early impressions
Zentyal booted and, after performing a quick filesystem check, brought me to a text console. (I had opted not to install the desktop environment.) I could sign in with the credentials I had supplied to the installer and was able to confirm my Internet connection worked. I was able to shutdown the system (reboots happened quickly and were error-free at this time), and some basic command line programs worked.
Once I got logged in I noticed a few oddities with Zentyal. The first was that the operating system identified itself as Ubuntu 18.04.4 LTS rather than Zentyal Server 6.2. Which makes some sense since Ubuntu is this project's parent. The message which is displayed when the user logs in indicates that the web interface can be accessed by pointing a web browser to the server's IP address and using port 8443 over the HTTPS protocol.
Attempts to connect to port 8443 were refused. As were connection attempts to communicate over port 443. Attempts to connect with port 80 (the default HTTP port) worked, but only showed a generic home page for the nginx web server.
At this point I tried to install the telnet client to help me troubleshoot the connection issues and found my package database was a mess. I had to run "dpkg --configure -a" to fix it. This seemed odd as the APT package tools had not been used yet since the installation had completed. After letting dpkg run I was able to install telnet and confirm only ports 22 (for OpenSSH) and 80 (for the generic nginx install) were available. There were no services listening on port 8443. This remained true after a reboot and so I decided to start over from scratch.
Second impressions
Things had gone poorly enough the first time trying Zentyal that I decided to be extra careful the next time around. I double-checked the distribution's ISO checksum, decided to try running it in a virtual machine to avoid any potential hardware incompatibilities, and then opted to take the automated installation option.
As it turns out, the automated install option walks us through almost all of the same steps as the expert installer. We are asked the same questions about language, keyboard layout, time zone, and login credentials. There appear to be just three differences in the automated version of the system installer. The first is we are warned partitions on the main hard disk are already mounted and asked if they should be unmounted before the disk is partitioned. Since the plan is to wipe the disk, umounting partitions seemed wise. Though I'm not sure why any partitions would be mounted by the installer to begin with.
The second difference is that the installer handles disk partitioning, setting up an LVM volume and formatting it with ext4 rather than have us set up partitions and mount points. The third difference is the installer does not ask if we would like to install a graphical desktop, it just assumes we want the desktop. This causes LXDE to be installed, along with a handful of X.Org and Wayland libraries.
Zentyal Server 6.2 -- Exploring the LXDE menu
(full image size: 52kB, resolution; 1920x1200 pixels)
The installation process finished, indicated it was successful and offered to restart the system. Once again Zentyal got stuck shutting down. Background services stopped gradually for a few minutes, then got stuck cleaning out temporary directories. The system at this point appeared to be idle (hard drive and CPU activity were minimal) and remained stuck for the next twenty minutes. Eventually I forced a restart.
This time my fresh copy of Zentyal booted to a graphical environment. I could sign into the LXDE desktop where the Firefox browser opened and automatically attempted to connect to the localhost. This connection failed and, again, all connections (either over HTTP or HTTPS) failed to reach port 8443 and succeeded on port 80 where the generic web server was running. I tried to take a screenshot of this error and discovered that the keyboard shortcut for screenshots was mapped, but to a GNOME screenshot application that was not available. This broken shortcut feels all the more out of place given Zentyal uses the LXDE desktop rather than GNOME.
Zentyal Server 6.2 -- Trying to take a screenshot of Firefox connecting to the Zentyal server
(full image size: 96kB, resolution: 1920x1200 pixels)
I wanted to use the nmap tool to scan local ports and see which services were available. I soon found that nmap was installed, but one of its dependencies (libblas) was missing, causing the tool to not run. I could reinstall nmap through the APT package manager and a scan turned up no new services, other than OpenSSH and nginx showing its generic home page.
Conclusions
After my second failed attempt at using Zentyal, and some troubleshooting, I came to the realization the distribution was not going to work as expected and put it aside. According to the documentation, I should be able to simply install the distribution and connect to it using a web browser, but this did not work, either locally or over the LAN. This was disappointing as I have used Zentyal in the past and generally had positive experiences with it. I've even recommended the distribution to a few people who wanted to run a light office server with an easy, point-n-click interface.
I have three theories as to why Zentyal did not work for me this time around. One is that the documentation is out of date (or updated in places I'm not looking) and additional steps are now required to set up the web portal service. The second is that there is a bug in the web portal software that is preventing it from running.
Personally, I suspect neither of these are true and, instead, something (or multiple somethings) are going wrong during the setup phase. While the installer appears to finish copying its files to my hard drive and reports it is done, the fact the system does not shut down cleanly afterwards suggests something is not finished in the background. The shutdown services never conclude and, while disk and CPU activity was virtually non-existent all twenty minutes I waited, I suspect additional configuration steps were supposed to be happening during that time. It is hard to say for certain though since no status messages are displayed and the installer claims to be finished. I would also consider it odd for services to be enabled during the shutdown phase of the live media, but stranger things have happened.
Whatever the case, Zentyal did not work for me and, unfortunately, did not display any errors or status messages which would help explain why. The documentation, while normally helpful, did not offer any tips to help me get going. In the past Zentyal has proven to be easy for me to use, but this version has left me with a server-sized void to fill.
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Visitor supplied rating
Zentyal Server has a visitor supplied average rating of: 8.7/10 from 3 review(s).
Have you used Zentyal Server? You can leave your own review of the project on our ratings page.
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| Miscellaneous News (by Jesse Smith and Ladislav Bodnar) |
CentOS shares survey results, Linux Mint gives version usage overview, IPFire shares DNS security tips, UBports updates list of working devices
The CentOS team has published their monthly community newsletter and it shares some important information on the Boothole issue we reported last week. The newsletter also links to survey data the CentOS team has collected about how their distribution is used, how often it is updated, and how people would like to be involved in the project. "Over the past 3 or 4 months, we have been running a survey about how you use CentOS. Many thanks to those who participated in this, to help us better understand how we can give you what you need. I've written up the results of the survey here. While some of the results were expected - most of you use CentOS in small to medium shops, running services either for work or personal use - there were some eye-opening things in this. To me personally, the volunteerism question shows that a lot of you are looking for places to get involved, and that we haven't done a great job telling you where and how. We'll be working to fix that."
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The Linux Mint team has been looking at which versions and editions of their distribution get the most attention. The project looked at which versions are most commonly used and added some observations to explain why this is likely the case: "The newest release attracts many users and grows faster than any other but it does not yet represent the largest percentage. As we can see on the chart, more than half of Linux Mint users use Linux Mint 19.x. The older Mint 18.x and the brand new Mint 20 both represent about 20% of the user base. Linux Mint 17.x despite reaching EOL still represents 6% and LMDE represents about 1%." In the project's monthly newsletter the team also acknowledged some common concerns users had with Linux Mint 20, including the lack of a Chromium web browser package, and reported there are plans to address these issues.
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The IPFire team is continuing its series of blog posts detailing recommendations on how to improve computer and network security. The latest post concerns DNS configurations and how to make adjustments to this key component of virtually every network-connected device. "After having roamed around infosec in general last week, this post gives some advice on how to gain additional privacy by changing your IPFire's DNS configuration. DNS happens to be a very basic thus quite important protocol of today's internet, but is still being considered a low-risk one when it comes to security and privacy. If you are familiar with IPFire, you might have noticed DNSSEC validation is mandatory, since it defeats entire classes of attacks...."
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The UBports team has published information about the project's work, development progress, and updated ports on various devices. The PinePhone and Nexus 6P received special attention: "Florian has been working on a port for the Nexus 6P from Huawei for about a year and it is in a pretty good state. The only issue is that it is big and heavy. It has a good camera , still minus some functions. The GPS is the fastest on any UT device. It takes about 30 seconds to get a fix. Moving the old core devices to Halium 7.1 build is in the works and progressing well. We now have about 40 devices listed on the devices page. That is way more options than in the past." The list of devices which work with UBports, along with their porting status, can be found on the project's new devices page.
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These and other news stories can be found on our Headlines page.
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| Questions and Answers (by Jesse Smith) |
Pros and cons of dynamic linking versus static linking
Linking-it-all-together asks: I came across this article about the benefits of static linking over dynamic linking. If dynamic linking is slower and doesn't offer practical benefits then why do most distros still dynamic link? Is this a hold over from the past or is there a reason I'm missing that make distros still use dynamic linking?
DistroWatch answers: Before we get to the article, I'd like to share a brief, overly generalized view of what statically linked and dynamically linked programs are. A statically linked program is self-contained. Any libraries or functions that are required for the program to run are baked into the program itself. This reduces the program's external dependencies and makes the program bigger. On the positive side of things this means statically linked programs do not rely on other libraries and can be copied to other systems more easily. It also means if libraries are updated on the operating system, the statically linked program will not break due to the changing libraries in other parts of the system.
A dynamically linked program is smaller and does not keep all of its parts internally. Instead a dynamically linked program relies on other libraries on the system to provide key functions. This approach offers a few benefits. In particular it means programs that share common functionality can share one copy of a library rather than have each program carry its own copy. This also means when security updates become available we only need to update each library once and every program on the system which uses pieces of that library automatically benefit, even often without being updated themselves. In theory dynamic linking means smaller programs, smaller updates, and less duplication of functionality. However, dynamically linked programs can break if a library they depend on changes too much or a library they depend on is removed from the system.
I read through the article provided and it does share some interesting statistics on dynamically linked programs versus statically linked programs. The author appears to be making a case against dynamic linking and in favour of static linking, or at least presenting facts which would support such a case. For the sake of this discussion I am going to assume the observations the article's author makes are accurate and factually correct, at least for their own distribution.
The author addresses some interesting questions, such as how often are dynamically libraries used on the system, which indicates how many resources avoid duplication by sharing libraries. They also explore how quickly dynamic and static programs load and how much larger statically linked programs are compared to their dynamically linked counterparts. The author points out that many libraries on their distribution are not shared by many programs, that statically linked programs can load faster, and that not a lot of bandwidth is saved by using dynamically linked programs.
Reading through the page of observations the author shares, it's understandable we might wonder why developers continue to favour dynamically linked applications in most situations. Let's look at some of the specific arguments from the article.
Do your installed programs share dynamic libraries? Findings: not really. Over half of your libraries are used by fewer than 0.1% of your executables.
This is an interesting way of presenting the statistic. Over half of libraries are linked to by fewer than 0.1% of programs. Which is all well and good, but it seems to be focusing on where dynamically linked libraries are not being used, or are used rarely. It is not looking at how often dynamically linked libraries are being used. Imagine if I told you 95% of the items I own do not use wheels, therefore wheels are not important. That may be true, for most items. Many of the objects I own probably do not need wheels. My table, fridge, and laptop do not need wheels. However, the automobile and bicycle really do need wheels to be effective.
I feel the author's argument is similar to the above example using wheels. They are correct that in some instances, maybe even in many instances, libraries are not being shared much, which reduces their value. However, the low level libraries that are used a lot, such as the C library, GTK, and Qt, are likely to be used by hundreds, maybe even thousands, of applications on your distribution. A small number of libraries are used a lot, so it does not matter much (in my opinion) whether other libraries are used rarely. The benefits we get from sharing code in a handful of low-level libraries are enough to make dynamic linking worth while in many situations.
Is loading dynamically linked programs faster?
Findings: definitely not.
This is an interesting point. The author points out that their system loads static applications in about half the time as dynamic ones. This seems like a lot, until we consider the load times are being displayed in nanoseconds. A nanosecond is a billionth of a second, meaning the slowly loading dynamically linked application is taking a whole 0.000137263 seconds to start. It is not physically possible for a person to notice the difference between the load times of a dynamically linked program versus a statically linked one. In fact, you could load a thousand programs of each type before seeing a 0.1 second difference between the two types.
Wouldn't statically linked executables be huge?
Findings: not really. On average, dynamically linked executables use only 4.6% of the symbols on offer from their dependencies. A good linker will remove unused symbols.
I think this point is entirely valid and I do not have much to add to it. A good build system will make individual statically linked programs and dynamically linked ones of similar size. The statically linked ones should not be much larger. However, I believe if we look at how many programs most operating systems run these days, we can see how small benefits will add up over time. Having one program be 4% larger is not a big deal. Having 2,000 programs be 4% larger begins to accumulate additional storage space. Still, the difference, on a modern system, will not be significant so we do not need to worry much about application size. I feel the point here is well made.
Will security vulnerabilities in libraries that have been statically linked cause large or unmanageable updates? Findings: not really.
Not including libc, the only libraries which had "critical" or "high" severity vulnerabilities in 2019 which affected over 100 binaries on my system were dbus, gnutls, cairo, libssh2, and curl. 265 binaries were affected by the rest.
The total download cost to upgrade all binaries on my system which were affected by CVEs in 2019 is 3.8GiB. This is reduced to 1.0GiB if you eliminate glibc.
I think there are two key points to consider carefully here. The author is correct that the difference of a few gigabytes when performing updates over the span of a year is not a lot to most modern computer users. However, I feel it worth noting that, given the choice between larger and smaller updates, most people will want the smaller updates as they use less bandwidth. It might be a relatively small savings, but it is still savings in the range of gigabytes of data and one which will be noticeable on capped or slow Internet connections. In other words, if you can download a 1GB of data in 10 minutes, the size of package updates will not matter to you. However, if you're on a connection where a 1GB download can take most of the day, then you will quickly see the benefit of using dynamic linking to reduce the size of your downloads.
We might also wish to look at this situation from the distribution's point of view. Let's say, just for example, Canonical has 50 million Ubuntu users. And let us assume each user can save around 1GB per year of bandwidth by using dynamic linking to reduce the number packages we need to download. A single extra gigabyte of bandwidth is not much for the end user to absorb, but for Canonical that is a difference of 50 million gigabytes (50 petabytes) per year.
The linked article also skips over the main reason most people want to use dynamically linked programs, which is having the ability to update one library with a security fix and have it correct the issue for every program on the system which uses that library. If one library is vulnerable on a dynamically linked system, we only need to update one package to fix it. When running a statically linked system, we need to update every single program which used the vulnerable library. This can mean a vulnerability in the C library (for example) means updating hundreds, sometimes thousands, of packages. That means in a statically linked scenario we need the maintainer of every package on our system to notice the vulnerability, update their package, and push out a fix. When we use dynamic linking we only need one maintainer, not dozens, to update just one package.
In my opinion, dynamical linking might offer only small, or questionable, benefits a lot of the time, but it offers a great deal of benefit in some key areas with very few drawbacks. There are certainly pros and cons for each approach, but the ease of package management and security updates, along with the reduction of work required by package build servers, means dynamic linking tends to benefit developers and users more than it causes problems. Which is why I suspect dynamic linking will continue to be the default approach for most distributions for the foreseeable future.
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Additional answers can be found in our Questions and Answers archive.
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| Released Last Week |
BSD Router Project 1.97
Olivier Cochard-Labbé has announced the release of BSD Router Project (BSDRP) 1.97, the latest stable build of the project's free and open-source software router distribution based on embedded FreeBSD. This release is upgrades the underlying operating system to FreeBSD 12.1: "BSDRP 1.97 is online. Based on a FreeBSD 12.1-STABLE (r363822), it fixes some missing Ethernet NIC modules (Chelsio Ethernet VF driver and Ethernet QLogic 3200 series). This version adds some new packages - Mellanox Firmware tools (lite version), WireGuard, vim-tiny, mrtparse (MRT format data parser), nrpe3 (Nagios client including nagios-plugins), frr7-pythontools (helper script to help reload frr). New features: load of Intel microcodes by default; update to 12.1-STABLE. Bug fixes: add Chelsio Ethernet VF driver (if_cxgbev); add missing if_qlxgb.ko for Ethernet QLogic 3200 series; correctly disabling ICMP redirect by default. New packages: Mellanox firmware tools (lite version); WireGuard; vim-tiny...." See the release announcement and release notes for more details.
Ubuntu 20.04.1
Łukasz Zemczak has announced the release of Ubuntu 20.04.1, along with the distribution's community editions. These new builds mostly contain bug fixes for packages, reducing the amount of time required to update new installations. "The Ubuntu team is pleased to announce the release of Ubuntu 20.04.1 LTS (Long-Term Support) for its Desktop, Server, and Cloud products, as well as other flavours of Ubuntu with long-term support. As usual, this point release includes many updates, and updated installation media has been provided so that fewer updates will need to be downloaded after installation. These include security updates and corrections for other high-impact bugs, with a focus on maintaining stability and compatibility with Ubuntu 20.04 LTS." Further details can be found in the release announcement and in the release notes.
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Development, unannounced and minor bug-fix releases
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| 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: 2,090
- Total data uploaded: 33.0TB
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| Upcoming Releases and Announcements |
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Summary of expected upcoming releases
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| Opinion Poll (by Jesse Smith) |
Were you affected by the GRUB Boot Hole security patch?
Last week we talked about a security bug in the GRUB boot loader which, once the issue was patched, the fix could cause some Red Hat and CentOS systems to no longer boot. The issue was quickly resolved and new patches pushed out which worked around the problem. Were you one of the CentOS or Red Hat users who were hit by the GRUB patch problem? Let us know how you worked around it in the comments.
You can see the results of our previous poll on using a Linux-powered mobile phone in last week's edition. All previous poll results can be found in our poll archives.
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Were you affected by the Boothole patch?
| I am a CentOS/RHEL user who was affected: | 18 (2%) |
| I am a CentOS/RHEL user who was not affected: | 91 (8%) |
| I am not a CentOS/RHEL user who was affected: | 42 (4%) |
| I am not a CentOS/RHEL user and not affected: | 999 (87%) |
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| Website News (by Ladislav Bodnar) |
DistroWatch database summary
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This concludes this week's issue of DistroWatch Weekly. The next instalment will be published on Monday, 17 August 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)
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| Archives |
| • Issue 1091 (2024-10-07): Redox OS 0.9.0, Unified package management vs universal package formats, Redox begins RISC-V port, Mint polishes interface, Qubes certifies new laptop |
| • Issue 1090 (2024-09-30): Rhino Linux 2024.2, commercial distros with alternative desktops, Valve seeks to improve Wayland performance, HardenedBSD parterns with Protectli, Tails merges with Tor Project, Quantum Leap partners with the FreeBSD Foundation |
| • Issue 1089 (2024-09-23): Expirion 6.0, openKylin 2.0, managing configuration files, the future of Linux development, fixing bugs in Haiku, Slackware packages dracut |
| • Issue 1088 (2024-09-16): PorteuX 1.6, migrating from Windows 10 to which Linux distro, making NetBSD immutable, AlmaLinux offers hardware certification, Mint updates old APT tools |
| • Issue 1087 (2024-09-09): COSMIC desktop, running cron jobs at variable times, UBports highlights new apps, HardenedBSD offers work around for FreeBSD change, Debian considers how to cull old packages, systemd ported to musl |
| • Issue 1086 (2024-09-02): Vanilla OS 2, command line tips for simple tasks, FreeBSD receives investment from STF, openSUSE Tumbleweed update can break network connections, Debian refreshes media |
| • Issue 1085 (2024-08-26): Nobara 40, OpenMandriva 24.07 "ROME", distros which include source code, FreeBSD publishes quarterly report, Microsoft updates breaks Linux in dual-boot environments |
| • Issue 1084 (2024-08-19): Liya 2.0, dual boot with encryption, Haiku introduces performance improvements, Gentoo dropping IA-64, Redcore merges major upgrade |
| • Issue 1083 (2024-08-12): TrueNAS 24.04.2 "SCALE", Linux distros for smartphones, Redox OS introduces web server, PipeWire exposes battery drain on Linux, Canonical updates kernel version policy |
| • Issue 1082 (2024-08-05): Linux Mint 22, taking snapshots of UFS on FreeBSD, openSUSE updates Tumbleweed and Aeon, Debian creates Tiny QA Tasks, Manjaro testing immutable images |
| • Issue 1081 (2024-07-29): SysLinuxOS 12.4, OpenBSD gain hardware acceleration, Slackware changes kernel naming, Mint publishes upgrade instructions |
| • Issue 1080 (2024-07-22): Running GNU/Linux on Android with Andronix, protecting network services, Solus dropping AppArmor and Snap, openSUSE Aeon Desktop gaining full disk encryption, SUSE asks openSUSE to change its branding |
| • Issue 1079 (2024-07-15): Ubuntu Core 24, hiding files on Linux, Fedora dropping X11 packages on Workstation, Red Hat phasing out GRUB, new OpenSSH vulnerability, FreeBSD speeds up release cycle, UBports testing new first-run wizard |
| • Issue 1078 (2024-07-08): Changing init software, server machines running desktop environments, OpenSSH vulnerability patched, Peppermint launches new edition, HardenedBSD updates ports |
| • Issue 1077 (2024-07-01): The Unity and Lomiri interfaces, different distros for different tasks, Ubuntu plans to run Wayland on NVIDIA cards, openSUSE updates Leap Micro, Debian releases refreshed media, UBports gaining contact synchronisation, FreeDOS celebrates its 30th anniversary |
| • Issue 1076 (2024-06-24): openSUSE 15.6, what makes Linux unique, SUSE Liberty Linux to support CentOS Linux 7, SLE receives 19 years of support, openSUSE testing Leap Micro edition |
| • Issue 1075 (2024-06-17): Redox OS, X11 and Wayland on the BSDs, AlmaLinux releases Pi build, Canonical announces RISC-V laptop with Ubuntu, key changes in systemd |
| • Issue 1074 (2024-06-10): Endless OS 6.0.0, distros with init diversity, Mint to filter unverified Flatpaks, Debian adds systemd-boot options, Redox adopts COSMIC desktop, OpenSSH gains new security features |
| • Issue 1073 (2024-06-03): LXQt 2.0.0, an overview of Linux desktop environments, Canonical partners with Milk-V, openSUSE introduces new features in Aeon Desktop, Fedora mirrors see rise in traffic, Wayland adds OpenBSD support |
| • Issue 1072 (2024-05-27): Manjaro 24.0, comparing init software, OpenBSD ports Plasma 6, Arch community debates mirror requirements, ThinOS to upgrade its FreeBSD core |
| • Issue 1071 (2024-05-20): Archcraft 2024.04.06, common command line mistakes, ReactOS imports WINE improvements, Haiku makes adjusting themes easier, NetBSD takes a stand against code generated by chatbots |
| • Issue 1070 (2024-05-13): Damn Small Linux 2024, hiding kernel messages during boot, Red Hat offers AI edition, new web browser for UBports, Fedora Asahi Remix 40 released, Qubes extends support for version 4.1 |
| • Issue 1069 (2024-05-06): Ubuntu 24.04, installing packages in alternative locations, systemd creates sudo alternative, Mint encourages XApps collaboration, FreeBSD publishes quarterly update |
| • Issue 1068 (2024-04-29): Fedora 40, transforming one distro into another, Debian elects new Project Leader, Red Hat extends support cycle, Emmabuntus adds accessibility features, Canonical's new security features |
| • Issue 1067 (2024-04-22): LocalSend for transferring files, detecting supported CPU architecure levels, new visual design for APT, Fedora and openSUSE working on reproducible builds, LXQt released, AlmaLinux re-adds hardware support |
| • Issue 1066 (2024-04-15): Fun projects to do with the Raspberry Pi and PinePhone, installing new software on fixed-release distributions, improving GNOME Terminal performance, Mint testing new repository mirrors, Gentoo becomes a Software In the Public Interest project |
| • Issue 1065 (2024-04-08): Dr.Parted Live 24.03, answering questions about the xz exploit, Linux Mint to ship HWE kernel, AlmaLinux patches flaw ahead of upstream Red Hat, Calculate changes release model |
| • Issue 1064 (2024-04-01): NixOS 23.11, the status of Hurd, liblzma compromised upstream, FreeBSD Foundation focuses on improving wireless networking, Ubuntu Pro offers 12 years of support |
| • Issue 1063 (2024-03-25): Redcore Linux 2401, how slowly can a rolling release update, Debian starts new Project Leader election, Red Hat creating new NVIDIA driver, Snap store hit with more malware |
| • Issue 1062 (2024-03-18): KDE neon 20240304, changing file permissions, Canonical turns 20, Pop!_OS creates new software centre, openSUSE packages Plasma 6 |
| • Issue 1061 (2024-03-11): Using a PinePhone as a workstation, restarting background services on a schedule, NixBSD ports Nix to FreeBSD, Fedora packaging COSMIC, postmarketOS to adopt systemd, Linux Mint replacing HexChat |
| • Issue 1060 (2024-03-04): AV Linux MX-23.1, bootstrapping a network connection, key OpenBSD features, Qubes certifies new hardware, LXQt and Plasma migrate to Qt 6 |
| • Issue 1059 (2024-02-26): Warp Terminal, navigating manual pages, malware found in the Snap store, Red Hat considering CPU requirement update, UBports organizes ongoing work |
| • Issue 1058 (2024-02-19): Drauger OS 7.6, how much disk space to allocate, System76 prepares to launch COSMIC desktop, UBports changes its version scheme, TrueNAS to offer faster deduplication |
| • Issue 1057 (2024-02-12): Adelie Linux 1.0 Beta, rolling release vs fixed for a smoother experience, Debian working on 2038 bug, elementary OS to split applications from base system updates, Fedora announces Atomic Desktops |
| • Issue 1056 (2024-02-05): wattOS R13, the various write speeds of ISO writing tools, DSL returns, Mint faces Wayland challenges, HardenedBSD blocks foreign USB devices, Gentoo publishes new repository, Linux distros patch glibc flaw |
| • Issue 1055 (2024-01-29): CNIX OS 231204, distributions patching packages the most, Gentoo team presents ongoing work, UBports introduces connectivity and battery improvements, interview with Haiku developer |
| • Issue 1054 (2024-01-22): Solus 4.5, comparing dd and cp when writing ISO files, openSUSE plans new major Leap version, XeroLinux shutting down, HardenedBSD changes its build schedule |
| • Issue 1053 (2024-01-15): Linux AI voice assistants, some distributions running hotter than others, UBports talks about coming changes, Qubes certifies StarBook laptops, Asahi Linux improves energy savings |
| • Issue 1052 (2024-01-08): OpenMandriva Lx 5.0, keeping shell commands running when theterminal closes, Mint upgrades Edge kernel, Vanilla OS plans big changes, Canonical working to make Snap more cross-platform |
| • Issue 1051 (2024-01-01): Favourite distros of 2023, reloading shell settings, Asahi Linux releases Fedora remix, Gentoo offers binary packages, openSUSE provides full disk encryption |
| • Issue 1050 (2023-12-18): rlxos 2023.11, renaming files and opening terminal windows in specific directories, TrueNAS publishes ZFS fixes, Debian publishes delayed install media, Haiku polishes desktop experience |
| • Issue 1049 (2023-12-11): Lernstick 12, alternatives to WINE, openSUSE updates its branding, Mint unveils new features, Lubuntu team plans for 24.04 |
| • Issue 1048 (2023-12-04): openSUSE MicroOS, the transition from X11 to Wayland, Red Hat phasing out X11 packages, UBports making mobile development easier |
| • Issue 1047 (2023-11-27): GhostBSD 23.10.1, Why Linux uses swap when memory is free, Ubuntu Budgie may benefit from Wayland work in Xfce, early issues with FreeBSD 14.0 |
| • Issue 1046 (2023-11-20): Slackel 7.7 "Openbox", restricting CPU usage, Haiku improves font handling and software centre performance, Canonical launches MicroCloud |
| • Issue 1045 (2023-11-13): Fedora 39, how to trust software packages, ReactOS booting with UEFI, elementary OS plans to default to Wayland, Mir gaining ability to split work across video cards |
| • Issue 1044 (2023-11-06): Porteus 5.01, disabling IPv6, applications unique to a Linux distro, Linux merges bcachefs, OpenELA makes source packages available |
| • Issue 1043 (2023-10-30): Murena Two with privacy switches, where old files go when packages are updated, UBports on Volla phones, Mint testing Cinnamon on Wayland, Peppermint releases ARM build |
| • Issue 1042 (2023-10-23): Ubuntu Cinnamon compared with Linux Mint, extending battery life on Linux, Debian resumes /usr merge, Canonical publishes fixed install media |
| • Issue 1041 (2023-10-16): FydeOS 17.0, Dr.Parted 23.09, changing UIDs, Fedora partners with Slimbook, GNOME phasing out X11 sessions, Ubuntu revokes 23.10 install media |
| • Issue 1040 (2023-10-09): CROWZ 5.0, changing the location of default directories, Linux Mint updates its Edge edition, Murena crowdfunding new privacy phone, Debian publishes new install media |
| • Issue 1039 (2023-10-02): Zenwalk Current, finding the duration of media files, Peppermint OS tries out new edition, COSMIC gains new features, Canonical reports on security incident in Snap store |
| • Issue 1038 (2023-09-25): Mageia 9, trouble-shooting launchers, running desktop Linux in the cloud, New documentation for Nix, Linux phasing out ReiserFS, GNU celebrates 40 years |
| • Issue 1037 (2023-09-18): Bodhi Linux 7.0.0, finding specific distros and unified package managemnt, Zevenet replaced by two new forks, openSUSE introduces Slowroll branch, Fedora considering dropping Plasma X11 session |
| • Full list of all issues |
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0x969CD4E778C7b6549A2B00e34114e0168c86A542 
