 DistroWatch Weekly |
| DistroWatch Weekly, Issue 900, 18 January 2021 |
Welcome to our 900th edition and this year's 3rd issue of DistroWatch Weekly!
There are a lot of different approaches to setting up an operating system. Some distribution developers aim for user friendliness, some try to provide a lot of software out of the box, others focus on one specific set of tasks their operating system will make easier. This week we explore a type of distribution that tries to have a small number of more easily understood components. This category of distribution is referred to as a keep-it-simple (KIS) distribution and they strive to avoid under the hood complexity while often leaving the user to perform tasks manually. We talk about two distributions, CRUX and NuTyX, in this category in our Feature Story. In our News section we talk about Fedora experimenting with more compressed RAM (zRAM) while the Debian developers discuss how to best handle packages with a lot of small dependencies. We also report on progress happening around the FreeBSD project and that openSUSE 15.1 is nearing the end of its supported life. In our Questions and Answers column we explore alternatives to running administrative tasks while logged into the root account. How do you approach system administrative tasks? Let us know in this week's Opinion Poll. Plus we are pleased to share the releases of the past week and list the torrents we are seeding. Finally, we welcome the Mabox Linux distribution, a Manjaro-based rolling release operating system, to our database. We wish you all a fantastic week and happy reading!
Content:
- Review: CRUX 3.6.1, NuTyX 20.12.0
- News: Fedora doubles down on zRAM, Debian developers discuss bundling dependencies, openSUSE 15.1 nearing its end of life, FreeBSD publishes status report
- Questions and answers: Alternatives to running commands as the root user
- Released last week: Alpine Linux 3.13.0, KaOS 2021.01, GhostBSD 21.01.15
- Torrent corner: Alpine, ArcoLinux, Bluestar, CloudReady, GhostBSD, KaOS, KDE neon, Raspberry Pi OS, Zeroshell
- Opinion poll: Method for performing administrative tasks
- New additions: Mabox Linux
- New distributions: Salient OS, Sana OS, Storm OS
- Reader comments
Listen to the Podcast edition of this week's DistroWatch Weekly in OGG (16MB) and MP3 (12MB) formats.
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| Feature Story (by Jesse Smith) |
CRUX 3.6.1
Coming into the new year I decided I wanted to simplify things a bit and explore a distribution that didn't have as many features and distractions. I decided to kick off my week with CRUX, an independent distribution with a keep it simple (KIS) approach. CRUX runs on x86_64 computers exclusively and the latest version, 3.6, appears to be focused almost entirely on package upgrades rather than new features.
CRUX runs the classic SysV init software on top of version 5.4 of the Linux kernel. Shortly after CRUX 3.6 was released the project published a minor update to fix a package issue. According to the documentation it is recommended that people do not attempt to upgrade to CRUX 3.6.1 from an earlier version:
Important libraries have been updated to new major versions which are not ABI compatible with the old versions. We strongly advise against manually updating to CRUX 3.6 via ports, since these changes will temporarily break the system.
Since CRUX is a distribution that requires some manual work and does not provide any hand holding, I recommend reading the project's handbook which explains some key elements of the operating system and how to set it up.
I downloaded the 3.6.1 install medium which is 819MB in size. Booting from this image brings up a text console where we are automatically logged in as the root user. The live medium is quite light, consuming just 40MB of RAM. The usual, basic command line tools are included on the image, but there are no manual pages. There are also no welcome messages or instructions for using or installing the distribution.
Installing
Luckily the CRUX website has documentation which explains how to install the operating system. The steps include manually formatting partitions, generating locale data, compiling the kernel, and installing a boot loader.
The installation steps are performed from the command line and are generally performed manually. To begin we should use either the fdisk or cfdisk console partition manager to divide the hard drive. Then we format and mount a partition which will act as the root filesystem. We then run the setup command that opens a series of text-based menus and select the location of our new root partition. We are asked to select which package groups we want with the options being Core, Optional, and X.Org. These software groups are not described, but I believe Core includes low-level userland utilities and X.Org provides graphical software. I am not sure what is featured in the Optional group.
We are then asked to select which boot loader (LILO, GRUB, GRUB-efi, or syslinux) we want. I decided to stick with GRUB. Some packages are then copied to the hard drive partition. The CRUX setup script then reported it had completed successfully, however it seemed to be locked up and would not proceed when I pressed the OK button. With a little experimenting I found it was necessary to scroll to the bottom of the installer's log output that is shown on the screen before the OK button would work and return me to the console.
From there we are expected to manually update the configuration file for background services, generate a locale, and tweak the network settings by editing another configuration file. We then adjust the kernel configuration and compile a new kernel from its source code. Compiling the kernel can take several minutes and, once it has been installed, the documentation says we should configure and install a boot loader.
Here I ran into trouble. I was using a DOS/BIOS style disk layout. The CRUX documentation says to edit the LILO configuration file (/etc/lilo.conf) and then run the lilo command when using DOS layouts. However, there is no /etc/lilo.conf file and no program called lilo, either on the hard drive partition or on the install medium. There are instructions for installing GRUB on UEFI-enabled systems and I tried both the steps for this and for installing GRUB on a BIOS system. In both cases, once I had finished the installation steps and rebooted, the system failed to load. My machine would launch and display the GRUB rescue prompt, but there were no boot options. Despite going through the install steps again, I found the GRUB configuration file, while generated, was not populated with the freshly installed CRUX kernel. This, along with the references to the unavailable LILO boot loader suggests to me the documentation is out of date and missing a step or two.
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NuTyX 20.12.0
Since CRUX was not working out for me, I switched gears and the next day downloaded another keep it simple distribution, this time grabbing a copy of NuTyX. This distribution is built upon Linux From Scratch and uses a custom package manager called cards. The NuTyX project is a rarity in that it is one of the few distributions which allow users to select their preferred init software at boot time. SysV init, systemd, or RuNyX (a modified version of runit) can be selected at boot time. The distribution is available in several editions for x86_64 machines. The desktop editions offered are KDE, LXDE, MATE, and Xfce. I decided to try the Xfce edition, which is a 986MB download.
Booting from the NuTyX image brings up a menu offering to launch a live desktop environment or start the system installer. Both options also give us the choice of loading the operating system into RAM or running it from the live medium.
The live session brings up a series of text-based menus. The first one shows us a list of countries, sorted by language and I suppose we are expected to select where we live. We are next shown a list of keyboard layout codes which do not appear to be sorted in any particular order. Next we can choose our network card from a list and pick whether to automatically set up networking. The following screens ask us to set the system clock and make up a username and password for ourselves. These steps seem like part of an installation, but they are just configuring the live desktop.
NuTyX 20.12.0 -- Adjusting the Xfce panel through the settings panel
(full image size: 104kB, resolution: 1280x1024 pixels)
At the end we are presented with a graphical login screen where we can sign into the account we just created. The session runs the Xfce desktop. A panel is placed across the stop of the screen and holds the application menu, task switcher, and system tray. There is a launcher dock at the bottom of the screen and a series of icons on the desktop which open the Thunar file manager in various locations. Audio is muted by default and, after a little exploring, I concluded there doesn't seem to be any way to launch the installer from within the live environment.
Installing
Since the live desktop was working well, I decided to reboot my computer and launch the installer from NuTyX's boot menu. The installer shows us a series of text-based screens that begin by asking which country we live in. The installer then warns NuTyX should be set up entirely on one partition. Choosing to proceed then causes NuTyX to be installed to the hard drive.
I want to make it clear here I was not asked to partition the disk. I was not asked which partition to use. There was no confirmation before NuTyX wiped my previous operating system and placed itself on the first partition of my hard drive. According to the documentation there are at least three menus we need to navigate to launch a partition manager and format the disk, but these did not appear during my trial. In fact none of the top-level menus displayed in the documentation appeared at any time during the install process.
After it copies files to the hard drive the installer asks if it may install a boot loader. Then the system appeared to be shutting down. A series of errors saying the xdm file does not exist were shown, along with errors about trying to perform actions on a read-only filesystem. Then the distribution appeared to halt without powering off the computer.
First impressions
I was sceptical about NuTyX starting after seeing the series of errors on the live image, but it did bring up a boot menu. Here we are shown three boot options: RuNyX, SysV, and systemd. These are the three init options. Picking one brings up a second screen asking if we wish to boot in Quiet or Verbose mode. A third menu then appears and asks if we want to launch the LTS version or Latest version. This last screen refers to which kernel the distribution will use. If we don't pick any options, the system will pick RuNyX and boots the LTS kernel in Quiet mode.
The first time the newly installed copy of NuTyX boots, it brings up a series of screens asking us for our keyboard layout, which network card to use, and what we want to use for a username/password combination. These are the same screens shown on the live medium and they appear just the first time we boot into the locally installed copy of the operating system.
We are then shown a graphical login screen where we can sign into the Xfce desktop. As with the live image, the desktop has a few launchers for the Thunder file manager on it and the volume is muted.
NuTyX 20.12.0 -- Running Thunar with a dark theme
(full image size: 72kB, resolution: 1280x1024 pixels)
Hardware
I began my test with NuTyX in a VirtualBox virtual machine. I was glad I did this as it avoided wiping out my computer's hard drive during the install process. NuTyX performed well in the virtual environment, the Xfce desktop was very responsive, and the system booted quickly. The desktop did not resize dynamically with the VirtualBox window, but started off with a high resolution anyway. I could also adjust the desktop resolution in the Xfce settings panel.
When I switched over to running NuTyX on my workstation, the operating system booted quickly, ran smoothly, and detected all of my hardware. Xfce was once again unusually fast and I was able to get on-line, watch videos, and listen to music without any problems.
The distribution is quite light, using between 215MB and 235MB of RAM. The amount varied a little at each boot, even with the same init software running in the background. The distribution is relatively small on disk, using just 2.7GB of space, plus any swap partition it can find. This is unusually small and I believe it is because the distribution ships with a minimal number of applications.
I tested the distribution and booted it in both Legacy BIOS and UEFI environments. When running in BIOS mode, everything worked as expected. This was also mostly true of the UEFI environment, with one key exception. When booting the live medium in UEFI mode there is a large white "watermark" design that is displayed on the boot menu. This blots out a lot of the text for the boot options. As a result, I did not realize I was booting into install mode rather than the live desktop mode as the first configuration screen or two are the same and I couldn't read all of the boot menu options. As a result, I came to within a hair of accidentally formatting my hard drive prematurely as NuTyX's installer does not ask before it starts wiping and copying files to the drive. When I booted in BIOS mode there was no water mark and the Live and Install boot options were displayed clearly.
Applications
The Xfce edition of NuTyX ships with the Firefox web browser, the Ristretto image viewer, and Parole media player. The distribution includes codecs for watching videos and playing audio files. The Xfburn disc burning software is included along with the Orage Calendar application. There is a bulk renaming tool, a text editor, and the Xfce settings panel. Each of these programs worked well. There are not many applications included by default, but what is present worked without any glitches. I especially like Xfce's settings panel as it is fairly easy to navigate and makes adjusting most aspects of the desktop straight forward.
NuTyX 20.12.0 -- Running the Firefox browser and Parole media player
(full image size: 277kB, resolution: 1280x1024 pixels)
As I mentioned before, we have our choice of three init packages and two Linux kernels, one that is cutting edge (version 5.9) and one which a long-term support release (version 4.19 in this case).
Software management
NuTyX ships with a graphical software manager called flcards which acts as a front-end to the cards package manager. The front-end features a very simple layout with two tabs and two buttons. The tabs are called Packages and Collections. The Collections tab shows available desktop environments we can install. These include LXDE, LXQt, KDE Plasma, GNOME, MATE, and Xfce. The Packages tab displays a long list of all available packages in the distribution's repositories in alphabetical order. To the side is a search box where we can type part of a package's name to filter down the list of packages shown. To install or remove a package we can right-click on it and select an action (remove, install, or cancel). The two buttons in the package manager window refresh our package data from the remote repositories and trigger any actions we have queued.
NuTyX 20.12.0 -- Managing packages through flcards
(full image size: 127kB, resolution: 1280x1024 pixels)
Next to some packages we find a check mark and I was curious about these at first. Instinct told me this should indicate whether a package was installed or whether it could be updated. However, it appeared as though some software without a check next to it was already available on the system and this confused me for a minute. With a little poking around I discovered my instincts were correct, the check mark indicates software that is already on the system. What had confused me is NuTyX uses the Busybox userland software and some of the functionality of Busybox is duplicated by other packages. For example, wget is available by default through Busybox, but another wget package is available in the repositories and not installed. Installing it will place a second wget instance on the operating system and give the package its check mark.
While the flcards front-end worked for installing new software, every time I installed a new package it would complete successfully and then the package manager would crash as soon as I selected a second package to install. This happened every time I used the graphical front-end.
I want to say that flcards looks quite crude, but it is simple (in a nice way) and very fast. I liked the lack of clutter, even if I gritted my teeth each time it crashed after performing a queued action.
The flcards application does not appear to have a method or upgrading existing packages. For this task I turned to the command line cards program. The cards package manager has straight forward syntax and worked quickly. I tended to use it only for upgrades, but it was pleasant to use and I like how straight forward its usage documentation is.
NuTyX 20.12.0 -- Learning how to use the cards package manager
(full image size: 283kB, resolution: 1280x1024 pixels)
Other observations
The NuTyX distribution provides the expected command line functionality, mostly through Busybox, however it does not include manual pages. This makes the system leaner, but it meant documentation and usage tips had to be looked up on-line.
Earlier I mentioned there are three init implementations we can select from at boot time. The default RuNyX software, which is a modified version of runit, works well. It is super fast and light. The distribution also boots cleanly on systemd, though its shutdown time seems slower. When I tried the SysV init boot option the system failed to load and displayed a series of errors about encountering a read-only filesystem. This surprised me as it looks as though NuTyX's live disc is running SysV init and boots the system successfully on the live media, but not when the distribution is installed on the hard drive.
Conclusions
While CRUX provided me with a lot of work without any benefit this week, I did enjoy my time with NuTyX. The distribution, for all its faults (and there are some important ones), has a simple, lightweight charm to it. There is virtually nothing extra, nothing distracting me, no resource-wasting status panels or pop-ups. The NuTyX distribution is not for newcomers, it expects a good deal of experience. But what I liked was NuTyX hits a sweet spot between including useful, friendly tools, and trimming the fat. There are graphical web browsers, a front-end for package management, and a system installer to help us get up and running. Otherwise we are left to our own devices and encouraged to set up just what we need. NuTyX is pleasantly light and fast.
However, as I said, there are problems. The dual combination of having a UEFI boot menu that is partially obscured, combined with a system installer which jumps right to formatting and taking over the primary partition is not good. Really not good. Wiping an operating system without warning is a big problem and the fact this behaviour does not match the documentation is an even bigger problem because the documentation indicates this will not happen without going through multiple configuration steps and a warning.
There were some other smaller issues. Having the package manager crash after each installation was an annoying speed bump in fetching new applications. There are fewer applications available to NuTyX users than what some other distributions provide. NuTyX offers about 1,700 packages at the time of writing up against about 59,000 in Debian, for example. I did not always find what I was looking for in the repositories, though most big-name items were available.
Finally, the lack of local manual pages was an unwelcome surprise. I've occasionally said distributions should either be easy to figure out due to friendly interfaces or have excellent documentation. Ideally we should have both, but it is a bad sign when we have neither.
For an expert Linux user who wants a lot of options (especially when it comes to kernel and init packages) NuTyX is an attractive choice once it is up and running. However, the current version has some bugs which need to get sorted out before I would recommend trying to install it.
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Hardware used in this review
My physical test equipment for this review was a desktop HP Pavilon p6 Series with the following specifications:
- Processor: Dual-core 2.8GHz AMD A4-3420 APU
- Storage: 500GB Hitachi hard drive
- Memory: 6GB of RAM
- Networking: Realtek RTL8111 wired network card, Ralink RT5390R PCIe Wireless card
- Display: AMD Radeon HD 6410D video card
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Visitor supplied rating
NuTyX has a visitor supplied average rating of: 8/10 from 11 review(s).
Have you used NuTyX? You can leave your own review of the project on our ratings page.
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| Miscellaneous News (by Jesse Smith) |
Fedora doubles down on zRAM, Debian developers discuss bundling dependencies, openSUSE 15.1 nearing its end of life, FreeBSD publishes status report
The Fedora distribution introduced running zRAM in memory to provide compressed swap space in Fedora 33. At the time the memory space set aside for compressed swap was a fraction of the system's total memory size, but now the developers are considering expanding the amount of memory which can be used for zRAM. "When ZRAM was enabled by default in Fedora 33, the size of the device (before compression) was limited to fraction 0.5 of RAM or 4 GiB, whichever is less. The reason to limit the fraction to less than 1.0 is that with only incompressible data in memory, whole RAM would be filled by the "compressed" pages, leaving no RAM for normal use. But this concern seems to have been overblown, and there have been no reports of compressed swap taking up too much memory. In real use, we will have at least a few hundred MiB of code in memory, which compresses quite well, so some compression will occur even when working with incompressible data." Ben Cotton has published an overview of this proposed change with more details.
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The Debian team is revisiting a debate on how to manage the dependencies of packages which are typically downloaded during the software build process. The Debian guidelines prevent downloading third-party software during the build of a package, however this is a popular approach among the developers of some scripting languages. This raises the question of how Debian can best address these situations. Should Debian relax its packaging guidelines, create new packages for many rarely-used dependencies, or bundle these multiple dependencies together into one big package? LWN shares details of the on-going discussion: "Many application projects, particularly those written in languages like JavaScript, PHP, and Go, tend to have a rather large pile of dependencies. These projects typically simply download specific versions of the needed dependencies at build time. This works well for fast-moving projects using collections of fast-moving libraries and frameworks, but it works rather less well for traditional Linux distributions. So distribution projects have been trying to figure out how best to incorporate these types of applications."
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openSUSE version 15.1 will soon be reaching the end of its supported life. openSUSE 15.1 "Leap" will no longer receive updates after January 31, 2021. Upgrading to version 15.2 is recommended by the developers. Version 15 SP1 of SUSE Linux Enterprise also reaches the end of its normal supported life at the end of January.
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The FreeBSD project has published a status report which includes an overview of what the operating system's developers are working on. In particularly there has been a lot of effort put into improving ZFS compression, PF firewall performance, and upstreaming fixes from other organizations. "NetApp has started an effort to upstream bug fixes and other improvements from the ONTAP code line into FreeBSD. These changes benefit the FreeBSD community by providing many fixes that NetApp has made over the past few years, while allowing NetApp to reduce the number of customizations needed when bringing in the latest FreeBSD changes back into the ONTAP tree. NetApp has partnered with Klara to facilitate this project, to help identify interesting and useful changes to send upstream, to rework and generalize those changes as required to make them suitable for upstreaming, and to shepherd them through the FreeBSD code review process. During the fourth quarter, Klara has made 40 upstream fixes in the FreeBSD kernel in various subsystems including geom, dev, amd64, net, kern, netinet, and several other areas of the tree on behalf of NetApp. NetApp intends to continue to sponsor this effort throughout 2021." Further information can be found in the project's Quarterly Status Report.
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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) |
Alternatives to running commands as the root user
Lock-it-down asks: People typically say using the root user is not recommended. But how do you actually upgrade programs, run services, edit config files without root? I've heard sudo is a good alternative, but doesn't it simply run everything as though you're root?
DistroWatch answers: There is a general guideline when it comes to computer security which recommends using the least amount of privilege or access necessary to accomplish a goal. The idea is that any access you have to a computer system can be exploited and the fewer components you can access or modify the less damage you can do if you either make a mistake or someone compromises your account. This wisdom, which is generally practical advice, often gets shared as "don't run programs as the root user" or "don't sign into the root account". This is because the root user can typically do just about anything on a Linux or BSD system. Which means you are always one keystroke, mouse click, or web browser exploit away from having your system and all its files compromised if you are signed into the root account.
I happen to agree that signing into the root account directly and using it as your regular user account is not a good idea. It's convenient, certainly, but I make too many typing mistakes and slips of the mouse to ever feel comfortable running as the root user all the time.
There are a few ways you can avoid signing into the root account for common day-to-day tasks while still making use of the root user's ability to install software, edit the system's configuration, or run background services. One of these is to use the su command in a virtual terminal to temporarily become a privileged user, like root. With su you can basically sign into root just for that one terminal session and then exit the shell when you are done. This is slightly safer than running everything as root as it limits the potential damage we can do to one terminal session.
The more common approach to performing administrative tasks these days is to use a tool like sudo or doas. These utilities allow a regular user account to temporarily act as another user (typically root) to perform one specific command at a time. Technically, in this case, you are performing tasks as root, but only one task at a time and (hopefully) typing "sudo" in front of each command will act as a reminder to be cautious.
One nice thing about both sudo and doas is they allow the administrator to grant access to specific commands for specific users. In situations where a person can login as root directly or use su they can perform any task they like as the root user. However, with sudo and doas we can specify the exact commands any user can run. This means we can allow anyone on the system to, for example, install updates or set up a printer while reserving the ability to set the system clock or install new software for just one person. This gives us fine-tuned control over access.
In short, you are correct. The sudo command generally does run commands as the root user. However, it can be used to fine-tune and place limits on user accounts. Tools like sudo and doas also offer benefits such as logging what commands people try to run with elevated access and providing a cleaner environment to avoid session-based exploits.
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Additional answers can be found in our Questions and Answers archive.
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| Released Last Week |
Alpine Linux 3.13.0
Alpine Linux is a community developed, lightweight operating system designed for routers, firewalls, VPNs, VoIP boxes and servers. The project's latest version, Alpine Linux 3.13.0, introduces official cloud images, the option of running PHP 8.0, and Node.js is compiled for better performance. "New features and noteworthy new packages: Official cloud images. Introduction of ifupdown-ng, a replacement for busybox ifupdown. Improved wifi support in setup scripts. PHP 8.0 is available now (next to PHP 7.4). Node.js (LTS) is compiled with -O2 instead of -Os which noticeably improves performance. It can also use full ICU data if new package icu-data is installed alongside. Initial support for cloud-init. Significant updates: Linux 5.10.7, musl 1.2, Busybox 1.32.1, GCC 10.2.1, Git 2.30.0. Knot DNS 3.0.3, MariaDB 10.5.8, Node.js 14.15.4, Nextcloud 20.0.4, PostgreSQL 13.1, QEMU 5.2.0" Further details are available in the release announcement.
KaOS 2021.01
KaOS is a desktop Linux distribution that features the latest version of the KDE Plasma desktop environment. The distribution's latest snapshot ships with some components of Qt 6 in preparation for more applications and the Plasma desktop eventually migrating from Qt 5. "For the many changes in this release, a few stand out. This is a first ISO that ships with Qt 6. Not that Plasma is ready for Qt 6, but some are (Poppler, Strawberry, Qsynth, Qtkeychain for example), so to get this distribution in good shape for the eventual Qt 6 move, any that can be built with Qt 6 are done so now. The KDE Applications release 20.12 saw the addition of almost a dozen new applications, some just moved from standalone releases to now a monthly release, but the addition of Itinerary (an app that provides you with all the information you need while on the road) and Spectacle using Kimageannotator for annotation tool are good improvements. There has been a search for quite some time for a good GUI to handle Systemd services, the used systemd-kcm has not been maintained for years. This replacement is now found and included in the ISO, Stacer (it can also be used as a system clean-up tool and handle startup applications)." The release announcement has further details.
GhostBSD 21.01.15
GhostBSD is a desktop-oriented operating system based on FreeBSD. The project has released a new snapshot which reduces its memory footprint on live media. This release also removes the guided partitioning option which would take over an entire disk with a UFS partition. "I am happy to announce the availability of the new ISO 21.01.15. This new ISO comes with a clean-up of packages that include removing LibreOffice and Telegram from the default selection. We did this to bring the zfs RW live file systems to run without problem on 4GB of ram machine. We also removed the UFS full disk option from the installer. Users can still use custom partitions to setup UFS partition, but we discourage it. We also fixed the Next button's restriction in the custom partition related to some bug that people reported. We also fix the missing default locale setup and added the default setup for Linux Steam, not to forget this ISO includes kernel, userland and numerous application updates." The release notes offer further details.
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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: 2,301
- Total data uploaded: 35.8TB
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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) |
Method for performing administrative tasks
In our Questions and Answers column this week we talked about various methods for performing system administration tasks. A person can login as root, switch between user accounts with su, or use a fine-grained permission tools such as sudo or doas. We would like to know which approach you use on your main computer.
You can see the results of our previous poll on whether Linux supports all of your hardware in last week's edition. All previous poll results can be found in our poll archives.
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I perform admin tasks using...
| doas: | 38 (2%) |
| root account directly: | 125 (7%) |
| su: | 304 (17%) |
| sudo: | 1209 (70%) |
| Another approach: | 33 (2%) |
| I do not perform admin tasks: | 29 (2%) |
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| Website News |
New distributions added to database
Mabox Linux
Mabox is a Manjaro-based rolling release distribution. Mabox Linux features the Openbox window manager as its default interface and provides a welcome screen with access to utilities which add additional software to the operating system.
Mabox Linux 20.10 -- Running the Openbox window manager
(full image size: 1.2MB, resolution: 1366x768 pixels)
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New distributions added to waiting list
- Salient OS. Salient OS is an Arch-based rolling release distribution. The project is available in KDE Plasma and Xfce editions and ships with gaming and multimedia applications pre-installed.
- Sana OS. Sana OS is a desktop-oriented GNU/Linux distribution based on Debian's Testing branch. It uses GNOME as the default desktop. Sana OS provides users with the a Persian environment and utilities like Persian calendar and fonts.
- Storm OS. Storm OS is an Arch-based Linux distribution featuring the Xfce desktop and using the Calamares system installer.
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DistroWatch database summary
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This concludes this week's issue of DistroWatch Weekly. The next instalment will be published on Monday, 25 January 2021. 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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| 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.
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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 |
| 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.
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| Random Distribution | 
Dr.Parted Live
Dr.Parted Live is a bootable GNU/Linux distribution based on Debian Testing. It is a live CD/USB featuring a lightweight Openbox window manager and useful applications for data backup, restore and recovery.
Status: Active
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| 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.
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