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1 • Sudo (by Mallory on 2022-09-12 01:09:01 GMT from Austria)
In the ideal world a typical home user should not have a need to use `sudo' or similar tools. Privileged actions should be done using GUI with PolicyKit as an authorization broker. `Doas' is useful for running programs on behalf of other unprivileged users though.
Conceptually running superuser programs in a user session is difficult to implement securely as you can see looking at the rich history of exploitable vulnerabilities in `sudo' (and especially considering the lack of sufficient isolation between X clients). Having an unlocked root account is not more insecure than having an unlocked user account belonging to the `admin' group. Of course, SSH and other ways of remote access should be disabled for root.
2 • Sudo (by Mallory on 2022-09-12 01:18:58 GMT from Austria)
It is actually possible to configure `sudo' (cf. `man sudoers') to ask for the password of the target user, not the password of the invoking user.
3 • @2 (by Mallory on 2022-09-12 01:27:24 GMT from Luxembourg)
I apologise for using `cf.' instead of `vid.' or just `see'. Please do not repeat this common mistake.
4 • Roots (by Friar Tux on 2022-09-12 01:40:38 GMT from Canada)
For me, Mint's system (right click) menu's "Open As Root" is all I ever need. It uses my user password and that works for me. Don't really ever need to root around in the system EXCEPT in the "usr/share/theme" folder for non-default themes I want as system themes. That's it!
5 • su versus sudo et al (by Bobbie Sellers on 2022-09-12 03:50:38 GMT from United States)
Well I find "sudo" a pain as it usually not properly configured. I can enter root account though I usually reserve that for emergencies. Ordinarily I stick with "su" which I can use to enter a root terminal to deal with restricted commands or with Synaptic where I I am requested to enter the
root password to deal with updates... When I started with Linux as Mandriva 2006 entering passwords to do certain things was PIA but I have gotten over that and my typing has improved so that it is no longer such a pain. On my previous systems to 2006 my C=64, C=128 and
Amiga I was essentially running as root all the time with full access to all commands, which
seldom resulted in insoluble problems. But with connections to the Internet the Amiga was
only saved by its obscurity. I could chose to do auto-login but that is insecure so I leave it
alone, happy to know that no one else without my assistance can login to my very personal
computer.
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6 • Root functionality (by Romane on 2022-09-12 05:00:23 GMT from Australia)
For system type schtuff I use su - in, do what I have to, and out. Mostly it is using Synaptic for updates.
Distro's that lock me out of the root account, forcing me to use sudo and etc, are always immediately wiped from my computer. Personal thing, so please don't lecture me about "security" and such - been there, done that, and always with the result that the person doing so is quickly placed on my ignore list.
That, and using a white-list in the router to access my network and computers seems to work quite effectively - white-list implemented when "someone" (I know who) tried to get into my system - Windows exclusively user, so he had no idea what was looking at. White-listing stopped him completely and immediately. And I do check the router log files regularly insure no untoward activity going on.
Romane
7 • @6, Root functionality (by Wally on 2022-09-12 05:35:17 GMT from Australia)
"Distro's that lock me out of the root account, forcing me to use sudo and etc, are always immediately wiped from my computer." What distros are those? All it usually takes is: open the terminal, type "sudo passwd root", enter a password twice, and the root account is available.
If someone tries to get into my system, it will be my wife, and she has all the passwords.
8 • Garuda Linux (by OpenSourceFeeder on 2022-09-12 05:57:38 GMT from India)
"The default theme in Garuda causes 10 times CPU usage comparing to the standard KDE theme". This is quite surprising. I wonder if the team is aware of this issue. I think, either they are not aware or they don't care.
9 • sudo vs. root (by Microlinux on 2022-09-12 06:02:07 GMT from France)
Of course, you *can* work as plain root, or rather use sudo whenever you need admin rights. The crucial difference here is that using sudo will leave a trace in /var/log/secure or whatever log file is configured in your distribution for that purpose. The "Unix and Linux System Administration Handbook" has a detailed chapter about the root vs. sudo question.
10 • No need for garuda or btrfs (by rb on 2022-09-12 06:22:48 GMT from United States)
I use Arch with Timeshift running once daily as a cron job. (I use EXT4 FS.) I have had to restore my system, usually to the previous backup a handful of times. It usually takes 5 min or less. I keep a rotation of 7 daily backups on separate drive. I do not see BTRFS and snapshots on boot as the only way forward. If a package has ill effects, I can also restore it to previous version from the Pacman cache.
I use Bottles to run games, usually with a Proton GE prefix.
I really like the Octopi notifier in the system tray. I do not like the atari pacman type ghost icons that are default and have my own. It runs at login and informs me when there are updates. Octopi package manager is a lot like synaptic on Debian.
As for root, I do like the poster #7 said and type "sudo passwd" to set a password for root and then su to get a root prompt (#). I mostly use sudo at the command line unless I am trying to view folders like "ls /boot/EFI" and a root prompt is needed.
I have 32GB of RAM and have not used a swap file or partition in over 2 years with no ill effects. I reboot every 3-4 days at least. I do not have systemd-oom or any other out of memory manager and it has not been needed on my system. I think that is an answer to a problem I do not have.
11 • Root account (by Dr.J on 2022-09-12 06:57:11 GMT from Germany)
I think today's question is not precisely worded, because it is not about whether a root account exists or you create one, but about whether a distribution should "care" about it. And it should not. It's up to me how I build my system from a security point of view. If we continue down this road, we'll soon be back to Android, Windows, etc. and their attitude of taking away people's thinking and making large parts of the system opaque and inaccessible to them.
12 • grep, egrep, fgrep (by Wojciec on 2022-09-12 07:48:06 GMT from Czechia)
I'm not a "Linux pro" myself, but even I learned quite a while ago that `egrep` is supposed to be ditched for `grep -E`, and `fgrep` is supposed to be ditched for `grep -F`. I don't understand why it is so hard; basically you just do a `sed -e s/egrep/grep -E/g; s/fgrep/grep -F/g' on your shell scripts. (And if it looks OK, you replace `-e` with `-i`.) I guess it's people like these who cannot migrate from Python2 to Python3, even when the end of support date was announced 10 years prior. I think this is a typical case where "progression" is warranted *and* can be achieved with little effort.
13 • @12 - [ef]?grep (by luvr on 2022-09-12 09:52:06 GMT from Belgium)
I have never used egrep or fgrep myself, but I always run grep with the applicable option, although I tend to favour the long option format (--extended-regexp or --fixed-strings), especially in scripts.
I do not get, however, why egrep or fgrep should be removed when they are such an integral part of history, every other Unix-like system continues to provide them, they continue to work fine, and they don't hurt anything.
Why not just leave them alone?
14 • Garuda (by pfbruce on 2022-09-12 10:36:45 GMT from United States)
Interesting review. I installed Garuda xfce on my Dell Inspiron 15, and never saw any previous install as fast as Garuda. The only slow part is startup, where systemd provides "A start job is..." THAT takes a very long time.
15 • got root? (by Trihexagonal on 2022-09-12 14:00:47 GMT from United States)
I never log in a root directly on any system.
I use su to become root on FreeBSD and very comfortable in that role.
On Kali GNU/Linux I use sudo in the default configuration.
I've never installed sudo or doas on any of my machines and used sudo for the first time on TridentGumOS maybe 5 years ago. It took some getting used to but is no problem to use. I've never used doas.
16 • @12 grep et al. (by Wojciec on 2022-09-12 14:07:56 GMT from Czechia)
I don't mind the existence of `egrep` and` fgrep` as shortcuts to the corresponding grep form. What I do mind is their being in shell script form. If I'm not mistaken, the original `egrep` and `fgrep` were separate `grep` binaries compiled for their particular use cases, but when later their functionality was moved within one `grep` binary, `egrep` and `fgrep` became shell scripts. (Not even "real" scripts in the sense that they are often just wrappers that pass their arguments to a `grep -[EF]`.) Given that `grep` now supports the `egrep` and `fgrep` functionalities, the latter two should be aliases, but not scripts (let alone stand-alone binaries). As for using them in scripts, it would be better to explicitly declare their aliases at the beginning of the script; or even better yet, to use the proper `grep -[FE]` forms -- just like you prefer long-options in scripts. (After all, "readability counts". =) )
17 • Aliasing basic system-level commands is a HUGE deal (by Kingneutron on 2022-09-12 14:18:43 GMT from United States)
> A few aliases got in my way. For instance, "wget" gets translated to "wget -c" which can produce quite different results and I found "ls" is aliased to "ls -la" which usually isn't what I want. Likewise, running "cat" gets translated to the bat pager which acts differently
That's a HUGE no-no, it's one thing to do it for destructive commands like 'rm' but that's pants-on-head a bad idea for things like LS and cat. Somebody needs thwacking with a ClueBat over there.
18 • Root login (by Otis on 2022-09-12 14:22:31 GMT from United States)
Several months ago I landed on a review site that was testing AlmaLinux. Embedded in the review were sayings about "not having to set up a user account." The writer was strictly a root user, and lamented ever using distro versions that required user accounts.
I admit to starting off that way in my Linux journey. "It’s MY system on MY
computer, how DARE this developer FORCE me to not have 100% access
to ALL of it?!
I still feel that way, but not as thoroughly now ad then. They’re protecting
us from ourselves, and protecting support staff from potential hordes of
shouting users who’ve bricked their equipment.
But, yeah, the feeling is still there. I make user accounts and do sudo.
Fine.
19 • @18 root or no root (by Kazlu on 2022-09-12 16:01:09 GMT from France)
Puppy Linux and the family have an interesting way of managing that. The user is root and everything is run as root, except a few critical applications facing the Internet, like the web browser (which essentially gets kinda sandboxed). This makes sense, especially in the context of Puppy which has a read-only core OS and is designed as a single user OS. Should you want to have several users, each user is supposed to bring along their Puppy save while the base OS remains untouched.
The philosophy has its merits. And I actually find strange to not see it more elsewhere. Not that it is the most important thing out there, just an interesting thought.
20 • Tcvo su or not to su... (by tom joad on 2022-09-12 16:26:00 GMT from Netherlands)
When I started with Linux I did pretty much what was suggested with users. I setup an admin account and
later I would setup an ordinary user, harmless account. That worked fine until one time my 'daring doo' got me deep, deep in the weeds. At the boot prompt my regular sudo password would not work. The system demanded a *root* password. And since I had followed the rules I didn't have that.
For that reason I have three accounts now.
( BTW, I have notice this little text box has changed. The word wrap is not working correctly. I notice that in my text and other text displays that same issue. I had to add extra space to make the text look correct. )
21 • Slackware/grep (by gnintingyes on 2022-09-12 17:42:41 GMT from Puerto Rico)
I noticed this first on ALT Sisyphus "unstable", one of the nightly builds, while using Synaptic install/remove program. This was in the first week of 08/2022. Warning message about one version of "grep" being "obsolete" and suggesting another version. Each operation seems to have finished without problems though. I don't go much beyond "grep -i" anyways.
22 • Future (by Mallory on 2022-09-12 20:35:35 GMT from Norway)
`... The future where features, fast machines, colourful animations, and integrated components are common.'
Well, we've already had fast machines, colourful animations and integrated components 15 years ago. Speaking of features: we still have not got good integrated desktop search engines installed by default, there are AFAIK no distributions featuring any kind of assistant controlled by natural language commands.
The only P2P applications installed by default are usually BitTorrent clients. We have such a lot of computing resources which can be used for far more advanced P2P applications... The user interface can still be sluggish on desktop while Android strives for 60 fps and more with their GPU-optimized UI on phones. Not sure if anything like Miracast is available for GNU/Linux. The Canonical's dream of `convergence' has not come true. Btrfs snapshots are similar to System Restore points that Windows XP and later versions have.
Most of development of advanced features seems to be for cloud platforms now, it's sad that the desktop GNU/Linux is relatively stagnating. We need a real commercial (but not proprietary) desktop distro.
23 • Past (by Leon on 2022-09-12 21:24:13 GMT from France)
See it the positive way ...
Whatever you prefer, you have to stay realistic.
Garuda at least tries to go with time and offer what 'human beings' want.
Otherwise, you forever stay with some junk (like Salix from the last week), and you never move forward.
24 • @22 • Future [was yesterday] (by Mallory from Norway [by VPN]) (by Leon on 2022-09-12 21:56:26 GMT from France)
"We need a real commercial ([strike]but not[/strike] [AND] proprietary) desktop distro."
What we do not need is 300 'junkstributions' ...
25 • world status (by grindstone on 2022-09-12 23:39:14 GMT from United States)
Is it just me, or is this the most comforting thing in this crazy world--a grep issue by volkerdi in 2022.
:)
Congrats to all of us for still being here :) Thanks to all for all the work!
26 • Garuda at least tries to go with time and offer what 'human beings' want. (by rb on 2022-09-12 23:02:48 GMT from United States)
"Garuda at least tries to go with time and offer what 'human beings' want.
"Garuda doesn't do or offer anything I want automatically. I can get better control and customization with Arch itself, Endeavour or Manjaro in that order. I run games just fine without Garuda and I think their theme is futt-bucking ugly. I don't need anyone to have a theme for me, totally pointless as I am gonna uninstall it and change it anyway. I don't need btrfs clogging up my drive with shadow copies. I handle it just fine myself using ext4 and timeshift to separate drives. If you drive gives out or crashes, all those btrfs backups are not going to do you a bit of good. If I wanted Linux to be Windows, I would just use Windows. Kids, smh.
27 • su vs sudo (by Charlie on 2022-09-13 06:24:26 GMT from Hong Kong)
I used to find su is more handy for me.
But after reading some articles I understand the rationale behind a locked root account. Everyone knows root is the username for the admin account, so what a hacker does is only to crack the root password. No root account, no password, no problem :p
28 • sudo -i (by MInuxLintEbianDedition on 2022-09-13 09:09:13 GMT from United Kingdom)
for root, in regular terminal, I use sudo -i
It gives me root for as long as I want it, exit returns to user
Surprised nobody mentions this, only the sudo -i request is logged, the root session has usual dangers.
29 • Garuda and the future of Linux (by Dr.J on 2022-09-13 13:09:10 GMT from Germany)
on the one hand I'm afraid you're right: the future of Linux is a colorful blink blink which only works with voice commands (like Alexa and Co.). The kids want that. On the other hand, this is no future,
because nothing new is created here, but only the old technology of the 70s/80s is trimmed behind a polished facade to new. I'm not one of the under-40 group, but I've arrived completely in the
21st century and am not stuck in the old worlds of the 20th century. The only thing is: this whole
polished facade is simply nonsense. It's nothing new, just a lot of blink blink behind a neon curtain. I'll make any bet that none of these souped-up "OK Google systems" can match a modern Linux system with its ancient tools in terms of speed and functionality. In the time I ask the system to find me something, my "find command" has already found it. And in the time I tell my virtual avatar to shrink, clone, backup or copy my virtual hard disk, my rsync command is already through. Thanks to bashrc, all it
takes to do this is to enter a 3-letter alias. And shadow copies are certainly not something we really need in the Linux world. My cronjobs do data backups and disk images reliably and automatically, day after day, week after week. So: I don't think Linux is unfashionable just because it doesn't come with a new colorful facade every week. And I don't think Linux has to join Apple, MS, Google and co. in providing the holy grail of GUI with ever new packaging.
30 • root ou sudo (by Grognux on 2022-09-13 14:34:47 GMT from France)
Salut Tous
root c'est comme l'euthanasie c'est l'homme qui choisit.
Amicalement GrognuX
31 • @29 Find and rsync (by Mallory on 2022-09-13 21:22:14 GMT from Austria)
Do you use `find' for text-based file formats only? For binary files there is `tracker3' (and probably KDE Baloo utilities), it can use an index speeding up search operations a lot.
BTW, why don't distributions use the rsync delta-transfer algorithm for providing incremental updates for large packages? Or do they?
32 • Find and rsync (by Jesse on 2022-09-13 22:06:29 GMT from Canada)
@31: The find command works on all files, not just binary ones. The find commands doesn't care about contents. The grep command works on text files.
Most systems these days are more likely to use "locate" rather than "find" as its indexing makes it a lot faster.
Some distributions have tried using delta-transfers for package management. Fedora being a prime example. It hasn't really caught on. Probably partly because of the time and CPU power involved doing the delta. It's basically slower and more expensive to perform the delta than it is to just download the larger package in the background and then apply it when the user wants it.
Delta downloads make a lot of sense for slow/metered networks, but not high speed, stable networks.
33 • @32 (by Mallory on 2022-09-14 00:07:22 GMT from United Kingdom)
I thought that `find' is usually used together with `grep' or other traditional text-oriented Unix tools (to analyse or process file contents) because for searching file names `locate' is faster indeed (however it does not find files newer than the index database).
I believe that for large enough packages the delta algorithm is often still faster. The difference between two subsequent versions can be precomputed on the server and the resulted delta stored as a file to download and apply. Mozilla still uses this technique for Firefox and Thunderbird updates. I've found that there are `debdelta' utilities and `Cupt` APT replacement, and they are still maintained, Have any distribution used them as a supported or primary update method?
34 • find and deltas (by Jesse on 2022-09-14 00:23:39 GMT from Canada)
@33:The find command can be used with other tools, like grep, to locate files and filter things based on their contents. The find command is ideal for situations where you either need real-time results or complex filters. Such as finding files of a certain size or age. The locate command is faster and more commonly used when you're looking for files based on their name.
It is true locate doesn't find files newer than its database, but that's usually only a window of a few hours so not an issue in most situations.
The delta approach to working with files _can_ be faster. It's just not worth it in most scenarios. On most modern networks, where you can download a small package in under a second and giant packages in under a minute, there isn't much incentive to do all the work to make and distribute delta packages. Why make your client (or server) do all that work when most people will hardly notice the difference in speed?
35 • Delta updates (by Mallory on 2022-09-14 00:55:06 GMT from United States)
@34: I don't understand why debdelta is not an integral part of Debian. Providing delta updates for web browsers, kernel modules and other relatively large and frequently updated packages certainly would improve user experience for those on slow or metered networks for small additional costs. Debdelta is already available, not that much additional space on mirrors is required (but it reduces bandwidth usage).
36 • Garuda Linux - innovation, yes, but least favorite of Arch-based distros (by 1-DOT.com on 2022-09-14 04:29:12 GMT from United States)
Over the past few months, I took a look at several KDE Plasma Arch-based distros. Garuda was my least favorite compared to ArcoLinux-B, EndeavourOS, RebornOS and relatively new CachyOS.
While Garuda's automatic Snapper (forced BTRFS only ) backup after every update is innovative and potentially compelling, It is, for me, far outweighed by a distro just trying to be too different. For me, the "dragonized" look was horrible. So, naturally, I then tried to make it more "normal" by removing the unwanted Latte dock and doing some basic theme changes. Result: a broken system that was just not worth more time to troubleshoot.
Next, I tried Garuda's (unsupported) KDE Lite. This semi-barebones version was much more memory-efficient (similar to other Arch-based KDE Plasma distros). KDE Lite theming was more to my liking, Unlike Garuda "KDE Dragonized", my subsequent theme customizing did not break any desktop functionality. Even so, there were some display quirks (color set errors) not found in similar distros. Unfortunately, I also found no notable advantage over other more complete Arch-based KDE distros.
37 • Garuda KDE Plasma - my experience (by 1-DOT.com on 2022-09-14 04:35:43 GMT from United States)
"YouTuber Troy Holt (eBuzz Central) raves about Garuda Linux. My experience on a 12 year old Lenovo notebook was not as positive. Even so, there are quite a few features to recommend Garuda for many Linux fans."
https://www.facebook.com/groups/linux.fans.group/posts/7982431715131874/
38 • @35 -> "I don't understand why debdelta is not an integral part of Debian" (by OuiDa on 2022-09-14 10:28:30 GMT from Poland)
"I don't understand why debdelta is not an integral part of Debian. :
--
35: Very much like for RPMFUSION for Fedora/RedHat model, and so far Nvidia dastardly attitude towards Open Source and Linux, the main and only reason is "LEGAL"... it is for the commercial companies using theses open sources, to avoid being endlessly dragged in costly and time consuming legal battles.
Hence there are several mostly good variations and equivalents of the GPL.
Note: adding manually a repos is really no big deal, it is made very simple, so why not after all?
---
A.G
39 • @38 (by Mallory on 2022-09-14 18:45:11 GMT from Luxembourg)
It has nothing to do with legal restrictions, debdelta is not a repo, it is a tool to speed up updates on slow networks. Debian is not like RedHat, it hosts `non-free' packages on regular mirrors, and open but patent encumbered codecs are available in the default installation, I believe. It seems that nobody complains about that.
40 • su user (by AdamB on 2022-09-14 22:33:30 GMT from Australia)
I use the root account a lot, whether or not the particular installation has a desktop environment. Using 'su -' gives a more predictable and customisable environment for root.
On machines which do not have a desktop environment, I just log in as root directly.
SSHd is configured to not allow root logins.
41 • distro rave reviews... (by sensei on 2022-09-14 23:39:43 GMT from New Zealand)
@37 you should take most YouTube and FB "reviews" with a bag of salt. They exist as Clickbait for revenue and to upload content on a schedule. Content VALUE comes in dead last. Slowly, tragically too slowly, people are waking up from the social media haze.
42 • Garuda (by Garuda User on 2022-09-15 02:03:27 GMT from Brazil)
I installed Garuda while keeping the /home partition from another distribution. Upon reboot I wasn't greeted by any wizard and my theme was Breeze-Dark. Still, Firefox (I uninstalled Firedragon) had some strange graphical glitches that went away by changing theme.
I didn't experience any hangup in the systemd boot process as someone else mentioned, and I love the snapshot feature.
The fact that it's so opinionated is it's biggest drawback for me. I'm not a fan of the default visuals, the default browser coming out of the box so tuned with extensions. Also it's somewhat biased towards gamers but still, the browser is kinda biased towards privacy adepts. That's two target audiences right there, true they often intersect, but like I said, too opinionated.
As far as I can tell this is, at least in its defaults, a distro aimed at beefier desktops.
Honestly, I "tamed" Garuda so it works more or less like my previous EndeavourOS setup overall, so it doesn't even look like Garuda, just for the nice BTRFS snapshot functionality and other performance tweaks. Perhaps I should have sticked to the KDE Lite version. Making it "inherit" a home folder also avoided the multitude of fish aliases (though it's my favourite shell by the way, but I like rolling with my own aliases, thanks).
It's so opinionated in fact, that it feels like it was aimed at just a handful of friends. Its target audience is limited, niche even (for the main edition at least).
It's been worth it so far to "tame" it, so I get the snapshot functionality and all these Garuda utilities, they're wonderful.
It's one of these "if it fits your use case...", and for me, so far, it does.
Number of Comments: 42
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| • 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 |
| • Issue 1104 (2025-01-13): DAT Linux 2.0, Silly things to do with a minimal computer, Budgie prepares Wayland only releases, SteamOS coming to third-party devices, Murena upgrades its base |
| • Issue 1103 (2025-01-06): elementary OS 8.0, filtering ads with Pi-hole, Debian testing its installer, Pop!_OS faces delays, Ubuntu Studio upgrades not working, Absolute discontinued |
| • Issue 1102 (2024-12-23): Best distros of 2024, changing a process name, Fedora to expand Btrfs support and releases Asahi Remix 41, openSUSE patches out security sandbox and donations from Bottles while ending support for Leap 15.5 |
| • Issue 1101 (2024-12-16): GhostBSD 24.10.1, sending attachments from the command line, openSUSE shows off GPU assignment tool, UBports publishes security update, Murena launches its first tablet, Xfce 4.20 released |
| • Issue 1100 (2024-12-09): Oreon 9.3, differences in speed, IPFire's new appliance, Fedora Asahi Remix gets new video drivers, openSUSE Leap Micro updated, Redox OS running Redox OS |
| • Issue 1099 (2024-12-02): AnduinOS 1.0.1, measuring RAM usage, SUSE continues rebranding efforts, UBports prepares for next major version, Murena offering non-NFC phone |
| • Issue 1098 (2024-11-25): Linux Lite 7.2, backing up specific folders, Murena and Fairphone partner in fair trade deal, Arch installer gets new text interface, Ubuntu security tool patched |
| • Issue 1097 (2024-11-18): Chimera Linux vs Chimera OS, choosing between AlmaLinux and Debian, Fedora elevates KDE spin to an edition, Fedora previews new installer, KDE testing its own distro, Qubes-style isolation coming to FreeBSD |
| • Issue 1096 (2024-11-11): Bazzite 40, Playtron OS Alpha 1, Tucana Linux 3.1, detecting Screen sessions, Redox imports COSMIC software centre, FreeBSD booting on the PinePhone Pro, LXQt supports Wayland window managers |
| • Issue 1095 (2024-11-04): Fedora 41 Kinoite, transferring applications between computers, openSUSE Tumbleweed receives multiple upgrades, Ubuntu testing compiler optimizations, Mint partners with Framework |
| • Issue 1094 (2024-10-28): DebLight OS 1, backing up crontab, AlmaLinux introduces Litten branch, openSUSE unveils refreshed look, Ubuntu turns 20
| | • Issue 1093 (2024-10-21): Kubuntu 24.10, atomic vs immutable distributions, Debian upgrading Perl packages, UBports adding VoLTE support, Android to gain native GNU/Linux application support |
| • Issue 1092 (2024-10-14): FunOS 24.04.1, a home directory inside a file, work starts of openSUSE Leap 16.0, improvements in Haiku, KDE neon upgrades its base |
| • 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 |
| • Full list of all issues |
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Kali Linux
Kali Linux (formerly known as BackTrack) is a Debian-based distribution with a collection of security and forensics tools. It features timely security updates, support for the ARM architecture, a choice of four popular desktop environments, and seamless upgrades to newer versions.
Status: Active
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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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