 DistroWatch Weekly |
| DistroWatch Weekly, Issue 1086, 2 September 2024 |
Welcome to this year's 36th issue of DistroWatch Weekly!
The concept of immutable Linux distributions has, so far, mostly been popular among the developers of commercially-back distributions such as openSUSE Micro OS, Fedora Silverblue, and Ubuntu Core. However, there are other projects in the Linux community which explore immutable filesystems. This week we begin with one: Vanilla OS. Vanilla OS is a Debian-based project that has a list of lofty goals and we report on how the latest version is performing in this week's Feature Story. What do you think of the Vanilla OS project? Share your thoughts on the distribution in our Opinion Poll. In our News section we talk about the FreeBSD Foundation receiving and managing an investment from Germany's Sovereign Tech Fund while OpenBSD reaches a new, rarely discussed milestone. Plus we share a report on openSUSE's Tumbleweed edition being hit by a bug which can drop the distribution's Internet connection, meanwhile Debian orphans the bcachefs-tools package and we talk about why. Then we share some rapid-fire Questions and Answers along with tips on how to perform some simple tasks on the command line. This week we are also pleased to share recent releases in the open source world and list the torrents we are seeding. We wish you all a wonderful week and happy reading!
This week's DistroWatch Weekly is presented by TUXEDO Computers.
Content:
- Review: Vanilla OS 2
- News: OpenBSD reaches new milestone, FreeBSD Foundation accepts investment from Sovereign Tech Fund, openSUSE's Tumbleweed bug drops Internet connection, Debian orphans bcachefs-tools and releases refreshed media
- Questions and answers: Prepending lines to text files, converting image files, setting the system clock
- Released last week: Ubuntu 24.04.1, 4MLinux 46.0, PorteuX 1.6
- Torrent corner: Kubuntu, Lubuntu, Ubuntu, Ubuntu MATE, Ubuntu Unity, Ubuntu Cinnamon, Ubuntu Kylin, Xubuntu
- Upcoming releases: FreeBSD 13.4
- Opinion poll: Impressions of Vanilla OS
- Site news: Donations and sponsors
- New additions: openKylin
- Reader comments
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| Feature Story (By Jesse Smith) |
Vanilla OS 2
Vanilla OS is an immutable distribution which strives to provide packages and tools from a variety of sources. Early versions of Vanilla were based on Ubuntu, though the latest release (Vanilla OS 2 "Orchid") is based on Debian's Unstable (Sid) branch.
The Vanilla project's website claims the distribution can work with software packages from a variety of sources, including Flatpak, Android, and other distributions' repositories thanks to built-in container support.
The project's release announcement offers a handful of other features:
Orchid ensures your system is always up-to-date without interrupting your workflow. With smart updates that check only when your device is idle, you get the latest features and security enhancements seamlessly. Set the update frequency that works best for you, and let Vanilla OS handle the rest quietly in the background.
If something goes wrong, you can select the previous state during boot. After logging in, Orchid will prompt you to perform a rollback, once confirmed, this rollback becomes permanent until the next update.
Orchid allows you to automate everything using the Vanilla System Operator (VSO). You can create tasks within VSO, which execute instructions if certain conditions are met. These conditions can range from something simple like launching an application when connecting a certain device to notifying you when a game on Steam has finally become available.
ABRoot v2: Complete rewrite using OCI images for reliable updates, improved support for atomic transactions, system state dumping, changing kernel flags, a built-in method to edit the configuration, ability to generate local images with extra packages (for drivers, codecs, and libraries), ability to rollback, and re-generate the initramfs.
Hybrid Debian Base: Transition from Ubuntu to a hybrid base made of Debian packages and Vib modules for increased flexibility and control over updates and configuration.
LVM Thin Provisioning: Efficient disk space usage with logical volumes, allowing virtual filesystems larger than the available physical storage and supporting the dynamic allocation of space as needed for the two roots.
PolKit Policies: Replaces sudo for secure privileged operations.
VSO v2: Acts as system shell, package manager, and supports Android apps via Waydroid integrated with F-Droid. Improved the tasks automation system to cover infinite scenarios.
DEB/APK Side-loading: Install .deb and .apk packages with Side-load Utility.
Apx v2: Custom environments, supports various package managers, and introduces stacks for replicating environment configurations. Includes package manager mapping, stack creation, and subsystem management....
The distribution's announcement also mentions it ships with GNOME 46 and version 6.9 of the Linux kernel.
Vanilla OS is available for x86_64 machines exclusively and is provided in one edition that is 1.6GB in size.
Getting started
Booting from the Vanilla OS install media brings up a boot menu which offers us three options: live desktop mode, booting in safe graphics mode, or running a hardware detection tool. When running on my laptop, the distribution booted to a minimal GNOME environment and brought up a window asking if we'd like to install the distribution, perform a recovery, or power off the machine. When I booted in a VirtualBox environment, the same GNOME desktop session started, but then a series of pop-ups complained about the guest environment. Vanilla claims it needs a minimum of 4GB of RAM to run, 2 CPU cores, and UEFI support enabled. If any of these features are missing, the distribution shuts down. This means Vanilla expects about three times more RAM and twice as many CPU cores as other distributions typically need in a virtual machine and, as I'll cover later, these specifications are not actually required. However, once I'd upped my CPU allotment and added an extra GB of memory to the default Debian-focused virtual machine, the distribution booted and performed properly.
Installing
Vanilla OS uses a custom, graphical system installer. The installer begins by asking us to pick our preferred language from a list. It's a long list and we can type the name to narrow down the options. Then we are asked to pick our keyboard layout. Here we can again search for options in a long list, though even when using the search box to filter options "English" still shows multiple pages of options and they are not sorted in any order as far as I could tell. We select our timezone the same way, from a single long list of options.
The installer will then ask us to connect to a local wireless network, again showing a list of available wireless networks. We are then asked to select which disk will hold our copy of Vanilla. The distribution offers guided and manual partitioning. The manually approach launches GParted to carve up the disk and then displays a page where we can assign key parts of the filesystem (such as /boot, /, /var, and swap) to specific partitions. The automated approach will take over the entire disk and, optionally, enable disk encryption.
The system installer then copies its packages to our hard drive while a bouncing progress bar flits back and forth. There is a button for seeing a log of what is happening, but this just shows us a long list of numbers which, I suspect, are commit hashes as they are not sequential nor seem to indicate any human-readable progress information.
Something which bothered me about the system installer (apart from the screens of long, hard to filter lists of options) was that, even when sitting idle and waiting for us to make a selection, the installer consumed a huge amount of CPU. When running directly on my laptop, the installer consumed around 60% of my CPU constantly, when nothing was happening. This caused my laptop to heat up after a few minutes. When running in a virtual machine, Vanilla's installer consumed all available CPU cores even when just sitting at a prompt. There seems to be a serious flaw in the installer which somehow escaped notice during testing. Luckily, even with the installer burning CPU cycles, a fresh install only took about ten minutes to complete.
Once the installer finished, Vanilla attempts to reboot and appears to hang. This turned out to be due to systemd waiting for a background service to terminate. After 90 seconds the system finished waiting and restarted.
First-run experience
Once Vanilla OS is installed, we still have several steps to go through before we can start using the operating system. The first time we boot the distribution the graphical environment starts and then runs a configuration wizard. At first, this wizard basically repeats the steps of the system installer, asking us to pick our language, keyboard layout, and timezone from lists. It then goes on to new steps, asking us if we want to use a light or dark theme, asking us to make up a username (no password is requested), and we are asked to name our computer.
Vanilla OS 2 -- Running the GNOME desktop
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The first-run wizard then asks us which groups of applications we want to install. These groups are called Core, Office, Common Utilities, and Web Browsers. We can click an arrow next to each group to see which applications are included. The Web Browsers group is pretty straight forward and includes all the big-name web browsers. The Office section just offers the LibreOffice suite. Core appears to be mostly necessary software and key components of GNOME. The Common Utilities group is a bit of a mixed collection. Here we find WINE Bottles, GNOME Boxes, Flatseal, and Lutris which all place a focus on running third-party software. But this group also includes a sound recorder, meta data cleaner, and a backup utility.
Once we have made our selections the system reboots again. Then the system launches a graphical login screen. The first time we sign in we are asked to make up a password for our account. In the future we'll use this password to sign in. We are then prompted for the password we just made up in order to authenticate a program called nextBoot. The nextBoot process opens a window where we are (again) asked for our password and then shown some console output. This text which scrolls by appears to indicate Flatpak packages are being fetched. Once the nextBoot program has finished installing Flatpaks yet another window opens and offers to give us a tour of the desktop.
The desktop tour and configuration tool features an additional nine steps. I wish I was making that up, but this fourth install/configure tool wants us to go through an extra nine screens before we start using Vanilla OS.
Vanilla OS 2 -- Initial tour and configuration
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The first screen is just a welcome message, the second offers to launch a tool for configuring the frequency of updates (daily, weekly, monthly, or "never"). This tool also offers to only check for updates when the system is idle, but it doesn't say how idleness is determined. It could be system load, CPU usage, or when the screen is locked - we're not told.
The third screen offers to launch the software centre, which I'll discuss later. The few screens talk about included features like development tools and Android app compatibility. We're then shown a button which will open the GNOME desktop settings panel. Another screen offers to launch a tool to connect us with on-line cloud accounts. The final screen offers to open a web browser and display the latest blog posts from the Vanilla team.
So, at this point, around 45 minutes into my trial, I was finally finished installing, configuring, selecting, and restarting. I was then able to start using the distribution.
More early impressions
After going through the various initial steps and confirming my system appeared to be working as planned, I restarted the computer to confirm I'd get a login screen and be asked for my new password. On the login screen I found a menu where I could select my session type. The options are GNOME on Wayland, GNOME on X11, GNOME Classic on Wayland, and GNOME Classic on X11. At this point I ran into a really weird issue. If I signed into the GNOME on Wayland session the desktop would load and perform normally. However, if I tried to sign into either of the X11 sessions, the login screen would immediately reset and ask me to sign in again. And, the really strange part is: after I'd tried and failed to sign into either X11 session, I was then blocked from signing into the Wayland sessions. The system would lock-up and refuse to log me in. The only way to get signed in again was to reboot the computer and then made sure I selected the Wayland session. This wasn't a one-off issue either, I tried this multiple times and, each time I tried signing into an X11 session first, all future logins were blocked until the next reboot.
This issue with the desktop sessions raises a few questions for me. First, why include X11 sessions in the menu if they're disabled or non-functional? Second, why does trying to use the X11 session prevent Wayland from working? I'm not sure, but this is a new-to-me issue.
Vanilla OS 2 -- The GNOME settings panel
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Included software
Vanilla appears to have a small collection of software, though the exact amount will depend heavily on which software we selected at install time. I stuck pretty close to the defaults and ended up with Firefox, LibreOffice, several GNOME utilities such as Contacts, Clocks, Maps, and a text editor. There is also a document viewer, an image viewer, and the GNOME Files file manager. A music player and Totem video player are also included.
Vanilla OS 2 -- Running LibreOffice
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The GNOME settings panel is featured and was pleasantly easy to navigate. The settings panel mostly deals with the look and feel of the GNOME interface, but it does provide access to system information and offers a screen for managing user accounts.
In the background we find the GNU Compiler Collection, the systemd init software, and GNU command line utilities. Manual pages are included as well, along with version 6.9 of the Linux kernel. The distribution ships a relatively small, useful collection of applications which worked as expected for me.
Hardware
Despite the small number of applications, Vanilla OS is one of the larger distributions I have used in terms of disk space. A fresh install with the default collection of applications, plus LibreOffice, took up 14GB of disk space. Memory consumption was high too, requiring 1.6GB, making this one of the heavier distributions I have run. This is still a lot less than the 4GB of RAM the installer insists is the minimal requirement, but about double what most other mainstream distributions require.
Vanilla does not set up a swap partition or file if we take the guided partitioning option at install time. Instead it sets up a zRAM device in RAM to compress memory which the system wishes to swap.
The distribution ran fairly well on my laptop. It detected my hardware and ran smoothly. Desktop performance was acceptable, about average on physical hardware. There was a quirk where the light on my keyboard's mute button would come on and stay on, whether my volume was muted or not. This didn't appear to affect functionality or volume control, but the light stayed on for as long as I was running Vanilla OS.
When running in VirtualBox, the distribution ran well. The GNOME desktop was a little sluggish at times, but otherwise the distribution ran smoothly in the virtual environment.
Software management
Software management is primarily handled by GNOME Software. The software centre is split into three tabs - one for exploring and installing new applications, one for viewing and removing applications, and one tab checks for updates. The software centre connects to Flathub and now offers the ability to filter unverified Flatpak bundles. GNOME Software also has an option for showing us only free/open source software in the Flathub repository. These can be helpful filters if we want to stick to specific licenses or official/verified providers.
When we select an application in GNOME Software the centre shows us a full page description with a screenshot of the package in action. From this screen we can install new software with one click; no password is required to install or remove packages. Once an application has been installed its information page shows an Open button which can be used to launch the application.
Vanilla OS 2 -- The software centre
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The software centre worked well for me and I like the new filtering options. I did run into a minor issue where sometimes the information page for an application would just show a blank page. The software centre would appear to hang until I backed out a step and then selected the same application again. This happened even in cases where I'd previously been looking at the same information page a minute before, then left and returned to the application, meaning the information was already successfully downloaded earlier in the session.
Android support / WINE support?
One of the claims in the release announcement for Orchid was the idea that the distribution should be "Compatible with everything." The project states: "Orchid is designed to be compatible with virtually everything, ensuring you never feel left out." This has led some people to ask me if Vanilla somehow offers better compatibility for situations like running Windows software and applications from other platforms. The answer is an unsurprising: no. Vanilla OS doesn't have any magic software that makes it more compatible with, for example, macOS or Windows software. By default it doesn't even include WINE for running Windows applications and games.
So if Windows and macOS applications are not on the menu, what does Vanilla mean by claiming to be compatible with everything? The project claims to make it possible to side-load Deb files (not a surprise since Vanilla is based on Debian), and to also provide an option to side-load Android applications using APK packages. The release announcement says: "Side-loading apps has never been easier. This new feature allows you to install Debian (.deb) packages and Android apps (.apk) with just a double-click. This simple process makes adding new software to your system quick and hassle-free, enhancing your overall experience. Once an application is installed, it is made available right from the applications menu." I decided to try this.
Vanilla OS 2 -- Side-loading an Android app
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I experimented by downloading the Steam gaming portal as a Deb package and a few applications from the F-Droid software repository for open source Android apps. I started with the Deb package, downloading it from Steam's official website. I double-clicked the Deb file which brought up a window asking if I'd like to install or side-load the application. I went with the terminology used in the release announcement and selected side-load. The software then installed, but was not added to the application menu. In fact, even after I'd signed out and signed back into my account again, Steam didn't show up in the menu. It was available from the command line through.
Launching Steam from the command line sort of worked, the software would launch to begin its setup process, but then fail due to missing dependencies. Steam, like many Deb-bundled applications, pulls in dependencies from Debian (or other Deb-providing distributions). This would typically work, if we were running Debian or Ubuntu. Vanilla OS, while it is based on Debian, does not enable Debian repositories - I suppose due to its immutable nature - and so any application requiring software from Debian's sources fails to run. Debian's package management tools, such as APT, are installed, but Debian's repositories are not available.
I tried to download a few Android applications. The process here was similar. I fetched the APK files in my web browser, clicked them, and the side-load utility launched. The installation appeared to complete successfully, but then I couldn't find the newly installed apps. I checked the application menu, the software centre, and even tried searching from the command line for the names of the apps. I came up empty-handed.
I checked the Vanilla documentation and the project's Handbook. There is a section which talks about installing Deb and Android apps. Unfortunately, there wasn't any documentation I could find, at the time of writing, which discusses how to launch the third-party software once it has been installed. The release announcement suggests new software should just show up in the application menu, but it does not, and the documentation is mute on the subject of where to find the newly installed apps.
To be fair to the Vanilla team, installing Steam from the official website is just one way to attempt to run the gaming application. The project's documentation discusses another way and a Steam Flatpak is available through the software centre. I used Steam as a test case in this review because it's a popular application that is available as a Deb, not because there aren't other ways to acquire it.
APX
One item in the release notes for Vanilla OS 2 which caught my eye was APX. "APX is one of the most iconic features of Vanilla OS, and in Orchid, it takes on an entirely new role, catering to the needs of developers and creators. With APX v2, you can create customized Linux environments that are seamlessly integrated with the system. Just choose your preferred Linux distribution and configure everything to meet your specific requirements."
Searching for APX in the application menu launches a window which displays three tabs on the left side. These tabs are not clearly labelled, they just have small, unfamiliar icons. One tab is empty, one lists distributions (such as Alpine, Ubuntu, and Fedora), and the third tab lists package managers (APT, APK, DNF, and Zypper). The controls in these tabs, and which appear when highlighting any of the above distributions and package managers, are mostly greyed out. I went looking for documentation about the APX GUI in the Vanilla Handbook and didn't find any.
Vanilla OS 2 -- Running the APX desktop application
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I did find manual pages for a command line version of APX. The manual lists the directives the APX command line tool can run, but it doesn't say what APX does, how it works, or why we would use it. APX appears to be a package manager for package managers, but I didn't find any explanation of how it would work. The documentation also mentions APX can manage "stacks" and "subsystems", but again there are no examples to draw from or indications of what a stack is or why we would use one. In short, I can't really comment on whether APX works as intended because I cannot find any information on what it is really meant to do. The release announcement talks about an "entirely new role" for developers and integrating things with the system, but when it comes to how that works the documentation appears to be mute on the subject.
Conclusions
I found trying to run Vanilla OS unusually frustrating and it was tempting to simply list a handful of things I didn't like about the distribution in my conclusion, say it was a bad experience, and call it a day. However, the more I reflected on the past week and my time with Vanilla OS the more I realized this wouldn't be a fair approach. Vanilla OS does run on my hardware and in a virtual machine, it does deliver an immutable platform with portable packages and containers, it has a working software centre, and documentation. In other words, my frustrations don't simply stem from a distribution which doesn't work for me at all, which I sometimes encounter, so what was bothering me about Vanilla OS?
After some reflection, I realized my experiences with Vanilla OS 2 roughly fit into four categories and I'd like to outline these.
- Stuff that works well - As I just mentioned, Vanilla OS does offer a number of good features. The welcome/tour application works well, the GNOME Wayland session works better than most Wayland sessions I've tried in the past (it only crashed once), and GNOME Software worked pretty well, with a few minor glitches. The GNOME applications (text editor, file manager, etc) worked well for me, as did LibreOffice. In short, the core items that most distributions running GNOME supply for us work well on Vanilla OS.
- Stuff that works, but works poorly compared to other distributions - This category mostly covers initial experiences like the system installer. The system installer and first-run wizard share the same steps and screens, the installer consumes a huge amount of CPU even when sitting idle waiting for input, and some steps in the process are unclear as to what they are doing. The installer's progress log just shows a string of numbers and the Flatpak install window doesn't explain what the lines of text represent. These sorts of things give a poor initial impression when compared next to other Linux distributions, even though the steps technically work.
- Stuff that doesn't work - There are a few items which fall into this category. The X11 sessions were the biggest and weirdest issue for me. Not only did the GNOME X11 sessions not work, but trying to access them broke Wayland sessions too until I rebooted. Side-loading Android applications also didn't work as expected as the new, side-loaded apps seemed to simply vanish and did not show up in the application menu as advertised.
- Stuff that might work, but isn't documented - For me this might have been the most frustrating aspect of the distribution. There were a few times I'd start exploring a new tool, such as side-loading, APX, and automatic updates during idle time. Each time I'd end up turning to the project's documentation, only to find out the documentation site and the Handbook didn't have any explanation or examples. Vanilla OS makes some bold claims (seamless, automatic updates; instant recovery; compatibility with everything). These claims may be true, or mostly true, but it's hard to tell because the tools don't appear to be clearly explained through official channels. I'd like to find out what an APX stack is and run Android apps on my Vanilla desktop, but how to go about these tasks seems to be hidden knowledge. Perhaps it's buried in a forum post or in a wiki somewhere, but these bits of knowledge don't appear to be in the Handbook yet and that's going to make it difficult for users to make use of the advertised features.
Ultimately, I feel Vanilla is a very ambitious project. As with many ambitious projects in their early days, this distribution appears to be more of a proof-of-concept. It's probably a good milestone for the developers - it installs, runs, and gives them a chance to try out their tools. However, this still feels like an early development release, one that needs polish, documentation, and some bug fixes before it will be ready for the wider (non-developer) community to enjoy.
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Hardware used in this review
My physical test equipment for this review was an HP DY2048CA laptop with the following
specifications:
- Processor: 11th Gen Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-1135G7 @ 2.40GHz
- Display: Intel integrated video
- Storage: Western Digital 512GB solid state drive
- Memory: 8GB of RAM
- Wireless network device: Intel Wi-Fi 6 AX201 + BT Wireless network card
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Visitor supplied rating
Vanilla OS has a visitor supplied average rating of: 6.3/10 from 29 review(s).
Have you used Vanilla OS? You can leave your own review of the project on our ratings page.
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| Miscellaneous News (by Jesse Smith) |
OpenBSD reaches new milestone, FreeBSD Foundation accepts investment from Sovereign Tech Fund, openSUSE's Tumbleweed bug drops Internet connection, Debian orphans bcachefs-tools and releases refreshed media
There are many ways of measuring milestones in the life of a project. We can look at version numbers, the number of years a project has been active, or the number of users. The OpenBSD project recently reached another, rarely talked about marker in its journey. Project leader Theo de Raadt wrote: "This commit changes the *LAST UNMODIFIED ORIGINAL FILE* (meaning revision 1.1.1.1) from the original import that created OpenBSD on Oct 18, 1995. With this commit, we have completed an amusing mission of replacing the final parts of the original OpenBSD. We have reached OpenBSD of Theseus."
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The FreeBSD project will soon benefit from an investment from Germany's Sovereign Tech Fund (STF). The new funds, which are being coordinated by the FreeBSD Foundation, will be used to improve automated builds, enhance security, and reduce technical debt carried by the developers. "The FreeBSD Foundation, dedicated to advancing the open source FreeBSD operating system and supporting the community, announced that Germany's Sovereign Tech Fund (STF) has agreed to invest €686,400 in the FreeBSD project to drive improvements in infrastructure, security, regulatory compliance, and developer experience. The work, organized and managed by the FreeBSD Foundation, will begin in August 2024 and continue through 2025." Details on the investment and the work planned using the funds are covered in the FreeBSD Foundation's announcement.
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People running the Tumbleweed branch of openSUSE have been advised to hold off updating the Wicked package for a time as the current update can cause the distribution to lose Internet connectivity. "With the switch to dbus-broker as D-Bus implementation in Tumbleweed Snapshot 20240825, a regression was introduced: When using Wicked for network configuration, the system boots up without network connectivity. Systems that use NetworkManager are not affected." People who have already upgraded Wicked and run afoul of the bug can either downgrade the package or, when using Btrfs, rollback to an earlier snapshot. A blog post on openSUSE's website shares details on the issue.
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One problem fixed release distributions tend to run into, especially fixed distributions with long-term support options, is that upstream software is often built to rely on the latest versions of libraries. This puts fixed release distributions in a difficult position because they usually don't apply major updates to libraries during the release cycle, but it's difficult to ship new versions of applications if they don't work with older versions of their dependencies. The Debian project is an especially conservative, fixed release distribution and this places it in an awkward position when it comes to software that needs to be regularly updated. The bcachefs-tools maintainer for Debian has orphaned the package, largely due to the ever-changing dependencies and rapid release cycle of the upstream software. "I suppose if I were upstream I might look into the possibility of at least supporting a larger range of recent dependencies (usually easy enough if you don't hop onto the newest features right away) so that distributions with stable releases only need to concern themselves with providing some minimum recent versions, but even if that could work, the upstream author is 100% against any solution other than vendoring all its dependencies with the utility and insisting that it must only be built using these bundled dependencies. I've made 6 uploads for this package so far this year, but still I constantly get complaints that it's out of date and that it's ancient. If a piece of software is considered so old that it's useless by the time it's been published for two or three months, then there's no way it can survive even a usual stable release cycle, never mind any kind of long-term support." Additional details are shared in Jonathan Carter's blog post.
In other Debian-related news, the project has published refreshed install media for Debian 11 and Debian 12. The new media are not for new versions of the distribution, but supply security updates and bug fixes for fresh installs. "The Debian project is pleased to announce the seventh update of its stable distribution Debian 12 (codename bookworm). This point release mainly adds corrections for security issues, along with a few adjustments for serious problems. Security advisories have already been published separately and are referenced where available." The announcements for Debian 12 and 11 can be found on the Debian news 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) |
Prepending lines to text files, converting image files, setting the system clock
While many Linux distributions can be used successfully without ever plunging into the arcane depths of the command line, Linux command line programs are pleasantly powerful. For people who are willing to learn the strange syntax of Linux command line shells, there are tools and solutions for all occasions.
This week we tackle some questions we've received about the command line and share quick solutions.
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In a shell it's easy to append data to a file using ">>". Is there a command or symbol to prepend a line to the start of a file?
I'm not aware of a shell symbol that will place a line or some data at the beginning of an existing file, but this is something we can do fairly easily using the cat command. While cat is often used to simply display the contexts of a text file, cat gets its name from its ability to string together (or concatenate) multiple files. As a bonus, cat can treat standard input (stdin) and pipes as files.
Let's say we have a text file called old-file and we wish to place a line of text at the beginning of the file which says "Hello". We can do this by sending the word "Hello" through a pipe and then using cat to order this line in front of the contents of old-file. In the following example we place "Hello" at the top of the old-file text file and then save the result to a new text file I'll call new-file:
echo "Hello" | cat - old-file > new-file
The cat command treats the "-" symbol as meaning to read from stdin. In the above example we output everything from stdio ("Hello", in this case) and then add the contents of old-file. Should we wish to overwrite the original file (old-file) with the new version containing "Hello" we can use the mv (move) command to replace old-file:
mv new-file old-file
Creating a new file each time we want to add a new line to the top of a file can get tedious. What if we want to prepend "Hello" to our file without creating a whole new file? If we have the moreutils package installed on our distribution we can use a command called sponge to soak up the output from cat and save it directly in old-file, skipping the step of creating new-file:
echo "Hello" | cat - old-file | sponge old-file
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Is there a quick command line way to save an image file under a different format?
The convert command, part of the ImageMagick package, can do this for you. The command is pleasantly simple. Here we take a JPG file and convert it to the PNG format. The original file is kept, unchanged:
convert original.jpg new-image.png
We can perform other adjustments to the file, such as resizing it. Here we shrink down the original JPG file to a 1200 pixel by 800 pixel PNG file:
convert original.jpg -resize 1200x800 new-image.png
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Can I change my system clock from the command line?
There are a few ways to do this. The easiest is probably using the date command. Running the date program without any parameters will display the current date and time in a fairly human-readable format:
date
Fri 02 Aug 2024 07:59:00 PM
We can use the "-s" parameter with date to set a new time. The format of the date we supply can vary, depending on which modifiers we use, but keeping the same human-readable format is easiest. Here we set the clock to the 3rd of August, 2024, 6:00pm.
date -s "03 Aug 2024 18:00:00"
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Additional answers can be found in our Questions and Answers archive.
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| Released Last Week |
4MLinux 46.0
4MLinux is a small Linux distribution with four areas of focus: system maintenance, multimedia, server, and games. The project's latest release is version 46.0 which no longer features a stand-alone Server edition. "As always, the new major release has some new features. The 4MLinux Server is now available out of the box (meaning that there is no separate 4MServer for download). Support for Windows Enhanced Metafiles (EMF images) as well as raw files from digital cameras (CRW/CR2, NEF, RAF, DNG images) has been added. Support for old audio formats (originating from Amiga, Commodore and the like) has been greatly improved. New applications: DVDAuthor (set of DVD authoring tools), qv4l2 (Qt-based application for testing V4L devices), VCDImager (set of VCD/SVCD authoring tools). Classic GNU Go game has been added to the 4MLinux GamePack package (downloadable extension). And finally, this is the first release that includes GTK version 4." Additional information is presented in the release announcement.
PorteuX 1.6
PorteuX is a Linux distribution based on Slackware Linux, inspired by Slax and Porteus. The project's latest release is version 1.6 which updates KDE Plasma to version 6 and provides minor updates to other, supported desktops. This release also includes an updated NVIDIA driver. "Improved Cinnamon application menu update when modules are activated/deactivated. Improved GCC flags for better performance. Changed CPU governor to performance for amd-pstate-epp CPUs also in stable. Changed changes cheatcode to EXIT: by default -- this will improve session performance considerably when using slow storage units. Removed texinfo from 05-devel. Updated kernel to 6.10.6. Updated Nvidia driver to 560.35.03. Updated Cinnamon to 6.2.9 (current). Updated GNOME to 46.4 (current). Updated KDE to 6.1.4 (current)." Additional changes are mentioned in the project's release notes.
PorteuX 1.6 -- Running KDE Plasma 6
(full image size: 653kB, resolution: 1920x1080 pixels)
Ubuntu 24.04.1
Canonical has announced the availability of a minor update to the Ubuntu 24.04 LTS series. The 24.04.1 update features fixes for the year 2038 bug on ARM devices along with updates to the kernel, systemd, and there is now an official upgrade path from Ubuntu 23.10 to 24.04.1. "Ubuntu 24.04 LTS will be supported for 5 years until June 2029. If you need Long Term Support, we recommend you use Ubuntu 22.04 LTS 5.5k until 24.04.1 is released. Users of Ubuntu 23.10 will be offered an automatic upgrade to 24.04 soon after the release. Users of 22.04 LTS however will be offered the automatic upgrade when 24.04.1 LTS is released, which is scheduled for the 15th of August. Ubuntu 24.04 LTS solves the Year 2038 problem 1.4k that existed on armhf. More than a thousand packages have been updated to handle time using a 64-bit value rather than a 32-bit one, making it possible to handle times up to 292 billion years in the future." The release announcement offers additional details. The official community editions of Ubuntu have also published updates.
Rhino Linux 2024.2
Rhino Linux is an Ubuntu-based distribution which offers a rolling-release upgrade approach. Rhino features a custom meta package manager which unifies Deb, Pacstall and Flatpak software management. The project's latest release, Rhino Linux 2024.2, includes a new theme and an overhauled configuration wizard. "Our Setup Wizard has just gotten a whole lot better, and we offer something for both regular and power users. We have added a signifcant number of containerization options, a new package manager, and even the option to add night shift. You can now select these additional options in the rhino-setup wizard: Nix, the package manager (note: rhino-pkg/rpk does not currently support Nix). Docker, for rapid containerization and development. Podman, a daemon-less, drop-in replacement for Docker. Flatseal, a GUI application for managing permissions on installed Flatpaks. Distrobox, a program that uses Docker or Podman to deploy containers for other distributions on top of Rhino. Apptainer, for developing smaller application containers. VirtualBox, a GUI virtual machine application. QEMU, a free and open source emulation backbone. Redshift, adjust the color temperature of your screen according to your surroundings." More details about this release can be found in the project's release announcement.
Linux From Scratch 12.2
Bruce Dubbs has announced the release of version 12.2 of Linux From Scratch (LFS), a project providing a book containing step-by-step instructions to build a custom Linux system from scratch. A separate book called Beyond Linux From Scratch, which contains instructions for installing and configuring various packages on top of a base LFS system, is also available in version 12.2. "The Linux From Scratch community is pleased to announce the release of LFS Version 12.2, LFS Version 12.2 (systemd), BLFS Version 12.2, and BLFS Version 12.2 (systemd). This release is a major update to both LFS and BLFS. The LFS release includes updates to binutils-2.43.1, glibc-2.40, and gcc-14.2.0. In total, 45 packages were updated since the last release and extensive updates to the text have been made throughout the book to improve readability. The Linux kernel has also been updated to version 6.10.5. Overall there have been 146 commits to LFS since the previous stable version of the book. In BLFS, a significant change was an upgrade from KDE5 (Frameworks, Gear, Plasma) to KDE6. New packages of interest that were added are FreeRDP, gnome-connections, and KDE's dolphin and konversation." Additional information can be found in the project's release announcement.
* * * * *
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: 3,064
- Total data uploaded: 45.2TB
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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) |
Impressions of Vanilla OS
This week we shared a taste of Vanilla OS. The project has some lofty goals in terms of software management, running applications from multiple platforms, and offering a bulletproof filesystem. Have you tried Vanilla OS 2 and, if you did, what did you think of it?
You can see the results of our previous poll on patching software from source code in our previous edition. All previous poll results can be found in our poll archives.
|
Trying Vanilla OS
| I tried it and liked it - still running Vanilla: | 11 (1%) |
| I tried it and liked it - no longer running Vanilla: | 64 (3%) |
| I tried it and did not like it: | 721 (39%) |
| Have not tried it: | 1058 (57%) |
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| Website News |
Donations and Sponsors
Each month we receive support and kindness from our readers in the form of donations. These donations help us keep the web server running, pay contributors, and keep infrastructure like our torrent seed box running. We'd like to thank our generous readers and acknowledge how much their contributions mean to us.
This month we're grateful for the $158 in contributions from the following kind souls:
| Donor |
Amount |
|---|
| J S | $50 |
| Hernandez P B | $40 |
| Andrea M | $20 |
| Jonathon B | $10 |
| Sam C | $10 |
| Brian59 | $5 |
| Chung T | $5 |
| surf3r57 | $5 |
| TaiKedz | $5 |
| J.D. L | $2 |
| PB C | $2 |
| c6WWldo9 | $1 |
| Stephen M | $1 |
| Shasheen E | $1 |
| William E | $1 |
* * * * *
New projects added to database
openKylin
openKylin is a Chinese desktop distribution which runs the Kylin and UKUI desktop environments. Both Wayland and X11 sessions are available out of the box. The project is a member of the Debian family and can use APT package management tools. It also features a custom package format which is combined with a custom, modern software centre. openKylin is also a proving ground for custom utilities which assist the user in managing the operating system.
openKylin 2.0 -- Running the Kylin desktop session
(full image size: 1.2MB, resolution: 1920x1080 pixels)
* * * * *
DistroWatch database summary
* * * * *
This concludes this week's issue of DistroWatch Weekly. The next instalment will be published on Monday, 9 September 2024. Past articles and reviews can be found through our Weekly Archive and Article Search pages. 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)
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If you've enjoyed this week's issue of DistroWatch Weekly, please consider sending us a tip.
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| Archives |
| • 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 |
| • 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 |
| • 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 | 
LG3D LiveCD
LG3D LiveCD was a bootable Linux CD incorporating Project Looking Glass, a Java-based technology that attempts to bring a richer user experience to the desktop and applications via 3D windowing and visualisation capabilities. An open source development project evolved from Sun Microsystems' Advanced Development division, the LG3D live CD was based on SLAX, but it includes extra applications and technologies, such as Firefox and Gaim, working NVIDIA graphics driver, and copy2ram support. It was also possible to run it from a 256MB flash memory device.
Status: Discontinued
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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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| 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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