Release September 2020
Vision 2020-2021
This work year (September 2020 – July 2021) we will focus on our workflow.
We need to become backups for each other.
- The release of September has been built by Marco for example.
- Icewm has been created by Natto for example.
We continue to develop new desktops and make tutorials about them.
Sharing knowledge stays the central theme at ArcoLinux.
We welcome John Blevin and Steve Younger to the coreteam.
Icewm
Icewm has been developed by Natto.
We will release the iso when all betatesters have tested it.
ArcoLinux goes rolling
The file /etc/lsb-release used to contain a number reference to the iso, such as 20.7.5
So did the file /etc/os-release.
Again and again we have to convince people that this is just a number.
It does not mean you are up-to-date.
Updating is done with update, skel and upall in a terminal.
With the new update of lsb-release of 10/07/2020 we decided to break with tradition.
ArcoLinux is now rolling. An example is in the sysinfo script.
To achieve the rolling release everywhere we added 2 pacman hooks.
/etc/lsb-release will not change anymore after an update of lsb-release.
/etc/os-release will not change anymore after an update of filesystem.
We repurposed the current file /etc/dev-rel to reflect the following:
- the iso version used to install ArcoLinux -D – B
- the distribution name used to install ArcoLinux -D -B
- the time of the build
We can easily consult this with the alias iso.
Timetable for releases
ArcoLinux continues to add desktops to its repertoire. Icewm is the latest.
Needless to say this puts a big strain on everyone. We have decided to change our release cycle.
Next year we will release our isos on a bimonthly schedule.
Mid September 2020
Mid November 2020
Mid January 2021
Mid March 2021
Mid May 2021
Mid July 2021
August Holiday
Every single iso can be built on the spot by running our scripts if you want the latest versions on your iso.
BYOI or Build Your Own Iso is fun and easy. Put whatever application you like on your personal iso.
Building isos and archiso
The Archiso package is in full development as you might have seen in the Carli 8 videos.
We have to adapt our build scripts to the new release of Archiso.
22 githubs/isos need to change. First we try out ArcoLinux and ArcoLinuxD then we move over to ArcoLinuxB.
When building the isos yourself (BYOI) make sure you have the right version of the archiso package.
sudo pacman -Q archiso
You know what version to use when you read the archiso.readme on the github.
All iso githubs have this file. Read the how-to in the file.
arc-gtk-theme stopped supporting openbox
The developers of the Arc theme decided to stop supporting openbox.
We now install the package we had in the past to get the support back.
Solution :
sudo pacman -S openbox-arc-git
Conky change
Conky does not support the old conky code anymore.
We have changed all our conkys to the new lua syntax.
If you still have personal conkys then you can convert them with the tool in the video.
Carli 8
We continued our Carli project.
The major change is the archiso package that changed considerably.
.bin has a new script to make bluetooth icon visible
Blueberry is coming from Linux Mint. We made them aware of the repercussions of the change in May 2020.
It is safe to assume Linux Mint will not change it.
So we created a script in .bin/main to make the icons visible again.
In the future we will make sure the setting is incorporated in our isos.
Dconf – ArcoLinux flagship
We have set bluetooth to show a white icon in the right bottom bar in Xfce.
We have stopped using symbolic icons in the panel.
You can set this manually via dconf-editor.
We will gradually change all dconfs of all our desktops to display the bluetooth icon.
Fun script
Darthvader is our fun script of the month
Bspwm
We changed the polybar code so that the workspaces get a color if it is the focused workspace or if an application is launched on the workspace.
Deepin
The Arch Linux logo at login is replaced with the ArcoLinux logo.
Mate
We added gnome-screenshot to the packages list. Keybinding Ctrl + Shift + Prtscr was there but not the application.
We added Ctrl + Prtscr to activate mate-screenshot interactively.
Cinnamon
You can activate Dmenu with the keybinding Ctrl + Shift + D now.
Gnome
You can activate Dmenu with the keybinding Ctrl + Shift + D now.
Budgie
You can activate Dmenu with the keybinding Ctrl + Shift + D now.
Ukui
You can activate Dmenu with the keybinding Ctrl + Shift + D now.
Mate-terminal has no limitation when scrolling back.
Mate-terminal setting ‘Scroll on output’ is set to false.
We added arcolinux-local-xfce4-git to have termite as the standard terminal.
There is no popup when pressing the keybinding Ctrl + Alt + T.
Signing packages and keyservers
We have added 3 lines to a file on your system to add possible keyservers and their ports.
keyserver hkp://pool.sks-keyservers.net:80
keyserver hkps://hkps.pool.sks-keyservers.net:443
keyserver hkp://ipv4.pool.sks-keyservers.net:11371
We have added them to your /etc/pacman.d/gnupg/gpg.conf.
We are delegating work to all coremembers.
They will be able to build and sign the isos, build and sign the packages, push and sign the githubs.
With this extra configuration file pacman will be able to contact the keyservers and get keys if needed.
If you do a clean install (next release) or if you build the iso yourself, it wil have these urls in the file already.
If you stay-rolling you will find this content in the same place under the name gpg.conf.pacnew.
Copy/paste it over to gpg.conf IF NEEDED.
Calamares
We are using the latest Calamares version 3.2.29. More info here.
Because of all the changes in the archiso package we had to change the Calamares configs of all our isos as well.
Variety
A new release of variety came in. We always follow the developer’s new config and added our code to Variety in order to make it work on all our desktops.
Plasma
Suddenly we had a system tray icon for our preferred dropdown terminal Yakuake.
We made sure we do not see the system tray icon.
F12 is there when we need it.
to do next month(s)
Continue the carli project
Let us try to get a new article/video/step out every month.
In a few months time we will have made progress.
development of sway
development of dwm
tutorials for spectrwm
tutorials for ukui
tutorials for icewm
how to stay rolling
what is new
good to know
staying up-to-date
We have dedicated an article to this particular topic since it is probably FAQ number 1.
Re-use our nemesis script – post installation script
After a clean installation we will install more software like Spotify, Dropbox, Insync, etc…
Up and running under 15 minutes
after clean install
arcogetstarted
After a clean installation we will install more software like Spotify, Dropbox, Insync, etc…
Re-use our arcogetstarted script.
The url to this script is ALWAYS pinned on Discord in the official channel at the top in Discord.
#official-news
Learn the most important aliases
Aliases are created for improved functionality and for convenience.
geoip service is once again working
Future will tell us for how long
Full package list
The full package list of the latest isos can always be found on Github at these addresses :
ArcoLinux : https://github.com/arcolinux/arcolinux-iso/blob/master/archiso/packages.x86_64
ArcoLinuxD : https://github.com/arcolinux/arcolinuxd-iso/blob/master/archiso/packages.x86_64
More detailed information can be found in the
beta links in the arcolinux.info menu
and of course in the commits
On github.
USE OUR CALAMARES KNOWLEDGE BASE
Overcome any and all installation issues
with our
“all you need to know article”
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calamares