20221116 – gdm, flatpak and bugs

For the longest time it seems we have struggled to get users to understand they must edit /etc/rc.d/rc.4 and remove multiple –nodaemon flags present in the file — but struggle we will no longer! 0xBOBF has came up with a workaround and users will no longer need to edit this file on their system! Leaving one more bit (a small one) of vanilla Slackware untouched while installing GNOME.

Also, a few weeks back I had updated flatpak with some changes I took from AlienBob’s script he recently created. And it completely destroyed my flatpak integration from working as it should (icons showing up within GNOME Shell, etc) and so I’ve undone those changes. I re-worked my script to now include the flathub and gnome-nightly repos installed system-wide by default, and left the rest alone. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.

As of now, users of the liveslak can install the system and have it operate correctly out of the box (finally!) or keep on using the live system and you’ll not notice any changes, it’ll work exactly like it did before.

Excellent work this week!

Get the latest liveslak build!

gnome-keyring bug and fix

Recently, I noticed that in a GNOME session the gnome-keyring process was constantly taking up 100% of a cpu core. Naturally, I killed it, and it was fine, so I went upon my business. But then I noticed it on my next boot, and then I noticed it on another machine with a different version of software and before I knew it, I was scouring the net for answers.

Turns out, an old bug had resurfaced in some changes to code within glib2 and had shown itself in both 43.1 and 42.6. The bug was introduced in glib2 1.74.1 (but was occurring as well on 2.72.4- likely the same changes were backported), so I naturally downgraded the libs and moved on while waiting for a patch to come.

A patch has finally come, so I’ve updated the gcs43.1 and also upgraded gcs42.6 (aarch64) repos with the new packages. As well as a few other updates on aarch64 for webkit2gtk 2.38.2 and libadwaita 1.2.0, in preparation to likely ship GNOME 43 for aach64… eventually… I’m in no rush and 42 runs pretty well without many library updates on that port. Before 44 comes out, I’m sure I’ll ship it (it’s plenty build-able on your own anyway). 42 needed those webkit updates, as I can’t imagine building that on a normal aarch64 machine (M1 to the rescue!).

I’ve also updated the liveslak with -current and the new glib2. That’s all for the rest of the week out of me. Enjoy!

20221107 – updates

Upgraded a bunch of GNOME 43 x86_64 modules today. Added the cups-pk-helper package as well. For printing, ensure you’ve chmod +x /etc/rc.d/rc.cups and started the daemon. The printer pane should display an “Add Printer…” button if it’s working on your system correctly. I’ll post a new liveslak later today.

Mon Nov  7 20:34:53 UTC 2022
gcs43/cups-pk-helper-0.2.7-x86_64-1_gcs.txz:  Added.
gcs43/gssdp-1.6.1-x86_64-1_gcs.txz:  Upgraded.
gcs43/gupnp-1.6.1-x86_64-1_gcs.txz:  Upgraded.
gcs43/python-gi-docgen-2022.2-x86_64-1_gcs.txz:  Upgraded.
gcs43/webkit2gtk4.1-2.38.2-x86_64-1_gcs.txz:  Upgraded.
+--------------------------+
Mon Nov  7 09:51:46 UTC 2022
gcs43/gnome-shell-43.1-x86_64-1_gcs.txz:  Upgraded.
gcs43/gnome-shell-extensions-43.1-x86_64-1_gcs.txz:  Upgraded.
gcs43/gtksourceview4-4.8.4-x86_64-1_gcs.txz:  Upgraded.
gcs43/mutter-43.1-x86_64-1_gcs.txz:  Upgraded.
gcs43/polkit-122-x86_64-1_gcs.txz:  Upgraded.
+--------------------------+

Printing…

*I have added the package to the GCS 43 x86_64 repo and github*

I had noticed recently that attempting to bring up the printer pane in GNOME resulted in an error message being displayed, and then days later 0xBOB had mentioned he noticed the same in chat, and it turned out I had possibly been a little over-zealous in removing extra packages from GNOME. While I would consider in 2022, printing to be an optional feature, I happened to need to print something and had to use another OS to do so because of time constraints. The missing package is “cups-pk-helper”, which was a shipped with GFS previously on Slackware and I had removed in all my pruning while slimming the install down. 0xBOB had replaced said package in his hybrid 41/42 offering on SBo for Slackware 15.0, and I’ll be checking that out and re-adding it soon to the repos here as well, I’ll be sure to make a note of when I add it back.

20221103 -current updates

Updated the ISO again today, along with a few package updates which can be seen in the ChangeLog.txt. I’ve also changed some things a bit, moved the liveslak info back to it’s own page (for easier updating) and added information on installing the ISO or optionally, the GNOME packages on an existing system (though I don’t recommend that, if you don’t already have a 100% stock install).

If you’ve problems or comments, feel free to comment on the pages, I will try to help if things aren’t working out for you.

GNOME 43.1 – LIVESLAK

20221031 – liveslak – gnome 43.1

Today I’ve rebuilt the liveslak ISO with the latest -current updates and stable GNOME updates I’ve got at the moment. If you already have the ISO you can always update packages normally with “slackpkg update && slackpkg upgrade-all” under the root account.

Outside of the official Slackware updates, I’ve included updates for slackpkg+, evince, tracker, tracker-miners, vte, and webkit2gtk. The webkit package changes some build flags increasing compatibility with websites, notably https://heise.de/ which has been problematic thus far, should be working now.

Enjoy!

Download: https://slackware.lngn.net/pub/liveslak/slackware64-live-current-gnome-43.1-20221031.iso

MD5: 9413a561b9430ac73d5c445a7bc57033

GNOME 43.1 – LIVESLAK

EDIT: I posted this as a new page initially, reposted as a blog entry, as it should be (did I mention wordpress is my enemy?)

People are asking if the repo attached to the iso will work on a standard installation. My answer to this is yes and no. If you just install the packages on an existing Slackware install, you’ll be missing users/groups and GDM will not work, slackpkg+ won’t exist properly either. My advice if you wish to install to a HDD is to do your install from the liveslak ISO, included on the image is an installer “/usr/local/sbin/setup2hd” you can run to install locally on your HDD.

—-Original Post Follows—-

I’ve just completed testing changes for the final package-set for GNOME 43.1, and prepared a new LIVESLAK to replace the existing 43.0 one found here. The LIVESLAK contains slackware64-current as of today October, 26th 2022. Featuring the core GNOME modules, except gnome-boxes and gnome-builder. I’ve excluded them because of the large amount of extra dependencies, but I’ve included built-in system-wide flatpak installations for flathub and gnome-nightly repos. You are recommended to install them through gnome-software if you require them.

Outside of the needed libraries not included in Slackware-proper, this Live ISO contains the core GNOME modules, including the gnome-console, gnome-maps, gnome-control-center, gnome-music, gnome-photos, gnome-software, gnome-disk-utility, and much more.

Slackware is shipping with the latest 5.19.17 kernel and Firefox 106.0.1, Thunderbird 102.4.0, and GNOME includes their browser Epiphany, using the webkit2gtk4.1 rendering engine, which boasts amazing speed in my limited use so far! I’ve also included the GNOME Extension from Ubuntu, Appindicator, which you must enable within the Extensions application upon first boot.

By default at boot GDM loads up a Wayland session for your Live User (password also “live”) and sudo is configured for root access (the root password is “root”). The ISO contains a complete Slackware installation except the KDE and XFCE desktop environments. The ISO weighs in at 2.9GiB. In order to use a usbstick with persistent storage, one must run the iso2usb.sh script as root during the writing process (or use ventoy).

If there’s anything you’d like to see added, that you feel would be useful on a live system, leave a comment, and I’ll consider it. I’ll also be adding a couple add-ons which you can add to your usb stick shortly for broadcom-sta, ufw, maybe gufw… any suggestions?

See latest post for downloads::20221031 – liveslak – gnome 43.1

Many thanks to AlienBOB (for liveslak) and my fellow GNOME loving teammates – Frank (snuk) and Nathaniel (N4t3R).

epiphany added!

Thanks to the recent webkit2gtk update, we now have a working epiphany browser! There is still some bugs, some sites may flake out as of yet, but I’m adding it now, as it’s blazing fast, and everyone should try it out!

Mon Oct 24 12:23:50 UTC 2022
gcs43/epiphany-43.0-x86_64-1_gcs.txz:  Added.
gcs43/webkit2gtk4.1-2.38.1-x86_64-1_gcs.txz:  Upgraded.
+--------------------------+

Whenever GNOME 43.1 gets official release, I’ll update the liveslak ISO, for now you can download the package to use in the meantime. (Unless you’ve went ahead and installed the ISO, then bravo!)

10/23/22 GNOME Updates

I updated some packages in the gcs42 aarch64 repo as well as the x86_64 gcs43 repo today. I’ve also attempted to add some links to the right menu bar, but as since all I ever do is fight with WordPress, doing things like this is highly stressful. In the end, I may just move to a nice easy to deal with html format, like my site used to be all around. I’m already very tired of the “usability” WordPress offers the user. It’s not usable, it’s absolutely terrible to use.

aarch64 – gcs42

Sun Oct 23 11:24:40 UTC 2022
gcs42/gnome-control-center-42.4-aarch64-1_gcs.txz: Upgraded.
gcs42/gnome-remote-desktop-42.6-aarch64-1_gcs.txz: Upgraded.

x86_64 – gcs43

Sun Oct 23 11:27:08 UTC 2022
gcs43/eog-43.1-x86_64-1_gcs.txz: Upgraded.
gcs43/gnome-remote-desktop-43.1-x86_64-1_gcs.txz: Upgraded.
+————————–+
Sat Oct 22 11:50:41 UTC 2022
gcs43/gnome-software-43.1-x86_64-2_gcs.txz: Upgraded.
gcs43/evolution-data-server-3.46.1-x86_64-1_gcs.txz: Upgraded.
gcs43/gnome-maps-43.1-x86_64-1_gcs.txz: Upgraded.
gcs43/libshumate-1.0.2-x86_64-1_gcs.txz: Upgraded.

These updates are also available in the ChangeLog.txt within the respective directories, and if you’ve added them to slackpkg+.