Distributions
Packaging QtWebEngine
There is always some tension between the goals of upstream projects and those of distributions. We see that playing out in a recent discussion of packaging the QtWebEngine component for Debian and Fedora that took place on the kde-core-devel mailing list. The whole intent of QtWebEngine is to use the Chromium browser code base as a tool for other applications, but that brings with it all of the packaging problems—library bundling, mostly—that come with that browser.
Lisandro Damián Nicanor Pérez Meyer raised the issue, noting that the KDE personal information management (KDE PIM) packages now depend on QtWebEngine. That package is difficult for distributions to handle because it depends on Chromium, which in turn depends on various other packages.
If Chromium simply depended on those other packages, there wouldn't be so much of a problem. Instead, however, Chromium bundles modified versions of those packages in such a way that distributions have to take the binaries they are given by the project, make a huge number of distribution-specific patches, or live without. In fact, these problems are why Chromium is not available in Fedora.
The immediate responses from KDE board member Albert Astals Cid were less than entirely helpful. He indicated that he thought the distribution policies were simply out of line. He did note that the maintenance window provided for QtWebEngine by the Qt Project might not meet distributions' requirements, but that was really a problem for the distributions:
While that response was not realistically addressing the problem, it does underscore the differences that exist between some upstream projects and distributions. It is not exactly clear how Astals expects KDE to get into the hands of users if it weren't for distributions—it would seem that he thinks that all of the upstream projects should simply dictate what the distributions ship. It is not an uncommon attitude, at least for larger projects, but it is a bit hard to see it as much of a cooperative stance.
Others on the list saw things a bit differently, however. Luigi Toscano noted that the distributions have their rules
for a reason: "The rules are there not because someone wants to have unhappy users; think
about the rule about untangling tons of embedded libraries and patching
issues.
" Sune Vuorela envisioned an all-too-plausible scenario where
adopting a new version of QtWebEngine led to an enormous cascade of other
dependencies
that needed updating due to the change.
That led Thomas Lübking to conclude that
"the Linux SW stack is crap
", but the problem is not so cut
and dried. As Matthias Klumpp pointed out,
there are lots of different upstream projects with lots of different
priorities. The job of
a distribution is to navigate that landscape and to produce something sane
for its users:
Astals had suggested that distributions that choose not to ship certain applications because of dependencies that "broke rules" would simply cause their users to go elsewhere. But Vuorela explained that the problem affects both distributions and KDE equally:
We (as KDE) need to understand that if we don't have our software in distributions, it is just as likely that people will switch applications, as it is that they will switch distributions.
So, all in all, if everyone takes a hard stance, everyone will lose.
Let's find a way so we all can win.
The problem isn't limited to Linux, either. Vadim Zhukov had similar complaints about QtWebEngine for OpenBSD.
While there were some advocating finding solutions, there were few actual solutions to be found in the thread. QtWebKit, which is based on WebKit rather than Chromium, might be an alternative, but it is deprecated in Qt or will be before too long. Trying to avoid hard dependencies on QtWebEngine is another possibility, but makes it hard for KDE applications that want to use the web.
This is a problem we have seen in various guises over the years and will certainly see again. Resolving the tension between the needs of upstream projects and users (as embodied by the distributions they choose) is not easy. Perhaps some radical experiments in the distribution space are indicated.
Brief items
Distribution quotes of the week
Instead, my waggish friends, the winsome W on which we wish will be… the “wily werewolf”.
OpenBSD 5.7
OpenBSD 5.7 has been released. This version includes improved hardware support, network stack improvements, installer improvements, security and bug fixes, and more. OpenSSH 6.8, LibreSSL, and other packages have also seen improvements and bug fixes.
Distribution News
Debian GNU/Linux
Debian GNU/Hurd 2015 released
Debian GNU/Hurd 2015 has been released. "This is a snapshot of Debian "sid" at the time of the stable Debian "jessie" release (April 2015), so it is mostly based on the same sources. It is not an official Debian release, but it is an official Debian GNU/Hurd port release."
Qt4's status and Qt4's webkit removal in Stretch
Lisandro Damián Nicanor Pérez Meyer has a reminder that Qt4 is deprecated and code should be ported to Qt5 during the "Stretch" development period. "We plan to start filing wishlist bugs soon. Once we get most of KDE stuff running with Qt5's webkit we will start raising the severities."
Fedora
Fedora 22 Beta for aarch64 and POWER platforms
Fedora 22 beta is available for aarch64 and POWER secondary architectures.
Red Hat Enterprise Linux
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6.7 beta
Red Hat has announced the release of Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6.7 beta. "The beta release of Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6.7 includes a number of new and updated features to help organizations preserve investments in existing infrastructure, bolster security, stability, and systems management/monitoring capabilities, and embrace the latest Linux innovations." See the release notes for details.
Ubuntu family
Wily Werewolf (15.10) now open for development
Ubuntu 15.10 "Wily Werewolf" is open for development. "Very little has changed in the opening base system and toolchain, however do note that due to jessie releasing only a couple of days after vivid, many Debian developers have awoken from hibernation and auto-syncs and merges should be full of new shiny to look at."
Ubuntu 10.04 (Lucid Lynx) End of Life
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Newsletters and articles of interest
Distribution newsletters
- Last few days in CentOS (May 5)
- DistroWatch Weekly, Issue 608 (May 4)
- 5 things in Fedora this week (May 1)
- Tumbleweed - Review of the week (May 2)
- Ubuntu Weekly Newsletter, Issue 415 (May 3)
FreeBSD quarterly status report
The FreeBSD project has released a quarterly status report for the period between January and March 2015. "The first quarter of 2015 was another productive quarter for the FreeBSD project and community. FreeBSD is being used in research projects, and those projects are making their way back into FreeBSD as new and exciting features, bringing improved network performance and security features to the system. Work continues to improve support for more architectures and architecture features, including progress towards the goal of making ARM (32- and 64-bit) a Tier 1 platform in FreeBSD 11. The toolchain is receiving updates, with new versions of clang/LLVM in place, migrations to ELF Tool Chain tools, and updates to the LLDB and gdb debuggers. Work by ports teams and kernel developers is maintaining and improving the state of FreeBSD as a desktop operating system. The pkg team is continuing to make binary packages easier to use and upgrade."
Hoogland: Introducing the Moksha Desktop
Jeff Hoogland has announced that the Bodhi Linux project is forking Enlightenment 17. The new fork is the Moksha Desktop. "On top of the performance issues, E19 did not allow for me personally to have the same workflow I enjoyed under E17 due to features it no longer had. Because of this I had changed to using the E17 on all of my Bodhi 3 computers – even my high end ones. This got me to thinking how many of our existing Bodhi users felt the same way, so I opened a discussion about it on our user forums. I found many felt similar to how I did. So that left only one question: What was to be done about it? After much reflection, I came to the same conclusion others had before me that lead to the creation of the Mate and Trinity desktops – fork it."
Debian 8: Linux’s most reliable distro (Ars Technica)
Ars Technica has a review of Debian 8 "Jessie". "Debian Stable is designed to be, well, stable. The foundation of Debian is built upon long development cycles and a conservative approach to application updates. So as a general rule, Debian Stable lags behind pretty much every other distro on the market when it comes to package updates. If you want the latest and greatest, Debian Stable simply isn't the distro for you. While Debian 8 may bring a ton of new stuff to Debian, it has almost nothing the rest of the Linux world hasn't been using for, in some cases, years. What's more, many things in Debian 8 are still not going to be the latest available versions."
Ubuntu 15.04 review: Beauty or “boring” is in the eye of the beholder (Ars Technica)
Ars Technica also reviewed Ubuntu 15.04 "Vivid Vervet". "Snow melts and trees blossom, but nothing really says spring around the Ars Orbital HQ like the arrival of a new version of Ubuntu Linux. Right on schedule, Canonical has recently released Ubuntu 15.04, also known as Vivid Vervet. Ubuntu 15.04 arrived in late April and has, judging by other reviews, largely underwhelmed. According to the popular storyline, there's not much new in 15.04. Of course, a slew of changes and unforeseen features in 15.04 could have just as easily earned a negative reaction, probably from the same people calling the actual release boring. The top of the Linux mountain is a lonely, criticism-strewn place."
When Official Debian Support Ends, Who Will Save You? (Linux Journal)
Linux Journal takes a look at the Debian LTS effort. "The Debian Long Term Support (LTS) project has been providing support for Debian version 6 (Squeeze) and will continue to do so until early next year. LTS announced that it will be supporting later editions too. The project provides security patches and bug fixes for the core components of the Debian system, in addition to the most popular packages. The team would like to expand the range of packages covered, but it will require additional support to make that happen."
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