Fedora 35 Change: Add Fedora Kinoite as a variant (Self-Contained
Change proposal)
by Ben Cotton
https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Changes/Fedora_Kinoite
== Summary ==
Introduce Fedora Kinoite as a variant of Fedora alongside Fedora Silverblue.
== Owner ==
* Name: [[User:siosm| Timothée Ravier]] (travier AT redhat DOT com)
* FESCo shepherd: [[User:Ngompa| Neal Gompa]] (ngompa13 A gmail D com)
* SIG: [[SIGs/KDE|KDE SIG]]
== Detailed Description ==
Fedora Kinoite is an immutable desktop operating system featuring the
KDE Plasma desktop. It is based on the same technologies as Fedora
Silverblue (rpm-ostree, Flatpak, podman). Fedora Kinoite is to the
Fedora KDE Spin what Fedora Silverblue is to Fedora Workstation.
We chose the Kinoite name for the following reasons:
* KDE based projects traditionally start with a 'K'
* Kinoite is a blue mineral (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kinoite),
thus referring to both the 'silver' and 'blue' part of Silverblue and
the blue color of the KDE logo.
* "Kinoite" means "There is a tree" in Japanese
(https://translate.google.com/?sl=auto&tl=en&text=kinoite&op=translate),
thus referring to the 'tree' in 'ostree'.
== Benefit to Fedora ==
This will make Fedora more attractive to users that are interested in
immutable OSes and underlying technologies but would prefer to use the
KDE desktop environment. This should also strengthen Silverblue as
more effort may be put into fixing the issues in the shared
technologies.
== Scope ==
* Proposal owners:
** The KDE SIG will submit the [https://pagure.io/pungi-fedora Pungi
changes] needed to add this new variant to the compose.
** The KDE SIG will submit the changes to add a new sub-package to
[https://src.fedoraproject.org/rpms/fedora-release fedora-release].
** The KDE SIG will maintain the Kinoite specific rpm-ostree config in
the [https://pagure.io/workstation-ostree-config
workstation-ostree-config repo].
* Other developers: N/A (not a System Wide Change)
* Release engineering: Submitted as [https://pagure.io/releng/issue/9952 #9952].
* Policies and guidelines: N/A (not a System Wide Change)
* Trademark approval: The "Fedora Kinoite" trademark has been
[https://pagure.io/Fedora-Council/tickets/issue/344 approved]
* Alignment with Objectives: N/A
== Upgrade/compatibility impact ==
N/A (not a System Wide Change)
== How To Test ==
This edition has been built and made available as an unofficial
preview and can be tested with the instructions from this
[https://fedoramagazine.org/discover-fedora-kinoite/ Fedora Magazine
article].
== User Experience ==
Current limitations (last updated 2021-01-18):
* No rpm-ostree support in Discover (graphical package and update
manager). A Season of KDE is in progress to work on that.
* Partial Flatpak support in Discover.
* [https://pagure.io/fedora-kde/SIG/issue/13 KDE applications are not
yet available as Flatpak from the Fedora registry].
== Dependencies ==
N/A (not a System Wide Change)
== Contingency Plan ==
Report to the next release.
* Contingency mechanism: N/A (not a System Wide Change)
* Contingency deadline: N/A (not a System Wide Change)
* Blocks release? N/A (not a System Wide Change)
* Blocks product? N/A
== Documentation ==
A lot of the known issues impacting Fedora Kinoite are shared with
Silverblue and their resolution is the same:
https://docs.fedoraproject.org/en-US/fedora-silverblue/troubleshooting/.
It is not clear for now if Kinoite specific documentation is needed
but a landing page with pointer to known issues might be good.
== Release Notes ==
Fedora Kinoite has been introduced as a new variant of Fedora Linux
featuring the KDE desktop environment and the same technologies as
Silverblue (rpm-ostree, Flatpak, podman).
--
Ben Cotton
He / Him / His
Senior Program Manager, Fedora & CentOS Stream
Red Hat
TZ=America/Indiana/Indianapolis
2 years, 6 months
Fedora 33 network configuration (ifcfg*) migration guide available?
by Peter Boy
With Fedora 33 network configuration is by default persisted in /etc/NetworkManager/system-connections/*.nmconnection files. The old /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/ifcfg* files are „legacy“. They are still being processed for the time being, but obviously it is time to migrate.
(cf https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Changes/NetworkManager_keyfile_instead_of_...).
Is there a kind of „mapping“ ifcfg-* —> *-nmconnection. ?
Most items are simple to migrate, but servers in particular sometimes have unusual configurations, e.g.
- for p2p Connections: SCOPE="peer xxx.yyy.zzz.aaa"
- and corresponding a lot of (ADDRESSx / NETMASKx / GATEWAYx ) entries in route-{ifname} file
How do I handle that kind of config items in *.nmconnection ? The "search engine I trust" couldn't answer that for me (or I couldn’t ask the right question).
Thanks
Peter
2 years, 6 months
libvirt and systemd-resolved integration?
by Juan Orti Alcaine
Hello,
In the network bridges that libvirt creates there's a dnsmasq daemon to
resolve the VM's IPs. Is there any way to signal systemd-resolved from
libvirt to say that in the bridge interface there is a DNS server and a
domain?
Thank you.
2 years, 6 months
Re-Launching the Java SIG
by Fabio Valentini
This past weekend I finally decided to jump off the cliff and attempt
to re-launch the Java SIG. It seems there's some interest in keeping
the Java stack maintained, it's just not focused or organized right
now.
What we did when starting the Stewardship SIG seems to have worked out
pretty well, so I'm trying to follow in those footsteps here:
- new proper FAS / pkgdb group: java-maint-sig ("java-sig" is occupied
by an old, unused bot account)
- new private mailing list: java-maint-sig (for RHBZ bugs - so,
possibly, also CVEs - hence, private)
- tracking project on pagure: https://pagure.io/java-maint-sig (for
maintenance scripts, tracking tickets, awesome package dashboards,
etc.)
There's already a public fedora mailing list for Java (java-devel),
and and IRC channel (#fedora-java on freenode.net), which we will
continue to use. Sadly, the existing wiki page for the Java SIG is
hopelessly outdated, so I'm tempted to just scrap it and point readers
to the pagure tracking project once it's set up beyond a basic README
file.
Major upcoming projects for the "new" Java Package Maintainers group include:
- managing OpenJDK 11 / Java 11 transition for hundreds of Java
packages in fedora 33
- starting to transition well-maintained Java packages from the
Stewardship SIG back into Java SIG
- possibly porting packages from gradle to maven to fix build issues
and broken dependencies
- transitioning from old java.net / JavaEE projects to the new ones
now under the eclipse-ee4j umbrella
I know that - among others - the PKI team, Neuro SIG, and Eclipse
maintainers depend on parts of the java stack for their packages, so I
hope that we can work together with them on these things, as well.
So, if you're interested, please consider joining this group effort.
I'll get new members set up with the FAS group / pagure project / mailing list.
Let's make this happen.
Fabio
2 years, 6 months
Linux 5.13 To Allow Zstd Compressed Modules,
Zstd Update Pending With Faster Performance
by Reon Beon
LINUX KERNEL --
Adding to the variety of places where the Linux kernel supports making use of Zstd compression, kernel modules moving forward can now enjoy size reductions with Zstd.
Linux already supports optional Gzip and XZ compression of kernel modules while beginning with Linux 5.13 there is support added for Zstd. In user-space, KMOD 28 already supports dealing with Zstd-compressed modules. The compressed modules are suffixed .ko.zst.
The support for Zstd compressed kernel modules was sent in as part of the Kbuild updates for the Linux 5.13 merge window. The Kbuild updates also include more LLVM Clang compiler handling work and other alterations, including an indicator whether the kernel was built with link-time optimizations (LTO).
Separate from the Kbuild updates and likely for post-5.13, there is renewed work on getting the latest Zstd code within the kernel updated against the upstream state. These patches get the Zstd code in the kernel updated against the latest upstream code, which is much newer than the current Zstd 1.3.1 derived code in the kernel. The Zstd kernel code is now generated automatically from the upstream Zstd code. With this pending Zstd code update for the kernel, Btrfs with Zstd compression is 5~15% faster, SquashFS decompression is ~15% faster, F2FS Zstd is 3~20% faster, kernel Zstd decompression is 35% faster, Zram decompression and read is 30% faster, and initramfs Zstd compression is around 5% faster. Plus there are bug fixes and other improvements in re-basing the kernel's Zstd code-base.
https://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=Linux-5.13-Zstd-Modules
2 years, 6 months
pdftk retired?
by Michael J Gruber
I just git a "broken dependencies" notice for a package that I maintain.
The reason is that "pdftk" got retired just the other day.
I may have missed a corresponding post on fedora-devel, but I think a
heads up notice to maintainers of depending packages may be in order
before you retire a package, as a general idea.
You see, unretiring a package is so much more work than changing
maintainership.
As for pdftk: I see 2 failed builds for version 1.45 and none for the
current version 2.02 (which probably breaks the api anyways). What are
the plans? Retire pdftk completely? Start fresh with pdftk2?
pdflabs, the maker of pdftk, provide binary as well as source rpms for
pdftk 2.02, by the way. I might even look into packaging it but don't
want to duplicate any existing efforts.
Michael
2 years, 6 months
Fedora 35 Change: Autoconf-2.71 (Self-Contained Change proposal)
by Ben Cotton
https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Changes/Autoconf_271
== Summary ==
Autoconf upgrade from version 2.69 to the last upstream version 2.71 in Fedora.
== Owner ==
* Name: [[User:odubaj| Ondrej Dubaj]]
* Email: odubaj(a)redhat.com
== Detailed Description ==
Upgrading autoconf from version 2.69 to version 2.71 according to new
upstream release. Version 2.70 is skipped due to multiple ABI
incompatibilities, where some of them were fixed in version 2.71.
Years of development differ these two releases, so problems are
expected.
This change might easily cause fails during builds of multiple
packages, as some of them still require autoconf-2.69. This step must
be properly discussed with maintainers of dependent packages, which
should forward this change proposal to their upstream projects.
== Benefit to Fedora ==
Brings a stable and up-to-date version of autoconf according to
upsteam release. It is expected, that in the future many upstream
development teams will use autoconf-2.71 as their default builder, so
Fedora will be prepared for such a step.
== Scope ==
* Proposal owners:
**Prepare autoconf-2.71 as RPM package for Fedora Rawhide
**Check software that requires `autoconf` or `autoconf-2.69` and
rebuild it with autoconf-2.71
**Build autoconf-2.71 to Rawhide in a side-tag
(https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Package_update_HOWTO#Creating_a_side-tag)
**Rebuild depended packages with autoconf-2.71 in the side-tag
**Merge the side-tag to Rawhide
* Other developers:
**Check if their packages can be build with autoconf-2.71
* Release engineering: [https://pagure.io/releng/issues #Releng issue number]
* Policies and guidelines: N/A (not needed for this Change)
* Trademark approval: N/A (not needed for this Change)
* Alignment with Objectives:
== Upgrade/compatibility impact ==
Problems during build can appear in multiple packages what can lead to
build failure, as multiple packages require autoconf-2.69 as their
upstream dependency. These problems have to be resolved before adding
autoconf-2.71 into Fedora. It seems aprox. 20% of dependent packages
are having problems during build, which could be caused by a problem
with same pattern.
== How To Test ==
Rebuilding your packages with autoconf-2.71 dependency in copr
(https://copr.fedorainfracloud.org/coprs/odubaj/autoconf-2.70/).
Mass rebuild of dependent packages in a side tag.
== User Experience ==
Users will be able to use the newer version (2.71) of autoconf, and
building packages with autoconf-2.69 won't be available, as it won't
be present on the specific fedora version. This can affect 3rd partly
packages, which are not part of Fedora.
== Dependencies ==
Hundreds of packages have build dependency on autoconf, therefore it
is a huge step forward for Fedora, what should be properly discussed
and tested. List of dependent packages with their ability to be built
with autoconf-2.71 can be found in the given copr project
(https://copr.fedorainfracloud.org/coprs/odubaj/autoconf-2.70/packages/)
We should also look at dependent packages of `libtool` and `automake`
(other critical autotools packages), as there might be some
incompatibilities with the new autoconf version.
== Contingency Plan ==
* Contingency mechanism: moving this change to Fedora 36, if not
successfully finished until Fedora 35 branching from Rawhide
* Contingency deadline: Fedora 35 branching from Rawhide (2021-08-10)
* Blocks release? No
== Documentation ==
Latest autoconf documentation:
https://www.gnu.org/savannah-checkouts/gnu/autoconf/manual/autoconf-2.70/...
== Release Notes ==
Release notes for autoconf-2.70:
https://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/autotools-announce/2020-12/msg00001.html
Release notes for autoconf-2.71:
https://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/autotools-announce/2021-01/msg00000.html
--
Ben Cotton
He / Him / His
Senior Program Manager, Fedora & CentOS Stream
Red Hat
TZ=America/Indiana/Indianapolis
2 years, 7 months
rpkg-3.rc2 built into rawhide
by clime
Hello,
I have built rpkg-3.rc2 (package sources:
https://src.fedoraproject.org/rpms/rpkg-util) into rawhide yesterday.
It should be now available for installation.
It is a complete rewrite of version 2. It aims to be a tool with
minimal deps that allows people to easily transform git repositories
containing spec files into rpm packages.
Historically, the goal of this tool was to provide a single client to
all dist-git instances (i.e Fedora, CentOS, maybe something else too).
This was the idea when I started to work on it still in RedHat under
the lead of Miroslav Suchý. We wanted to tweak the rpkg script
provided by python-rpkg lib (https://pagure.io/rpkg) for that purpose.
However, that script was soon being discontinued. There I created a
separate project (rpkg-util) which would be providing the script so
that I can continue in my goal.
Eventually, I realized that some steps rather need to be taken
server-side (https://github.com/release-engineering/dist-git) for a
generic client to exist so that I did and then it was about adoption
of the dist-git package (which provides the unified interface) by
various dist-git instances.
Meanwhile, I was thinking what to do next with rpkg while being
heavily influenced by Copr that I primarily worked on at that time and
also by discussion on devel list about automatically generating
changelog and release from git. I realized there is an opportunity to
provide a solution for this in the generic dist-git client (rpkg
executable) and that it was not a bad place for it.
This problem was then and even today solved by basically sedding spec
file with regexps which I thought is kind of hacky and that it could
be useful to have a library for common substitutions anyway so that
people can reuse it. So a simple spec templating language was born
(https://docs.pagure.org/rpkg-util/v3/spec_templates_from_scratch.html)
and also a simple library of macros
(https://docs.pagure.org/rpkg-util/v3/macro_reference.html) that use git
content and metadata to render spec file content or parts of it. It
now allows not only to generate changelog or release but also e.g. to
generate a source tarball from a git submodule placed next to the spec
file.
There is also the possibility for users to define their own macros and
therefore customize git->rpm transform in any way.
You can try this now in rawhide (`dnf install rpkg`) or also in Copr
(SCM rpkg build method) but note that in Copr, there is still v2 so
there might be some differences. You might also need to install
python3-setuptools - that package seems to be required by
python3-munch but is not being brought in automatically at the moment.
You can use rpkg tool similarly to fedpkg to work with Fedora dist-git
packages (except that `rpkg build` command builds in Copr and the
command set is mostly trimmed-down) or you can use it to work with
those git layouts that contain unpackaged sources together with spec
file (or rather spec file template) or link to the upstream sources
through a git submodule.
Best regards
clime
P.S.: the project is hosted here: https://pagure.io/rpkg-util
2 years, 7 months
The Death of Java (packages)
by Fabio Valentini
Hi everybody,
Long story short, I can no longer in good conscience be the primary
maintainer of (most) Java packages in Fedora. I am not using any of
them, I don't like Java or any other languages targeting the JVM, and
don't get me started on the horrid Java ecosystem. Recently I've been
spending 40-60 hours per week at my desk, and I just don't have the
capacity to feel guilty for not taking care of those packages any
longer.
New versions and even security issues have been piling up for months
(just look at the SIG's taiga board). Other people tried to step up
for the "new" Java SIG (@java-maint-sig), but other than myself,
nobody has been triaging new bugs in Java packages. Java package
maintainers from Red Hat have been exceptionally unhelpful, and have
not substantially contributed to Java packages in Fedora in years.
Even the Modules that were heralded as "the solution" have stagnated.
On the other hand, Mat Booth and two members of the DogTag PKI team
have been really helpful, but Mat is busy fighting the Eclipse
dumpster fire most of the time, and the other two have since both left
Red Hat for greener pastures. And since I see no way for the situation
to improve, there's only one honest thing left that I can do:
I will orphan all Java packages I am the main admin of, later today.
Since this is the majority of remaining Java software in Fedora (~180
packages), I expect at a decent amount of dependent packages will be
affected. However, given the utter lack of Java package maintainers
and the pitiful state of the overall language ecosystem, I would
strongly urge affected maintainers to drop dependencies on Java, if at
all possible.
Maybe other members of the java-maint-sig will pick up the orphaned
packages, if they're still here. Or maybe it's finally time to let
Java packages die. Nobody seems to care either way.
Fabio
2 years, 7 months