What's new in GoboLinux 016.01
Apr 6, 2017
- Enabled support for Core2 processors
- Improved support for UEFI systems and virtualized platforms
- Improved detection of other operating systems when creating the GRUB config file
- Support for installation on external hard drives
- Fixes the SSL certificates paths
- Fixes SSL support in our Compile tool
- Fixes the /usr/libexec compatibility link
- Inclusion of CryptSetup to enable mounting of encrypted partitions from the Live ISO
- Inclusion of Listener, a daemon that automatically cleans up broken links when entries from /Programs are removed
- Inclusion of APulse 0.1.9 as a replacement for Pulse Audio (required by Firefox 52.0 onwards)
New in GoboLinux 016 (Dec 18, 2016)
- Runner: container-free filesystem virtualization:
- Runner is a brand new filesystem virtualization tool, specifically designed for GoboLinux. It dynamically changes a process' view of /System/Index based on the program's Dependencies file.
- From day one, GoboLinux has always supported keeping multiple versions of a program installed on disk at the same time, but when two versions had conflicts, you had to choose which one would be activated in the system as the default.
- With Runner, you don't need to worry about which version of a given dependency is currently linked (or activated) in /System/Index: Runner gives the process its own virtual /System/Index with all the right dependencies.
- Avoiding conflicts without containers:
- Instead of using full-fledged containers (which carry an entire distro inside them!) just to avoid library conflicts when running an executable, in GoboLinux you can launch a program with Runner to make sure the filesystem view of the process will match its dependencies. Runner builds a custom mount table for the process, like container tools do, but without all the file duplication: it dynamically picks the correct parts of your /Programs tree. This approach is only feasible because in GoboLinux programs are logically organized in the filesystem.
- A transparent multi-arch setup:
- Unlike mainstream distributions, GoboLinux doesn't need a particular "multi-arch" setup for supporting 32 and 64-bit binaries. Using Runner, we can simply give 32-bit processes their own view of the standard Unix directories so that, for example, /lib/libc.so.6 is a 32-bit library for a 32-bit process and a 64-bit library for a 64-bit process. This screenshot shows an example session.
- GoboNet: daemon-free wireless network management:
- This release includes GoboNet, our own daemon-free network manager. Feature-heavy network managers like Wicd and NetworkManager are great at handling numerous complex scenarios, but the vast majority of the time something much simpler would do. And when the network manager does not suit your needs, it is important that it does not get in the way.
- GoboNet is a simple wireless networking tool that "just works" in the common case and doesn't get in the way when you need to tweak things yourself. It does not use DBus or any daemon of its own: it only launches dhcpcd to handle DHCP, manages Wi-Fi passwords and provides a command-line API for ease of use and scripting.
- An Awesome desktop:
- GoboLinux 016 features a minimalistic yet comfortable desktop based on the Awesome window manager. Awesome is well-known as an excellent tiling WM, but its Lua scripting capabilities makes it extremely customizable. In Gobo, we tuned it so it ships with a setup based on floating windows which should be familiar to all users, while keeping all the power features of Awesome at hand.
- Custom widgets:
- We also developed custom Awesome widgets that integrate nicely with the no-frills philosophy of Gobo...
- The Wi-Fi widget uses GoboNet
- The battery widget checks the sysfs filesystem
- Our custom audio widget launches a transient frameless terminal running an instance of AlsaMixer that can be controlled via keyboard or mouse
- And just like the background of this website, the wallpaper is procedurally-generated — you get a new one on every boot.
New in GoboLinux 016 Beta (Nov 10, 2016)
- Major changes since 016 alpha:
- Kernel: new version with support for generic x86-64 processors
- Runner: many improvements and new features for /System/Index virtualization
- GoboHide: major rewrite and bug fixes, now using generic netlink sockets
- Installer, Kernel: included preliminary support for MacBooks
- LiveCD: improved support for booting off from USB
- Fixes performed based on user feedback:
- Gimp: package fix
- Firefox: pages are now rendered as expected (/dev/shm fix)
- Python, Compile: missing Python files are back
- Desktop: removal of dead .desktop links
- DHCP, LiveCD: increased client timeout
- Installer: the install partition is now removed from the list of
- potential bootloader targets
- Stripped binary files to reduce the size of the ISO image (1.5GB -> 930MB)
- Xorg: the keyboard layout configured at boot time is now applied to
- the desktop environment
- Networking: try to autoconnect to known wireless networks at login time
- Other changes:
- GoboNet: package upgrade
- Firefox: package upgrade
- Xorg: Intel video driver upgrade
- New package: Dit editor
- ModeSetting: GRUB will boot with the modesetting driver by default
- VESAFB: GRUB's "advanced options" menu enables one to boot with the
- VESA framebuffer driver
- CUPS: fixes to default settings
- Post-install: made mtab a symlink to /proc/mounts
- Post-install: letting members of group "sys" to execute privileged
- commands through sudo
- Post-install: fixed skel clash (prioritizing EnhancedSkel's over Shadow's)
New in GoboLinux 016 Alpha (Oct 10, 2016)
- Runner, our filesystem virtualization tool that dynamically changes the processes' view of /System/Index based on the program's Dependencies file. With that tool, one does not need to worry about which version of a given dependency is currently linked (or activated) on /System/Index;
- A minimalistic desktop based on the Awesome window manager;
- A focus on the exploration of novel ideas. You may find this snapshot less packed with packages, but it should be more fun to run!
New in GoboLinux 015 (May 8, 2014)
- Migration from the /System/Links hierarchy to /System/Index
- Embracing "root" as super user name -- that should make recipes more simple to write and soften the task of preparing new releases
- Live USB support off the shelf
- Adoption of Enlightenment as the desktop environment for the first time
New in GoboLinux 015 Beta 3 (Apr 22, 2014)
- I am pleased to announce the release of GoboLinux 015 beta3. We have had several updates on this snapshot that include changes to the desktop environment (we have opted to ship the ISO with Enlightenment 18) and to the file system hierarchy (removal of /System/Links).
- Starting with this snapshot, we will no longer have support for a configurable superuser name, too. Borrowing Hisham's words: it was an interesting experiment, often fun, often annoying, often tiring. We stretched the boundaries of what's hardcoded and what's not in a Linux system, but as of 2014 it just takes too much effort to swim against the stream on that, for little to no practical gain.
- This snapshot also introduces a number of new packages that should enrich the desktop experience. We have fixed all issues that have been reported since beta2 and worked hard to make this release as polished and close to final as possible.
New in GoboLinux 015 Beta 2 (Apr 8, 2014)
- Introduction of /System/Index hierarchy
- GRUB2 works and can be installed on a disk or partition
- SYSLINUX update fixes the LiveCD boot on a number of machines
- Deprecation of GoboLinux BootScripts' network settings in favor of NetworkManager
- Improved versions of Compile and Scripts tools
- Various updates to Installer in both text and graphics modes
New in GoboLinux 015 Alpha (Jan 22, 2014)
- The Installer (especially its Qt based GUI) has not been tested yet
- KDE warnings related to MIME types
- udisksd and upowerd are not automatically started by dbus. As a workaround, they are being launched by ~/.xinitrc
- polkitd is not automatically started by dbus either, and launching it from the command line fails with permission-related problems
- There are some debug print messages in the kernel coming from AUFS (the unionfs implementation adopted used in the LiveCD) that will be removed in the final version
- Some machines with b43 wireless cards simply hanged at boot because of missing firmware. As a workaround I have added the Linux-Firmware package to this snapshot, but licensing terms would probably forbid us from doing so in the final image. Hopefully a kernel upgrade will get that fixed.
- Firefox has been packed from the binary available at mozilla.org, but no special permissions have been arranged on /Programs to let automatic updates work