Porteus LXDE Changelog

What's new in Porteus LXDE 5.0 RC1

Jun 30, 2019
  • Slackware updated the pkgtools package which moved all package info files to /var/lib/pkgtools/packages. A symlink was left at /var/log/packages
  • Major version updates have been made to icu, glibc, gcc, mesa, xorg-server
  • We have finally managed to completely replace python2 with python3 for all desktops. This means python2 is no longer in our default package list.
  • pauth now acts as our authorizing agent in place of the various other graphical su applications.
  • Meson and ninja are now in 05_devel
  • All ISO files are now hybrid ISOs. This means you may also now use dd to write the ISO file directly to a removeable drive.

New in Porteus LXDE 4.0 (Apr 30, 2018)

  • Kernel 4.16.3
  • Core is based on Slackware current
  • 7 desktop options to choose from! :crazy:
  • New configuration file at porteus/porteus-v4.0-x86_64.cfg which replaces the .sgn file and can hold cheatcodes. One per line.
  • New update-browser feature to update or download your preferred browser (available in GUI)
  • Support for EFI (using syslinux for both BIOS and EFI boots) Only one config file now exists for both methods: /mnt/sdXY/boot/syslinux/porteus.cfg
  • New Porteus update feature built in to update the base modules
  • Intel microcode available in boot folder (load with initrd=/boot/syslinux/intel-ucode.cpio,/boot/syslinux/initrd.xz in boot line)

New in Porteus LXDE 4.0 RC4 (Feb 19, 2018)

  • Kernel 4.15.2
  • Core is based on Slackware current
  • 7 desktop options to choose from! :crazy:
  • New configuration file at porteus/porteus-v4.0-x86_64.cfg which replaces the .sgn file and can hold cheatcodes. One per line.
  • New update-browser feature to update or download your preferred browser (available in GUI)
  • Support for EFI (using syslinux for both BIOS and EFI boots) Only one config file now exists for both methods: /mnt/sdXY/boot/syslinux/porteus.cfg
  • New Porteus update feature built in to update the base modules
  • Intel microcode available in boot folder (load with initrd=/boot/syslinux/intel-ucode.cpio,/boot/syslinux/initrd.xz in boot line)

New in Porteus LXDE 3.2.2 (Dec 29, 2016)

  • kernel 4.9
  • pulseaudio
  • eudev
  • consolekit2
  • more complete 000-kernel firmware

New in Porteus LXDE 3.2 RC5 (Sep 12, 2016)

  • This release upgrades to kernel-4.7.2, updates many packages, fixes most reported bugs from rc4 and makes a major update to KDE5 which seems more responsive now.

New in Porteus LXDE 3.0.1 (Aug 6, 2014)

  • kernel:
  • upgraded to latest LTS: linux-3.14.15
  • kernel config: added ecryptfs, ipv6 iptables and aloop kernel modules
  • initrd:
  • fixed handling of .wh files in 'changes=EXIT:' cheatcode
  • kernel.xzm:
  • upgraded to broadcom-sta-6.30.223.248
  • core-xzm:
  • security fixes: curl-7.36.0, dhcpcd-6.0.5, openssh-6.6p1, openssl-1.0.1h, shadow-4.1.5.1
  • firmware: added rt3071.bin and rt3290.bin, added missing rt3070.bin and rt3090.bin symlinks, upgraded to latest radeon firmware
  • fixed 'changes-time' script when run from guest account
  • fixed 'dump-session' script which broke after introducing 'changes-ro' cheatcode
  • Laptop-Mode-Tools: blacklisted 'usbhid' module in usb-autosuspend.conf
  • upgraded package manager to USM-3.1.4
  • xorg.xzm:
  • security fixes: libjpeg-v8a, mozilla-nss-3.16
  • fixed burning Audio CDs through pburn by adding missing packages: audiofile-0.3.6 cdrdao-1.2.3 esound-0.2.41 libao-1.1.0
  • Porteus-Settings-Centre fixes by brokenman
  • kde.xzm:
  • security fixes: gnupg-1.4.17
  • reverted to bluedevil-1.3.1 and libbluedevil-1.9.3 to fix bluetooth support under kde4 desktop
  • firefox.xzm:
  • security fixes: flashplayer-plugin-11.2.202.394, mozilla-firefox-31.0
  • chrome.xzm:
  • upgraded to 36.0.1985.125
  • opera.xzm:
  • Opera remains at the same version 12.16.1860 but with a flash upgrade to 11.2.202.394.
  • libreoffice.xzm:
  • upgraded to version: Version: 4.3.0.4
  • drivers:
  • upgraded to: amd-catalyst-14.4-porteus-v3.0.1, nVidia-173.14.39-porteus-v3.0.1, nVidia-304.123-porteus-v3.0.1, nVidia-340.24-porteus-v3.0

New in Porteus LXDE 3.0 (Mar 12, 2014)

  • CORE:
  • Replaced Porteus Package Manager with a new version (GUI and CLI ... CLI si called 'usm')
  • We no longer need to maintain a porteus module repository and the new version will pull slackware package across 5 repositories and convert to modules.
  • Upgraded kernel to linux-3.13.6
  • pxe-server: added support for random IP from private pool when nothing is defined
  • Configured logrotate to rotate system logs once they reach 500KB in size
  • Added: archivemount-0.8.3, libvdpau-va-gl-0.3.2
  • BROWSERS UPGRADES:
  • Mozilla Firefox 24.3.0
  • Google Chrome 33.0.1750.146
  • Opera 12.16.1860
  • Adobe Flash Player 11.2.202.341
  • OFFICE UPDATES:
  • LibreOffice 4.2.1
  • PRINTING:
  • Fixed the missing test page for hp printers
  • Added support for some legacy Canon Pixma printers (note that the compat-32 module is required for this to work with 64-bit porteus) - thanks Blaze and Francois!

New in Porteus LXDE 3.0 RC2 (Feb 8, 2014)

  • added a new udev rule to eliminate error message popups when unmounting loop devices (e.g. when unmounting a module).
  • tweaked the Zukitwo-ob theme slightly so the menu bar and window manager bar match in color.
  • fixed mimetypes so clicking 'show files' after extracting with filer-roller opens the folder in Thunar instead of audacious (lol)
  • /etc/lxdm.conf now points to '/usr/bin/startde' which is a symlink to startlxde or startxfce4, respectively. This fixes a bug where switching between lxde and xfce with saved changes causes you to get stuck at the login screen. Thanks to fanthom for suggesting the fix :)
  • added '7za' from the p7zip package and symlinked 7z to it. This should resolve our problems with file-roller not being able to open or create some file types, as file-roller defaults to 7z for several filetypes if 7z is present; the 7z we have in 001-core is actually a symlink to 7zr which is a stripped standalone binary that is only capable of handling .7z files. '7za' handles more filetypes but still not as many as the full 7z application that is much larger still; if you are still experiencing extract/compress proplems through file-roller please let me know the filetype so I can evaluate our need for the full package, and/or install the full p7zip package to get this functionality.
  • patched file-roller so that extracting iso images works with the newer libarchive
  • recompiled gvfs to add Samba and http backends (note these backends need extra packages to work). this was compiled against samba-3.6 from Slackware 14.0 as it won't work against Samba-4 from Slackware 14.1 -- it should still work at runtime against samba-4 but please let me know if you run into troubles. http support requires glib-networking, gnutls, gsettings-desktop-schemas, libproxy and libsoup (already in Xfce).
  • recompiled audacious-plugins and a newer version of mplayer against the newer ffmpeg

New in Porteus LXDE 3.0 RC1 (Dec 24, 2013)

  • Set mimetypes in ~/.local/share/applications/mimeapps.list to fix activation on double click and various other mimetype defaults (thanks brokenman for the help)
  • Added winff, at-spi2-atk and core (new gtk+3 deps), gcr, libtasn1, p11-kit (new gnome-keyring deps)
  • Recompiled from latest source
  • Upgraded to Linux kernel 3.12.4
  • Porteus-installer-for-Linux: fixed installation on MMC cards and when udisks2 helper mounts the media under the /run directory
  • cheatcodes:
  • Added 'changes-ro' cheatcode which keeps saved changes in a frozen state. This is handy if you have set your system 'how you like' and do not want to make other modifications to it.
  • Added 'utc' cheatcode which tell Porteus that the hardware clock is set to UTC time and not to localtime.
  • Tweaked 'kmap=' cheatcode so now its possible to use keyboard layout variants. Cheatcode syntax is: 'kamp=$layout:$variant', example: 'kmap=pl:qwertz'. Old syntax: 'kmap=pl,us' or 'kmap=pl' is still valid
  • kernel config:
  • Added squashfs multi-threaded decompression patch (backported from linux-3.13) which should make Porteus even faster on multi CPU machines
  • Added support for ACL and Security Labels to all filesystems which supports these features
  • Compiled many drivers directly into kernel as there is no point for loading them by udev if they will be used anyway during live session
  • core.xzm:
  • Removed guest from plugdev group to fix udisks2 issues with unauthorized mounting
  • Updated txz2xzm, deb2xzm and rpm2xzm scripts to support converting of multiple packages. Example: 'txz2xzm /path/some_folder/*' will convert all packages from that folder in one run
  • Fixed saving to .dat container when it is placed on ntfs partition
  • Fixed 'changes=EXIT:' not saving the session with full paths
  • Added empty and non executable by default /etc/rc.d/rc.local_shutdown script for users who need to do custom actions before Porteus goes down
  • Reenabled lcd brightness control in laptop-mode-tools config
  • Fixed broken pns/xpns tools and added possibility for setting netmask to the pns-tool
  • Added check to the booting and activate/deactivate scripts for 32bit caches which needs to be updated in x86_64 multilib environment
  • Updated 'psinfo' and 'xpsinfo' utilities which now provides more information about the PC Porteus is booted on
  • Tweaked activate scripts so restarting of the panel in not needed anymore
  • Recompiled ntfs-3g to add extra ntfsprogs utilities not included in Slackware by default
  • Added iproute2 and pcmciautils packages along with other Slackware-14.1 dependencies
  • xorg.xzm:
  • Updated 'watch-xorg' script which should help us getting into GUI in every case
  • Updated context menu scripts to display notification rather than confirmation window
  • Upgraded opensource 2D and 3D drivers to their latest versions (OpenGL-3.x compatibility for certain GPUs)
  • Added ffmpeg with all required deps and opus-tools so Asunder can rip audio CDs to the opus files directly
  • Updated gtk tools: gtk-porteus-timeconfig, gtk-soundcard-select, gtk-xkb-select, PPM and updater are disabled for rc's.
  • Software:
  • Mozilla Firefox 24.2.0 ESR and latest flash
  • Google Chrome-31.0.1650.63
  • Opera 12.16.1860
  • Added src2pkg package
  • Abiword 3.0.0
  • LibreOffice 4.1.4 (64bit version has 4.1.3)
  • Rebuilt based on Slackware 14.1 and recompiled non-standard slack packages from source
  • Fixed a bug that resulted in a missing print test page for hplip
  • Drivers:
  • Upgraded to latest available versions and dropped catalyst-legacy as it does not compile against recent kernel/Xorg anymore
  • Added 32bit opengl to 64bit nVidia proprietary drivers

New in Porteus LXDE 2.1 (Aug 9, 2013)

  • upgraded MPlayer (thanks to fanthom for providing updated source/build)
  • added 'changes=/porteus' back to the default boot option
  • upgraded parcellite to resolve a bug with copy/paste files in pcmanfm (thanks TomasXu)
  • converted a number of icons to .png format and added them alongside .svg's so the icons would work with the openbox right click menu (thanks ncmprhnsbl for the report)
  • added 'gifsicle', which is required for creating animated gifs with mtpaint (thanks Rava!)

New in Porteus LXDE 2.1 RC1 (Jun 5, 2013)

  • Changes common to all desktops:
  • upgraded the Linux Kernel to version 3.9.4
  • upgraded MozillaFirefox to version 21.0
  • upgraded mesa and 2D drivers to latest components
  • linux installer: added support for handling folders with whitespace in their name when extlinux is used. LILO still wont accept whitespaces in lilo config.
  • linux installer: debugging info is stored in /boot/debug.txt file when installation fails
  • nfs replaced httpfs for pxe boot. Copy2ram is no longer required and files in /rootcopy have proper permissions/ownership, added support for storing changes over network when 'storage=' cheatcode in used on the server side
  • allowed PXE server to be connected through the wifi.
  • PXE boot: added support for clients with multiple NIC's (previously linuxrc was checking only eth0)
  • fixed handling of encrypted containers for magic folders in rc.M
  • kernel config: added CONFIG_B43_BCMA_EXTRA as per TheDoctor's bug report
  • linuxrc: removed unnecessary error messages when 'from=' cheatcode points to nonexisting device
  • 'changes' branch which appears with changes=EXIT: cheatcode won't invoke updating of system caches
  • fixed 'mopt=' cheatcode so that it works correctly with ntfs3g driver
  • added empty and nonexecutable /etc/rc.d/rc.modules to 001core.xzm
  • added xf86input drivers for touchscreen devices: acecad, aiptek, elographics, mutouch, penmount
  • recompiled qt with xinerama support (not included in Xfce/LXDE)
  • added following packages to the devel module: bison, flex, linuxdoctools, nasm, textinfo, yasm, utilmacros and crippledsources
  • LXDE Edition specific changes:
  • added obconf package for more configuration options in LXDE
  • created an openbox menu that includes an entry to open up lxde's "Desktop Preferences"
  • added gtk+3 and gtk+3 apps: fileroller (dropped lxarchiver), audacious, transmission, evince (dropped epdfviewer)
  • changed widget theme to "Evolve"
  • modified lxdm theme/background image
  • added volume keybindings for laptop/media keyboards, with my 'pxfsound' gtkdialog script that pops up with the volume level
  • added libcanberra and notifydaemon so notifications from ppm, firefox, etc will work