• From: Lincoln, UK
  • Registered: 2008-11-20
  • Posts: 4,430

Topic: CrunchBang 10 "Statler" Alpha 2 progress report

So, I thought it might be good to give a little progress report on the next Statler build, alpha 2. Firstly, yes, it will be named "alpha 2". I have considered moving straight from alpha 1 to beta 1, but in all honesty, there are still plenty of problems/issues to overcome, and besides, Squeeze is still far from the "Stable" tag. Also, if the first alpha release is anything to go by, I think another alpha release will only help to improve the final build.

Anyhow, regarding the next build and what is new, I have been pretty busy trying to incorporate as many fixes as I can to issues which have been commented on after the initial alpha release. These include, but are not by any means limited to:

  • Adding support for host name resolution via Multicast DNS

  • Fixing bash completion - doh!

  • Including Java support [OpenJDK and IcedTea]

  • Better out of the box support for Broadcom wireless cards

  • Inclusion of '/usr/sbin' & '/sbin' to $PATH - an old Ubuntuism?

  • Fix for lock screen bug/issue when running in a live session - double doh!

  • etc. etc.

I have also added some new features and packages, such as a new Openbox Dropbox pipemenu, the addition of cairo-compmgr and an updated compositing pipemenu. New Openbox, Xfce and GTK+ themes. New icon themes. etc. etc. I have also been playing around with some post-installation scripts, but I am not sure that these will make it into the next build.

Oh, and I am sure most people will know this already, but there have been many many updates to packages originating from the Debian repositories. Naturally, these will all be included. Also in an effort to make CrunchBang more of a pure Debian build, the custom/rebuilt kernel and firmware packages will be removed from the CrunchBang repositories -- I was not happy about including them in the first alpha build, but at the time the Debian Testing kernel was in a poor state and it seemed reasonable to rebuild the kernel being used by Debian Unstable.

Currently, the only really serious issue which is stopping me from making a release, is this bug. It is a bit of a show-stopper and basically prevents anyone from creating ext3/ext4 filesystems. yikes I have considered rebuilding the e2fsprogs package and including it in the CrunchBang repositories, but I would rather not, if I can help it (see last paragraph). You can check on the progress of this bug here: http://release.debian.org/migration/tes … =e2fsprogs -- basically, it has been fixed, but the packages are being held-up from entering the Squeeze repositories. hmm

So, that is my progress report. Expect some new alpha 2 downloads sometime soon, after the above bug is fixed! wink

P.S. In case you were looking for it, I have unstuck the old CrunchBang 10 "Statler" Alpha 1 Released post. Thank you to everyone who made a contribution to it, you all rock! smile

P.P.S. The state of the debian-installer is likely to remain unchanged for next Alpha release, unless some progress is made soon. I am not sure what I can do, if anything to improve this, but it is something I am actively looking into.

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  • Registered: 2008-11-24
  • Posts: 2,087

Re: CrunchBang 10 "Statler" Alpha 2 progress report

Excellent news! I have Broadcom wireless on my Dell Mini, so I will be able to test the new drivers for you. I agree with your decision to take it slow and make the best possible final release. smile

  • aaro
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Re: CrunchBang 10 "Statler" Alpha 2 progress report

Thanks for your great job Philip.

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  • omns
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  • Registered: 2008-11-25
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Re: CrunchBang 10 "Statler" Alpha 2 progress report

No problem here with waiting for these bug fixes to come through. I think you have enough packages in the statler repos to keep track of without adding more and it really is better not to be rebuilding unstable packages to add to the mix. Also it might be good to only maintain the packages that you've removed the EULA from (firmwares). Between these, the new cairo stuff, multimedia codecs, grub and gdm packages, you already have enough to look after smile

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  • From: Lincoln, UK
  • Registered: 2008-11-20
  • Posts: 4,430

Re: CrunchBang 10 "Statler" Alpha 2 progress report

omns wrote:

Also it might be good to only maintain the packages that you've removed the EULA from (firmwares).

I have modified the build process slightly and there is no need to maintain these anymore. smile

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  • From: Ontario, Canada
  • Registered: 2009-06-29
  • Posts: 1,420

Re: CrunchBang 10 "Statler" Alpha 2 progress report

Glad to hear progress is being made smile
Keep up the good work!

just call me...
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  • From: Lincoln, UK
  • Registered: 2008-11-20
  • Posts: 4,430

Re: CrunchBang 10 "Statler" Alpha 2 progress report

FiniteStateMachine wrote:

Glad to hear progress is being made smile
Keep up the good work!

Thank you smile

P.S. Our new 50MB cable connection is certainly a BIG help! big_smile

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  • From: Santa Fe, NM, USA
  • Registered: 2009-09-14
  • Posts: 1,406

Re: CrunchBang 10 "Statler" Alpha 2 progress report

@ corenominal

When might we be expecting to see the next #!Statler Alpha2 ??

Not that 'we' are waiting with baited breath, or any thing  lol

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  • From: Lincoln, UK
  • Registered: 2008-11-20
  • Posts: 4,430

Re: CrunchBang 10 "Statler" Alpha 2 progress report

vrkalak wrote:

When might we be expecting to see the next #!Statler Alpha2 ??

Difficult to say with any accuracy. Keep an eye on this, it should give some indication as the builds will happen when it migrates into Testing. smile

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  • From: Nagoya, Japan
  • Registered: 2009-01-07
  • Posts: 1,971

Re: CrunchBang 10 "Statler" Alpha 2 progress report

Sounds great. Please don't hurry anything till you feel stuff is ready to put out. I'm sure most of us are more than happy with what we have already! smile

(I had a few odd comments about Statler on an old laptop which I still hadn't got round to posting, but maybe now I'll wat for the new alpha... roll )

John
------------------------
( a boring Japan blog , and idle twitterings )
“Good morning sir, which way up would you like your reality today?”  "As it comes, Jeeves, as it comes..."

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  • From: California, USA
  • Registered: 2008-11-29
  • Posts: 8,647

Re: CrunchBang 10 "Statler" Alpha 2 progress report

corenominal wrote:

New Openbox, Xfce and GTK+ themes. New icon themes. etc. etc.

I can't wait to see them! big_smile

corenominal wrote:

Also in an effort to make CrunchBang more of a pure Debian build, the custom/rebuilt kernel and firmware packages will be removed from the CrunchBang repositories

Very nice.

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  • From: Out for lunch!
  • Registered: 2009-02-13
  • Posts: 1,754

Re: CrunchBang 10 "Statler" Alpha 2 progress report

1000 thanks for the progress report, really appreciate it. May the Bang be with you in the further progress!

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  • Registered: 2010-01-22
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Re: CrunchBang 10 "Statler" Alpha 2 progress report

Thanks for the updates corenominal! Your work is highly appreciated. smile

  • pvsage
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Re: CrunchBang 10 "Statler" Alpha 2 progress report

@vicshrike:  That sounds dirty. smile

Corenominal, is there any chance of including the multimedia repo and PGP key in Alpha 2?  I realize adding them is a minor issue for the user, but seeing Gdebi complain about the key already being in the repo or Aptitude gripe about an unauthenticated source when installing the key might cause some undue concern for the average user.

while ( ! ( succeed = try() ) );
  • From: Prescott, AZ
  • Registered: 2010-04-27
  • Posts: 159

Re: CrunchBang 10 "Statler" Alpha 2 progress report

Really exciting news; I suppose it's a measure of just how much of a loser I am when I'm fascinated by the entire process of building and releasing a distribution, yikes

Thank you for sharing this information with us and working, (too hard for your health!) on so many problems.

  • olembe
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  • From: Salisbury, England
  • Registered: 2009-04-29
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Re: CrunchBang 10 "Statler" Alpha 2 progress report

I hope this isn't a naive question, but will those of us who installed alpha 1 be able to just keep updating our systems in the usual dist-upgrade sort of fashion?

17 Reply by fox

  • fox
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  • Registered: 2009-05-10
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Re: CrunchBang 10 "Statler" Alpha 2 progress report

corenominal wrote:

..., but in all honesty, there are still plenty of problems/issues to overcome, and besides, Squeeze is still far from the "Stable" tag. Also, if the first alpha release is anything to go by, I think another alpha release will only help to improve t

You could have fooled me.  I installed it last week on my Wind U100 and I have yet to find any problems with it.  Like olembe, I'd like to know if I'll have to do a re-install to get alpha 2, or whether updates will automatically keep it current.

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  • From: London
  • Registered: 2009-07-19
  • Posts: 96

Re: CrunchBang 10 "Statler" Alpha 2 progress report

Great news! Thanks Corenominal.

I was getting itchy feet to switch to Statler as my primary OS, but I'll wait a bit and go for Alpha 2. I think 9.04 should be OK for another few weeks. smile

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  • From: California, USA
  • Registered: 2008-11-29
  • Posts: 8,647

Re: CrunchBang 10 "Statler" Alpha 2 progress report

olembe wrote:

I hope this isn't a naive question, but will those of us who installed alpha 1 be able to just keep updating our systems in the usual dist-upgrade sort of fashion?

Yes though you won't get any of the new settings.

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  • Registered: 2008-11-24
  • Posts: 2,087

Re: CrunchBang 10 "Statler" Alpha 2 progress report

olembe wrote:

I hope this isn't a naive question, but will those of us who installed alpha 1 be able to just keep updating our systems in the usual dist-upgrade sort of fashion?

Impossible to say, since it doesn't exist yet. smile In the past, when #! was based on Ubuntu, I always did a fresh reinstall once there was a final release. Not sure if that was strictly necessary, but it always felt "cleaner" to me.

  • From: Lincoln, UK
  • Registered: 2008-11-20
  • Posts: 4,430

Re: CrunchBang 10 "Statler" Alpha 2 progress report

anonymous wrote:
olembe wrote:

I hope this isn't a naive question, but will those of us who installed alpha 1 be able to just keep updating our systems in the usual dist-upgrade sort of fashion?

Yes though you won't get any of the new settings.

^ is pretty much correct. Performing a 'sudo apt-get dist-upgrade' will ensure your system is up-to-date. The new config files, basically the contents of '/etc/skel' will remain untouched, but I will make the new ones available, for anyone interested.

As a rule of thumb, I would say that if you are happy with your current Statler set-up, you will probably not gain anything from downloading and installing the next alpha. However, if you would like to help test the latest alpha, as it comes, please do download it and give it a whirl. smile

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  • From: Georgia, U.S.
  • Registered: 2010-06-08
  • Posts: 16

Re: CrunchBang 10 "Statler" Alpha 2 progress report

Oh yeah! big_smile big_smile big_smile

Last edited by John.L (2010-06-12 21:27:52)

John L.
  • From: Lincoln, UK
  • Registered: 2008-11-20
  • Posts: 4,430

Re: CrunchBang 10 "Statler" Alpha 2 progress report

pvsage wrote:

Corenominal, is there any chance of including the multimedia repo and PGP key in Alpha 2?  I realize adding them is a minor issue for the user, but seeing Gdebi complain about the key already being in the repo or Aptitude gripe about an unauthenticated source when installing the key might cause some undue concern for the average user.

Is the existing debian-multimedia repo key package causing trouble?

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  • Registered: 2009-02-09
  • Posts: 555

Re: CrunchBang 10 "Statler" Alpha 2 progress report

This sounds awesome,What exactly is the Openbox Dropbox pipemenu.

I googled it,and found a conky like thing in the menu.
Is that what it is?

  • From: Santa Fe, NM, USA
  • Registered: 2009-09-14
  • Posts: 1,406

Re: CrunchBang 10 "Statler" Alpha 2 progress report

corenominal wrote:
pvsage wrote:

Corenominal, is there any chance of including the multimedia repo and PGP key in Alpha 2?  I realize adding them is a minor issue for the user, but seeing Gdebi complain about the key already being in the repo or Aptitude gripe about an unauthenticated source when installing the key might cause some undue concern for the average user.

Is the existing debian-multimedia repo key package causing trouble?

I've been having the same problem with the Debian-Multimedia repros for the past few days, as well.
However, I assumed this was the Debian Repro Servers problem and not a #! issue?

corenominal wrote:

As a rule of thumb, I would say that if you are happy with your current Statler set-up, you will probably not gain anything from downloading and installing the next alpha. However, if you would like to help test the latest alpha, as it comes, please do download it and give it a whirl. smile

I have been keeping up-to-date with the #! updates/upgrades ... I will probably just wait for a Beta or RC release before I do a fresh install.
Perhaps, corenominal or omns will write a 'script' to upgrade an #! Alpha 1 install to include the #! Alpha 2 stuffs?

Last edited by vrkalak (2010-06-12 23:13:30)

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