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36 distro
INTERVIEW
Project Kubic OpenSUSE’s Richard Brown on the new container OS and the future of Btrfs feature
Pure hardware Purism: the laptop company fanatical about freedom PLUS Librem 15 reviewed
Best remote clients
Raspberry Pi x86
Control all the computers on your network with feature-rich clients
Reviewed: The Foundation’s desktop OS hits the spot
in-depth guide
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Pick the best board for your project
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Welcome
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This issue
» Ultimate distros and apps, p18 » Purism interview & Librem 15, p50 » The world of Arduino, p56 Welcome to the UK and North America’s favourite Linux and FOSS magazine. Even by our standards, this issue is packed to the rafters! Purism hit the headlines with its Librem 5 phone (p6), and we’ve interviewed CEO, Todd Weaver (p50). Next up, we collared Richard Brown to explain openSUSE’s container-as-a-platform plans and respond to the Btrfs hate (p12). We also decided it was time someone extolled the virtues of Arduino given that the dust has finally settled over its ownership (p56). Of course, to complement all that, we have our usual slab of tutorials and regulars starting on p36. This issue, we have a new series called InspiringOS (p32), where we highlight open source projects and people who are attempting to change the world. The origin of the word ‘inspire’ (from the Latin inspirare) refers to a sense of ‘breathing into’ or ‘imparting an idea’ to others, and Jamie Alexandre of Learning Equality has that quality in spades. I dare anyone not to be infected by his enthusiasm for using open source and technology to overcome the challenges of supplying high-quality education to kids living in the remotest parts of the world. And finally, if you don’t agree with our ultimate distros and apps conclusions (p18), write in and have your say! Chris Thornett, Editor
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Contents e t a m ulti 50
s p p &a
18
56
OpenSource
Tutorials
Features
08 News
36 Essential Linux
18 Ultimate distros & apps
40 Security
50 Purism
44 Java
56 Arduino
The biggest stories from around the
open source world – a Linux Phone!
10 Letters
Enter the world of readers’ minds
12 Interview
OpenSUSE’s Richard Brown tells us about the Project Kubic container OS
16 Kernel column
The latest news on the Linux kernel
InspireOS 32 Kolibri
Learning Equality ’s offline app that’s providing education across the globe
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In part two of our Master Shell Scripting guide, learn how to use Bash scripting as a programming language, making use of its loops, conditionals and functions
Learn how hackers are able to inject malicious code into Android apps. Discover how to decompile and debug apps to eliminate the threat and make your system secure Following on from last issue’s tutorial, discover how to add a slick graphical user interface to your game using the JavaFX library and make its buttons work to control the character
hich distro(s) and apps should you W use? Paul O’Brien explores the myriad of Linux distros and free and open source software options to find the right products for your needs e chat to Purism founder and CEO W Todd Weaver about the firm’s Librem laptops which come with Linux preloaded, as does the upcoming Librem 5 smartphone
The Arduino is 12 years old and used
by makers, tinkerers and researchers alike. Alexander Smith highlights the strengths of the microcontroller and shows you how to get started
Issue 183 September 2017 facebook.com/LinuxUserUK @linuxusermag
94 Free downloads
We’ve uploaded a host of new free and open source software this month
86 66
68
70
88
Practical Pi
Reviews
Back page
66 Pi project
81 Group test
96 Short story
Stefan Vorkoetter has created probably the smallest and lightest homemade Raspberry Pi tablet in existence
68 Minecraft
From one Pi to another, hack into a pal’s Minecraft world over a local network
Build your own portable music player using a Pi Zero and Speaker pHAT
74 Doomsday switch
Create a ‘doomsday device’ to launch a special script when triggered
78 Python column
Learn how to handle multiple tasks simultaneously in Python
A vision of the near-future awaits. A young girl lost without her phone…
86 Hardware
70 Pi MP3 player
Remote clients enable you to take charge of all computers in your network without leaving the comfort of your armchair, but which is the best? Has CubieTech finally cracked the single-board computer market with the CubieBoard 6?
88 Distro
The second release of the Raspberry Pi Desktop x86 brings most of our favourite Pi tools to a regular PC
90 Fresh FOSS
Ghost 1.6.0 blogging, Fiwix 0.9.0 UNIX kernel, DataMelt 2.0 visualisation and CommonMark.c 0.28.0 MD converter
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06 News & Opinion | 10 Letters | 12 Interview | 12 Kernel Column
mobile development
Purism confirms Linux smartphone Encrypted calls are a key feature of security-focused handset The tale of Linux-based smartphones is not a happy one. While Android might be based on the Linux kernel, the libraries and almost everything else is different. It’s easy to point to Android as an example of a Linux smartphone, but this is overly simplistic. After all, there’s very little that is open source in the latest Samsung handsets. Following Ubuntu’s abandonment of the mobile space, registered Social Purpose Corporation Purism is launching its own Linux-based phone. Even better is the news that the Librem 5 will adhere to Purism’s philosophy of “security, privacy, software freedom and digital independence.” Launching as an independent crowdfunding campaign (with a $1.5 million funding goal) at www.puri.sm, the Librem 5 will offer default end-to-end, decentralised encryption, with security by design. Purism’s PureOS will be preloaded, and supports convergence technology enabling the device to be used as a desktop PC. Chatting exclusively to LU&D, Purism chief Todd Weaver told us that “the Librem 5 is combining free/libre and open source software, with decentralised encrypted IP-based communication, to offer users the
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best possible hardware and user control. The creates a future where people can control their mobile experience similar to how we control our laptop experience when running GNU/Linux and free/libre and open source software.” In short, if you’re feeling frustrated by the lack of privacy on offer from Android and iOS, then you might just be interested in the Librem 5. This is a smartphone that does not track you, and includes hardware kill switches for the camera, microphone, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, and the basic telephony/ mobile data. Planning to offer unprecedented privacy and security experience on a mobile device is no easy task. As such, Purism is teaming up with Matrix to provide the communications subsystem on the Librem 5. This makes it the first ever Matrix-powered smartphone, and enables native end-to-end encryption for the decentralised dialler and messaging apps. But what lessons have been learned from other Linux smartphone projects? Weaver says “Purism has learned from every story before the Librem 5,” and to mitigate risk, they’re “supporting all GNU/Linux distributions out-of-the-box,” and “taking an
Above Convergence technology enables desktop PC functionality with the Librem 5
upstream-first development approach, rather than creating a separate mobile-only OS.” From a manufacturing point of view, Purism plans “fabricating in smaller quantities to mitigate upfront capital requirements, selecting the best hardware to create a depth of credibility from security, privacy, and freedom for the widest audience.” Meanwhile, the firm’s previous experience with product delivery of similarly security-focused laptops and tablets means that Purism has a trusted supply chain. In short, everything is looking good for the Librem 5, with funding at 10.84% with 52 days to go as this issue went to press.
top five
Top 5 Linux audio editing tools
1 Audacity
Probably the default choice for most Linux users, Audacity can do everything from recording and editing multi-track music to picking up audio from online radio. Ideal for editing podcasts and other voice work, Audacity can be given extra functionality, effects, and import/output options with community-developed plug-ins.
hardware
Nimbusoft launches PCs featuring Ubuntu Budgie
2 Ardour
Capable of recording, editing, and mixing, Ardour (http://ardour.org) is intended for musicians, composers and soundtrack editors, and supports hundreds of plug-ins. Available in two ways: a one-off payment or subscription for the packaged version, or a free, compile-it-yourself option.
A whole range of laptops and desktops
3 LMMS
Following in the footsteps of US reseller System76, Newcastle-upon-Tyne based company Nimbusoft is launching a range of desktop and laptop computers that will ship with Ubuntu Budgie pre-installed. Five laptops – ranging from the Ceres at £299 up to the heavy-duty Vulcan at £1,299 – are available, alongside a pair of all-in-one desktops at £599 and £699. All prices are for basic configurations and all models can be configured with the CPU, RAM, storage, drives, graphics card and operating system of your choice. Offering elegant cases and backlit keyboards, multi-touch trackpads and USB 3.0 ports, these devices are pitched as Linux-based rivals to Apple’s iconic hardware designs. Taiwanese OEM Clevo is providing the hardware. While Ubuntu 16.04.3 LTS is the default choice, Ubuntu Budgie 17.04 is available on all devices. Launched in November 2016 as Budgie-Remix, Ubuntu Budgie is a lightweight version of Ubuntu with the Budgie desktop, developed by the team behind the Solus project. After its initial release, Ubuntu
4 The OpenOctave Project
Budgie was adopted as an official community flavour of Ubuntu in April 2017. Three PCs (two laptops, one desktop) are available purely with Ubuntu Budgie, though. These Ubuntu Budgie Edition devices are a key aspect of Nimbusoft’s strategy. Nimbusoft MD Chris Harvey tells LU&D: “We’re excited to be partnering with Ubuntu Budgie which we think is a great distro to be coupled with our hardware. We think having a Linux distro that is both elegant and easy to use pre-installed on our machines will help drive new users to Linux. Ubuntu Budgie will also receive a percentage of the revenue from these machines which will help fund its continued development.” Nimbusoft is also planning its own Linux distro. Eloquent OS will be based on Plasma 5, and will no doubt feature the custom app store Nimbusoft is working on. There is no release date yet for either project. A one-year parts and labour warranty is available with each PC from Nimbusoft, and payment is via credit card or PayPal. Head to https://nimbusoft.com to see the full range.
Download LMMS for free at https://lmms.io, where the purpose is to make music now. With 19 built-in instruments, advanced routing, unlimited tracks and arbitrary effects support, LMMS has versions for most key distros, and VST support via Wine.
Despite being developed for a religious movie project, OpenOctave Midi (OOM) is a capable MIDI and audio sequencer, aimed at orchestral and film score composition, rather than, say, voice work or recording a band. Find out more at www.openoctave.org.
5 Tracktion T5 DAW
Available “free for all music creators”, this tool offers a straightforward UI, with input, waveform and mixer laid out from left to right. Find the 64-bit only tool at http://bit.ly/T5DAW.
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Your source of Linux news & views
small board computer
Raspberry Pi gets Raspbian Stretch Security, enhanced Bluetooth support and username support are among improvements to the distro Following the launch of Debian Stretch, Raspberry Pi users can now get hold of Raspbian Stretch, the dedicated distro from the Raspberry Pi Foundation. Still wielding the PIXEL desktop, Raspbian Stretch comes with a number of improvements, described on the Raspberry Pi blog: “The differences between Jessie and Stretch are mostly under-the-hood optimisations, and you really shouldn’t notice any differences in day-to-day use of the desktop and applications.” Most notable are the improvements to Chromium (v60), which include improved memory usage and efficient code, enabling the browser to run faster. There’s also a tweak to the browser’s appearance. Regular users of Sonic Pi, meanwhile, will notice
Most notable are the improvements to Chromium (v60), enabling the browser to run faster
some additions to input and output, including MIDI and OSC. Along with these improvements, the update addresses security issues, Bluetooth support and username issues. The Broadpwn exploit, which mainly affects Android and iOS devices, can also be executed on a Raspberry Pi. To deal with this, a patch is included in the update which prevents the BCM43xx wireless chipset from being hijacked via a vulnerability in the chip’s firmware. Meanwhile, Bluetooth support for audio devices has flipped away from using PulseAudio, in favour of a more direct connection with ALSA. To this end, the bluez-also package is included in Raspbian Stretch, which should give better Bluetooth audio results. PulseAudio can still be installed manually. Also among the updates, username handling has been improved. Now, applications will not assume that ‘pi’ is the default user and run into problems when this is not the case. How sudo is handled has been similarly improved.
Above Raspbian Stretch brings some welcome security improvements to the Pi
Advice for upgrading to Raspbian Stretch is straightforward: for the best results, use a freshly downloaded image.
security
Virus spreading via Facebook Messenger Cross-platform malware hides in video links Cross-platform users are being targeted with a new Facebook Messenger scam, which persuades the victim to download adware. This tailored attack addresses you by name and offers a link to malware based on your browser and operating system. While Windows users get a dedicated landing page and executable to fix Flash Player, Linux users are given a landing page that encourages them to add a PPA before installing some extra software. Of course, the attack is disguised. A Facebook Messenger box will pop up,
8
addressing you by name, followed by the word ‘Video’, an emoji, and the link to the landing page. There’s no immediate reason to assume it’s anything but a spam message… but video clips are so enticing, aren’t they? For veteran Linux users, the dangers of unverified PPAs are well known. However, with Linux’s increasing use – via workplaces embracing open source, and the popular Raspberry Pi – there are an increasing number of users who are unaware of the risks. The scammers have put the effort into producing a Linux attack, after all.
The simplest way to avoid this attack is to ignore the message. If you’ve clicked it, deny requests to add PPAs. If you’re already infected, or know someone who is, the steps are simple. With Firefox, open the menu, then Help > Troubleshooting Information, and click the ‘Refresh Firefox’ button to reset the browser and remove any add-ons. Using Chrome? Try Settings > Advanced > Reset. You should also check your Facebook account for unwanted apps and plug-ins, in Settings > Apps.
Distro feed
web development
Will Adobe Flash become open source? Flash might live on beyond 2020 cut-off It turns out that saying goodbye to Flash might not be all that good after all. After years of being the web’s whipping boy, Adobe Flash’s (and Shockwave’s) impending demise in 2020 is coming around a bit too soon for some. The reason is simple: history. As an important part of the web’s first two decades, Adobe Flash was the multimedia platform. Its use goes beyond playing pop videos and movie trailers; Flash and Shockwave were used for artistic expression. So with a vast archive of old-but-live websites requiring Flash, a solution is needed to keep them running beyond 2020. And it’s a pretty simple solution: but will Adobe agree to open-source Flash? If it doesn’t, there are at least a couple of solutions waiting in the wings. The first is a petition on GitHub, by developer Juha Linstedt, aka ‘Pakastin’ [sic], who says “Flash along with its sister project Shockwave is an important piece of internet history and killing Flash and Shockwave means future generations can’t access the past. Games, experiments and websites would
Mint 2. Debian 3. Manjaro 4. Ubuntu 5. Antergos 6. openSUSE 7. Solus 8. Fedora 9. TrueOS 10. Elementary 1.
2298 1610 1606 1317 1281 1072 1012 818
762
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This month ■ Stable releases (10) ■ In development (3)
be forgotten.” Find that petition at https:// github.com/pakastin/open-source-flash. Perhaps Adobe will agree – if it does, however, it might just leave the existing OpenFL project (www.openfl.org) with nowhere to go. Either way, an open source solution to Shockwave and Flash continuity seems likely.
Hardware
GPD Pocket Ubuntu Edition ships Ultraportable PC will fit in your pocket Following a successful IndieGoGo campaign in which the $200,000 goal was surpassed by 1,516%, Chinese hardware producer GPD has begun shipping its ultraportable PC. Packing a 64-bit quad-core Atom CPU, 8GB of RAM and 128GB of storage, its eight-hour battery is charged via a USB Type-C port. The keyboard is as large as is practical, while the touchpad is replaced with a nipple-style controller. The GPD Pocket Ubuntu Edition is just 180×106mm, and an impressive 18.5mm thick. Slightly thicker than a 7-inch tablet, it boasts a 1,920x1,200 pixel IPS touchscreen
Top 10
(Average hits per day, 30 days to 25/8/2017)
display. However, GPD is pitching it to a totally different market. “This pocket laptop adopts [a] pure silver CNC precise all-inone body made of magnesium and alloy, which means that its craftsmanship can be comparable to the MacBook Air.” Essentially a lightweight laptop that fits in your pocket, it ships with Ubuntu preinstalled. Other devices from GPD include a handheld Windows game console, but this doesn’t yet have a Linux alternative. Learn more at www.gpd.hk/pocket.asp. See next issue for our review of the GPD Pocket.
With Mint and Debian stuttering, Ubuntu could be about to recover. Meanwhile, Antergos continues to surprise against experienced competition.
Highlights Antergos
The Arch Linux-based Antergos has moved on from its original Cinnamon-themed existence as Cinnarch, and now offers GNOME 3 as a default (although Cinnamon, Razor-qt and Xfce are also available).
Solus
This 64-bit only distribution is built from scratch and features the Budgie desktop, which can emulate GNOME 2. Originating from Ireland, Solus also has a MATE desktop option.
TrueOS
Based on FreeBSD, TrueOS has its focus on ease-of-use and features its own package manager. The distro is designed as a desktop and server OS, several environments are available, including MATE, KDE and Xfce.
Latest distros available: filesilo.co.uk
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Comment
Your letters
Questions and opinions about the mag, Linux and open source
Above Imagine a world where all games that were released worked smoothly on any platform? The Vulkan API is already teasing that gaming utopia
Game over
Dear LU&D, in a past issue you mentioned you might add a dedicated games page. Where is it? I know Chris is a keen supporter of Linux games as I saw your tweets about 11-bit Studios dropping Linux support for Children of Morta when it was promised during their Kickstarter. I only play games that support GNU/Linux now (the GOG platform with its DRM-free games is my favourite) as there are so many. Vulkan looks really promising too. Dave Smith Chris: Well, David, I haven’t exactly been inundated with requests for a gaming page since I suggested it. For me, it’s more a question of getting the right writer who can supply what we think readers want. Unfortunately, I don’t have the spare time required to ‘live’ in the gaming world, even the Linux subsection, and write about it as the expert I used to be (I was a games editor for a while). If any readers know someone who might fit the bill, please get them to email me at linuxuser@futurenet.com with some
10
sample work. As for Children of Morta! Yes, there seems to be a trend for crowdfunded indie games dropping a promised Linux version close to release. I wasn’t pleased to discover that when the game’s developer, Dead Mage, got a new publisher, Linux was swiftly kicked to the kerb and, to make matters worse, an Xbox version was announced when that didn’t even reach its Kickstarter goal! I find that deeply dishonest behaviour. Just because 11-bit Studios doesn’t have a legal obligation to all the backers, it seems to think it’s acceptable not to honour its commitments. Can you imagine if they did that to Windows gamers! There would be a riot. However, I think you are right about Vulkan. The 3D graphics and compute API is going to make cross-platform development less of an issue, which is what we all want and game developers such as Croteam, maker of the Serious Sam games and The Talos Principle, are leading the way and demonstrating how it can be done already. Frankly, the day that DirectX stops hampering game development, the better the world will be.
Pally with MATE
Dear LU&D, I was pleased to see Ubuntu MATE on your cover disc recently. It’s so easy to use and I like so many things about it, like the unfussy nature of the webcam, great apps and the neat way there’s a 60-second auto countdown when you decide to shut down your rig. Great choice! And loving the magazine these days! Jack Stallow Chris: Thanks, Jack. We liked it so much we put another MATE-using distro on the disc this month, Linux Mint MATE. Admittedly, that was more a decision not to put Ubuntu (again) on the disc even if it did win the everyday category in our Ultimate Distros and Apps guide (see p18) or the same Mint Cinnamon edition we’d put on recently. It’s not just the MATE desktop that makes Ubuntu Mate so appealing, especially to new users – Martin Wimpress and Alan Pope and the whole team have done an incredible job. The Software Boutique is particularly brilliant and makes adding software from third-party repos a doddle. By all accounts,
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Above Ubuntu MATE is a very user-friendly distro and is set to improve further for version 17.10
the team have also done impressive work on the new panel options for Ubuntu 17.10 coming in October. You’ll now be able to choose from a Unity 7 setup (called Mutiny), as well as Cupertino for that macOS feel and Redmond for the Windows vibe, along with a host of others including the traditional setup. They have also patched it so the superkey works the way Tux intended, i.e. for accessing menus, launchers and shortcuts. The Linux desktop share globally passed 3% this month hitting 3.37% (Source: www.netmarketshare.com) and I wouldn’t be surprised if the incredible work by the many user-friendly distro and desktop teams, Ubuntu MATE included, have had a part in increasing the adoption of GNU/Linux for the average user.
FileSilo fails
Thanks a lot for taking the time to give me a very quick and helpful response. You resolved my problem and I have gotten access. On a personal note, I had been a subscriber some years ago but just subscribed again and got my first copy yesterday. I am glad to be reading your magazine again. I have been using Linux since Fedora Core 5 and am now on Mint, and I look forward to seeing what the new Fedora 26 is like. I enjoy all the tech articles but am also interested in the social/political aspects of Linux [...]. What I noticed when looking back at the magazine (and FileSilo) after reading your email: on the two-page spread at the back about FileSilo, there is a reference to getting access with a web ID, and a reference to what you said about answering a question when you select an issue of the magazine. So, this time I went to https://www.filesilo.co.uk/LinuxUser/ and clicked on my magazine issue (instead
Above The FileSilo has been shuffling issue numbers and confusing subscribers, but we’re told it’s fixed now. Remember: all of the disc ISO content goes up on FileSilo and we also upload the ISOs to archive.org
of logging in to my account). From there I was logged in and asked the question you talked about. What I had done before was log in to my account and tried to add it from inside Manage Account. Trying to add a subscription still asks for a web ID, but adding an issue seems to be working now […]. But, when I tried adding an issue yesterday, it only showed me issues from years ago (which I assume were from my old subscription) – or did it? Sorry for the confusion here but I just looked at it again and it only showed issues 157 and prior, then I tried again and it had the current issue again – then I noticed the issues are not in numerical order, but even so, some issues seem to be missing (perhaps that is intentional). In any case, it seems I have access to everything I should now. Putting the disc ISOs on archive.org is a great idea! Robert Alter Chris: Glad we could help, Robert, although it looks like I’ll need to escalate some of FileSilo’s odd behaviour to support. Robert wrote in as a previous subscriber coming back to us, which is fantastic to hear! However, when he tried using his subscription ID it didn’t work. What many readers may not know is that a pivotal firm in the publishing business, Dovetail, has decided to shut up shop. So we’re in the middle of migrating everyone over to
a new subscription provider. Note: This won’t affect your current subscriptions – www.myfavouritemagazines.co.uk is still the best place to get deals on LU&D as it’s owned by Future plc which publishes LU&D. However, it appears someone flicked the switch and turned off subscription IDs earlier than we expected, so I’m sorry for any problems caused. In the meantime, that has meant that the only way to unlock new issues in FileSilo is to answer a question based on pages of the individual issue. We have escalated the ID problem up the ol’ management chain as we think it’s important to add as much value to being a LU&D subscriber as possible. As for missing issues, I’ve noticed a couple that haven’t been uploaded, but that hasn’t been the case since 177 when I took over. I’ll see if I can find the discs for those and make sure the code is added to the archive for anyone trying to follow an old tutorial. I also upload the complete disc ISOs to archive.org when I get a chance. We don’t have a category yet on the internet archive, but a simple search for ‘Linux User and Developer’ will yield a list of ISOs since I’ve been in charge.
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Interview SUSE
The Way of the Geeko SUSE has a long history of innovation in Linux and open software. As it celebrates its 25th anniversary, openSUSE has begun work on the Kubic Project, the new community-run approach to cluster computing, containers and microservices
Richard Brown
works for SUSE as a Linux distribution engineer and will be working full-time on Kubic from September. Richard is also the chairman of the openSUSE project.
Below SUSE’s new Kubic Project is focused on container technologies and related tooling
It’s a good time to interview SUSE and explore the latest developments in openSUSE, as SUSE celebrates 25 years this month. The company has gone from releasing an extended version of Slackware to building its own distro, SUSE Linux Enterprise (SLES), but it was 2004 when the firm announced the community-run openSUSE project, which has fuelled SLES development ever since and seen the rise of both the Tumbleweed rolling-release distro and its solid, regularly released Leap distro. However, for this interview we were mostly concerned with asking Richard Brown, the chairman of openSUSE, about Kubic, a community-driven container-as-a-service platform that includes MicroOS, SUSE’s take on cluster computing for containers and microservices. SUSE celebrates 25 years this month, what are the key moments in SUSE’s history that the whole GNU/Linux community should be celebrating? Back in 2000, SUSE was the company that released the First Enterprise Linux, which was also the first commercial Linux for IBM S/390. That’s the same year which SUSE started doing a lot of the initial work with AMD to port Linux to the x86_64 architecture. While obviously I’m biased, I think openSUSE’s creation in 2004 is worthy of mention in that it signifies a very different model compared to many other corporate-funded communities. One
which really embraces ‘core’ open source principles of openness and freedom, with the community able to set its own direction and the company having to work hard to keep in alignment. More recently, SUSE’s work with SAP HANA has really pushed the scope of what Linux can do on extreme high-end hardware and large in-memory databases. [There’s also] shipping Btrfs by default in openSUSE and SLE since 2014 – as far as I know, the first major distribution (and certainly the first enterprise distribution) to ship with a ‘next generation’ file system by default. This fits in nicely with SUSE’s heritage of leading the way with file systems, such as the early adoption and support of XFS long before companies like Red Hat began supporting it (and SUSE never charged extra for our users who chose to use it). You jokingly described Tumbleweed as “the most boring way to run the latest software” – are there any of its developments you’re excited about? I’m always excited about Tumbleweed! I’m a huge advocate of the rolling release model. Besides Kubic joining the Tumbleweed family, I think I’m most proud of how the distribution is now regularly updating hundreds of packages a week, the kind of rate of change other distributions might manage in a semi-annual or annual release. This includes major upgrades to pretty large software stacks (e.g. GNOME and KDE) often within hours of those upstream releases. All of this change, but without any major breakage – which is good because it’s the only OS I rely on for all of my daily work. At the moment, I’m looking forward to GCC 7.2 landing as Tumbleweed’s default compiler alongside Glibc 2.26. Such changes come with an absolutely huge impact on the system and really validate that our release process can be relied upon. What is the Kubic Project? Broadly speaking, Kubic is an ‘umbrella project’ within the wider openSUSE project, focusing on container technologies and related tooling to provide a ‘containers as a service’ platform. In more detail,
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