- This topic has 3 replies, 2 voices, and was last updated Mar 21-8:07 pm by Brian Masinick.
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Brian Masinick
Forum › Forums › antiX-development › Development is one location; there are a few other topic categories under
Forum › Forums › antiX-development ›Someone was wondering where the development topics are located; they are in this section of the forum.
Announcements about releases are in the Announcements topic section.
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Brian MasinickBrian Masinick
I just wrote a post about Mozilla and Firefox releases, and in that post, I spent a lot of time talking about testing.
At the conclusion I dropped a hint about testing antiX, so I’m putting out that big HINT again here:
We really appreciate it when people test antiX, whether it’s a development build or a released version of antiX. When we develop, we understand that not everyone has the time, skills, or interest in testing software. Still, downloading test software and using it occasionally, even if it’s not as part of your day to day system, can still help us. Those who have the skills to keep multiple versions of systems handy, so that they can “take risks” and use test software as “daily drivers”, going back to more stable software only when the test software fails in use cases that are crucial for your personal work – this REALLY helps!
So with the understanding that not everyone can do this, if we can even get 10-20% of our user base to test every so often, and whether it’s testing of our entire distribution or testing of a few of your favorite applications, every little bit helps.
If you find a problem – and if you can contribute – here are some ways.
1) Keep a listing of your system configuration – usually the command inxi -Fxz provides helpful information about your system; you can save the output of the command by storing the output in a file by doing something like this:
inxi -Fxz > ~/inxi-output.txt2) Tell us what you were doing when you found a problem and how to reproduce it:
Example: I downloaded https://sourceforge.net/projects/antix-linux/files/Final/antiX-sid/antiX-21-sid_x64-core.iso/download and verified the checksums at antiX-21-sid_x64-core.iso.sha256
After downloading and verifying this build, I used the Live USB Maker to create a USB drive containing the image, then booted the software from USB in Frugal mode.
Next, I ran _____ (fill in the blank) and found that when I started _________ app, the following behavior happened: _____ (describe what you found, and what you had expected to happen.
This kind of report, even if not formal, is very useful for developers and maintainers. If it concerns a tool or component that antiX develops, the antiX team can work on changes. If it concerns an application that we offer but do not author, it is best to send a similar report to the developers who write and maintain the tool. They may have specific report guidelines, but if you have most of the information outlined above, it’ll generally be helpful.
Anything the community can contribute at any time in the life cycle of our software, whether early testing or production testing is still valued and helpful. I hope that we’ll get new people contributing; even here, people come and go, so new faces and additional community help is always appreciated; Thank you to those who already contribute; we have developers, writers, documentation experts, forum helpers, and every day users, all who are valued; every little bit helps!
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Brian MasinickPPC
I wanted to throw this this out to you guys – I’ve read/seen YT videos on “immutable” OS- the latest craze in the Linux world, the Steam portable gamming console runs one such systems- it only allows changes to the home folder (so, to install any new application the only option is appimages, flatpaks or uncompressed binaries (I’m guessing on this last one).
antiX, with some tweaks can be made to run like that- generate a ISO with support for appimages (the installer and updater app) and flatpaks preinstalled and do a frugal install… That would be a nice way to have an “unbreakable” system…P.
- This reply was modified 1 year, 1 month ago by PPC.
Brian Masinick
I wanted to throw this this out to you guys – I’ve read/seen YT videos on “immutable” OS- the latest craze in the Linux world, the Steam portable gamming console runs one such systems- it only allows changes to the home folder (so, to install any new application the only option is appimages, flatpaks or uncompressed binaries (I’m guessing on this last one).
antiX, with some tweaks can be made to run like that- generate a ISO with support for appimages (the installer and updater app) and flatpaks preinstalled and do a frugal install… That would be a nice way to have an “unbreakable” system…P.
This *might* be a very good idea for some people, and it might even be a good idea as an antiX Respin!
In the beginning of antiX, our distribution originally came into being as a lightweight “offspring” of what was then “Simply MEPIS”.
The next interesting twist was that MEPIS ceased development after the successful Version 11 release, but by that time many people from both the MEPIS Lovers Forum and the antiX Forum were collaborating, so after a year or two of collaborative work, MEPIS re-emerged as MX Linux.
While I am not sure exactly how your proposal would fit directly into the existing antiX releases, I do think that some volunteers and collaborators may be interested in working with you, so here is what I suggest:
1) Mention your proposal to anticapitalista to see if he would like to include your idea and your work in a future version, possibly another spin or offshoot.
2) If no, ask if the work could nevertheless move forward, perhaps on a “cousin” or “relative” basis, similar to the old MEPIS – antiX relationship. That might be a second possibility.
3) A third possibility would be to respin the distribution, renaming and rebranding it, using any “freely available” components of antiX, properly citing and licensing anything copied, used, reused, or modified. As long as the correct citations and licensing is followed, that’s always an option too.
Hopefully one of these methods could lead to what could emerge, at first, as an “experiment”. If it “catches on”, it could be branded or rebranded, if needed, or renamed as yet another version or spin of antiX.
What do you think, and who is interested in any of these ideas, and possible participant, either in the work, documentation, testing, or promotion?
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Brian Masinick
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