September 2023

KDE: Another Busy Week! KDE neon, Debian, Snaps Oh My!

Posted on September 29, 2023 by sgmoore

Witch Wells Az
KDE Plasma 6
KDE Plasma 6

I would like to welcome you to my revamped site. It is still a work in progress, so please be patient while I work out the kinks! I have also explained a bit more about myself in my About Me page for those that may have questions about my homesteader lifestyle. Check it out when you have time.

My site is mostly my adventures in packaging software in Linux in a variety of formats ( mostly Debian and Ubuntu Snaps containerized packages ). This keeps me very busy, as folks don’t realize the importance of packaging. Without it, applications remain in source code form which isn’t very usable by the users! While turning the source code into something user friendly we often run into issues and work with upstream ( I am a very strong believer in upstream first ) to resolve any issues. This makes for a better user experience and less buggy software. Workarounds are very hard to maintain and thus fixing it right the first time is the best path! With this said, while I am not strong in any one programming language ( Well maybe Ruby from my CI tooling background ) I am versed in many languages, as I have to understand the code that I am filing bug reports for! We have to have a strong knowledge of being able to understand build failures, debug runtime failures and most importantly we have to be able to fix them, or find the resources to assist in fixing them. As most of you know I am KDE’s biggest fan ( There is nothing wrong with Gnome, its a great platform ). So a big portion of my work is dedicated to KDE. A fantastic tool for working on my KDE packaging has been KDE Neon! With the developer version I have all the tools necessary to debug and fix issues that arise. There is also the added bonus of living on the edge and finding out runtime issues right away!

That is enough about me for now and on to my weekly round up!

KDE neon:

Carlos ( check out his new blog! https://www.ethicalconstruct.au/dotclear_blog/ ) and I have been very busy with another round of KDE applications making the move to Qt6. We have finished KDE PIM and KDE Games in Neon/unstable!

I have worked out issues with print-manager and re-enabled it in experimental as it’s qt6 development is still happening in kf6 branch. Instructions here: https://blog.neon.kde.org/2023/08/04/announcing-kde-neon-experimental/

Fixed issues with a broken kscreenlocker and missing window decorations. You can now safely leave your computer and not worry about that dreaded black screen.

Debian:

I have uploaded the newest squashfuse to unstable.

I have uploaded another NEW dependency for bubblegum golang-github-alecthomas-mango-kong-dev

Ubuntu Snaps:

This week continues working closely with Jarred Wilson of Canonical in getting his Qt6 content snap in shape for use with my KDE Frameworks 6 snap ( an essential snap to move forward with our next generation Qt6 applications and of course the Plasma snap.

I spent some time debugging the neochat snap and fixed some QML issues, but I am now facing issues with wayland. It now works fine for those of us still on X11. I will continue working out wayland.

Thank you!

I rely on donations to upkeep my everyday living and so far thanks to each and every one of you I have survived almost a full year! It has been scary from time to time, but I am surviving. Until my snap project goes through I must rely on the kindness of my supporters. The proceeds of my donations goes to the following:

  • Car payment
  • Car insurance
  • Land Payment
  • Gas for vehicles ( car for errands, truck to haul water )
  • Propane
  • Food
  • Phone / Internet ( Very important in this line of work! )
  • Pet Food ( Yes we have a few )
  • Misc everyday living supplies ( shampoo etc )

I have joined the kool kids and moved to Donorbox for donations.

Donate

I still have Gofundme for those that don’t want to signup for yetanotherdonationplatform.

https://gofund.me/b8b69e54

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KDE: KDE Neon updates! Qt6 transition moving along.

Posted on September 22, 2023 by sgmoore

With user edition out the door last week, this week was spent stabilizing unstable!

Spent some time sorting out our Calamares installer being quite grumpy which is now fixed by reverting an upstream change. Unstable and developer ISO rebuilt and installable. Spent some time sorting out some issues with using an unreleased appstream ( thanks ximion for help with packagekit! ) KDE applications are starting to switch to Qt6 in master this week, the big one being KDE PIM! This entails an enormous amount of work re-packaging. I have made a dent, sorta. To be continued next week. I fixed our signond / kaccounts line for qt6 which entailed some work on upstream code that uses QStringList.toSet which was removed in Qt6! Always learning new things!

I have spent some time working on the KF6 content snap, working with Jarred to make sure his qt6 content snap will work for us. Unfortunately, I do not have much time for this as I must make money to survive, donations help free up time for this 🙂 Our new proposal with Kevin’s super awesome management company has been submitted and we will hopefully hear back next week.

Thanks for stopping by! Till next week.

If you can spare some change, consider a donation

Thank you!

https://gofund.me/b8b69e54

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KDE: KDE neon user edition updates! Debian updates, Snaps on hold.

Posted on September 14, 2023 by sgmoore

Witch Wells Az

I had to make the hard decision to put snaps on hold. I am working odd jobs to “stay alive” and to pay for my beautiful scenery. My “Project” should move forward, as I have done everything asked of me including finding a super awesome management team to take us all the way through. But until it is signed sealed and delivered, I have to survive. In my free time I am helping out Jonathan and working on KDE Neon, he has done so much for me over the years, it is the least I can do!

So without further ado! Carlos and I have been working diligently on new Frameworks 5.110, Plasma 5.27.8, and Applications 23.08.1! They are complete and ready in /user! With that, a great many fixes to qml dependencies and packaging updates. Current users can update freely and the docker images and ISO are building now. We are working on Unstable… as it is a bit unstable right now, but improving 🙂

On the Debian front I am wrapping up packaging of new upstream release of squashfuse.

Thanks for stopping by!

If you can spare some change, consider a donation

Thank you!

https://gofund.me/b8b69e54

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KDE: Weekly report and News, 23.08.0 Snaps call for testing!

Posted on September 1, 2023 by sgmoore

Another busy week in the KDE snap world. Most of the release-service apps are in –candidate channel waiting to be tested. Testing is the bottle neck in the process, so I am trying something new and calling for help! Please test your favorite apps and report on https://discuss.kde.org/t/all-things-snaps-questions-concerns-praise/ any issues and which apps tested. Thanks!

There are some very big fixes in this release:

  • Desktop file defined so xdg-desktop-portals will now work.
  • Print support in many apps where it made sense. Please let me know if I missed one.

The KF6 content pack is coming along nicely using qt-framework-sdk snap!

Qt5 content snap using KDE patch set is nearly complete!

I believe I have a solution for our PIM applications by creating an Akondai dbus provider snap and setting all the PIM applications as consumers. I am waiting for manual review to pass.

I have a pile of new applications waiting for reserved name approvals. Igor has pinged the relevant people to speed this normally quick process up.

The pushback on per repository snapcraft files has stopped, so I have begun the process, which will take some time. This is a huge step in automating snap builds and cutting down my manual work so I can do more exciting things like plasma snaps!

Some big news on my project, a big thank you goes out to Kevin Ottens for reaching out, his company does exactly what I need to move it forward. I will update as we hash out the details, but it looks like my project isn’t dead after all!

I know many have asked “Why haven’t you given up already??” The answer in short, I am stubborn. I refuse to give up on anything until I am given a good reason to. When I started my path in computers oh so many years ago, you would be surprised how many people told me to give it up, you’ll never make it as a woman. Challenge accepted. Here I am, still going strong. When I want something, I go get it, no matter what it takes!

I still need to have a ( somewhat desperate ) call for donations. This will hopefully end soon, but for now, please consider donating to my September survival fund! Please share with anyone you that may find my work useful in any way. Thanks for your consideration 🙂

PS: Debian uploads for bubble-gum are moving along. Please if you have any packaging you need done in Debian proper, let me know and I will get on it, time allowing of course.

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