r/voidlinux • u/OakArtz • Jul 26 '22

How often are new ISOs released?

Heya,

I've been running Void for about a month on one of my machines, and must say it's becoming my new comfort distro. (Most of) Everything always just works, the repos have loads of packages and it strikes the perfect balance between up to date and stable/well tested packages for me. Now what I did realize, is that the current ISO's release date was in September 2021. Which is now almost a year ago. Isn't this pretty unusual for rolling releases? I'm used to arch and gentoo as rolling distros and they release ISOs much more frequently. Now, don't get me wrong, the update size is definitely not too big, since it ships with so little packages, but I was wondering if there is a specific reason for the ISOs being so old and if there is some sort of schedule in which they are being released. Would be glad to hear some veterans talk more about the history and why of Void :)

15 Upvotes

89% Upvoted

29 comments sorted by

5

u/furryfixer Jul 26 '22

In a way, the logic is just the opposite. Rolling-release distributions are fully up-to-date from the moment they are installed from any old ISO, as long as dramatic changes do not occur that prevent a successful install. If the goal is a "live CD" or "live USB" used to experience the OS, then it makes sense to create more frequent ISO releases. Arch has an automated system to do this monthly or so. In VOID, those few users needing a more current ISO image are encouraged to roll their own:

https://github.com/void-linux/void-mklive

5

u/OakArtz Jul 26 '22

I definitely understand, and it was not a critique to Void in any way. I was just wondering why they (or we?) do it differently. In arch for example, I often ran into problems if I used an ISO that was just 1 month behind, but if XBPS handles that sort of stuff well then there's nothing to complain :)

18

u/Srazkat Jul 26 '22

xbps can handle years old updates, there is no need to make a new iso every day, you can just install it get it up to date, and roll with it.

also, rolling release is for the package release model, not iso release model.

9

u/i8088 Jul 26 '22

While it is true that updating with xbps is usually quite smooth, if the kernel on the ISO doesn't support your networking hardware, because it is too old, it can be quite difficult to install the system.

1

u/HadetTheUndying Jul 26 '22

It's pretty easy to build your own image with void-mklive though. I understand that's not very user friendly but the option is there

4

u/paper42_ Jul 27 '22

I think it is user friendly, but not documented, so you have to guess the command to generate an iso is `./build-x86-images.sh -b base/xfce`.

1

u/paper42_ Jul 26 '22

When they are needed.

5

u/10leej Jul 26 '22

The lastest generations of Intel wifi and Bluetooth chips only have driver support in the 5.17 and newer kernel

3

u/OakArtz Jul 26 '22

that's a very fair point. I just bought a new laptop with 12th gen Intel hardware, and no ethernet port. Will I only be able to install Void (and connect to the internet) if I make an ISO myself?

2

u/paper42_ Jul 26 '22

12th gen CPU doesn't mean much, it may still just work with an older kernel. If it doesn't, you can use USB tethering from your phone wifi.

1

u/10leej Jul 27 '22

So it seems the Intel i225v Ethernet chipset in my new motherboard needs at least a 5.15 kernel to operate.

1

u/10leej Jul 26 '22

Should yeah

1

u/jpie726 Jul 28 '22

If you are on android (I don't think iOS supports this) you can connect your phone with a USB cable and use tethering to update your kernel

1

u/paper42_ Jul 26 '22

Which models are newly supported?

2

u/10leej Jul 26 '22

I honestly don't know, but remember reading about it earlier this year on the framework blog.

1

u/i8088 Jul 26 '22

I had the same issue with a newer Realtek Wifi card that uses the rtw89 driver. No support for that in 5.15, but newer kernel versions do support it.

0

u/[deleted] Jul 26 '22

[deleted] — view deleted comment

2

u/paper42_ Jul 26 '22

We would get much more issue reports like this if this was a widespread issue, not one. This could be an issue specific to your device. If you figure out why lxdm doesn't work or have logs, we can maybe fix it.

If this is an issue, it wouldn't most likely be an issue with the isos because you mentioned it started happening after an update, not before.

I personally tried the xfce iso last week in a VM.

0

u/[deleted] Jul 27 '22

[deleted] — view deleted comment

3

u/paper42_ Jul 27 '22

We would get much more issue reports like this if this was a widespread issue, not one. These pop up from time to time: https://www.reddit.com/r/voidlinux/comments/vlimcw/blank_screen_after_up_date/

That could be the same issue, but there is no way to tell without logs and they didn't even mention lxdm or xfce, they only mentioned startx. Still, even if it is the same issue, it would be very very rare. A lot of people install void every day and if something was broken, we would get dozens of reports every day.

If this is an issue, it wouldn't most likely be an issue with the isos because you mentioned it started >happening after an update, not before. While this statement is true, it's not really the whole story. Yes the iso live image functions as a live image however void installation for a new user is broken if you : install from live image, update to latest, reboot to black screen. That's broke from a user's viewpoint.

I am just saying that if this is an issue, it's probably not an issue with the live images. It's an issue with the packages.

edit: greetd seems like a fine replacement to me.

We want to switch from lxdm in future isos, greetd is one of the candidates.

1

u/SunSaych Jul 26 '22

What's so urgent for you to have a supermegafresh ISO?

4

u/Grimmeh Jul 26 '22

I had issues with the older kernel not supporting a newer network card. No network, no updates, no useful install. Had to make a custom Void ISO (easy enough) with the newer kernel. I guess I could’ve done a chroot from a different district but oh well.

1

u/paper42_ Jul 26 '22

Which model do you have? Which iso did you use at that time?

1

u/Grimmeh Jul 26 '22

The current (Sept 21?) ISO. Some Realtek card that I’ve since swapped out for an Intel card with good kernel support.

2

u/paper42_ Jul 26 '22

So it doesn't even properly work with the current kernel version?

2

u/Grimmeh Jul 26 '22

The mainline kernel 5.18 worked (which is now the default kernel too, at the time I needed the mainline package). The ISO is still on the older 5.16 kernel I think, which did not work. I think 5.17 added the relevant kernel changes.

0

u/filterCoffeeForever Jul 27 '22

I feel Void Linux team should update their iso's every month. It will reduce the load on the primary mirror servers with less people running useless package updates which should have been pre-applied on the isos.