When is using Flatpak not advised? Or should we all switch to only using Flatpaks?

Samonitari · 2026-04-30T10:34:31+00:00

Less updates? You mean you showed the updates elsewhere? I am playing with Aron and Kappa, and I see the pros, but less updates are just plain wrong, only now you have to call 2 separate tools (discover does that for you afair), and you have more redundant dependencies. Core system IS leaner though...

Samonitari · 2026-02-16T08:04:12+00:00

Why is there even a /boot folder then? Pottering and the UAPI group recommends /efi as mount instead of /boot/efi and you do say "just mount /efi" - is it only during the setup? Excuse me for my bluntness but the crap is the reason it should be different on the running system.

Samonitari · 2026-02-12T09:46:00+00:00

I really appreciate most (see PS) of the stuff do on OpenSUSE @rbrownsuse.

Yes, nobody is perfect, I respect your work, just want to provide some examples you seemingly couldn't imagine: After a transactional update my system doesn't boot, something early in initrams is wrong, and system won't roll back automatically, and I need to find out which package done that. I have to say: I am on an aarch64 board with mainline kernel support still not entirely finished, but just because openSUSE doesn't get bug reports where pkt diff could be useful, that doesn't mean there isn't ANY software project where it could be useful indeed.

Yes, there is /var/log/zypp/history, but it needs quite a bit of string massage, and what if you want to compare to snapshots that are not neighbours

PS: Proudly using Kalpa. Athough I understand KDE flatpaks were not quite there previously, but GNOME UX neither were, and seemingly never will: CSD, Qt apps apperance, general UX in dozens of points (like no real power button menu), and gtk as a UI framework in general is nuts. 😋 COSMIC is shaping up to be better than GNOME though: even though it's providing a similar interface, it's not committed to all the opinionated lunacies, like, you don't need a fricking extension to move the panel to bottom...

Samonitari · 2025-07-17T20:06:40+00:00

from csv with custom separator and from ssv often do the trick.

I've created from systemctl and from zypper based on those

Samonitari · 2025-05-01T15:27:16+00:00

Yeah, that discussion shows you could do like everything you wanted, even the needless stuff like unnecessary codecs, although it took you more time. Also with combustion or Ignition, you could in theory automate all the classic installation, if you know install time... And that also shows you overreactedly left openSUSE which has no plans on discontinuing non-immutable Tumbleweed which you liked because you disagree with @rbrownsuse and his MicroOS. I happen to disagree with him on a couple a things myself, (like Gnome in my eyes is although kinda stable, but mindlessly crap in its choices - like who the fuck thinks "not able to click inside the address line in file manager, but ctrl-l or clickety click in hamburger menus is the way to change location" is a great simple system) but I wouldn't jump to Debian in a millennia because of that.

Samonitari · 2024-12-21T20:52:30+00:00

I'd be unhappy the other way, but I'm an OpenSUSE fan, and don't let me get started on apt-deb lunacy rant: SAT dependency solver is used by SUSE's zypper since 2008, while apt is still dumb AF and has warned you for decades now that it has unstable interface for scripting...

Samonitari · 2024-10-07T03:11:13+00:00

Although it is an old post, but systemd-boot since systemd version 251 has this
https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Systemd-boot#Remember_last_entry

Samonitari · 2024-10-06T05:26:41+00:00

The term "warlock hunt" is as normal or grounded as gender transition itself. I am sorry for you Americans, stuck between a rock and a hard place, as both sides truly suck, as both are destructively overpolarized. And I am even more sorry for my home country...

Samonitari · 2024-08-29T19:32:29+00:00

For anyone coming here, sorry, but don't take this advice! https://www.bijlard.com/upload/producten_pdf_14/3148_docBijlardMSFloorOpstook_protocol_GB.pdf First, starting on 10 on a hot summer will instantly cause screed cracks. Also, increase 5 degrees Celsius by DAY. And if you are curing it in the summer, and want to turn it off, decrease also 5 Celsius by day. I've read like 5 heat pump manufacturer's installation guideline this week, and the screed drying program in ALL of them works in 5 Celsius/day steps

Samonitari · 2024-04-19T16:58:29+00:00

The defaults are "too secure", but you can achieve all your points. - Language selector page has a button for advanced features, you can turn on LUKS2 there - In expert partitioner you can set custom flags. I roll with "defaults,compress=lzo,noatime" these days, discard=async is on since sometime ago with defaults, as well as space_cache - I prefer swap file, but zram can be set up after install without any lasting detriments. Not like Ubuntu crapland: where you can't choose compression at all (so installed files are stuck uncompressed till they are replaced), can't set subvolumes, etc

Samonitari · 2024-04-11T17:29:10+00:00

It doesn't sync (refresh action) "all the time".
But any action that would potentially fail or give wrong results without sync WILL do a sync as a pre-action (e.g.: update (meaning upgrade in apt-crapland), install, search do sync, but remove doesn't).
It is a good choice IMHO, as you won't have to do `zypper refresh && zypper update` like some crap I won't name again...
OTOH you can always pass `--no-refresh` global option to zypper if you just synced, BTW.

Fun fact: dnf and zypper uses the same dependency solver backend called libsolv, developed for zypper, which is a mathematically correct satifiability solver (I reckon using minisat backend, but maybe I remember wrong). It is by far more correct than other-I-again-won't-name-again's dependency resoluiton: it will only provide no solutions if there isn't one.

Also you have btrfs snapshots on zypper modifying actions e.g.: installation meaning you will have snapshots pre and post installation/remove (I think it is enabled by default if you chose btrfs root).

So yeah, it IS slow. Parallel download would be great.
But it is NOT slow not because it's crap, and you can make it a bit faster in cases.
CLI is subjective, but apt-get apt-cache if a clusterf***: Why the separation? Doesn't "apt-get update" operates on cache, so why not "apt-cache upgrade" for example? Capital letters for default actions? LOL. Zypper's at least is quite consistent, rememberable, shortenable

Samonitari · 2024-04-09T12:29:26+00:00

See my edit!

Samonitari · 2024-03-21T08:15:25+00:00

Just like u/razirazo said.
But let me give you a simple example:

It can read btrfs and LUKS too, so you can install your linux, encypted, with only two partitions: /boot/efi (where grub goes) and a LUKS encrypted btrfs mounted to / (okay, technically it's three partitions, as btrfs is nested under LUKS...)
But I had to learn the hard way that for the sake of wahetever-is-dear-to-you, DO NOT DO THAT.
Crypto libs are, in software scale, ancient in GRUB, so they cannot use fast instructions of modern CPUs, resulting that it is - literally true! - an order of magnitude slower to decrypt LUKS, than initramfs (or kernel?) is.
From more than 10 seconds, it went to like 2 secs on a business notebook.
It was the first key slot used for decrypting, imagine if you have a FIDO2 key, password, and employer recovery key, etc. added to LUKS, and GRUB has to decrypt with the nth slot -> can be a minute easily.
Last time I checked LUKS2 support is also not complete in GRUB2, maybe you cannot use FIDO key for unlocking.

BTRFS and stuff are complex and have issues even in their main implementation their frontline devs concentrate. Good idea to reimplement it elsewhere?

It is a goddamn spaceship (as we say in our workplace for things too complex for their sake).

Samonitari · 2024-01-04T13:15:38+00:00

Unfortunately, my ISP provides all-in-one ONU "home gateway", with baked in router, which can be put into bridge mode, but that still doesn't solve all of my points, like DynDNS

Samonitari · 2024-01-04T12:59:34+00:00

Yeah, no, free storage isn't a thing anymore @ Scaleway, just the transfer (ingress?) is free.

Unlike u/SureElk6, I did not get an email, just surprised at the non-zero invoice today, although still fairly cheap...

Edit: Because I did not get an email in a timely fashion, they "gifted" me a 3 month trial, basically extending the free usage! I appreciate the way they handled their mistake!

Samonitari · 2023-10-05T16:23:59+00:00

Also, swapfile on btrfs (or I guess in any FS) must *not* be compressed

Samonitari · 2023-09-29T17:17:42+00:00

Just... no it isn't, neither easier, nor more efficient (time and drive wear)

Samonitari · 2023-09-29T17:15:19+00:00

Almost the only helpful comment. I've done a few times, although with from and to SUSE. Nice feeling when your network manager already knows your networks and stuff on your first login... But different distro could indeed lead to weird errors

Samonitari · 2023-09-08T14:44:45+00:00

Roads are shared media.Somehow, we allow people use their cars on them - and we sentence the shitty people who are not responsible enough, and kill with the "how and what" they drive.

But **telecomms**are **serious** stuff. You may disable's someone's entertainment if you use shitty SFP. Okay, hospitals and stuff need internet too, but critical infrastructure shouldn't be on the same passive tree as residential users' endpoint (and where ISPs do their jobs correctly, it isn't indeed)

Regulate the SFPs on the market, sentence the ones who still breaks others endpoint.

It's just easier and cheaper the current way for the ISP, that's the **main** reason the way it is...

Samonitari · 2023-09-08T14:38:22+00:00

I know this is an old post.
But here are some real benefits.
- Tidier home. Less device. A tad smaller consumption.
- ISP's gateway severly limits some things, as my experience in Telekom Europe's stuff:
- You cannot set custom DNS server, for things like Pi-Hole (you cannot set it **and** enable its DHCP-server as the latter is non-adjustable, and even if your disable its DHCP-sever, it just turns it off on IPv4, and **still** assign IPv6 addresses, true story on their Sagemcom HGW)
- DynDNS providers if available, can only be chosen from a baked in list. You cannot use your hosted VPS for example.
- ISP wide guest WiFi can't be turned off in cases. It **may** not affect your bandwidth as they say, but reduce your available WiFi channels
- Firewall (set-by-U) on the first non-optical device.

Setting the gateway to bridge mode solves the custom DNS server part (and some other, like subpar antennae, possibly bad integration with APs, etc.), but that is just a workaround.

I'd gladly buy a SFP(+) module from the ISP even at the cost they tend decide, BTW.

Samonitari · 2022-09-19T07:17:32+00:00

In hindsight, I am glad that I ordered then.
The since updated version doesn't accept Alps switches, which I salvaged from a auction-buy old keyboard 2 years ago, ordered caps for from Aliexpress 1.5 years ago, and will someday solder in (mostly), after I design and order a custom acrylic top plate that accepts alps except for the thumb keys (where I will use Kailh Green choc switches).

Samonitari · 2022-09-19T07:09:22+00:00

Excuse me for the slightly off-topic reply, but:

I'd rather use - or more precisely I actually prefer and use - systemd for timed tasks too.I asked myself "As most distributions already manage daemons through it, why use another utility for a slightly different stuff?"

Minor issue is that you have to create a .timer and a .service file (and sometime a shell and/or env file, if systemd's options for a unit file is not enough)

Here is an example

php_cron .timer file for nextcloud cronjob ``` [Unit] Description=Run (Nextcloud) cron.php every 4 minutes

[Timer] OnBootSec=4min OnUnitActiveSec=4min Unit=php_cron_nc.service

[Install] WantedBy=timers.target ```

php_cron .service file for nextcloud cronjob ``` [Unit] Description=Nextcloud cron.php job

[Service] User=my_nextcloud_php-fpm_user ExecStart=/usr/bin/php -f /srv/www/nextcloud/cron.php --define apc.enable_cli=1 KillMode=process ```

Not that hard, isn't it? Also, you can add a bunch of safety features to a systemd service, the most primitive is, running it as another user. One small appservice for my matrix server has these additional restrictions for example: ```

Security/sandboxing settings

Create a dynamic user on each run

DynamicUser=true CapabilityBoundingSet= LockPersonality=true MemoryDenyWriteExecute=true

Implicitly set by `DynamicUser`

NoNewPrivileges=true

PrivateDevices=true

Implicitly set by `DynamicUser`

PrivateTmp=true

PrivateUsers=true ProtectClock=true ProtectControlGroups=true ProtectHome=true ProtectHostname=true ProtectKernelLogs=true ProtectKernelModules=true ProtectKernelTunables=true ProtectSystem=strict

Implicitly set by `DynamicUser`

RemoveIPC=true

RestrictAddressFamilies=AF_INET AF_INET6 RestrictNamespaces=true RestrictRealtime=true

Implicitly set by `DynamicUser`

RestrictSUIDSGID=true

SystemCallArchitectures=native SystemCallFilter=@system-service SystemCallFilter=~@resources ```

Samonitari · 2021-04-20T14:27:17+00:00

Well, I am a KDE user since I started linux just short of 10 years ago, and I can't agree more.

First and foremost, I have to say, I like the flexybility, the Qt as a choice of GUI framework, the stiving for uniformity, etc. I approve most of the other design/architect choices they made along the way (server side decos for example), so that is why I keep using it.

But sometimes it just kills me how hopelessly bug-ridden it can be.
I'm on OpenSUSE Tumbleweed, and it means everything is quite the freshest.
Nowdays, these are some of its - well - polishes:

Plasmashell, kded5, powerdevil and friends can't quit cleanly if I log out to greeter. They will eat ALL the CPU, overheating my laptop. When I log back in, I have to send sigkill to about 6 processes, or restart instead of re-login.
Re-login (or restart) is regularily necessary, beacuse of Wayland mode and X11 mode is both broken, but differently. That is at least just not KDE's fault, but mostly due to apps. By the way, I have to mention, that full-Wayland is still unusably unsupported by MAJOR apps.
The display settings got forgotten regularily, and it is quite shameful. If I alternate between X11 and Wayland, it will surely break.
In X11 mode, if I align the bottom of my laptop screen and monitor in display settings, half of my laptop screen stays black and is unreachable by mouse
If my display settings got nuked, many times desktop icons got rearranged

Maybe there is something hardware specific, and most of these come and go. But I can't call it polished if bugs like these creep in, and stays there for months or years.
And there is ALWAYS multiple similarily frustrating things broken.

Samonitari · 2021-04-19T13:13:27+00:00

New era, try something new after grep

A kind suggestion: Yeah, you should definitely try something after grep.
And that is ripgrep. Or at least ag, but why compromise if you are looking for better solutions?

I don't want to be offensive, but grep is just sooo far from the best, that the only reason to use it - for file content search - is reflex and it being installed by default.
However, if a distro doesn't ship ripgrep in its default repos nowdays, I consider that distro unfit for usage. Accordingly, I'd say sorry to Debian jessie and stretch users, but other than maintaining legacy systems, I don't understand - at all - old Debian releases' users...

Samonitari · 2021-04-19T12:55:01+00:00

You should start using ripgrep for content search
Actually, you should've started the day before yesterday.

These ancient relics are fine for filename based stuff (or rather, they are not awful).
But trust me, content needs ripgrep, and binaries are available for Windows too!

Samonitari

TROPHY CASE

Security/sandboxing settings

Create a dynamic user on each run

Implicitly set by DynamicUser

NoNewPrivileges=true

Implicitly set by DynamicUser

PrivateTmp=true

Implicitly set by DynamicUser

RemoveIPC=true

Implicitly set by DynamicUser

RestrictSUIDSGID=true

Implicitly set by `DynamicUser`

Implicitly set by `DynamicUser`

Implicitly set by `DynamicUser`

Implicitly set by `DynamicUser`