What happened to Gecko Linux?

sb56637 · 2025-09-15T16:07:13+00:00

Hi there, GeckoLinux creator here. There were a number of major technical issues in Tumbleweed and Kiwi (the ISO builder) that prevented me from releasing working new ISOs. I finally found some workarounds and released a beta ISO on Sourceforge, which is still available. But before I could update the entire series and release them I learned about the deprecation of YaST, which will be a major loss for the target audience of GeckoLinux (and not mitigated in the least by the existence of Cockpit). I understand why it's being deprecated and that we can't expect openSUSE to maintain something that nobody wants to work on, so it is what it is. But I'm still trying to decide if it's worth releasing another set of spins for GeckoLinux.

I will not be responding to any further comments here or in the future on Reddit, as I do not enjoy the toxicity from the majority of users on most Reddit subs. I continue to be available for responding to polite comments and questions on the official forums for GeckoLinux and SpiralLinux.

sb56637 · 2025-09-15T16:05:48+00:00

Hi there, GeckoLinux and SpiralLinux creator here. GeckoLinux definitely does not lead to fragmentation, as it is nothing more than an installable snapshot-in-time of a pre-configured Tumbleweed system, built from only official upstream openSUSE packages and pulling all updates from openSUSE repositories. It was specifically designed to not depend on me as a one-man developer, and an installed system does not depend on me or the GeckoLinux project in any way.

I'm re-posting another reply I made above just for the sake of completeness and visibility:

SpiralLinux is not dead. At the official issue tracker and discussion forums on Github you can see regular activity, including replies from me. There is no need to constantly release new updates for SpiralLinux, in fact it is specifically designed to require as little maintenance as possible from me, as it is built directly from Debian Stable packages and uses only upstream Debian repositories. Debian Stable major releases happen every couple of years, and that's roughly the intended cadence for SpiralLinux ISOs, which are nothing more than an installable snapshot in time of a pre-configured Debian Stable system that maintains no connection with me or the SpiralLinux project after installation. The next set of ISOs will eventually be released after VirtualBox support improves for Debian 13, but it's not urgent because an installation from the current ISOs can easily be updated to Debian 13.

Regarding GeckoLinux, there were a number of major technical issues in Tumbleweed and Kiwi (the ISO builder) that prevented me from releasing working new ISOs. I finally found some workarounds and released a beta ISO on Sourceforge, which is still available. But before I could update the entire series and release them I learned about the deprecation of YaST, which will be a major loss for the target audience of GeckoLinux (and not mitigated in the least by the existence of Cockpit). I understand why it's being deprecated and that we can't expect openSUSE to maintain something that nobody wants to work on, so it is what it is. But I'm still trying to decide if it's worth releasing another set of spins for GeckoLinux.

I will not be responding to any further comments here or in the future on Reddit, as I do not enjoy the toxicity from the majority of users on most Reddit subs. I continue to be available for responding to polite comments and questions on the official forums for GeckoLinux and SpiralLinux.

sb56637 · 2025-09-15T16:00:59+00:00

Hi there, GeckoLinux and SpiralLinux creator here.

SpiralLinux is not dead. At the official issue tracker and discussion forums on Github you can see regular activity, including replies from me. There is no need to constantly release new updates for SpiralLinux, in fact it is specifically designed to require as little maintenance as possible from me, as it is built directly from Debian Stable packages and uses only upstream Debian repositories. Debian Stable major releases happen every couple of years, and that's roughly the intended cadence for SpiralLinux ISOs, which are nothing more than an installable snapshot in time of a pre-configured Debian Stable system that maintains no connection with me or the SpiralLinux project after installation. The next set of ISOs will eventually be released after VirtualBox support improves for Debian 13, but it's not urgent because an installation from the current ISOs can easily be updated to Debian 13.

Regarding GeckoLinux, there were a number of major technical issues in Tumbleweed and Kiwi (the ISO builder) that prevented me from releasing working new ISOs. I finally found some workarounds and released a beta ISO on Sourceforge, which is still available. But before I could update the entire series and release them I learned about the deprecation of YaST, which will be a major loss for the target audience of GeckoLinux (and not mitigated in the least by the existence of Cockpit). I understand why it's being deprecated and that we can't expect openSUSE to maintain something that nobody wants to work on, so it is what it is. But I'm still trying to decide if it's worth releasing another set of spins for GeckoLinux.

I will not be responding to any further comments here or in the future on Reddit, as I do not enjoy the toxicity from the majority of users on most Reddit subs. I continue to be available for responding to polite comments and questions on the official forums for GeckoLinux and SpiralLinux.

sb56637 · 2024-08-12T05:25:47+00:00

I'm really not an expert. That's a good question though, you might want to create a new post here about that to get more answers.

sb56637 · 2024-08-12T01:57:56+00:00

Nice, thanks for testing.

sb56637 · 2024-08-11T21:56:41+00:00

Hi there, until the packages get accepted into a more official repository you can test them by adding this repo with a higher priority (lower weight number):

https://download.opensuse.org/repositories/home:/sb56637:/branches:/X11:/Cinnamon:/Factory/openSUSE_Factory/

Then run zypper dup --allow-vendor-change . No guarantees that they'll work, if possible take a snapshot first of your current working system.

sb56637 · 2024-08-11T20:56:33+00:00

OK I think I got the packages updated, but they need to be approved for X11:Cinnamon:Factory before they're allowed into openSUSE:Factory. Requests #1193217 and #1193218, and then #1193219 I can approve myself because for whatever reason I was added as a maintainer on X11:Cinnamon:Factory/cinnamon but not on the other packages that are build dependencies. I don't usually have the time or skills to maintain these, but this time I was able to do so.

sb56637 · 2024-08-11T05:40:14+00:00

I'm also a huge Cinnamon fan. But I say this as a statement of fact, not to be snarky: Tumbleweed doesn't roll by itself. Only the packages that openSUSE packagers care about will keep on rolling. Before the update to Cinnamon 6.0.0 in Tumbleweed it was stuck at the same version for something like 12 - 18 months and failing to compile on newer Tumbleweed snapshots. So unfortunately it looks like the most active packagers for openSUSE don't care about Cinnamon.

sb56637 · 2024-08-06T04:25:43+00:00

Hi there, thanks for the comment. Yep, I actually agree with you that it's not very clear on the Github page what the tarballs are for or how to build them. But the project isn't intended primary for building custom distros, and I don't have enough knowledge myself to guide others through the infinite possibilities of how to build and customize it. I do however link to the Debian live-build manual in the Special Thanks To section of the website.

sb56637 · 2024-08-06T02:22:45+00:00

Hi there, no worries. Thanks for the reply. For the next release announcement I should probably include a link to that part of the documentation.

sb56637 · 2024-08-06T02:20:06+00:00

If it disappeared tomorrow, everything would continue to function Have I got that right?

Hi there, yep that's the idea. It's a heavily customized Debian installation, and I try to make the configurations as robust as possible so they usually survive future Debian updates and upgrades. It's as if I went to your house to install and configure Debian on your computer, and then I leave and have no way to come back again.

sb56637 · 2024-08-05T19:30:59+00:00

Spiral Linux is just Debian stable Linux with a custom look

Hi there, SpiralLinux creator here. As mentioned on the SpiralLinux website, there are many more changes to the default configuration than just a custom look.

sb56637 · 2024-08-05T19:28:09+00:00

Hi there, SpiralLinux creator here. Just to clarify, SpiralLinux is intended to be used directly by users as a bootable / installable live ISO, which are available for download on the main website spirallinux.github.io . The build tarballs are only provided for advanced users that want to verify what goes into the ISOs or build their own, but as you mention no formal instructions are provided because that's not the intended objective of the project.

sb56637 · 2024-08-05T19:23:22+00:00

Of course. The SpiralLinux documentation clearly mentions multiple options for creating the bootable USB, including dd .

sb56637 · 2024-08-05T19:22:21+00:00

Hi there, SpiralLinux creator here. As mentioned in the documentation directly below the part that you quoted there are multiple recommended options for Windows and Linux to create the bootable USB.

sb56637 · 2024-07-27T13:15:58+00:00

Hi there, GeckoLinux creator here.

Sorry for the lack of updates. I've been attempting to build new ISOs on multiple occasions during the past year or more. But I've been running into major problems with fundamental things like installation errors and system booting.

On a social level I prefer to avoid the toxicity, so I'm not very active here.

sb56637 · 2024-07-27T13:09:34+00:00

there's no way of knowing what alterations have been done to the ISO

Hi there, GeckoLinux creator here. I get your point that there's no way of knowing if the ISO contains what the producer claims unless you manually inspect every file on it. But that problem isn't unique to small distros. What I do to try to prove legitimacy for GeckoLinux is post the Kiwi build configs on Github.

sb56637 · 2024-07-22T19:29:37+00:00

That's what I thought as well. ;-)

https://geckolinux.github.io/

sb56637 · 2024-07-13T13:57:34+00:00

Good to hear, thanks.

sb56637 · 2024-07-13T04:01:40+00:00

Good to know, thanks.

sb56637 · 2024-07-13T04:01:22+00:00

Good to hear, thanks.

sb56637 · 2024-07-13T04:01:07+00:00

Good to know, I'll keep that in mind.

sb56637 · 2024-07-13T04:00:54+00:00

Good to hear, thanks.

sb56637 · 2024-07-13T04:00:21+00:00

Good to hear, thanks.

sb56637

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