Preliminary excalibur desktop-live isos need testing

fsmithred · 2025-03-24 16:01:15

...and some problem-solving. Below are links to two desktop-live isos I made. The one from October boots up to the desktop as expected. The one from March presents an error screen before the second panel comes up on the desktop complaining about Plugin "null" that can't be loaded. You can select to remove that plugin and panel 2 comes up and you have the desktop, or you can select to quit and you get the desktop without panel 2.

I've looked at the config files for the panel and I can't figure out which plugin they're talking about or identify any of the plugins by looking at the code. Relevant files can be found in /etc/xdg/xfce4 and in ~/.config/xfce4.

I'm putting these on my own site for now. I don't want anyone to think that they are any kind of official release. Please take a look, and if anyone can figure out what's going on, it would be a big help.

The isos: (there are checksum files and signatures in the same directory)
https://get.refracta.org/files/experime … p-live.iso
https://get.refracta.org/files/experime … p-live.iso

sha256sums:

141f99794ce7c17d825134733bb1240eff63442e7e8cd761d65bc3a82d246005  devuan_excalibur_6.0-preview-2024-10-23_amd64_desktop-live.iso

6fe3b7ad120e7afdf49cb6bcbe21be0dc27bbe65835db7f063517655fed31817  devuan_excalibur_6.0-preview-2025-03-22_amd64_desktop-live.iso

Package list diff:

--- packages.20241023	2025-03-22 09:31:25.858107172 -0400
+++ packages.20250322	2025-03-22 09:32:21.914104796 -0400
@@ -21,6 +21,9 @@
 aspell-en
 at-spi2-common
 at-spi2-core
+atril
+atril-common
+avahi-autoipd
 avahi-daemon
 avahi-utils
 base-files
@@ -37,6 +40,7 @@
 bsd-mailx
 bsdextrautils
 bsdutils
+bubblewrap
 busybox
 bzip2
 ca-certificates
@@ -44,7 +48,7 @@
 coinor-libcbc3.1:amd64
 coinor-libcgl1:amd64
 coinor-libclp1:amd64
-coinor-libcoinmp1v5:amd64
+coinor-libcoinmp0:amd64
 coinor-libcoinutils3v5:amd64
 coinor-libosi1v5:amd64
 colord
@@ -109,7 +113,6 @@
 dmz-cursor-theme
 dns-root-data
 dnsmasq-base
-dnsutils
 doc-debian
 docutils-common
 docutils-doc
@@ -140,6 +143,7 @@
 firmware-bnx2
 firmware-bnx2x
 firmware-brcm80211
+firmware-carl9170
 firmware-intel-graphics
 firmware-intel-misc
 firmware-iwlwifi
@@ -165,6 +169,7 @@
 fonts-lato
 fonts-liberation
 fonts-liberation-sans-narrow
+fonts-mathjax
 fonts-noto-mono
 fonts-opensymbol
 fonts-symbola
@@ -260,7 +265,7 @@
 hyphen-en-us
 i965-va-driver:amd64
 ifupdown
-imagemagick-6-common
+imagemagick-7-common
 inetutils-telnet
 init
 init-system-helpers
@@ -288,7 +293,7 @@
 liba52-0.7.4:amd64
 libaa1:amd64
 libaacs0:amd64
-libabsl20230802:amd64
+libabsl20240722:amd64
 libabw-0.1-1:amd64
 libacl1:amd64
 libaio1t64:amd64
@@ -296,7 +301,7 @@
 libao4:amd64
 libaom3:amd64
 libapparmor1:amd64
-libapt-pkg6.0t64:amd64
+libapt-pkg7.0:amd64
 libarchive13t64:amd64
 libargon2-1:amd64
 libasound2-data
@@ -312,6 +317,8 @@
 libatkmm-1.6-1v5:amd64
 libatomic1:amd64
 libatopology2t64:amd64
+libatrildocument3t64
+libatrilview3t64
 libatspi2.0-0t64:amd64
 libattr1:amd64
 libaudio2:amd64
@@ -371,6 +378,7 @@
 libcairo2:amd64
 libcairomm-1.0-1v5:amd64
 libcairomm-1.16-1:amd64
+libcaja-extension1:amd64
 libcanberra0:amd64
 libcap-ng0:amd64
 libcap2:amd64
@@ -393,6 +401,7 @@
 libcolord2:amd64
 libcolorhug2:amd64
 libcom-err2:amd64
+libcpuinfo0:amd64
 libcrypt1:amd64
 libcryptsetup12:amd64
 libcups2t64:amd64
@@ -420,10 +429,11 @@
 libdevmapper-event1.02.1:amd64
 libdevmapper1.02.1:amd64
 libdialog15:amd64
-libdirectfb-1.7-7t64:amd64
 libdiscover2
+libdisplay-info2:amd64
 libdjvulibre-text
 libdjvulibre21:amd64
+libdnnl3.6:amd64
 libdotconf0:amd64
 libdpkg-perl
 libdrm-amdgpu1:amd64
@@ -438,6 +448,7 @@
 libdvdread8t64:amd64
 libdw1t64:amd64
 libe-book-0.1-1:amd64
+libebur128-1:amd64
 libedit2:amd64
 libefiboot1t64:amd64
 libefivar1t64:amd64
@@ -450,7 +461,6 @@
 libencode-locale-perl
 libeot0:amd64
 libepoxy0:amd64
-libept1.6.0t64:amd64
 libepubgen-0.1-1:amd64
 libespeak-ng1:amd64
 libetonyek-0.1-1:amd64
@@ -477,7 +487,7 @@
 libfile-fcntllock-perl
 libfile-listing-perl
 libfile-mimeinfo-perl
-libflac12t64:amd64
+libflac14:amd64
 libflite1:amd64
 libfluidsynth3:amd64
 libfont-afm-perl
@@ -514,15 +524,14 @@
 libgdk-pixbuf2.0-bin
 libgdk-pixbuf2.0-common
 libgfortran5:amd64
-libgif7:amd64
 libgirepository-1.0-1:amd64
 libgl1:amd64
 libgl1-mesa-dri:amd64
-libglapi-mesa:amd64
 libgles2:amd64
 libglib-object-introspection-perl
 libglib-perl:amd64
 libglib2.0-0t64:amd64
+libglib2.0-bin
 libglib2.0-data
 libglibmm-2.4-1t64:amd64
 libglibmm-2.68-1t64:amd64
@@ -585,6 +594,7 @@
 libgupnp-1.6-0:amd64
 libgupnp-igd-1.6-0:amd64
 libgusb2:amd64
+libgxps2t64:amd64
 libhandy-1-0:amd64
 libharfbuzz-gobject0:amd64
 libharfbuzz-icu0:amd64
@@ -611,6 +621,7 @@
 libhyphen0:amd64
 libice6:amd64
 libicu72:amd64
+libicu76:amd64
 libidn12:amd64
 libidn2-0:amd64
 libiec61883-0:amd64
@@ -635,6 +646,7 @@
 libiw30t64:amd64
 libjack-jackd2-0:amd64
 libjansson4:amd64
+libjavascriptcoregtk-4.1-0:amd64
 libjbig0:amd64
 libjbig2dec0:amd64
 libjemalloc2:amd64
@@ -642,13 +654,14 @@
 libjpeg-turbo-progs
 libjpeg62-turbo:amd64
 libjs-jquery
+libjs-mathjax
 libjs-sphinxdoc
 libjs-underscore
 libjson-c5:amd64
 libjson-glib-1.0-0:amd64
 libjson-glib-1.0-common
 libjte2:amd64
-libjxl0.9:amd64
+libjxl0.11:amd64
 libjxr-tools
 libjxr0t64:amd64
 libk5crypto3:amd64
@@ -656,6 +669,7 @@
 libkeyutils1:amd64
 libklibc:amd64
 libkmod2:amd64
+libkpathsea6:amd64
 libkrb5-3:amd64
 libkrb5support0:amd64
 libksba8:amd64
@@ -665,8 +679,8 @@
 liblc3-1:amd64
 liblcms2-2:amd64
 libldacbt-enc2:amd64
-libldap-2.5-0:amd64
 libldap-common
+libldap2:amd64
 libldb2:amd64
 liblerc4:amd64
 liblightdm-gobject-1-0:amd64
@@ -683,6 +697,7 @@
 liblouisutdml9t64:amd64
 liblqr-1-0:amd64
 liblrdf0:amd64
+liblsof0
 libltc11:amd64
 libltdl7:amd64
 liblvm2cmd2.03:amd64
@@ -693,12 +708,13 @@
 liblzo2-2:amd64
 libmagic-mgc
 libmagic1t64:amd64
-libmagickcore-6.q16-7-extra:amd64
-libmagickcore-6.q16-7t64:amd64
-libmagickwand-6.q16-7t64:amd64
+libmagickcore-7.q16-10:amd64
+libmagickcore-7.q16-10-extra:amd64
+libmagickwand-7.q16-10:amd64
 libmailtools-perl
+libmanette-0.2-0:amd64
 libmaxminddb0:amd64
-libmbedcrypto7t64:amd64
+libmbedcrypto16:amd64
 libmbim-glib4:amd64
 libmbim-proxy
 libmbim-utils
@@ -718,7 +734,7 @@
 libmpfr6:amd64
 libmpg123-0t64:amd64
 libmplex2-2.1-0t64:amd64
-libmsgraph-0-1:amd64
+libmsgraph-1-1:amd64
 libmspub-0.1-1:amd64
 libmtdev1t64:amd64
 libmtp-common
@@ -770,13 +786,15 @@
 libnvme1t64
 libodfgen-0.1-1:amd64
 libogg0:amd64
+libonnx1t64:amd64
+libonnxruntime1.21:amd64
 libopenal-data
 libopenal1:amd64
 libopencore-amrnb0:amd64
 libopencore-amrwb0:amd64
 libopenexr-3-1-30:amd64
 libopengl0:amd64
-libopenh264-7:amd64
+libopenh264-8:amd64
 libopenjp2-7:amd64
 libopenmpt0t64:amd64
 libopenni2-0:amd64
@@ -800,7 +818,7 @@
 libpangomm-2.48-1t64:amd64
 libpangoxft-1.0-0:amd64
 libpaper-utils
-libpaper1:amd64
+libpaper2:amd64
 libparted-fs-resize0t64:amd64
 libparted2t64:amd64
 libpcap0.8t64:amd64
@@ -822,26 +840,28 @@
 libpolkit-agent-1-0:amd64
 libpolkit-gobject-1-0
 libpolkit-gobject-elogind-1-0:amd64
-libpoppler-cpp1:amd64
+libpoppler-cpp2:amd64
 libpoppler-glib8t64:amd64
-libpoppler140:amd64
+libpoppler147:amd64
 libpopt0:amd64
 libpostproc58:amd64
 libproc2-0:amd64
 libprotobuf-c1:amd64
+libprotobuf32t64:amd64
 libproxy1v5:amd64
 libpsl5t64:amd64
+libpthreadpool0:amd64
 libpulse-mainloop-glib0:amd64
 libpulse0:amd64
 libpulsedsp:amd64
 libpython3-stdlib:amd64
-libpython3.12-minimal:amd64
-libpython3.12-stdlib:amd64
-libpython3.12t64:amd64
+libpython3.13:amd64
+libpython3.13-minimal:amd64
+libpython3.13-stdlib:amd64
 libqmi-glib5:amd64
 libqmi-proxy
 libqmi-utils
-libqpdf29t64:amd64
+libqpdf30:amd64
 libqrencode4:amd64
 libqrtr-glib0:amd64
 libqxp-0.0-0
@@ -853,6 +873,7 @@
 libraw1394-11:amd64
 libraw23t64:amd64
 librdf0t64:amd64
+libre2-11:amd64
 libreadline8t64:amd64
 libreoffice-base-core
 libreoffice-calc
@@ -909,7 +930,6 @@
 libsmbclient0:amd64
 libsnappy1v5:amd64
 libsndfile1:amd64
-libsndio7.0:amd64
 libsnmp-base
 libsnmp40t64:amd64
 libsodium23:amd64
@@ -923,6 +943,7 @@
 libsoxr0:amd64
 libspa-0.2-modules:amd64
 libspandsp2t64:amd64
+libspectre1:amd64
 libspeechd2:amd64
 libspeex1:amd64
 libspeexdsp1:amd64
@@ -942,9 +963,9 @@
 libsvtav1enc2:amd64
 libswresample5:amd64
 libswscale8:amd64
-libtag1v5:amd64
-libtag1v5-vanilla:amd64
-libtagc0:amd64
+libsynctex2:amd64
+libtag-c2:amd64
+libtag2:amd64
 libtalloc2:amd64
 libtasn1-6:amd64
 libtdb1:amd64
@@ -957,6 +978,8 @@
 libthai-data
 libthai0:amd64
 libtheora0:amd64
+libtheoradec1:amd64
+libtheoraenc1:amd64
 libthunarx-3-0:amd64
 libtie-ixhash-perl
 libtiff6:amd64
@@ -1020,14 +1043,16 @@
 libwayland-egl1:amd64
 libwayland-server0:amd64
 libwbclient0:amd64
+libwebkit2gtk-4.1-0:amd64
 libwebp7:amd64
 libwebpdemux2:amd64
 libwebpmux3:amd64
-libwebrtc-audio-processing1:amd64
+libwebrtc-audio-processing-1-3:amd64
 libwildmidi2:amd64
 libwmflite-0.2-7:amd64
 libwnck-3-0:amd64
 libwnck-3-common
+libwoff1:amd64
 libwpd-0.10-10:amd64
 libwpg-0.3-3:amd64
 libwps-0.4-4:amd64
@@ -1039,7 +1064,7 @@
 libx11-protocol-perl
 libx11-xcb1:amd64
 libx264-164:amd64
-libx265-209:amd64
+libx265-215:amd64
 libxapian30:amd64
 libxatracker2:amd64
 libxau6:amd64
@@ -1071,6 +1096,8 @@
 libxfce4util-bin
 libxfce4util-common
 libxfce4util7:amd64
+libxfce4windowing-0-0:amd64
+libxfce4windowing-common
 libxfconf-0-3:amd64
 libxfixes3:amd64
 libxfont2:amd64
@@ -1094,6 +1121,7 @@
 libxmlsec1t64-nss:amd64
 libxmu6:amd64
 libxmuu1:amd64
+libxnnpack0.20241108:amd64
 libxnvctrl0:amd64
 libxpm4:amd64
 libxpresent1:amd64
@@ -1113,6 +1141,7 @@
 libxxf86vm1:amd64
 libxxhash0:amd64
 libyajl2:amd64
+libyaml-0-2:amd64
 libyuv0:amd64
 libz3-4:amd64
 libzbar0t64:amd64
@@ -1128,8 +1157,9 @@
 lightdm
 lightdm-gtk-greeter
 linux-base
-linux-image-6.11.4-amd64
+linux-image-6.12.17-amd64
 linux-image-amd64
+linux-sysctl-defaults
 live-boot
 live-boot-doc
 live-boot-initramfs-tools
@@ -1143,11 +1173,12 @@
 login.defs
 logrotate
 logsave
-lp-solve
 lsb-release
 lsof
 luit
 lvm2
+lxpolkit
+lxsession-data
 lynx
 lynx-common
 mailcap
@@ -1176,9 +1207,11 @@
 netbase
 netcat-traditional
 network-manager
-network-manager-gnome
+network-manager-applet
+network-manager-l10n
 nfs-common
 nftables
+nm-connection-editor
 node-clipboard
 node-normalize.css
 node-prismjs
@@ -1210,7 +1243,6 @@
 pkexec
 plocate
 pocketsphinx-en-us
-policykit-1-gnome
 polkitd
 poppler-data
 poppler-utils
@@ -1226,7 +1258,6 @@
 python-apt-common-devuan
 python3
 python3-apt
-python3-autocommand
 python3-brlapi:amd64
 python3-cairo
 python3-certifi
@@ -1243,18 +1274,13 @@
 python3-gi
 python3-gi-cairo
 python3-idna
-python3-inflect
-python3-jaraco.context
-python3-jaraco.functools
 python3-louis
 python3-minimal
-python3-more-itertools
 python3-musicbrainzngs
 python3-mutagen
 python3-ntp
 python3-olefile
 python3-pil:amd64
-python3-pkg-resources
 python3-pyasyncore
 python3-pygments
 python3-pyinotify
@@ -1264,13 +1290,11 @@
 python3-sgmllib3k
 python3-smbc
 python3-speechd
-python3-typeguard
-python3-typing-extensions
 python3-uno
 python3-urllib3
 python3-xdg
-python3.12
-python3.12-minimal
+python3.13
+python3.13-minimal
 quodlibet
 readline-common
 refractainstaller-base
@@ -1380,6 +1404,9 @@
 xbitmaps
 xbrlapi
 xcvt
+xdg-dbus-proxy
+xdg-desktop-portal
+xdg-desktop-portal-gtk
 xdg-user-dirs
 xdg-utils
 xfburn
@@ -1398,6 +1425,8 @@
 xfce4-helpers
 xfce4-mailwatch-plugin
 xfce4-netload-plugin:amd64
+xfce4-notes
+xfce4-notes-plugin
 xfce4-notifyd
 xfce4-panel
 xfce4-places-plugin:amd64
@@ -1437,6 +1466,8 @@
 xorg
 xorg-docs-core
 xorriso
+xsane
+xsane-common
 xscreensaver
 xscreensaver-data
 xscreensaver-gl
@@ -1453,6 +1484,7 @@
 xserver-xorg-video-fbdev
 xserver-xorg-video-intel
 xserver-xorg-video-nouveau
+xserver-xorg-video-qxl
 xserver-xorg-video-radeon
 xserver-xorg-video-vesa
 xserver-xorg-video-vmware

greenjeans · 2025-03-24 16:33:17

Downloading now.

greenjeans · 2025-03-24 17:36:39

In live session now of the March version, got the same error screen. Hitting "quit" turns off the top panel and I get no panels. Hitting "remove" gets me both panels.

Poking around now.

In /etc/xdg/xfce4/panel/default.xml-devuan-sapphire between line 104 and 105 does it need another </property> to close 103-104, i'm not skilled at xml, but looks like the closing tag at 105 is actually the closing tag for line 49 and 103-104 doesn't have one.

Bunch of panel errors in .xsession-errors, also some errors about the monitor and various _NET_CURRENT_DESKTOP errors.

Noted that it's only on first log-in to root or user account that I get the error, after that it's smooth sailing logging back on to either account.

Last edited by greenjeans (2025-03-24 18:47:57)

greenjeans · 2025-03-24 19:24:12

Just noticed in the file I mentioned above /etc/xdg/xfce4/panel/default.xml-devuan-sapphire, that at the top part of the file it gives out plugin-ids from 1-22,
and in the bottom section it defines those plugin-ids but there is no definition for 7 it just skips from 6 to 8, and that's right about where it hangs up in the process, number 7 would be in the middle of the top panel somewhere and that's where it stops loading for me and gives the error message.

So maybe it tries to load a 7, can't find it and doesn't know what to call it but "(null)", and just knows it doesn't work so halts the process?

EDIT: so in the user session I edited that file, and took out the plugin-id line at the top for number 7 and saved, then logged out and logged in as root for the first time in this session, and there was no error.

EDIT2: repeated that procedure above and again no error. Need a way to edit that file before it loads user to be able to test on user account, not sure how to do that during live-boot-up. the deepsea xml in that folder also has the same issue.

Can you get into a tty from the live-session grub screen and edit with nano?

Last edited by greenjeans (2025-03-24 20:39:24)

dzz · 2025-03-25 13:38:38

Can you get into a tty from the live-session grub screen and edit with nano?

One way is to add "1" (no quotes) to the cmdline (boot menu). Enter root password "toor" then you can run nano. That done, enter "init 2" to continue normal boot.

Confirmed here, after taking out the line for plugin 7 (EDIT: line 22) in /etc/xdg/xfce4/panel/default.xml-devuan-sapphire the error is gone.

EDIT (more):

dpkg -S /etc/xdg/xfce4/panel/default.xml-devuan-sapphire
desktop-base: /etc/xdg/xfce4/panel/default.xml-devuan-sapphire

There's the cause! Also, the offending plugin is undefined in default.xml-deepsea ..

I can't see what default.xml.dpkg-new is there for, nothing seems to own it.

Last edited by dzz (2025-03-25 16:17:33)

greenjeans · 2025-03-25 17:16:39

One way is to add "1" (no quotes) to the cmdline (boot menu). Enter root password "toor" then you can run nano. That done, enter "init 2" to continue normal boot.

Appreciate that dzz, adding that to my cheatsheet (i'm getting old so I gotta write things down these days, lol).

fsmithred · 2025-03-25 23:59:42

Thanks, guys. I made the edits and built the package locally and managed to test it in the March live iso. It works. I'll push the changes and get a new package into the repo.

dev-1-dash-1 · 2025-04-02 04:12:17

Using this iso:

6fe3b7ad120e7afdf49cb6bcbe21be0dc27bbe65835db7f063517655fed31817  devuan_excalibur_6.0-preview-2025-03-22_amd64_desktop-live.iso

Iso on hdd, grub entry to boot it:

menuentry "devuan_excalibur_6.0-preview-2025-03-22" 
{
    insmod part_gpt
    search --no-floppy --label linux_iso --set root
    set isofile="/devuan_excalibur_6.0-preview-2025-03-22_amd64_desktop-live.iso"
    loopback loop ($root)$isofile
    linux (loop)/live/vmlinuz boot=live fromiso=/dev/disk/by-label/linux_iso$isofile username=devuan apparmor=0
    initrd (loop)/live/initrd.img
}

Equivalent entries work well for all earlier devuan versions.

Just tested it and I do get the (null) plugin error initially. Have to click "remove", or click "quit". Clicking quit removes the panel, I then have to open terminal by right-clicking on desktop, and manually running the panel again.

If I log out and then back in through the lightdm login screen as "devuan" user, the error doesn't happen.

One time the screen froze, no mouse movement or anything, though I could see hdd still working. Only hard power off helped.

I only get Ctrl-Alt-F1 screen where I see the boot log, but no login prompt, and the Ctrl-Alt-F7 screen with X.
Ctrl-Alt-F{2,3,4,5,6} screens are not available. So there's no possibility to log in using just the console.

I had problems accessing deb.devuan.org, but that's probably a network problem, not a devuan one. Fixed by specifying us.deb.devuan.org in sources.list.

Couldn't build zfs packages in the live session, it tried to install zfs-initramfs, but couldn't, told me something like "running in live environment, file system is readonly, so can't modify initramfs". And withoud that package, other packages do not install.
Again, probably not a devuan problem, but I could always build zfs packages in devuan live sessions before. Maybe will retry with "toram=1" to have a proper read-write root fs.

Other than that, video device works fine, network works fine, so it's usable.

That's it for the moment.

fsmithred · 2025-04-03 10:23:42

Package is built and currently in ceres. It'll move down to excalibur in a few days. I built a new iso and uploaded it to the same directory where the others were. If someone wants to figure out why the desktop background is getting clobbered by the default xfce bg, I would be happy to accept additional changes to the package.

@dev-1-dash-1 - I can't think of a reason that building zfs would be different. The excalibur isos are made the same way as the daedalus isos. If you boot with 'toram' you can probably do it, but it won't be saved. Maybe you set up a persistent partition when you did it before? Or maybe you did it in the live session and then installed to hard drive before rebooting. That would save the changes.

fsmithred · 2025-04-03 15:43:50

One more thought regarding the zfs issue. The live isos have the live-tools package installed which replaces update-initramfs with one that won't update in the live session. You could try uninstalling live-tools first and then see if it works. Or, if you get to call update-initramfs manually during the zfs install, call the original update-initramfs. It's there under a slightly modified name -
/usr/sbin/update-initramfs.orig.initramfs-tools

dev-1-dash-1 · 2025-04-04 02:58:15

Hi @fsmithred, thanks for you replies here.

I am wget'ting the new iso right now and will test it.

Regarding zfs - don't worry too much about it, it's not a hard requirement for devuan specifically. It may become a somewhat hard requirement if the equivalent debian live iso can do it but the devuan one can't. But we're too early in the freeze cycle to do extensive tests like that, I think.

BUT I was always able to do it in the live iso, since jessie. Sometimes I do have to heck around a bit before I get it to work.

The live isos have the live-tools package installed which replaces update-initramfs with one that won't update in the live session. You could try uninstalling live-tools first and then see if it works. Or, if you get to call update-initramfs manually during the zfs install, call the original update-initramfs. It's there under a slightly modified name -
/usr/sbin/update-initramfs.orig.initramfs-tools

This is useful info, but I have one follow-up question here: has anything changed specifically with the update-initramfs functionality since daedalus live isos?

dev-1-dash-1 · 2025-04-04 05:06:00

Grabbed the new iso.

The (null) plugin error does not happen anymore.

Managed to build zfs and import the pools - had to manually install the kernel headers of the appropriate version, they are available in the repo, but not listed in the requirements for zfs-dkms, I think, and they WERE required and thus got auto-installed in previous versions. This is quite a big test, if this worked, means system is in a good shape already.

Have no idea why the wallpaper get auto-covered with the default xfce one. I right clicked on desktop, and it shows all the devuan ones, and an appropriate dark-blue one is even selected/highlighted, but still the wallpaper gets auto-changed. If this is the biggest problem, I wouldn't worry about it too much until we're farther in the freeze-cycle.

The biggest "WTF" for me is:
Why the hell I don't have a command line in ctrl-alt-f1, and ctrl-alt-f2 up to ctrl-alt-f6 are black screens ?!

dev-1-dash-1 · 2025-04-04 05:09:48

Slightly offtop, different version - I couldn't build zfs-dkms in daedalus live iso session. Or, rather, the modules got build, but for a wrong kernel version.
This is because kernel is something like 6.1.0-10, and the earliest headers available in the repos (that I could find) are something like 6.1.0-20-something.

Any way to get an earlier version of headers? Or do I have to download latest daedalus live image?

Also the command "fc-match monospace" return "deja vu sans mono" on all versions (including the excalibur preview), but on daedalus it return "noto sans mono", which shouldn't be the case, in my opinion.

fsmithred · 2025-04-04 09:42:32

The latest devuan daedalus live isos are the same ones that have been there all along. We haven't done a point release. You might have better luck using a Refracta iso. Latest daedalus isos I made were in February of this year with 6.1.0-31 kernel and headers installed. https://get.refracta.org/files/daedalus/

I'll make a live usb and boot on hardware to investigate the VT problem.

dev-1-dash-1 · 2025-04-04 10:34:52

Regarding daedalus - that's not an urgent problem or something. It's just that I was always able to find kernel headers of appropriate version in the live image, from jessie to chimaera, and also now on the excalibur preview. Just keep that in mind IF you're going to make a point release of daedalus for some more serious reason, try and make sure the kernel is of a version that has matching headers in the repos.

I'll make a live usb and boot on hardware to investigate the VT problem.

That may be a good idea. If you do, please report the results in this thread.

I was able to get to the command line by booting to runlevel 1, but not in any other way.

fsmithred · 2025-04-04 12:49:47

This is the same problem I was running into with no-X isos I'm building. It might be a live-config problem. Not sure. Ran into it with sysvinit and runit builds.

At the boot screen press TAB to edit the boot menu and add something... (press e if it's a grub boot screen)

Add 'nottyautologin' and you will boot to the desktop with tty1-6 available with ctrl-alt-fn.
Add 'noautologin' and you will be booted to the graphical login screen. tty1-6 will work.

if you add 'nox11autologin' you'll get graphical login screen but no ttys.

I tried disabling the graphical desktop with various cominations of the above and also 'nocomponents=xinit,xserver-xorg,lightdm' but it keeps going to the desktop. Recently I made some live isos without a display manager and I was able to get it to boot to console login and stay there once I logged in. Without the nocomponents it would go right to the desktop when logging into console.

dev-1-dash-1 · 2025-04-04 13:48:54

Add 'nottyautologin' and you will boot to the desktop with tty1-6 available with ctrl-alt-fn.

Yes, this works and gives the behaviour I expected from it - autologin to desktop, but all ttys are available for login in the background.
This should be the default behaviour, no?

I had problems with launching mc in tty, VERY garbled text output.
Launching it with LC_ALL=c mc fixed it.

BTW if it were up to me, I would probably include mc on the live cd.

ceeslans · 2025-04-04 14:32:30

If someone wants to figure out why the desktop background is getting clobbered by the default xfce bg, I would be happy to accept additional changes to the package.

Same issue came up in the MX forum at the time that Xfce was upgraded to v/4.20 : https://forum.mxlinux.org/viewtopic.php?t=83423

I ran the suggested xfconf-query command in a excalibur test install, which solved the unwanted default-xfce background overlay

xfconf-query -c xfce4-desktop -p /backdrop/single-workspace-number -s 1 -t int --create

Last edited by ceeslans (2025-04-04 14:36:19)

fsmithred · 2025-04-04 17:01:50

That xfconf-query command didn't work for me. I tried it a few ways in a live session and in an installed session. I also tried copying the file from /etc/xdg/xfce4 that it's supposed to be using into my home configs, and it still got clobbered on logout/in. But if I go through selecting the background in the xfce settings, the change persists after logging out.

I think maybe the xfce4-desktop.xml template in desktop-base needs to be updated to one from the excalibur version. There's probably something in the newer one that xfce needs to see so it won't clobber. Oy. Anyone want to become a package maintainer?

I'm also ok with leaving it the way it is. It doesn't look terrible and the colors are ok with the default theme.

fsmithred · 2025-04-04 17:20:05

@dev-1-dash-1: The default behavior for live-config was to have you logged in on all six ttys automatically. So if you dropped to console from the desktop, you would already be logged in.

I couldn't reproduce the problem you got with mc, but I'm adding LANG=C.UTF-8 to /etc/default/locale in the next build.

fsmithred · 2025-04-04 19:03:52

New one - nottyautologin, LANG=C.UTF-8, +mc
https://get.refracta.org/files/experime … p-live.iso

dev-1-dash-1 · 2025-04-05 05:28:29

Just tested a beowulf and a daedalus live images -
Tty autologin works on both of them - there's a working command line of ttys 1-6, already logged on.
Mc output is garbled on both of them, in tty, unlike on desktop, where it works.

So on excalibur it's the autologin on tty that doesn't work. Ideal is to keep same behaviour as previous versions, i.e. autologin.
But a working login prompt is infinitely better than a black screen that doesn't respond to anything.

@fsmithred, please clarify, were you able to reproduce the tty non-working console problem on your hardware?

The xfconf-query command did not work for me.

I have a feeling this problem may resolve itself on it's own (i.e. get fixed upstream) as we get closer to release.

But, for now: where exactly does xfce store the desktop background info? Is it a conf file, or some dconf/registry kind of thing?
Also, I think we should pay attention to "apply to all workspaces" checkbox in the desktop background selection screen.

Worst case, dirty and ugly but probably working hack: replace the file with the xfce default wallpaper with the devuan one :-)

dev-1-dash-1 · 2025-04-05 05:30:01

Regarding mc - I think if we have space for libreoffice, we can afford to include mc.
It may be added to refracta blacklist so as not to persist to user desktops.

Slackware live images include mc by default.

Camtaf · 2025-04-05 07:38:18

I used to always add mc - screen - sc/scim as I liked to use them at the command line; they don't take up much room, but along with vi/vim, they make a nice set of tools.

Last edited by Camtaf (2025-04-05 07:38:46)

fsmithred · 2025-04-05 12:04:30

Yes I was able to reproduce the no-consoles problem.

mc has been added. (I thought it was already there.)

desktop-base configs are complicated. The config file that should get used is a symbolic link in /etc/xdg that points to a symbolic link in /etc/alternatives, and that one points back to a config file in /etc/xdg that is specific for the theme. Those files have the theme name in the filename. The whole mess is controlled by the alternatives system.

Files to look at would include:
/etc/xdg/xfce4/xfconf/xfce4-perchannel-xml/xfce4-desktop.xml-devuan-sapphire (and the one without -devuan-sapphire)
/home/devuan/.config/xfce4/xfconf/xfce4-perchannel-xml/xfce4-desktop.xml
/etc/alternatives/desktop-background
/etc/alternatives/desktop-background.xml
/usr/share/desktop-base/

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#1 2025-03-24 16:01:15

Preliminary excalibur desktop-live isos need testing

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Re: Preliminary excalibur desktop-live isos need testing

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Re: Preliminary excalibur desktop-live isos need testing

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Re: Preliminary excalibur desktop-live isos need testing

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Re: Preliminary excalibur desktop-live isos need testing

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Re: Preliminary excalibur desktop-live isos need testing

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Re: Preliminary excalibur desktop-live isos need testing

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Re: Preliminary excalibur desktop-live isos need testing

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Re: Preliminary excalibur desktop-live isos need testing

#10 2025-04-03 15:43:50

Re: Preliminary excalibur desktop-live isos need testing

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Re: Preliminary excalibur desktop-live isos need testing

#12 2025-04-04 05:06:00

Re: Preliminary excalibur desktop-live isos need testing

#13 2025-04-04 05:09:48

Re: Preliminary excalibur desktop-live isos need testing

#14 2025-04-04 09:42:32

Re: Preliminary excalibur desktop-live isos need testing

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Re: Preliminary excalibur desktop-live isos need testing

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Re: Preliminary excalibur desktop-live isos need testing

#17 2025-04-04 13:48:54

Re: Preliminary excalibur desktop-live isos need testing

#18 2025-04-04 14:32:30

Re: Preliminary excalibur desktop-live isos need testing

#19 2025-04-04 17:01:50

Re: Preliminary excalibur desktop-live isos need testing

#20 2025-04-04 17:20:05

Re: Preliminary excalibur desktop-live isos need testing

#21 2025-04-04 19:03:52

Re: Preliminary excalibur desktop-live isos need testing

#22 2025-04-05 05:28:29

Re: Preliminary excalibur desktop-live isos need testing

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Re: Preliminary excalibur desktop-live isos need testing

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Re: Preliminary excalibur desktop-live isos need testing

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