Devuan 4 Chimaera Release Notes
Index
* Introduction
* New in this Release
* Getting Devuan 4 Chimaera
* Upgrading to Devuan 4 Chimaera
* Notes on Specific Packages and Issues
+ exim
+ su
+ podman
+ wicd
+ Blank Display on Ryzen and other recent AMD CPUs
+ Xfce missing application menu icons
* Devuan Package Repositories
* Non-free firmware
* Devuan package information pages
* Reporting bugs
Introduction
This document includes technical notes relevant to Devuan 4 Chimaera.
Devuan 4 Chimaera is based on Debian 11 Bullseye. Much of the
information in [1]Debian's Release Notes is relevant and useful. They
should be consulted alongside this document.
More information and support on specific issues can be obtained by:
* subscribing to the [2]DNG mailing list
* visiting the [3]Devuan user forum
* asking on one of the [4]Devuan IRC channels on libera.chat:
+ #devuan - general discussion and support about Devuan
+ #devuan-arm - specific support for ARM
New in this Release
Accessibility
The installer for Devuan 4 Chimaera is based on the Debian 11
installer. This means that the procedures described on Debian's [5]wiki
accessibility page for starting the Debian installer with software
speech, hardware speech synthesizer or a refreshable braille display,
also apply to the Devuan installer.
New in Devuan 4 Chimaera is the ability to install a desktop
environment without also installing pulseaudio in the installed system.
This enables speech synthesis in both a graphical and console session
at the same time. This configuration is created by the
task-speech-accessibility and devuan-speech-dispatcher-config-override
packages which are installed by default when the "Install with Speech
Synthesis" option ("s <enter>" on BIOS systems, "s" on UEFI systems at
the boot prompt) is selected.
If you are installing a console only system and do not require this
compatibility you may choose to disable task-speech-accessibility which
will prevent installing orca with its graphical dependencies.
Note that slim (the default Display Manager for xfce) is not
accessible. Be sure to install lightdm or gdm3 if you require an
accessible Display Manager.
Desktops and Display Managers
Improved support for elogind means that virtually all desktops[1] and
display managers in Debian are now also available in Devuan. Newly
available display managers in Devuan 4 Chimaera include gdm3 and sddm.
The lxde desktop is also a new addition.
[1] parl requires systemd and is not available.
Getting Devuan 4 Chimaera
Devuan 4 Chimaera is available for i386, amd64, armel, armhf, arm64 and
ppc64el architectures.
Installer isos and live CDs for i386 and amd64 are [6]available for
download at http://files.devuan.org/devuan_chimaera/.
Mini isos and other specialist installation media for all release
architectures are available from
http://deb.devuan.org/devuan/dists/chimaera/main/installer-{ARCH}/curre
nt/images/.
Please consider using one of the many [7]mirrors, listed at
[8]https://devuan.org/get-devuan.
Detailed instructions on how to use each image are available in the
corresponding README.txt file. The SHA256SUMS of each set of images is
signed by the developer in charge of the build. The fingerprints of
[9]GPG keys of all Devuan developers are listed at
[10]https://devuan.org/os/team.
In order to check that the images you downloaded are genuine and not
corrupted, you should:
* download the image(s)
* download the corresponding SHA256SUMS and SHA256SUMS.asc files in
the same folder
* verify the checksums by running:
sha256sum -c SHA256SUMS
(it could complain about missing files, but should show an "OK"
close to the images you have actually downloaded)
* verify the signature running:
gpg --no-default-keyring --keyring ./devuan-devs.gpg --verify
SHA256SUMS.asc
(assuming that you have put the GPG keys in the keyring named
devuan-devs.gpg. YMMV)
The devuan-devs.gpg keyring is provided only for convenience. The most
correct procedure to verify that the signatures are authentic is by
downloading the relevant public keys from a trusted keyserver,
double-check that the fingerprint of the key matches that of the
developer reported on [11]https://devuan.org/os/team and then use that
key for verification.
Docker images
[12]Unofficial docker images for all Devuan releases including Devuan 4
Chimaera are also available. They are prepared and supported by
paddy-hack and jaromil and are updated daily.
Related documentation is also available:
* [13]https://github.com/dyne/docker-devuan-builds
* [14]https://gitlab.com/paddy-hack/devuan/
Upgrading to Devuan 4 Chimaera
Direct and easy upgrade path from Devuan Chimaera and migration path
from Debian Bullseye to Devuan 4 Chimaera are [15]available at
[16]https://devuan.org/os/install.
If you are already on Chimaera, run this command to get to the current
release version:
apt-get update && apt-get upgrade && apt-get dist-upgrade
Notes on Specific Packages and Issues
exim 4.94
Please consider the version of exim in Devuan 4 Chimaera a major exim
upgrade. It introduces the concept of tainted data read from untrusted
sources, like e.g. message sender or recipient. This tainted data (e.g.
$local_part or $domain) cannot be used among other things as a file or
directory name or command name.
This will break configurations which are not updated accordingly. Old
Debian exim configuration files also will not work unmodified; the new
configuration needs to be installed with local modifications merged in.
Typical nonworking examples include:
* Delivery to /var/mail/$local_part.
Use $local_part_data in combination with check_local_user.
* Using
data = ${lookup{$local_part}lsearch{/some/path/$domain/aliases}}
instead of
data =
${lookup{$local_part}lsearch{/some/path/$domain_data/aliases}}
for a virtual domain alias file.
The basic strategy for dealing with this change is to use the result of
a lookup in further processing instead of the original (remote
provided) value.
To ease upgrading there is a new main configuration option to
temporarily downgrade taint errors to warnings, letting the old
configuration work with the newer exim. To make use of this feature add
.ifdef _OPT_MAIN_ALLOW_INSECURE_TAINTED_DATA
allow_insecure_tainted_data = yes
.endif
to the exim configuration (e.g. to /etc/exim4/exim4.conf.localmacros)
before upgrading and check the logfile for taint warnings. This is a
temporary workaround which is already marked for removal on
introduction.
su
The behaviour of su changed in Devuan 3 Beowulf. These changes persist
in Devuan 4 Chimaera. Use su - to get root's path or use the full path
to commands if you use only su. See the following for more information:
-
[17]https://www.debian.org/releases/buster/amd64/release-notes/ch-infor
mation.en.html#su-environment-variables -
[18]https://wiki.debian.org/NewInBuster -
[19]https://bugs.debian.org/905564
podman
Debian's podman package only works on Devuan after reconfiguration. The
easiest way to achieve this is to install the
debian-podman-config-override package which sets suitable defaults for
Devuan systems.
wicd
Wicd is no longer available in Devuan 4 Chimaera having been removed
from Debian Bullseye because of it's dependency on python2 which is now
obsolete.
Alternative network managers are available:
* connman (default for lxde)
* network-manager (default for xfce, mate, cinnamon and kde via
plasma-nm)
* cmst (default for lxqt)
* ifupdown (configuration guide [20]here or locally on the
[21]installer isos)
Blank Display on Ryzen and other recent AMD CPUs
If you have a Ryzen or other new AMD CPUs and find that the system
boots to black screen, installation of the firmware-amd-graphics
package from the non-free repository is required to fix the issue.
Xfce missing application menu icons
If, after upgrading from Devuan 3 Beowulf, Xfce application menu icons
are missing, run the command
xfconf-query -c xsettings -p /Gtk/MenuImages -t bool -s true
--create
which will recreate the required default configuration.
[22]Further information: https://forum.xfce.org/viewtopic.php?id=15085.
Devuan Package Repositories
Thanks to the support of many volunteers and donors, Devuan has a
network of package repository mirrors. The mirror network is accessible
using the FQDN [23]deb.devuan.org.
Starting from Devuan 2.0 ASCII, users should exclusively use
[24]deb.devuan.org in their sources.list file, e.g.:
deb http://deb.devuan.org/merged chimaera main
deb http://deb.devuan.org/merged chimaera-security main
deb http://deb.devuan.org/merged chimaera-updates main
deb http://deb.devuan.org/devuan chimaera-proposed main
Along with the above URLs, the repositories are also accessible using
the Tor network, by using our hidden service address:
deb tor+http://devuanfwojg73k6r.onion/merged chimaera main
deb tor+http://devuanfwojg73k6r.onion/merged chimaera-security main
deb tor+http://devuanfwojg73k6r.onion/merged chimaera-updates main
deb tor+http://devuanfwojg73k6r.onion/devuan chimaera-proposed main
More information is available at [25]https://devuan.org/os/packages.
All the mirrors contain the full Devuan package repository (all the
Devuan releases and all the suites). They are synced every 30 minutes
from the main Devuan package repository (pkgmaster.devuan.org) and are
continuously checked for sanity, integrity, and consistency. The
package repository network is accessed through a DNS Round-Robin.
The updated list of mirrors belonging to the network is available at
[26]http://pkgmaster.devuan.org/mirror_list.txt.
Users could also opt for directly accessing one of the mirrors in that
list using the corresponding BaseURL.
IMPORTANT NOTE: The package mirrors at [27]deb.devuan.org are signed
with the following GPG key:
pub rsa4096 2017-09-04 [SC] [expires: 2022-09-03]
E032601B7CA10BC3EA53FA81BB23C00C61FC752C
uid [ unknown] Devuan Repository (Amprolla3 on Nemesis
<repository@devuan.org>)
sub rsa4096 2017-09-04 [E] [expires: 2022-09-03]
The key is included in the devuan-keyring package. In order to use
[28]deb.devuan.org, you must have devuan-keyring_2017.10.03 or higher.
IMPORTANT NOTE: Devuan has discontinued the original set of Devuan
mirrors formerly available at auto.mirror.devuan.org and
{CC}.mirror.devuan.org. As a consequence, users should only use the new
set of mirrors via [29]deb.devuan.org.
Non-free firmware
All Devuan 4 Chimaera installation media make non-free firmware
packages available at install time. In the majority of the cases, these
packages are needed (and will be installed) only if your hardware
(usually wifi adapter) requires them. It is possible to avoid the
automatic installation and loading of needed non-free firmware by
choosing the "Expert install" option in the installation menu.
Devuan 4 Chimaera desktop-live and minimal-live images come with
non-free firmware packages pre-installed. You have the option of
removing those non-free firmware packages from the desktop-live and
minimal-live after boot, using the remove_firmware.sh script available
under /root.
Devuan package information pages
Devuan provides a service to display information about all the packages
available in Devuan. This can be accessed at
[30]https://pkginfo.devuan.org.
It is possible to search for package names matching a set of keywords,
and to visualise the description, dependencies, suggestions and
recommendations of each package.
Reporting bugs
No piece of software is perfect. And acknowledging this fact is the
first step towards improving our software base.
Devuan strongly believes in the cooperation of the community to find,
report and solve issues. If you think you have found a bug in a Devuan
package, please report it to [31]https://bugs.devuan.org.
The procedure to report bugs is quite simple: install and run
reportbug, a tool that will help you compiling the bug report and
including any relevant information for the maintainers.
reportbug assumes than you have a properly configured Mail User Agent
that can send emails (and that it knows about). If this is not the
case, you can still prepare your bug report with reportbug, save it (by
default reportbug will save the report under /tmp), and then use it as
a template for an email to [32]submit@bugs.devuan.org.
(NOTE: Devuan does not provide an open SMTP relay for reportbug yet. If
you don't know what this is about, you can safely ignore this
information).
When the bug report is processed, you will receive an email
confirmation indicating the number associated to the report.
Before reporting a bug, please check whether the very same problem has
been already experienced and reported by other users.
In general, issues with Devuan's own forked packages should be reported
to [33]Devuan's BTS. For unforked packages, bugs should usually be
fixed in Debian. reportbug can report issues directly to [34]Debian's
BTS by using the -B debian option.
References
1. https://www.debian.org/releases/bullseye/releasenotes
2. https://mailinglists.dyne.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/dng
3. https://dev1galaxy.org/
4. irc://irc.libera.chat/
5. https://wiki.debian.org/accessibility#Debian_installer_accessibility
6. http://files.devuan.org/devuan_chimaera/
7. https://devuan.org/get-devuan
8. https://devuan.org/get-devuan
9. https://devuan.org/os/team
10. https://devuan.org/os/team
11. https://devuan.org/os/team
12. https://hub.docker.com/r/dyne/devuan/tags?page=1&ordering=last_updated
13. https://github.com/dyne/docker-devuan-builds
14. https://gitlab.com/paddy-hack/devuan/
15. https://devuan.org/os/install
16. https://devuan.org/os/install
17. https://www.debian.org/releases/buster/amd64/release-notes/ch-information.en.html#su-environment-variables
18. https://wiki.debian.org/NewInBuster
19. https://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=905564
20. https://git.devuan.org/devuan/installer-iso/raw/branch/wip/docs/docs/docs/network-configuration.html
21. file:///home/mark/src/devuan/documentation/release-docs/network-configuration.html
22. https://forum.xfce.org/viewtopic.php?id=15085
23. http://deb.devuan.org/
24. http://deb.devuan.org/
25. https://devuan.org/os/packages
26. http://pkgmaster.devuan.org/mirror_list.txt
27. http://deb.devuan.org/
28. http://deb.devuan.org/
29. http://deb.devuan.org/
30. https://pkginfo.devuan.org/
31. https://bugs.devuan.org/
32. mailto:submit@bugs.devuan.org
33. https://bugs.devuan.org/
34. https://bugs.debian.org/