Carbs Linux

First Year of Carbs Linux

Cem Keylan — Thu, 10 Dec 2020

First Year of Carbs Linux

- -

December 10, 2020 marks the first year after the initial release of Carbs -Linux. When I forked the KISS Linux repository on the 9th of December, I was -fairly new to package management. Carbs Linux used to be almost identical to -KISS Linux. A lot has changed since then:

- -

[2020 Jan 13] Replaced default init system to sinit
[2020 Jan 15] Packaged WebKit2GTK
[2020 May 17] Added bearssl on the testing repository
[2020 May 28] Added rsync repository support to kiss
[2020 Jun 03] Replaced bison with byacc
[2020 Jun 11] Replaced libressl with bearssl
[2020 Jun 24] Replaced kiss with cpt

- - -

I have really enjoyed maintaining and developing this distribution, and I want -to thank everyone who was involved in some way or another. While I have slowed -down in development due to college workload, I am still actively maintaining all -the packages on the repository. I do have some ideas that I am thinking of -implementing during the semester break. Hope to see you all in January.

August 2020 News Post

root@carbslinux.org (Cem Keylan) — Mon, 03 Aug 2020 00:00:00 +0300

+ We are having some stalls during this summer, as I am currently working on + university-related stuff. Nonetheless, there are some important changes that I + want to share in this month's post. +

+ +

Carbs Packaging Tools
Docs
Re-opening the Carbs Linux server

+ +

Carbs Packaging Tools

+ This month I have reworked kiss into a new package manager, now renamed as + cpt. Updating kiss will now bootstrap the new package manager, so you don't + have to manually edit your system. If you don't like the idea of this, you can + look up the post-install script on core/kiss and apply the changes manually. +

+ +

+ You will also need to rename your KISS_* variables to CPT_*. So, KISS_PATH + becomes CPT_PATH. +

+ +

+ The rework changes the previous commands on the package manager into standalone + tools, and move the package manager functions to a library. This makes it easier + for a user to import functions and variables from the package manager, and + extend the package manager with their own intended way. Previously this required + ugly hacks and workarounds to use the package manager functions. I will be + making use of these changes to re-implement binary package management functions + as well. +

+ +

+ If you want to use the library on your script you can simply do this: +

+ +

#!/bin/sh
+    . cpt-lib
+    (...)
+

+ +

+ There are obviously some clean-up and simplifications needed in this new + tool-based package management method. +

+ +

Docs

+ I have added documentation for the distribution, and finally updated the guide + for installation. It is now almost complete. These docs can be installed to + your system for online viewing. I will also add a documentation crawler similar + to how werc works (but as an offline viewer). You can find carbs-docs from + the repository. Currently, the documentation lacks but I will be adding new + stuff. These will solely be distribution specific documentation and will not be + a wiki-like source. If anyone would like to contribute to a wiki-like + documentation source, I would happily re-open the distribution wiki. You can + find the source on https://github.com/CarbsLinux/docs. +

+ +

Re-opening the Carbs Linux server

+ Back in May, I had shutdown the Carbs Linux server due to financial issues, but + I am slowly reverting to the self-hosted model. Back then, the git repositories + were mirrored to GitHub, and the management was overall much more flexible. The + server used to run Carbs Linux as well (that was fun and horrifying at the same + time). Now, I will be relaunching the git server which will be the upstream + source before August 5. You can switch your remote, but GitHub will stay as a + remote nonetheless. +

+ +

+ EDIT: The git-server is up! +

August 2020 News Post

Cem Keylan — Mon, 03 Aug 2020

August 2020 News Post

- -

We are having some stalls during this summer, as I am currently working on -university-related stuff. Nonetheless, there are some important changes that I -want to share in this month’s post.

- -

INDEX

- -

Carbs Packaging Tools
Docs
Re-opening the Carbs Linux server

- - -

Carbs Packaging Tools

- -

This month I have reworked kiss into a new package manager, now renamed as -cpt. Updating kiss will now bootstrap the new package manager, so you don’t -have to manually edit your system. If you don’t like the idea of this, you can -look up the post-install script on core/kiss and apply the changes manually.

- -

You will also need to rename your KISS* variables to CPT*. So, KISS_PATH -becomes CPT_PATH.

- -

The rework changes the previous commands on the package manager into standalone -tools, and move the package manager functions to a library. This makes it easier -for a user to import functions and variables from the package manager, and -extend the package manager with their own intended way. Previously this required -ugly hacks and workarounds to use the package manager functions. I will be -making use of these changes to re-implement binary package management functions -as well.

- -

If you want to use the library on your script you can simply do this:

- -

+--------------------------------------------------------------------------+
-|                                                                          |
-| #!/bin/sh                                                                |
-| . cpt-lib                                                                |
-| (...)                                                                    |
-|                                                                          |
-+--------------------------------------------------------------------------+
-

- -

There are obviously some clean-up and simplifications needed in this new -tool-based package management method.

- -

Docs

- -

I have added documentation for the distribution, and finally updated the guide -for installation. It is now almost complete. These docs can be installed to -your system for online viewing. I will also add a documentation crawler similar -to how werc^1 works (but as an offline viewer). You can find carbs-docs from -the repository. Currently, the documentation lacks but I will be adding new -stuff. These will solely be distribution specific documentation and will not be -a wiki-like source. If anyone would like to contribute to a wiki-like -documentation source, I would happily re-open the distribution wiki. You can -find the source on https://github.com/CarbsLinux/docs

- -

Re-opening the Carbs Linux server

- -

Back in May, I had shutdown the Carbs Linux server due to financial issues, but -I am slowly reverting to the self-hosted model. Back then, the git repositories -were mirrored to GitHub, and the management was overall much more flexible. The -server used to run Carbs Linux as well (that was fun and horrifying at the same -time). Now, I will be relaunching the git server which will be the upstream -source before August 5. You can switch your remote, but GitHub will stay as a -remote nonetheless.

- -

EDIT: The git-server is up!

June Newspost

Cem Keylan — Wed, 17 Jun 2020

June Newspost

- -

This will be an active month for Carbs as major changes to the base and the -package manager will be coming up.

- -

Statically linking the base

- -

For the past couple of weeks I have been trying to simplify the base and -statically link the core (mostly binaries rather than libraries). I usually see -some people extremely opposed to static linking as I also see the opposite on -people.

- -

I believe that binaries on the core should always be linked statically. This -ensures that an SONAME bump to libObscure.so will not break the core -functionality of your system, forcing you to use external resources to recover -from such an issue. As long as you can compile, use core utilities, edit text, -and access the web, you can solve any given issue on your system.

- -

However, I don’t think that removing shared libraries is sensible either. Not -every piece of software out there is good quality enough to be statically -linked.

- -

Major changes on the core repository

- -

There have been drastic changes to the core repository and the base rootfs this -month (with more on the way). Right now changes are as follows.

- -

Removed from Core

- -

git
libressl
grub
bison
dhcpcd
ubase

- - -

Added to Core

- -

bearssl, as a libressl replacement
byacc, as a bison replacement

- - -

Statically linked

- -

kiss
neatvi
mandoc
byacc
m4
e2fsprogs
make
pkgconf
sbase
libnl
wpa_supplicant
bearssl

- - -

Making the wiki available offline

- -

Soon, all documentation regarding Carbs Linux will be avaialable to be installed -from the core repository in a carbs-docs package along with its own document -crawler. Currently, the documentation regarding the installation process is a -little outdated which will also receive some important updates.

- -

ISO image for Carbs

- -

I am thinking of releasing an ISO image in order to provide a standardized -environment for installation along with installation helper tools in the spirit -of arch-install-scripts. Let’s see how that’s going to play out.

kiss 2.0.0 and overall changes

Cem Keylan — Thu, 28 May 2020

+ Since I have forked KISS, I have received many questions that can be summarized + as "Why?". I have realized that I never truly answered this question. That's the + reason I am writing this post, to give some background on Carbs, and some + differences between KISS Linux and Carbs Linux for anyone who may be wondering. + Perhaps I could make this a "FAQ" page later on. +

+ +

History

+ I had the idea of creating my own Linux distribution since the May of 2019. Back + then, I had my own Linux from Scratch build, and I wanted to slim it down my + own way and replace the software (with musl,sbase,etc.). The name Carbs Linux + was in my mind since then. I wanted to write my own package manager, but I + wasn't satisfied with anything I had built. +

+ +

+ I had written some incomplete package managers (all named fat) and I quickly + threw them into the trash can, where they honestly belonged. I would want to + share them with you for laughs, but my hard-drive got wiped and I have a problem + of not doing an "initial commit" until a program I write is in a usable state. +

+ +

+ I have obtained the 'carbslinux.org' domain name in September 2019, but then + life got on the way, and I stopped for a long time. +

+ +

+ One day on Reddit, I saw Dylan's post on r/unixporn about KISS, and I really + thought that it was interesting. Here is my comment to Dylan on that post. I + checked out the package manager and the repository. The packaging system was + extremely clean and well-thought. I decided to give it a go and fork KISS. +

+ +

Differences between KISS and Carbs

+ Now, I still baffle when people ask me this question. My intention was never to + create a distribution with specific differences between KISS. My intention was + being my own BDFL of a distribution I maintain. There are lots of differences + between the main repositories, but they are subtle and not worth talking about. + I personally never even installed KISS Linux on my system. So Carbs, isn't + something like a downstream fork of KISS, it is just a distribution that was + initially based on KISS. +

+ +

+ I try to contribute as much as I can to KISS Linux. I think that it is a + brilliant distribution, and it was a great starting point for Carbs. I am really + grateful to Dylan and all the other contributors. +

+ +

What I'm working on now

+ Currently I have a few projects that I'm working on for Carbs. These are, +

+ +

+ A BSD port for Carbs. For a while, I have been working on BSD compatibility on + my fork of the [package manager]. I have tested, without any more issues, on + OpenBSD and FreeBSD. The biggest issues remaining are choosing a vendor for BSD, + packaging the BSD source, and providing a minimal base (like busybox for BSD). + If you aren't familiar with BSD, it has a single source code for all of the + utilities (kernel, command line programs, etc.). Contributions (even chipping in + ideas) are very welcome. +

+ +

+ Adding binary package distribution support natively to the package manager. + Biggest issue in small/old computers are compile times. This feature is for the + bigger packages such as webkit, clang, llvm that take a considerable amount of + time. Some computers with low memories cannot even compile firefox/webkit. +

+ +

+ Adding rsync repository support to the package manager. This is not a current + issue, but rather a futureproofing. As time passes, distribution repositories + grow larger. KISS and Carbs are young distributions without this problem right + now. But in something like 5 years, this size will presumably increase to + hundreds of megabytes. At that point it will be pointless to have the repository + sources unless you specifically need them. +

+ +

What's up with all the init/service daemons?

+ If you have ever checked the repository, you may have noticed that there are + lots of init/service related packages. I have had my fair share of time with all + of them, and it is an area that I am really interested in. I have even written + my own init daemon and service supervisor. I maintain all those packages on KISS + Community Repository as well with the exception of busybox. Those are, busybox + init/runit, runit, sinit, and sysmgr. I would definitely recommend + checking out shinit and sysmgr. +

+ +

Why I don't publicize Carbs

+ There are a couple of reasons I don't publicize Carbs a lot. +

+ +

+ KISS is the better alternative in terms of support and community. I work on + maintaining this distribution just as hard as Dylan, but in the end, Carbs is + based on his original hard work, and I believe that he deserves the recognition + more than I do. +

+ +

+ Since I cannot answer questions like "What is the difference?", I prefer staying + as the silent sibling project of KISS Linux. Plus, there is no point in dividing + the newly-emerging community in half. +

+ +

+ That's not because I don't have ideas for the future of Carbs, I do. I just + think that I will deserve the recognition once those above lists are checked. +

+ +

+ I think that's about it, if you have questions you can send me a mail, ping me + on IRC (my handle is merakor), and I will be happy to answer. Maybe your + question fits this post, and I can update it to thoroughly give an explanation. +

The Relation of Carbs and KISS

Cem Keylan — Fri, 08 May 2020

The Relation of Carbs and KISS

- -

Date: May 08 2020

- -

Since I have forked KISS, I have received many questions -that can be summarized as “Why?”. I have realized that I -never truly answered this question. That’s the reason I am -writing this post, to give some background on Carbs, and -some differences between KISS Linux and Carbs Linux for -anyone who may be wondering. Perhaps I could make this a -“FAQ” page later on.

- -

History

- -

I had the idea of creating my own Linux distribution since -the May of 2019. Back then, I had my own Linux from Scratch -build, and I wanted to slim it down my own way and replace -the software (with musl,sbase,etc.). The name Carbs Linux -was in my mind since then. I wanted to write my own package -manager, but I wasn’t satisfied with anything I had built.

- -

I had written some incomplete package managers (all named fat) -and I quickly threw them into the trash can, where they -honestly belonged. I would want to share them with you for -laughs, but my hard-drive got wiped and I have a problem -of not doing an “initial commit” until a program I write -is in a usable state.

- -

I have obtained the ‘carbslinux.org’ domain name in September -2019, but then life got on the way, and I stopped for a long -time.

- -

One day on Reddit, I saw Dylan’s post on r/unixporn about -KISS, and I really thought that it was interesting. Here is -my comment to Dylan on that post. I checked out the package -manager and the repository. The packaging system was extremely -clean and well-thought. I decided to give it a go and fork -KISS.

- -

Differences between KISS and Carbs

- -

Now, I still baffle when people ask me this question. My -intention was never to create a distribution with specific -differences between KISS. My intention was being my own -BDFL of a distribution I maintain. There are lots of -differences between the main repositories, but they are subtle -and not worth talking about. I personally never even installed -KISS Linux on my system. So Carbs, isn’t something like a -downstream fork of KISS, it is just a distribution that was -initially based on KISS.

- -

I try to contribute as much as I can to KISS Linux. I think -that it is a brilliant distribution, and it was a great starting -point for Carbs. I am really grateful to Dylan and all the -other contributors.

- -

What I’m working on now

- -

Currently I have a few projects that I’m working on for Carbs. -These are,

- -

A BSD port for Carbs. For a while, I have been working on BSD -compatibility on my fork of the package manager. I have tested, -without any more issues, on OpenBSD and FreeBSD. The biggest -issues remaining are choosing a vendor for BSD, packaging the -BSD source, and providing a minimal base (like busybox for BSD). -If you aren’t familiar with BSD, it has a single source code -for all of the utilities (kernel, command line programs, etc.). -Contributions (even chipping in ideas) are very welcome.

- -

Adding binary package distribution support natively to the package -manager. Biggest issue in small/old computers are compile times. -This feature is for the bigger packages such as webkit, clang, -llvm that take a considerable amount of time. Some computers -with low memories cannot even compile firefox/webkit.

- -

Adding rsync repository support to the package manager. This -is not a current issue, but rather a futureproofing. As time -passes, distribution repositories grow larger. KISS and Carbs -are young distributions without this problem right now. But -in something like 5 years, this size will presumably increase -to hundreds of megabytes. At that point it will be pointless -to have the repository sources unless you specifically need them.

- -

What’s up with all the init/service daemons?

- -

If you have ever checked the repository, you may have noticed -that there are lots of init/service related packages. I have had -my fair share of time with all of them, and it is an area that I -am really interested in. I have even written my own init daemon -and service supervisor. I maintain all those packages on KISS -Community Repository as well with the exception of busybox. Those -are, busybox init/runit, runit, sinit, and sysmgr. I would -definitely recommend checking out shinit and sysmgr.

- -

Why I don’t publicize Carbs

- -

There are a couple of reasons I don’t publicize Carbs a lot.

- -

KISS is the better alternative in terms of support and community. -I work on maintaining this distribution just as hard as Dylan, -but in the end, Carbs is based on his original hard work, and I -believe that he deserves the recognition more than I do.

- -

Since I cannot answer questions like “What is the difference?”, I -prefer staying as the silent sibling project of KISS Linux. Plus, -there is no point in dividing the newly-emerging community in half.

- -

That’s not because I don’t have ideas for the future of Carbs, I -do. I just think that I will deserve the recognition once those -above lists are checked.

- -

I think that’s about it, if you have questions you can send me a -mail, ping me on IRC (my handle is merakor), and I will be happy -to answer. Maybe your question fits this post, and I can update it -to thoroughly give an explanation.

- -

Cheers, -Cem

Outsource Repository Concept

Cem Keylan — Fri, 10 Apr 2020

Outsource Repository Concept

- -

In April 3rd, I have added submodule support for Carbs -Linux’s fork of kiss. Now, from that sentence, it really -doesn’t sound exciting at all. But in reality, it opens a -path to lots of creative output, and a better way to manage -multi-user repositories (such as KISS Community).

- -

When managing a repository of submodules, the repository -maintainer’s only job is to deal with adding packages. -A package maintainer doesn’t have to wait for the repository -maintainer to update their packages, as they are only making -the changes to their own repositories.

- -

This way, an end-user can also track from their preferred -maintainers, and do that with the tidyness of a single repository -in their KISS_PATH.

- -

Carbs Linux now has an outsource repository for some packages. -Firefox and its dependencies have been purged from the main repository, -but can be found on it.

- -

https://github.com/CarbsLinux/outsource

Roadmap for Carbs

Cem Keylan — Mon, 06 Apr 2020

+ It has been a busy week. There are lots of changes in direction, and more to + come. I want to talk a little about all of them. +

+ +

Carbs Linux Server Going Down

+ It became harder to maintain and pay for the server, and I will be shutting it + down in May. I am currently in the phase of carrying over everything to Github. + The repository and the website is served on Github now. I have also moved the + Wiki to Github and anyone can edit it there. There are some outdated posts that + I will be fixing around this week. +

+ +

+ I am not quite sure where to store the downloads page now. But I will be + switching that to a new source as well. (Maybe SourceHut?) +

+ +

+ I feel a little sad for switching, but serving on Github is faster, cheaper, and + hassle-free. +

+ +

Forking KISS

+ I had a personal fork of KISS, which I enjoyed thoroughly. I didn't intend to + make it the default when I started it, but it has matured enough to be so. The + package manager can now be found on this repository. See it for the added + changes. +

+ +

+ This will be a change for the better, as I can develop the package manager as it + fits my views. +

+ +

Small Changes on the Website

+ I have made some small changes on the website. The build is not dependent on + Plan9 utilities anymore. It was fun messing around with rc and mk, but they + are quite limited compared to POSIX shell. +

+ +

+ RSS feeds are finally working as intended, both for the news section, and the + blog section. +

+ +

+ You can see every page's .txt output at the end of the page by clicking 'View + Page Source'. Meanwhile, I will be updating some pages to be a little more + 'human-readable'. +

+ +

Outsources Repository

+ I have opened an outsource repository, which I will be pushing this week. I + will add a new post when I am ready to push it. I think it will be interesting, + it will also make more sense about the changes I have added to the package + manager. The now empty repository, can be found here! +

+ +

New Tarball

+ Finally, I have released a new tarball today, which can be obtained from the + downloads page. +

+ +

+ I am planning to add more of these update posts as I'm feeling better about the + website structure overall. +

Switching to New Website

Cem Keylan — Tue, 28 Jan 2020

Switching to New Website

- -

Date: Jan 28 2020

- -

In case you haven’t seen it before, this website -was powered by werc. And -even though I liked it really much, it was too -powerful for a small website like this.

- -

So I have decided to reimplement this website with -my own static generation scripts. The source will -probably be on https://carbslinux.org/git/website/log.html -when I decide to publish the website.

- -

The generation requires Plan9 programs, although -I have used them just for my enthusiasm. I have built -the site with a combination of mk (instead of make), rc, -and POSIX sh. I am not yet exactly familiar with rc, -but I will replace the shell scripts when I feel like -I can.