Puppy Linux Discussion Forum

[Iguleder]

Librepup 6.0.2.2



What is it?

It's a puplet based on tahrpup 6.0.2 that:
- Uses Trisquel 7 packages instead of Ubuntu 14.04 ones; most package versions are the same as in tahrpup
- Replaces Pale Moon with QupZilla
- Replaces Linux with Linux-libre and does not ship the non-free firmware required for some devices

All packages that work on tahrpup (except third-party drivers, which need to be rebuilt) work on Librepup as well.

Features

- The kernel has been updating to the latest minor version, for additional security and stability
- An updated graphics stack backported from latest Ubuntu release to Trisquel 7
- XChat has been replaced with HexChat
- ClipIt has been replaced with Parcellite
- Fonts are smooth
- Third-party drivers built for Librepup are backward- and forward- compatible with new minor kernel versions
- All the latest improvements in woof-CE
- Librepup does not offer, mention or recommended non-free software
- Many unneeded, legacy packages still present in modern Puppy releases have been removed

Librepup respects the user's essential freedoms. When used on a machine with free boot firmware, it make it possible to use a computer with nothing but free software.

Philosophy

I believe every distro should be libre by default, with clearly-labeled non-free add-ons for the users that decide they want them. For example - I'd like Puppy (and any other distro) to ship with Linux-libre, while offering users the ability to switch to Linux. Otherwise, free software won't become the norm in the software industry.

Therefore, the process of creating Librepup derivatives has been automated and simplified (see later). If you're interested in creating Puppy derivatives, I encourage you to use Librepup as a base, since other Puppy releases contain non-free components and may have additional, hidden ones: it's a privacy and security risk for your users. Even if you wish to add non-free components to your derivative (which is strongly discouraged), a Librepup derivative with one or more, non-free components is much better (for your users) than a traditional Puppy derivative, with an unknown number of such threats, especially if these components are labeled properly as non-free ones and the user deliberately accepts the risk involved in using them, despite of all warnings.

Note to contributors

If you create packages for Librepup, please state whether they're libre or not. If unsure, say you're unsure, it's OK. Also, if you recommend non-free software, state it's non-free. This distinction between free and non-free must be clear: we don't want to mislead users that care about their freedom and privacy into installing non-free software.

Limitations

Some peripherals that work with tahrpup won't work with Librepup, because they rely on non-free firmware. I repeat: if your hardware relies on non-free firmware, it won't work on Librepup. This is true for many WiFi cards (including but not limited to many Intel, Ralink and Broadcom ones).

Download

here (mirrors needed!)

Development

Librepup is built using woof-CE-libre, a fork of woof-CE which strips all non-free software. All improvements done in woof-CE-libre were merged into woof-CE, so other Puppy derivatives can benefit from them.

Librepup version numbers correspond to those of the Puppy they're based on, but have an additional digit for Librepup-specific changes.

Building Librepup

Librepup is reproducible; woof-CE-libre is always pre-configured to produce the development version of Librepup.

The recommended way to build derivatives of Librepup is to use either woof-CE-libre (for libre derivatives) or woof-CE (for derivatives that add non-free components on top of Librepup).

To build Librepup, run woof-CE-libre through Librepup itself (preferred) or any other recent Puppy release (with the devx loaded):

[darry1966]

Congrats Dima,

A wonderful idea, congratulations on the new release. I like your cute website for Librepup.
http://librepup.info/

[slavvo67]

This looks interesting. I can't wait to give it a try!!

Thank you,

Slavvo67

[James C]

Great to have a libre version in the Puppy world.

Have used Trisquel on and off over the years so nice to have a free pup.

[James C]

Frugal install working fine......now to explore.....

[ally]

mirrored here: http://archive.org/details/librepup-6.0.2.0

[musher0]

Thanks, Iguleder.

Very well done.

As said above, pupsave file created itself without a glitch.
And no problems with X.

My review:
Your pup holds great potential but it urgently needs a wardrobe! I mean:
you provide only one jwm theme, only two icon themes, only one
TTF font, and the usual set of mostly ugly or bland Puppy themes...
Franciscan monks take an oath of poverty, not Puppy developers!!!

Suggestion: Maybe provide a separate pet or sfs with lots of jwm and gtk
themes, beautiful backgrounds of all styles and TTF fonts to choose from?

Second, maybe double check the PPM:

* I tried downloading all the icon themes from the PPM and only two
actually made it to the appropriate folder.
* I tried downloading abiword 3 from the trisquel repo and it didn't do it.
The little black window at top left showed lots of buzz during download but
when it was through, I tried running abiword, and it was still abiword 2.8.6.

(As an aside, IMO, this lingering PPM problem, in spite of improvements,
is why Puppy is going down in the DW ratings. Because it's not just your
pup that has PPM problems: actually, a lot of pups have worse PPM
problems than yours. Don't take my comment about it personally.)

Pardon my honesty, but that abiword 2.8.6 -- without plugins, too -- earns
you a "Yikes!" in my book. Medor and Shinobar and ttuuxxx have each
come up with a fully-featured recent abiword: it should simple enough to
integrate one? I for one am certainly not going back to the Middle-Ages...
We (not just me) have battled too hard to have a Puppy with "almost
recent" and full-featured versions of programs to go back to this.

Forgetting that point for a minute, to sum up, the implementation of a
"libre" Puppy is a good idea. It is worth doing. It'll be excellent,
outstanding even, IMO, once you've put more flesh on its bones.

Still, as it is -- congratulations! BFN.

musher0

[mavrothal]

Great initiative! Congratulations!!

You may want to make/open a list of hardware that LibrePup works fully.

Gave it a run in some VMs at the moment.

In Parallels VM works fine while in WMware the keyboard is dead (Xserver can not load it and falls back).

PPM is indeed broken, not sure if what is changed and how it may relate to you "speed up" changes (I'll investigate)

SFSload gives some scary warning and does not work.

[Iguleder]

[musher0]

Sorry for tightening the screw a little more...

jajuk, a java jukebox, needs the mplayer executable. So I download
mplayer from the trisquel repo through PPM.

So far so good. But... (see attached)

Also the people at icecat get their own "Yikes!" for...
s-s-l-l-o-o-w-w-n-n-e-e-s-s.

BFN.

musher0

[Iguleder]

[jamesbond]

[musher0]

qupzilla is pretty good, I get good results with it on pretty much any site.
It's probably not "libre", though, 'cause it has Qt dependencies.

[mavrothal]

[jamesbond]