Kathenas - EL

Abscent, no posts and musings

philip.wyett@kathenas.org (Phil Wyett) — Mon, 27 Oct 2025 06:22:00 +0000

Apologies for little activity recently. Severe pain stemming from my spinal stenosis in my neck and fybromyalgia enhancing that pain, it has not been a good time for me. Any future disappearances are likely due to this.

After the wiring loom was changed in my brand new electric wheelchair, it is now working correctly - fingers crossed.

Enterprise Linux has always been my primary place of contribution, though some may think that it was Debian, it wasn't. Over and above other work, I am looking to get more astronomy packages through to Extra Packages for Enterprise Linux (EPEL) from Fedora. Be patient as this is a slow process and a little more strict with EPEL 10 and point releases.

Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) does not contain certain packages that have been previously available such as LibreOffice. This makes Enterprise Linux (EL) 10 a hard option to promote for desktop/general use. I am currently digging to see if this and other packages are to be built for EPEL or would it take a rebuild project such as Alma Linux with appetite to build it and make it available to users.

One musing of mine of late, should Canonical break free of merging packages from Debian and maintain it's own code base of packages. Starting with a tier system, begin with a set of core packages and then take sole control of other packages their customers need as part of their standard user and enterprise offerings.

I have other things that I shall get into later - Mainly EL related.

Astronomy packaging for Enterprise Linux

philip.wyett@kathenas.org (Phil Wyett) — Wed, 15 Oct 2025 08:35:00 +0100

This week is further work on Astronomy packages for Enterprise Linux (EL). Filing requests for builds into Extra Packages for Enterprise Linux (EPEL), building updated packages for both EL 9 and 10 and some contribution to Fedora Linux in and among.

Kathenas Mantis Tracker Instance

philip.wyett@kathenas.org (Phil Wyett) — Sun, 05 Oct 2025 21:34:00 +0100

With my blocking from the Debian Community and its infrastructure, I have setup a Mantis bug tracker instance at Kathenas Tracker to track the upstream and GNU Linux Distribution projects I have an interest in.

You may wish to help, so feel free to create an account and let's do our little bit for these projects.

Debian activity and Debian Mentors

philip.wyett@kathenas.org (Phil Wyett) — Wed, 10 Sep 2025 14:55:00 +0100

My Debian activity currently is restricted to the packages I do maintain and those I choose to maintain. I am here to support new and existing upstream projects I have built great working relationships with over years. I would feel extremely bad if I abandoned these good people.

Debian Mentors was a great passion. I was privileged to mentor and assist in other ways, new contributors and those building up their reputation within the project as a whole. I am sad to say that I shall not be returning to Debian Mentors while I see bullying and discrimination by a minority within the Debian Project. I can only apologise to those who will now wait months for any help within Debian Mentors.

I do contribute to the Debian Project, but I do not align myself with the project, I am independent.

Contribution is ongoing

philip.wyett@kathenas.org (Phil Wyett) — Sun, 24 Aug 2025 19:45:00 +0100

Since deciding to stop Debian contribution in the area of Debian Mentors, I have not been idle. I have been doing commits for packages I maintain and also contribute to i.e. upstream projects and other activities that include Ubuntu bug squashing etc.

With my disabilities, it is important to face challenges be they during my daily activities or within the Free/Open Source Software community. These challenges are hard, fun and make me feel useful.

Onwards and upwards.

Fedora and RHEL - Simple package builds - mock vs. sbuild

philip.wyett@kathenas.org (Phil Wyett) — Mon, 28 Jul 2025 04:36:00 +0100

Simple question to ask and answer. mock is a far more straightforward system versus the likes of sbuild. The Debian Project always finds a way of making the simplest of things extremely complicated.

Kathenas - Support Free/Open Source Contributors

philip.wyett@kathenas.org (Phil Wyett) — Fri, 18 Jul 2025 13:16:00 +0100

Most of the money you see in and around Free / Open Source Software, Hardware and other projects is in the hands of large companies, groups and self styled organisations, with little or none reaching the actually contributors/maintainer/developers of your favourite projects who actually do the day to day work.

If you wish to support my efforts, please click on the image below to donate.

Reload UDEV rules without rebooting

philip.wyett@kathenas.org (Phil Wyett) — Mon, 14 Jul 2025 12:37:00 +0100

Sometimes we make changes to UDEV rules and need to make those changes active without the need to reboot your system. To do this you can use the commands below.

sudo udevadm control --reload-rules

sudo udevadm trigger

Flatpak - Remove unused packages and repair

philip.wyett@kathenas.org (Phil Wyett) — Sun, 13 Jul 2025 11:00:00 +0100

Using flatpak is very useful for when you need a package or few and not pollute your main or any machines file system.

Removing unused packages is simply performed by using the command below in your terminal fo choice.

flatpak uninstall --unused

Verifying and/or repairing your flatpak packages can be done using the command below.

flatpak repair