TULSA (December 10, 2023) — The Adélie Linux distribution’s fifth beta release, 1.0-BETA5, is now available for download¹ for 32- and 64- bit ARM, POWER, and x86. Compatible systems include smartphones, game consoles, ’90s-era PCs, and supercomputers².

We decided to call this release BETA5, not RC3, due to the massive amount of change that the Adélie platform has undergone since the RC2 release way back in October 2020.

This release fills a few notable holes from the RC2 release: Xfce live media, aarch64 installation media, a full set of armv7 package binaries and installation media, bundled package documentation, and many improvements to our guided installer.

In addition to bootable ISO installation media and rootfs tarball images, we are happy to announce multi-platform Docker images, which are fully compatible with Podman.

To celebrate this special occasion, the former and current project leads, A. Wilcox and Zach van Rijn, are gathered in the same room at the coffee table where Adélie was born in 2015.

This is our first time meeting in person. We are thrilled to announce this release together!

Be sure to check out our 2021 and 2022 status updates and this announcement for more project background. We will publish our 2023 status update before the end of the year.

As a beta release, there are a few rough edges. To file bug reports or feature requests, please use one of these links for issues involving the:

Should you need assistance, we are here to support you. Though we have worked hard to ensure the Adélie platform is robust, this is the first public release in over three years and some bugs may still be present. Our team is standing by to help. You’re in good hands.

Release Notes

New packages:

Over 100 new packages, including:

• Spack, a package manager for scientific and HPC software;
• Mumble, an open source voice chat application;
• kpartx and nvme-cli, tools for systems administration;
• Gambit Scheme, a programming language in the Lisp family.

Updated packages:

• The Bash shell has been updated to Bash 5.
• Easy Kernel has been updated to the 5.15 LTS branch.
• KDE components have been updated to Plasma LTS 5.24, Frameworks 5.94, and Applications 22.04.2.
• Lighttpd has been updated to 1.4.73 with a more modern default configuration.
• LLVM has been updated to the 14 branch.
• LXQt has been updated to 1.4.0. This update also fixes many issues with PCManFM-Qt.
• MATE has been updated to 1.26.2.
• Mesa has been updated to 21.3.9, including fixes for older and newer graphics devices.
• Mozilla applications (Firefox and Thunderbird) have been updated to 91.13.0.
• Python has been updated to the 3.11 branch. Qt has been updated to the 5.15 LTS branch.
• Ruby has been updated to the 3.1 branch.
• System Installation now provides options for each supported Desktop Environment, defaulting to the environment you are running.
• XFCE has been updated to 4.18.
• … and more!

Bugs fixed:

Plenty!

Known Issues

Some issues have been reported that we have not yet had the resources to solve before this release. The known issues for 1.0-BETA5 include:

1. PowerPC G3 and G4 hardware may have trouble booting, and there are various known graphics/display issues
2. Systems with Generation 3 Intel GMA integrated graphics may be unstable under KDE
3. QorIQ P-Series hardware may experience illegal instruction faults
4. An issue presently prevents armv7 installation ISO images from booting; rootfs tarballs and container images are known to work

We are perpetually in need of hardware donations (for testing) and volunteer testers, so if you encounter any issues please report them! We can only fix issues we know about.

Statistics

There were over 2400 commits by 21 authors to our packages repository:

• Síle Ekaterin Liszka (1000+)
• Zach van Rijn (600+)
• A. Wilcox (500+)
• Laurent Bercot (82)
• Nathan Owens (73)
• Dan Theisen (44)
• Lee Starnes (19)
• CyberLeo (12)
• Max Rees (12)
• Ivan Maidanski (5)
• John Ogness (5)
• Leigh (2)
• Marek Benc (2)
• David Seifert (1)
• Firas Khalil Khana (1)
• Glenn Strauss (1)
• Hill Ma (1)
• Horst G. Burkhardt (1)
• Samuel Holland (1)
• Yuriy Chumak (1)

and so many other contributions such as reporting issues, improving documentation, fixing installer bugs, and creating tooling for our developers. I’d like to extend a warm, personal welcome to our first-time contributors. Thank you for helping make this release a reality.

Getting Involved

The Adélie platform is an all-volunteer project. We fixed over 750 reported issues — and countless others — since our last release, and have been working tirelessly to deliver what we believe is a Linux platform done right. You can help us out by volunteering or donating.

One critical area where we need help is with documentation, whether for end users, system administrators, or developers. Please get in touch if you would like to get involved.

Other areas include security (vulnerabilities and hardening), performance (profiling and optimization), user experience (all areas), multimedia, kernel, and compilers/toolchains.

We would be remiss if we did not also mention that we’ve temporarily disabled LibreOffice because we updated its dependencies to incompatible versions and have not had the bandwidth to update LibreOffice. We are in need of productivity suite maintainers!

Closing Thoughts

This release is significant.

It isn’t just another series of installation media with some updated packages. It isn’t just a better version of the Adélie platform. It doesn’t just make it easier than ever to use.

It isn’t just the output of some formalized internal development processes. All the pieces don’t just fit together. And we don’t want you to just try out the Adélie platform.

1.0-BETA5 marks a new beginning for the Adélie project, and it proves we can work together to overcome any obstacles that arise. It is the result of a tremendous amount of effort by our contributors. It’s not late or behind schedule. It’s exactly where it needs to be.

It is also my first release as project lead, and I am proud not only of what we’re able to deliver today, but also what we’ll be able to deliver tomorrow. You guys are killing it!

Finally, a huge thanks to our sponsors and individual donors who have helped unblock key aspects of what we’re releasing today. We would not be where we’re at today without you.

Footnotes

¹We have download mirrors in multiple countries; please use one that is convenient to you.

²Adélie is working to bring musl to scientific and HPC environments.