Announcing 'next' Release

[drobbins]

Hi All,

I wanted to let everyone know about "next" release -- which is the new release of Funtoo that is intended to receive regular updates to all the latest packages.

Currently, a generic_64 build of next-release is available here:

https://build.funtoo.org/next/x86-64bit/generic_64/

'next' release currently includes gcc-11.2.0 and an updated unified binutils (binutils and binutils-libs have been combined, and binutils-config has been removed.) It also has a small handful of updated packages.

Our intention is to gradually add more and more auto-generated ebuilds to 'next' so that it is fully updated at all times. Next-release *may* break -- and if you use next-release, you should be aware of this. Right now, the stage3 is building but it's likely that DE's like GNOME, KDE, Cinnamon, MATE will need gcc10 fixes for certain packages to build properly. I'm hoping to generally keep the stage3 functioning at all times as we gradually update everything inside next-release to be current. We at least have a working stage3 as a starting point :) And it's fine to test DE's and open issues for any ebuilds that don't build -- so we can all start working on fixing them.

SO -- YOU CAN HELP!

So, since Funtoo is a user-based distribution, we provide a way for you, technical user, to help us in our goal of updating next-release. I am particularly interested in autogens for various ebuilds in the stage3. If you would like to autogen something on the stage3, all you need to do is open a bug at https://bugs.funtoo.org, entitled something like "autogen sys-apps/foo in next-release". Then describe what you would like to do and why. I think the most obvious candidates for autogens are stand-alone tools like gzip, for example, which are not libraries. These are the easiest initial candidates. Once your bug has been reviewed, it will be moved to a "ready to fix" state, at which point it will be possible to submit a PR to code.funtoo.org. Here are the steps to create a PR:

1. Create Funtoo account at https://auth.funtoo.org/new (you need this for the bug tracker and code.funtoo.org)
2. Open an issue on the bug tracker (improvement) for the package you would like to autogen.
3. Talk to us in #dev-help on Funtoo Discord for help in writing your autogen.
4. When the issue moves to 'ready to fix', you are ready to submit your PR.
5. To create your PR, first fork the kit-fixups repo on code.funtoo.org. Then on the bug tracker issue, click "create branch", and choose your forked repo (myname/kit-fixups) as where the branch will live, and make your branch a "feature" against master. Give your branch the name of the bug, like "feature/FL-9000".
6. On your local system, "git pull; git checkout feature/FL-9000". Now do the edits...
7. When creating your files, you can put them in kit-fixups/core-kit/next/sys-apps/foo, for example. This will make the autogen active for next release only. This is a good, conservative place to put it (rather than in 1.4-release too, which is what would happen if you added it to kit-fixups/core-kit/curated/sys-apps/foo.) When you're all done: "git add new files, git commit -a -m "FL-9000: description here."
8. Then "git push", and you will see a URL on your console you can use to create your PR. Click on it, and create the PR against core-repositories/kit-fixups master.

You may get comments on your PR -- you can simply do new commits to your "feature/FL-9000" branch and they will automatically appear in the PR without any additional steps when you push to your branch.

Also note that I have a bunch of issues I created for "funtoo-izing" various packages, which was my way of saying "autogen them and put them in next-release." You can find these bugs listed under this epic link (see the associated issues) and if you want to update any of these packages, you can simply "start work" on any of these bugs by clicking the "start work" button and then follow the steps above (minus creating the issue -- since you're using an existing one):

https://bugs.funtoo.org/browse/FL-8375

Thanks in advance for your involvement with next-release. This will be fun!
 

[drobbins]

Oops, I forgot to tell you how to set up next-release. You have two options. One is to use the stage3 to install a new next system. The other option is to convert an existing system to next-release.

To convert a system to next-release:

1. Do a world update on your system and specifically ensure you have the latest portage and ego installed.
2. Add "release = next" to the "[global]" section of /etc/ego.conf
3. Run "ego sync"
4. Then run "epro build next".

Now you are ready to do another world update to get gcc, binutils and other updates.

PLEASE NOTE: When you do this, unless you have a very very minimal system, I can almost guarantee that doing an emptytree rebuild WILL result in some packages not building. So be prepared for this and don't do this on production systems of course! Feel free to open bugs for any build failures, particularly for any DE or server packages that need gcc10 fixes.

ALSO PLEASE NOTE: We reserve the right to break or make disruptive changes in next-release AT ANY TIME! While I am going to try to do things as cleanly as possible, and ensure that the stage3 continues to build, you should be prepared for potential dep issues and other problems that may be annoying to deal with. This is part of the whole process of updating Funtoo that you are embarking upon!

[coffnix]

To convert a system to next-release:

https://www.funtoo.org/Upgrade_Instructions/Next