MX-19 Beta 3 Feedback

[bpr323]

Weired, I always use ddrescue to "burn" the MX iso to my usb stick and it never fail me. What would you do when you're on other Unix-like system and don't have MX Live USB Maker? gddrescue or the plain old dd is universal and guaranteed to always works.

I always use Etcher for all other distro's. MX devs recommend using their Live USB Maker (LUM) presumably to enable the resulting boot USB work as the system drive (aka Linux on a stick)
All other distros require that install USB remains read-only and you have the option of installing to sys drive or a second USB.
This results in MX "install" USB being open to irreversible corruption as install drive (minstall.conf gets updated with crap info), so you have to burn a new install USB off the factory ISO.
I don't like this at all - as if 4gb USB pen-drives are so expensive and rare these days one can't keep the "golden" install USB and trash a bucket of "system" USB's if smth goes wrong.

[bpr323]

1) As previously posted here, MX Update stopped actively polling the repos and I have to manually right-click "check for updates.
Just now the "full update" has failed, and there's 2 issues:
2a) It's looking for the yet-unreleased (not in repos) version of minstaller, but most importantly
2b) once it fails to bring one component of 8 it stops and doesn't update any - not a good way for exception handling

[JayM]

Now that you have MX-19b3 installed can we get your quick system info?

[bpr323]

no worries, here u go Jay

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System:    Host: mx-vadim Kernel: 4.19.0-6-amd64 x86_64 bits: 64 compiler: gcc v: 8.3.0 
           parameters: BOOT_IMAGE=/boot/vmlinuz-4.19.0-6-amd64 
           root=UUID=354a2fa5-e630-487e-967c-1c797c67d114 ro quiet splash 
           Desktop: Xfce 4.14.1 tk: Gtk 3.24.5 info: xfce4-panel wm: xfwm4 dm: LightDM 1.26.0 
           Distro: MX-19beta-3_x64 patito feo September 22  2019 
           base: Debian GNU/Linux 10 (buster) 
Machine:   Type: Laptop System: LENOVO product: 20HRA042AU v: ThinkPad X1 Carbon 5th 
           serial: <filter> Chassis: type: 10 serial: <filter> 
           Mobo: LENOVO model: 20HRA042AU v: SDK0J40697 WIN serial: <filter> UEFI: LENOVO 
           v: N1MET55W (1.40 ) date: 06/20/2019 
Battery:   ID-1: BAT0 charge: 54.4 Wh condition: 54.4/57.0 Wh (95%) volts: 12.9/11.6 
           model: LGC 01AV494 type: Li-poly serial: <filter> status: Full cycles: 14 
CPU:       Topology: Dual Core model: Intel Core i7-7500U bits: 64 type: MT MCP arch: Kaby Lake 
           family: 6 model-id: 8E (142) stepping: 9 microcode: B4 L2 cache: 4096 KiB 
           flags: avx avx2 lm nx pae sse sse2 sse3 sse4_1 sse4_2 ssse3 vmx bogomips: 23232 
           Speed: 600 MHz min/max: 400/3500 MHz Core speeds (MHz): 1: 644 2: 695 3: 693 4: 697 
           Vulnerabilities: Type: l1tf 
           mitigation: PTE Inversion; VMX: conditional cache flushes, SMT vulnerable 
           Type: mds mitigation: Clear CPU buffers; SMT vulnerable 
           Type: meltdown mitigation: PTI 
           Type: spec_store_bypass 
           mitigation: Speculative Store Bypass disabled via prctl and seccomp 
           Type: spectre_v1 mitigation: usercopy/swapgs barriers and __user pointer sanitization 
           Type: spectre_v2 mitigation: Full generic retpoline, IBPB: conditional, IBRS_FW, 
           STIBP: conditional, RSB filling 
Graphics:  Device-1: Intel HD Graphics 620 vendor: Lenovo driver: i915 v: kernel bus ID: 00:02.0 
           chip ID: 8086:5916 
           Display: x11 server: X.Org 1.20.4 driver: modesetting unloaded: fbdev,vesa 
           resolution: 2560x1440~60Hz 
           OpenGL: renderer: Mesa DRI Intel HD Graphics 620 (Kaby Lake GT2) v: 4.5 Mesa 18.3.6 
           compat-v: 3.0 direct render: Yes 
Audio:     Device-1: Intel Sunrise Point-LP HD Audio vendor: Lenovo driver: snd_hda_intel 
           v: kernel bus ID: 00:1f.3 chip ID: 8086:9d71 
           Sound Server: ALSA v: k4.19.0-6-amd64 
Network:   Device-1: Intel Ethernet I219-V vendor: Lenovo driver: e1000e v: 3.2.6-k port: efa0 
           bus ID: 00:1f.6 chip ID: 8086:15d8 
           IF: eth0 state: down mac: <filter> 
           Device-2: Intel Wireless 8265 / 8275 driver: iwlwifi v: kernel port: efa0 
           bus ID: 04:00.0 chip ID: 8086:24fd 
           IF: wlan0 state: up mac: <filter> 
           IF-ID-1: wwan0 state: down mac: <filter> 
Drives:    Local Storage: total: 2.29 TiB used: 816.87 GiB (34.9%) 
           ID-1: /dev/nvme0n1 vendor: Samsung model: SSD 970 PRO 512GB size: 476.94 GiB 
           block size: physical: 512 B logical: 512 B speed: 31.6 Gb/s lanes: 4 serial: <filter> 
           rev: 1B2QEXP7 scheme: GPT 
           ID-2: /dev/sda type: USB vendor: Samsung model: SSD 860 EVO 1TB size: 931.51 GiB 
           block size: physical: 512 B logical: 512 B serial: <filter> scheme: GPT 
           ID-3: /dev/sdb type: USB vendor: Samsung model: SSD 860 EVO 1TB size: 931.51 GiB 
           block size: physical: 512 B logical: 512 B serial: <filter> scheme: GPT 
Partition: ID-1: / raw size: 474.66 GiB size: 466.21 GiB (98.22%) used: 26.77 GiB (5.7%) 
           fs: ext4 dev: /dev/nvme0n1p2 
           ID-2: swap-1 size: 2.00 GiB used: 0 KiB (0.0%) fs: swap swappiness: 15 (default 60) 
           cache pressure: 100 (default) dev: /dev/nvme0n1p3 
Sensors:   System Temperatures: cpu: 55.0 C mobo: N/A 
           Fan Speeds (RPM): cpu: 0 
Repos:     No active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list 
           Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/antix.list 
           1: deb http://iso.mxrepo.com/antix/buster buster main
           Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/debian-stable-updates.list 
           1: deb http://deb.debian.org/debian buster-updates main contrib non-free
           Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/debian.list 
           1: deb http://deb.debian.org/debian buster main contrib non-free
           2: deb http://deb.debian.org/debian-security buster/updates main contrib non-free
           Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/mx.list 
           1: deb http://mxrepo.com/mx/repo/ buster main non-free
           No active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/various.list 
Info:      Processes: 205 Uptime: 55m Memory: 15.56 GiB used: 1.39 GiB (8.9%) Init: SysVinit 
           v: 2.93 runlevel: 5 default: 5 Compilers: gcc: 8.3.0 alt: 8 Shell: bash v: 5.0.3 
           running in: quick-system-in inxi: 3.0.36 

[bpr323]

mx full upgr - failed.png

I'm not concerned about the missing file that it can't find - no big deal.
But the whole update was cancelled and until the offending file is resolved - is it just gonna keep adding more available updates and not apply them b/c of that one missing file?
Should be able to allow applying the kocher updates and put the missing file in the error queue for later ...
Or maybe it's not releasing the rest of the updates b/c of potential interdependencies?

[JayM]

Maybe try running MX Repo manager and clicking the buttons to choose the fastest MX and Debian repo mirrors? It could be that the default repos aren't responding at the time the anachron job to check for updates runs. Maybe because they're getting overwhelmed then because no one else has changed their mirrors. Just a guess...

(As my mother would tell me when I'd say "maybe", May bees don't fly in October.)

[Belham]

Well, a new niggle/problem cropped up along with mx-updater still not functioning correctly (posted yesterday about it: https://forum.mxlinux.org/viewtopic.php ... 49#p533049).

A repo that had been working great just suddenly stopped. Maybe the 'MX-Snapshot...' there got pulled last night. It it helps, here's pics below showing it. This part was easily solved though, using the excellent "Repo Manager", I just chose another mx-repo & now it no longer looks for the 'mx-snapshot....' and the update completed.

Now, if I could just get the mx-updater (in the tray) to act like it used where I don't have to remember to "manually" check for updates (it's not running silently in the background, thus not checking for updates periodically & letting a user know updates are available) everything else seems to be good.

[JayM]

Is anacron installed? Does /etc/apt/apt.conf.d/02periodic exist? If so what are its contents? How about /etc/cron.daily/1-quick-live-update?

[Belham]

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Hey, Jay.

1. Yes, anacron is installed
2. Does /etc/apt/apt.conf.d/02periodic exist? Yes. Here's it contents:

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// Settings shown below are from the /usr/lib/apt/apt.systemd.daily script.
// All settings except 'APT::Periodic::CleanInterval' are also found in the
// Debian Jessie /etc/cron.daily/apt script.

// APT::Archives::MaxAge "0";
// APT::Archives::MaxSize "0";
// APT::Archives::MinAge "2";
   APT::Periodic::AutocleanInterval "7";
// APT::Periodic::BackupArchiveInterval "0";
// APT::Periodic::BackupLevel "3";
// APT::Periodic::CleanInterval "0";
   APT::Periodic::Download-Upgradeable-Packages "0";
// APT::Periodic::Download-Upgradeable-Packages-Debdelta "1";
   APT::Periodic::Enable "1";
// APT::Periodic::MaxAge "0";
// APT::Periodic::MaxSize "0";
// APT::Periodic::MinAge "2";
   APT::Periodic::Unattended-Upgrade "0";
   APT::Periodic::Update-Package-Lists "1";
   APT::Periodic::Verbose "3";
// Dir::Cache::Archives "archives/";
// Dir::Cache::Backup "backup/";

3. Yes, /etc/cron.daily/1-quick-live-update exists. It's pointing to '/usr/share/apt-notifier/1-quick-live-update' like it should.


So, here's something possibly significant: Last week, on 25 Sept I downloaded the latest MX-19 Beta 2.1 x64 iso and used it to install to another system I have. Everything went well, and the mx-updater tray icon IS working like it's supposed to (checking in the background and lighting up green to tell the user updates are available) in this newer install.

The other system where mx-updater (in the tray) is not working like it is supposed to, where it requires a user to manually check to see if any updates are available, that system was originally installed from the very first MX-19 Beta ISO released months ago. But it has been faithfully updated, nothing added to the system (I use it stock, as I noted in my previous message), but somehow still the mx-updater is broken there (this occurred after an update a week and a half ago).

Weird thing is, I copied those files you mentioned from the problem MX install, then went to the other newer MX install where mx-updater is working correctly, and ran "Diff" checking for any differences in the files. Well, there are no differences in any of the files. So I am a bit lost as to why mx-updater is not functioning correctly in the original MX-19 Beta install system where it was always faithfully updated using mx-updater tray icon.

Anyhow, don't want to fool with this any longer and have decided to delete the problem MX install (which is no problem since I keep my Documents, Downloads, Pictures, Videos and Music home folders on another partition). I will re-install with the 25 Sept ISO, and I should be good to go.

Thanks for your reply.

[asqwerth]

...

So, here's something possibly significant: ...
The other system where mx-updater (in the tray) is not working like it is supposed to, where it requires a user to manually check to see if any updates are available, that system was originally installed from the very first MX-19 Beta ISO released months ago. But it has been faithfully updated, nothing added to the system (I use it stock, as I noted in my previous message), but somehow still the mx-updater is broken there (this occurred after an update a week and a half ago).
....

That's not really a true Beta 3 install then. Some config changes in the new beta are not found in packages that get updated via apt (and thus not the mx-updater), so faithfully updating an old iso may not get you 100% to Beta 3 .

[ADDED] but perhaps there was some setting in older beta that was changed in beta 2.1, and then was reverted back in beta 3?