Kevux Systems and Software - News - 2022
Author: Kevin Day
Description: News posts for the year 2022.
Keywords: Kevin Day, Kevux, FLL, Featureless, Linux, Library, Distribution, Open-Source, News, 2022

# Year 2022 News

## 2022 / 12 / 17 - FLL 0.6.2 Release

The Featureless Linux Library stable version `0.6.2` is released.

This release contains several security and bug fixes. There are also several improvements to the building and packaging scripts.

Added the following `stand_alone` programs:

- `byte_dump`
- `firewall`

The flagship program is Featureless Make. All projects and programs now have a `fakefile` for building as they should have had.

Problems with the Unicode handling have been identified and fixed. The FLL and implementing programs like `byte_dump` and `utf8` should now have more accurate handling of Unicode characters.

Check out the project on the FLL release page.

Continue reading…

## 2022 / 10 / 31 - FLL 0.6.1 Release

The Featureless Linux Library stable version `0.6.1` is released.

Most of the fixes and improvements are centered around the build and test systems. This release should be more portable and testable.

The BASH alternative ZSH is now supported by several scripts.

Check out the project on the FLL release page.

Continue reading…

## 2022 / 07 / 31 - FLL 0.6.0 Release

The Featureless Linux Library stable version `0.6.0` is released.

The controller program is a re-interpretation of the Featureless Make program written in a more generalized fashion that is focused on performing a set of tasks. This is very similar to a system initialize program such as sysvinit. Support for running as a system initialize replacement is partially complete. There is currently no way to send messages to the controller program to start and stop anything. The control program, which is used to communicate to the controller program is also incomplete. The next FLL development version, the `0.7.0` series, will heavily focused on network protocols.

The utf8 program is a handy tool to convert from UTF-8 characters to their Unicode value or vice-versa. This can convert entire files.

Featureless Make has some major changes. The fake program now accepts piped data, which must be a valid fakefile. There are new Objects available for the build settings and the fakefile.

Check out the project on the FLL release page.

Continue reading…

## 2022 / 07 / 02 - FLL 0.5.10 Release

The Featureless Linux Library development version `0.5.10` is released.

This release is a release canditate for the stable version `0.6.0`.

Unit tests for all level_0 projects now exists (except for `f_type` which is not planned to ever have unit tests).

Many problems and consistency issue have been identified by the written unit tests and fixed. The unit tests, however, are neither complete nor thorough. There are almost no unit tests for level_1, level_2, or level_3 projects.

I noticed that the Unicode processing code is incomplete as of the `0.5.9` release. The available Unicode processing functions are now complete. A massive amount of unit tests now exist for testing the Unicode.

Check out the project on the FLL release page.

Continue reading…

## 2022 / 06 / 04 - Librem to Freedom

I am a hacker, a tinkerer, one who likes to modify things into what I desire. I don't want somebody to do anything for me. I want to do anything for myself. While this does not mean I want to do everything, this does mean that want I want to do, I am the one to do it. In this case, I want to tweak and configure and use my phone as I see fit. Open-source gives me the opportunity to review, vet, and configure my computers as I see fit. Liberty such as this is the air that fills my lungs as I sleep at night, dreaming.

When I first discovered I could have a phone that respects my freedom, my privacy, and my liberty, I was ecstatic. I don't have to be weigh down by horrible interfaces, horrible software, and horrible flexibility that other people like or otherwise think is a good idea. I would have the opportunity to tweak and adjust the ideas as I see fit within my own personal tolerances and willingness to put the effort in.

I supported several phones over years, such as the OpenMoko Freerunner, an embarrassing failure in the community to the leap forward pioneered by the Unbuntu Aquaris. Many of these phones ultimately failed or faded into the night due to a hostile industry, market, and regulations. The Librem5 from Purism has now stepped up to the plate, learned from the past mistakes, and delivered a phone that, while not complete or ideal, lives up to their standards and has thus far survived numerous, and blatant, hostile industry actions and economic disasters.

I finally have my Librem5. I have had to quite painfully, if not patiently, wait for my phone to actually be shipped years late (due to global economic situations). This is my review after having used the phone with respect to the other open-source phones I have used, namely the Pinephone from Pine64. I have discovered good things, bad things, horrible things, and great things about this phone.

Continue reading…

## 2022 / 06 / 04 - Librem to Freedom

Updated the FLL specifications and made them available on the website.

Basic styling is applied to make the specifications reasonably readable on a website. I avoided doing any complicated designs so that I can focus on other tasks (such as making a stable release). I took a shortcut on the example results by using the `<pre>` tag.

Continue reading…

## 2022 / 05 / 06 - Basic Program Documentation

Update the website, bringing in my initial pass at the documentation for each of the programs provided by the FLL project. Most of this documentation is copied from the help of each program and any improvements or deviations are incidental.

While working on the documentation, I discovered and fixed random problems. In particular, the iki_read program in the release candidate has a major regression where it doesn't do anything. This is the result of a very minor mistake in passing the wrong size variable to the file read functions. Essentially, the iki_read program is only processing files of length 0 and as a result never produces any output. This is now fixed upstream and I am even happier with the practice of using release candidates.

Continue reading…

## 2022 / 05 / 01 - Website Redesign

With a stable release of the Featureless Linux Library around the corner and the resuming of development of the Turtle Kevux Distribution, it is now time to refresh the website.

The available functionality in the HTML standard has changed a decent amount since this website was last updated. This new design focuses on a very primitive look and feel utilizing a lot of the built in visual tools available to the HTML5 and CSS3 languages. The website is being built in stages, to allow for prioritizing getting information out over getting information looking great. This website even actively uses UTF-8.

Continue reading…