XLibre
XLiberating Alpine Linux #290
Replies: 7 comments 30 replies
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Current status |
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not messing with you. just replying to the questions using the link in the email. i prefer this thread, since it's shorter, and github's discussions are overwrought garbage, so the massive screenshots thread now takes 10 seconds to load completely over my connection. 40 megabytes! if you have a way to shovel the back-and-forth i've had with @stefan11111 to this thread, go for it! |
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Thank you! It really helps to get things sorted. |
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i only use alpine headless for servers, so i'm probably not an important part of this thread. built xlibre with alpine PXE as a way to ensure that i was building from "zero" (i.e. not piggy-backing off of any pre-installeds from a more batteries-included distro like debian). the things i intend to clean up are more general issues like compiler & automake warnings & sorting out the shitshow of a QXL driver. |
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I mean does https://pkgs.alpinelinux.org/contents?name=xorg-server-dev&repo=community&branch=v3.22&arch=armv7 |
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´> In other words, are xlibre headers 100% compatible with freedesktop xorg headers? Ah, now I get it. No, probably not according to @stefan11111 's comment in Rename xf86-prefixed packages to xlibre · Issue #47 · X11Libre/ports-gentoo:
We still need to Tracker: Rebrand to XLibre · Issue #247 · X11Libre/misc, and not only change the brand but also make X.Org Server and XLibre Xserver parallel installable. At the moment, it's more of an “either/or” situation. I don't mean that in a confrontational way. It's just that either the X.Org server or XLibre can be installed. Apart from a few incompatible packages that only compile with X.Org headers, that's fine, because the motto of the third-party repository is XLibre and people know that. By offering the packages, we also get feedback and can resolve any incompatibilities. |
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Couldn't you just re-define
vs
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Hmm, that would be an idea. Do I get it right that every package depending on X.Org/XLibre Server would have to do so? So the packages would have to be aware of XLibre which they are not at the moment?! |
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At build/install time, yes. Would use pkgconfig to know where to get xorg headers, & where to install binaries, so as long as the install prefixes are different, could have binaries side-by-side. Would probably need to put the xorg-specific install prefix first in case the default system pkgconfig points to xorg classic:
For my setup it didn't matter, since there was no base system xorg. It's kind of a kludge though. In the long-term, we need our own distinct name & paths instead of colliding with |
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@BourgeoisBear Do you still have issues with |
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either enabling udev, or adding the default 40-libinput xorg conf, or both fixed my input problem. won't know for certain until i have time to get back to it. |
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Yes, AFAIK you need |
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xf86-input-libinput build deps
alpine udev setup script (possibly not necessary)
buildThe build needs to know the xserver location via export PKG_CONFIG_PATH="${XLIBRE_INSTALL_PREFIX}/lib/pkgconfig:/usr/lib/pkgconfig"
./autogen.sh
make install |
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@jonhermansen It was very good to get X11Libre/xf86-video-qxl working on Alpine Linux. Would you like to share what you tried so far? |
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Ok. Shouldn't these dependencies get pulled in by |
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like i said, "from zero". wasn't using alpine to make an apk. what is the point in that? who uses alpine as a desktop os??? was using alpine to have an untainted development environment. |
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I understand.
Good question! Well, as I understand it, only a few if any. I myself use it like: "just give me the package without having to think about it". If I was up to an (untainted) development environment, I would choose “the best,” namely Gentoo. 😆😉 But of course, I'm biased. And yes, depending on the userland you choose Gentoo can get quite tainted. |
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By |
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Yes, and this is a, if not the use case for Alpine Linux AFAIK. |
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I think the posts of this kind and quality should be added to the wiki as guides. ESPECIALLY this one. |
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Thank you very much! 😊 I am going to think about whether this content would be suitable for a wiki page. |
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I am using xlibre on Alpine and pmOS there I also needed If something depends on xorg you can use the convenient Those will replace the originals that conflict with xlibre files. xlibre-xf86-input-libinput |
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@realroot2185
Does this override the "physical" xorg-server package permanently? |
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Regarding your provided APKBUILDS: There is also a repository for X11Libre/ports-alpine. So if you like to contribute please feel free to do so. The whole Alpine thing was on hold for the moment due to other priorities, but it will be developed further. |
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Ps. I wasn't aware of the resistance in Draft: testing/xlibre-xserver: new aport (!86092) · Merge requests · alpine / aports · GitLab. Good to know that no one can stop the Freedom in FOSS. 💪 |
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I think that unless you specify that you want the version from the repo it should keep the virtual package. I had to use in pmOS. |
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Yeah, many people wrongly compare FOSS to communism, when in fact it's anarchy. That's a good thing, by the way. |
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WORK IN PROGRESS
FIXME: Add a nice screenshot here of the final result
This thread is about how to xliberate Alpine Linux. We will use qemu for the showcase since Alpine is very often used as a lighweight operating system (OS) for containers and virtual machines. Throughout this post therefore is a distinction between the host OS which runs the container and Alpine Linux which runs inside the container as the guest OS.
The prerequisites are
qemu >=v9.2.3installed on the host with preferably KVM support in your Linux kernel and qemu to give you a nice performance boost for the things to come. It is assumed that the installed qemu roughly supports the following features:X gtk pam usb vte.aio io-uring slirp vhost-net xattrare considered as nice to have.Installing Alpine on qemu
We will basicly follow the steps of Install Alpine in QEMU - Alpine Linux. So create a qemu disk image, download the Alpine Linux ISO for virtual systems and boot into Alpine:
qemu-img create -f qcow2 alpine.qcow2 8G wget https://dl-cdn.alpinelinux.org/alpine/v3.22/releases/x86_64/alpine-virt-3.22.1-x86_64.iso qemu-system-x86_64 -enable-kvm -cpu host -m 8G -display gtk \ -boot d -cdrom alpine-virt-3.22.1-x86_64.iso \ -hda alpine.qcow2 -nic userAt the first login prompt enter
rootfor the user name and no password.Initial Configuration of Alpine
Go and setup Alpine with the interactive configuration script:
Use the default settings for the most part, but adjust the configuration in the following areas:
First enter the letter
cfor the APK Mirror which enables the community repository. Then being asked again for the APK Mirror enterfto find the fastest mirror near you. Also create a userxlibreto later setup the Alpineabuildenvironment and compile XLibre. At Disk & Install opt for disksdawith the usage type ofsys. Give it aywhen being asked to erase the disk.Configure anything that doesn't fit by default to make it fit your specific setup. Once done, go for a reboot of the container.
Running Alpine on qemu
Back on the host, run the freshly installed and configured Alpine guest without the installation media (ISO).
qemu-system-x86_64 -enable-kvm -cpu host -m 8G -display gtk \ -hda alpine.qcow2 \ -net nic -net user,hostfwd=tcp::10022-:22As again up and prompted, log in to the Alpine guest as
rootand your password of choice.Installing a GUI and the Development Tools
Next we are going to install some packages needed for the compilation and testing of XLibre on Alpine. This boils down to the X.Org Server, a basic XFCE desktop environment and some development tools like
abuild,gitand the development versions of the required libraries.apk update setup-xorg-base apk add xfce4 xfce4-terminal font-dejavu apk add vim # or any other text editor apk add alpine-sdk doas xorg-server-devTest the correct functionality of the GUI provided by X.Org Server and XFCE:
... and then log out of XFCE via the XFCE panel menu item “Applications > Log Out”:
Now edit the file
/etc/doas.confto enable users of thewheelgroup to run commands as superuser. This is needed when generating and adding the public key for thexlibreuser to theapk key listin/etc/apk/keys.Add the
xlibreuser to the required groups forabuild, enable writing to/var/cache/distfilesand log out of therootuser account afterwards:addgroup xlibre abuild addgroup xlibre wheel chown root:abuild /var/cache/distfiles exitSetting Up the Build Environment
Log in again as user
xlibre. Generate your public/private RSA key pair forabuild, configuregitand clone the XLibre repository for Alpine ports into the directoryaports:Because the package sources momentarily live in a draft pull request only, we have to tell
gitthat we want to be able to check out these pull request branches as well. Therefore open the file.git/configin your text editor and add the following line:Then fetch the pull request branches from
originand checkout the XLibre Xserver 25.0.0.7 and libinput 1.5.0.1 · Pull Request #3 containing the drafts of the APKBUILD files:Building and Runnig XLibre
Build and install the XLibre Xserver:
Build and install the
libinputdriver for XLibre:Put the whole thing to the test and start XFCE on XLibre:
It works? Enjoy!
What Still Needs To Be Done
At the moment the
xlibre-serverpackage is still internally namedxorg-serverto fullfill the existing dependencies. The name attribute should be changed toxlibre-serverand there should be a secound meta-package calledxorg-serverwhich under the hood pulls inxlibre-serverand at the same time fullfills the outside dependencies. Maybe the XLibre drivers packages could be prefixed withxlibre-instead ofxf86-.Also starting Firefox ESR forces qemu to segfault. This needs to be resolved before making the final screenshot missing above.
What Else Could Be Done
It was nice to package more XLibre drivers and especially add support for SPICE and the X11Libre/xf86-video-qxl driver. Some 3D acceleration is certainly already possible but should be payed more attention to as well.
Closing Comments
This one goes out to the marginalized group of Alpine Linux users which would like to package XLibre but is threatened by a Code of Conduct violation filing because the XLibre project is claimed to, quote: "represent an unacceptable ideology". We are aware of this threat and we will not close our eyes to it.
Do not dispair. There is the third party repository at X11Libre/ports-alpine soon providing you with source APKBUILDs. We are also looking into generating ready-to-use binary packages. If you would like to join us in this effort: by all means go for it!
References
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