GNOME 43.alpha released

[alatiera (Jordan Petridis)]

Hi,

GNOME 43.alpha is now available. This is the first unstable release leading to 43 stable series.

An GNOME OS install image is also available for testing and porting extensions.

https://os.gnome.org/download/43.alpha/gnome_os_installer_43.alpha.iso

This is meant to be installed in a virtual machine with EFI support (such as the GNOME Boxes version available on Flathub). You can also try to install it on bare metal but be warned that hardware support is
very limited.

If you want to compile GNOME 43.alpha, you can use the official BuildStream project snapshot. Thanks to BuildStream’s build sandbox, it should build reliably for you regardless of the dependencies on
your host system:

https://download.gnome.org/teams/releng/43.alpha/gnome-43.alpha.tar.xz

The list of updated modules and changes is available here:

https://download.gnome.org/core/43/43.alpha/NEWS

The source packages are available here:

https://download.gnome.org/core/43/43.alpha/sources/

WARNING!

This release is a snapshot of development code. Although it is buildable and usable, it is primarily intended for testing and hacking purposes.

For more information about 43 release, the full schedule, the official module lists and the proposed module lists, please see our 43 wiki page:

https://wiki.gnome.org/FortyThree

Jordan Petridis,
GNOME Release Team

[alatiera (Jordan Petridis)]

A note for distributors, there’s a known bug where gnome-photos currently links against both libsoup2 and libsoup3 due to some of its dependencies still being in the process of being ported.

[fizzpozz]

A bit let down by the fact that pasting https://os.gnome.org/download/43.alpha/gnome_os_installer_43.alpha.iso into the new VM wizard of Boxes doesn’t do anything, so had to download the ISO via web browser, then go on with VM creation.

[alatiera (Jordan Petridis)]

Boxes download list is predetermined, it doesn’t accept arbitrary urls.

[fizzpozz]

Hmm, kinda makes the

workflow misleading then.

Allowing download of ISOs from https://os.gnome.org/download/* might be a workaround.

[andilinux (Andi Artz)]

I have succesfully installed GNOME 43 on Boxes and it works fine atm

Is there a way to contribute or to report bugs, if needed?

v/r

Andi/andilinux

[fizzpozz]

Hah, found it funny that the Files version doesn’t appear in Software as installed; clicking Install in Software brings in the beta version, separate from the alpha one, which is nice.

Can the alpha version of Files have an even more “in construction” app icon? Now it has the production version icon.

[andilinux (Andi Artz)]

wait you have the beta version instead alpha ?

[fizzpozz]

Both! With alpha from the ISO install and with Flatpak beta from daily updates via the Software application.

The beta application seems to be the one getting updates, weirdly enough.

[andilinux (Andi Artz)]

Well, it’s weird indeed. I will check my install on Boxes as well.

[fizzpozz]

After some power-ons in Boxes, it takes quite a while to boot now.

#systemd-analyze blame gives me networkd as culprit:

Can’t really say if Boxes or the host is at fault here.

[alatiera (Jordan Petridis)]

@fizzpozz

After some power-ons in Boxes, it takes quite a while to boot now.

It’s timing out cause nothing is using the netword interface. We disabled it in Nightly

[akitouni (Abderrahim Kitouni)]

There is some confusion here:

• what you call the beta is actually the nightly version, built every day with the latest changes. It calls itself beta because we’re currently working towards the beta.
• the system installed version doesn’t have the “in-construction” branding because (1) the whole system is kinda in-construction (2) it is used to show how the end-result would look like.

[fizzpozz]

I call it beta because it’s what it says in the About window
Perhaps adding a “Nightly” in that string would take out any confusion.

Regarding the system installed version - the one with 43.alpha in its About window - is it updated by GNOME Software or something else? Noticed dnf isn’t present.

[fizzpozz]

I’d like to install Valgrind on a VM based on this alpha image. Is there an official way to do this? Or, if it’s considered useful, having this utility provided with future ISOs would work.

[fizzpozz]

Okay.

With me not modifying anything after installing from the alpha ISO,

$systemctl status systemd-networkd-wait-online.service

gives me

I manually disabled it, now boot takes 8 seconds versus 2 and a half minutes before.

So maybe it got enabled somehow, despite the vendor preset being disabled.

[fizzpozz]

Installing the Microsoft Edge Flatpak (just for testing and funsies) makes it the default browser and the default program for opening photos. Not at all what I expected.