Puppy Linux Discussion Forum

jamesbond wrote: Mon Oct 31, 2022 2:34 pm

And here is the thing I don't understand: what's the rush?
What's the worst that can happen if we don't do it "in time"?
PS: My comment is addressed to everyone not only to geo_c.

In general, everything that happens in this topic reminds me of almost erased memories from the 80s. The USSR, a meeting of the Communist Party, when everyone offers something, but nothing will be done.

Of course there will be an anecdote The chairman of the collective farm addresses the farmers: "The year before last we sowed 100 hectares of oats - the damn weevil ate everything! Last year we sowed 200 hectares - the damn weevil devoured everything!! But this year we will sow 300 hectares - LET HIM CHOKE!!!"

Written before I read James' post.

I’ve downloaded S15Pup64-22.11-RC.iso and will try it. If nothing else, it may be a good interim solution. My previous experience with Slackos –yours may differ-- is that while they provide better sound and graphics displays than ‘debian/Ubuntus’ and are conservative in demanding updates –another good thing-- the downside of that conservatism is fewer ‘high-class’ applications and an absence of independent application developers who publish specialized applications for it.

I would also support dimkr’s suggestion. viewtopic.php?p=70978#p70978. In many ways, it would serve to formalize the reality: To be a Puppy it has to be ‘woofed’ and every Puppy is thus dependent on what the ‘woof-team’ provides. I just think going from ‘drawing board’ to production would take more time. If I read dimkr correctly, he’ll be happy to guide us, but not add the duties of team leader onto his already full plate. And, frankly, I don’t currently have a clue as to how to write up a Release Announcement for such ‘New Puppy’.

I read the Rules dogcat referred to, https://distrowatch.com/dwres.php?resou ... noannounce.
The pertinent restrictions are:

• Sometimes, when a distribution publishes a lot of minor updates, we will skip one version to avoid filling up our front page with very similar release announcements. We try to space out the announcements we publish from a project to one every three months.
• The new version is actually just a new edition of a version we have covered previously. If a project releases version 10.0 and then uploads a new edition, for instance 10.0 "GNOME", we usually skip publishing an announcement for the new edition as it is the same operating system, just with a different default desktop.
• The developers have published a new ISO, but its packages are all the same as in the previous ISO. Some projects push out download media with a new version number, but no significant changes in order to boost their download statistics. We typically skip mentioning these releases.
I’ve highlighted the section whose purpose is to avoid ‘spamming’. We wouldn’t be doing that.

fossapup64_9.6 is not disqualified.

It is not merely a ‘point-release’. It is an entirely new Woofed Puppy, structurally distinct from 9.5. [In 9.5 most user Applications are in an adrv.sfs. In 9.6 --like traditional Puppys-- they are in the Puppy_Version.sfs. 9.6 –as is-- will auto-load a bdrv.sfs, I haven’t dissected 9.5’s initrd; but I don’t think it can]. The only thing they have in common is that both are binary-compatible with Ubuntu Focal Fossa. To the extent Ubuntu has updated/graded the applications in its repositories, those Woof will install will be different. But we can also change some of it’s built-ins and its even less like 9.5. Use ozsouth’s kernel which supports overlays and/or include apt/synaptic, and/or modify it’s initrd so that –like QuickPup--it can auto-load more ‘alphabet drives’ and its even less so. Name the new Fossapup 10.0 and even their names are different.

Considering the time constraints, a newly woof fossapup64 is almost ‘good to go’. We could provide it ‘the day after tomorrow’. Name it Fossapup64_10.0RC or designate it as a ‘Development Release’ –look for AlmaLinux on Distrowatch-- and we can it out flesh it out in a very short time. Include in our ‘Announcement’ that this is a stable release designated ‘RC’ because further improvements are still ‘in the works’. Mention the availability of the ‘companion’ 32-bit version, peebees.

[If someone can identify 9.6’s application upgrades from 9.5, I’d be happy to write up a draft ‘Announcement’ for consideration].

@wanderer OK by me FWIW! Let's do it, and then keep discussions ongoing as to what's next.

Normally, a "release candidate" means "a release that will re-released without this label if no critical issues are found before the deadline". You can build a test build with all the latest development, including stuff that had zero real-world testing, then slap the "release candidate" label on it, but this can backfire. This will confuse and drive away potential users who understand what "-rc" releases normally are and assume it's a stable release with no currently open issues.

It's OK to call it an alpha or beta release. That's more honest, and if DistroWatch only wants a new release, no matter at which stage of its development ...

EDIT: forgot to mention something. The next run of woof-CE test builds is scheduled for November 2nd. Among others, it will include Slacko 8.x, as 01micko left it, but with Slackware package updates and woof-CE changes since then. If all goes well, this automated build will fill the table at https://github.com/puppylinux-woof-CE/w ... py-builder with green "success" tags. It's a good opportunity to take a look at all the things woof-CE can build, see where each build configuration stands in terms of completeness and maturity, then settle one or more which can be polished and brought to release-worthiness. I think @mikeslr is correct, maybe it's easier to continue previous work - either release a "9.5.1 CE" follow-up to Fossapup, or even polish Slacko 8.x during 01micko's absence so it can be released as a new "official" Puppy.

Just a quick note, especially to dimkr.

I've booted into S15Pup64-22.11-RC.iso, which I'll discuss later. But I was almost immediately confronted the this continuing annoyance. The first-run routine presents the 'set time zone on boot-up' dialog before an internet connection is established. IT WILL ALWAYS FAIL. So it will always give a newbie the initial impression that those who create Puppy are sloppy.

Over time I've made many many woof-CE built Bionics and Fossa Focals. I think they are tested enough to begin to rapidly add those tools, utilities and eye candy and get a Fossapup64-9.6-CE in good enough shape.

Throw together some PET's that add right-click menu functions, configurations. Immediately add in geo_c's theming and styling work also in PET form. We have PKG-cli already on board which in my experience does well enough as a package manager and it communicates with PPM. Pkg-cli can be easily used in shell scripts.

It is my opinion that we could put together a really strong Puppy Linux for a Distrowatch announcement. Its all about getting and keeping the drive alive.

Puppy Linux version 4.3.1 has probably thousands and thousands of hours of testing as did Lucid 5.2.8 and some bugs still showed up. Rarely but they did.

We can not let "testing" be the determining factor. If we wait for that another 3 years will pass, the Distrowatch page long dormant and not active. The dev's we have now will fade and the project ends up being reminisced fondly about instead of taking a chance.

I worked on a Slacko once to help someone to do a full webserver, that's it. Slackware never won me over really. Difficult to get Zoneminder to run on it so I went over to distro's that it is possible to run ZM and servers on. I feel it is important to offer a Puppy Linux that can run very complicated stuff in very small footprint if and when someone is so inclined.

hi all

just my 2 cents on this issue

i think it is very important to keep the puppy distrowatch page up
and not let it become dormant

it will confuse people
and it is unnecessary

and though i think we want to put a good puppy candidate on the page
i have never found a totally perfect anything
let alone an operating system

if you are using linux
almost by definition
you are willing to tweak things

that being said

i am using S15-32 now with no problems
its very solid and polished

if i find any issues i will report them
haven't found any yet

i hope the puppy community will settle on a candidate for the distrowatch page soon
whether its S15 or some other resurrected puppy

because i do think its a good thing to keep the puppy page up uninterrupted

either way its not the end of the world

but like i said

its unnecessary

wanderer

Have now tried s15Pup64. No problems on my 6 year old i3 laptop. This is what I would expect to find on Distrowatch. I do admit to ScPup64 being my regular pup, but did not have issues with this one either.

rockedge wrote: Mon Oct 31, 2022 6:41 pm

Over time I've made many many woof-CE built Bionics and Fossa Focals. I think they are tested enough to begin to rapidly add those tools, utilities and eye candy and get a Fossapup64-9.6-CE in good enough shape.

My vote would go to this update to fossapup64 suggestion, but later, once ready only move to dimkr woof-ce point release strategy since that could be a longterm solution. As James bond wisely comments: no hurry required.
Just the other day, Zorin released a new updated notified on distrowatch. They are still using FocalFossa as base and likely to stay with that for another year. If pkg and so on, and newer woof-ce additions all working with newer fossapup then that's a big improvement including newest upstream components used in new build. Not keen at all really on Slacko variant as current flagship.

hi wiak

so you and rockedge are suggesting just a point update on fossapup64

how long would that take

wanderer

Jasper wrote: Mon Oct 31, 2022 7:09 am

@geo_c
I just grabbed your $$Bling$$, thank you for this compilation and for making it so easy to customise and I am sure will give my OS a brand new feel

Just a note Jasper, I'm re-uploading because about 5 sets of those pup-icons were incomplete. Not sure how that happened, but they contained only a few icons, so I fixed them and re-zipped. I'll update the link in the original post, and move this theme business to another place in the forum.

edit: that new place is located here: https://forum.puppylinux.com/viewtopic. ... 105#p71105

hi geo_c

you look marvelous

eye candy is very very important for distros

keep us posted

its better to look good than to feel good

wanderer

wiak wrote: Tue Nov 01, 2022 1:37 am

rockedge wrote: Mon Oct 31, 2022 6:41 pm

Over time I've made many many woof-CE built Bionics and Fossa Focals. I think they are tested enough to begin to rapidly add those tools, utilities and eye candy and get a Fossapup64-9.6-CE in good enough shape.

My vote would go to this update to fossapup64 suggestion, but later, once ready only move to dimkr woof-ce point release strategy since that could be a longterm solution. As James bond wisely comments: no hurry required.
Just the other day, Zorin released a new updated notified on distrowatch. They are still using FocalFossa as base and likely to stay with that for another year. If pkg and so on, and newer woof-ce additions all working with newer fossapup then that's a big improvement including newest upstream components used in new build. Not keen at all really on Slacko variant as current flagship.

Isn't Slacko relatively"behind the times" compared to debian for instance. Newer slackware versions and so on are not released that often and takes longer to reach maturity/stable release status compared to the others or am I wrong? I admit that I know almost zero about slacko having never used it...

@geo_c

Thanks for the update
I did notice that only in a few folders there were single icons eg shutdown. But did not think too much about it.

Good work as always!!

hi dogcat

how did you come up with
january 4th, 2023.
as the day we have to update the distrowatch page

wanderer

wanderer wrote: Tue Nov 01, 2022 8:43 am

hi dogcat

how did you come up with
january 4th, 2023.
as the day we have to update the distrowatch page

wanderer

Hi wanderer,
That is the date that is two years after last submitted/accepted version of puppy at distrowatch. It could be some days either side of that, I was not told that date. https://distrowatch.com/table.php?distribution=puppy

The fossapup9.5 was accepted by distrowatch on 9-22-2020, it looks like they were a few days late on that date. The first mention I see in the forum about the deactivation was 19 october, that is three weeks after the two-year cutoff so maybe there is another 3 weeks that can be added to that january 4th.

Some additional info https://forum.puppylinux.com/viewtopic. ... 047#p70047

thanks dogcat

i see

but they did move the page to dormant in october
then i guess moved it back on their own
when they noticed the last submission didn't match the picture

what ever the actual date is
it wont be long until they have had enough
and it probably will occur without warning

its ridiculous to lose such an important portal

the community will have to decide what goes on the page

the best way is for us to have a vote on this thread

hi all

what are the candidates for the puppy distrowatch page

the only ones i see are peebees S15pup 32bit and 64 bit isos

i hear talk of reviving fossapup
but i see no fossapup64-9.6-CE iso

wanderer

I've started to clean up focal64 and polish some rough corners at https://github.com/puppylinux-woof-CE/woof-CE/pull/3571. This is no substitute for other proposals, but I think it's the easiest path towards a new Puppy release that provides a clear upgrade path from the latest release but still offers substantial improvements, like apt support and working Bluetooth.

wanderer wrote: Tue Nov 01, 2022 10:15 am

but i see no fossapup64-9.6-CE iso

You'll see one soon.

thanks dmkr

i would like to express my own heartfelt thanks
( and im sure i speak for the entire puppy community )

to dimkr peebee and rockedge

for coming through for the puppy community in its time of need

its one thing to make suggestions
its entirely another thing to actually do the work

these guys took time out of their busy schedules
with no warning or recompense
to work on projects exclusively for others

they are our heroes

wanderer

theming notes which might be of interest: https://forum.puppylinux.com/viewtopic. ... 140#p71140

I have the one I made 3 days ago right here ->
Fossapup64-9.6-CE 378 MiB download size
SHA1-MD5.txt
fdrv_fossapup64_9.6.sfs
devx_fossapup64_9.6.sfs

I think @dimkr will trigger a build on the GitHub machinery that should get us right to a good starting point. The ISO supplied above could use a better newer kernel choice.

I totally agree with dimkr and wiak that the future Puppy Linux for Distrowatch should be a woof-CE recipe. But to get the us there the path goes through a Fossapup64-9.6-CE remaster with all the goodies included starting with tbox

and i thank you too rockedge

wanderer

rockedge wrote: Tue Nov 01, 2022 3:06 pm

I have the one I made 3 days ago right here ->
Fossapup64-9.6-CE 378 MiB download size
SHA1-MD5.txt

You forgot something.

It has no firmware.

You need a fdrv.sfs for it.
.

.
Other than that, it does look very good.
.
Note:
A topic for Fossapup64 9.6 would be good to have.

bigpup wrote: Tue Nov 01, 2022 3:36 pm

You forgot something.

Yes it does seem so! Two items are missing, the fdrv and the devx, so without any further delay....here's............

fdrv_fossapup64_9.6.sfs
devx_fossapup64_9.6.sfs

Note:
A topic for Fossapup64 9.6 would be good to have.

https://forum.puppylinux.com/viewtopic. ... 160#p71160

Initial examination of S15:

Edit: Hold your horses. Below I discussed the possibility that installing Gtk3 and/or Qt5 libraries might overcome many failures. Having stepped away from testing for awhile, that thought bugged me. In my storage were qt5 and gtk3 packages for a slacko64. Those might not be the latest or the best. But immediately after installing them both firefox portable and Chrome-portable ran with sound. [I won't keep this workaround. Rather I'll use PPM to install the appropriate libraries. I suggest, however, that the version of S15 offered for publication have them as built-ins.]

I like the display S15 provides. Likely I'll keep it and 'flesh it out'. That means figuring out why some portables and AppImages I actually use don't run, then fixing them when possible by supplying missing libraries. If I do, I can always provide the fix.

As I mentioned previously, my experience with Slackos is that --while they provide superior graphics and possibly sound (others say so, my hearing isn't acute enough to notice), there are fewer applications which will run OOTB.

Why be concerned whether AppImages work? There are actually only a handful of Puppy Fans who produce applications specifically for them. If they want to work on something useful, re-inventing the wheel isn’t it. The same consideration applies to portables.

I started with portables. Mike's wine-portable worked, but you, must set run action for exe's (wine32)
Portable Brave for Slacko works, other doesn't. Other chromime-clones will likely need the modifications he made to Brave for Slacko. firefox and seamonkey will also need additional libraries, maybe only GTK-3.
Palemoon worked, but its Menu-Add didn’t. So I used my palemoon-menu-pet and then set it as default. I’m posting from it now.
ListDD was not built-in. I installed it. I also had to add ‘Run-in-terminal’ to the Right-Click Menu for serveral types of AppImages (i.e. their suffixes may differ or be entirely absent).

Few of the dozen or so portables I tested worked. So I decided to switch to AppImages and come back to portables later.

Gimp worked OOTB. Installed a Pet which added it to the menu, set it as default Graphic Editor, added it to a Panel and Saved. Intent to use to edit a screenshot of all the AppImages and
portables I would test.

The attached screenshot show the results: Green=Opened. Red=Didn’t. Grey=Not tested. Read it with ‘a grain of salt’. I was actually pleased that with S15’s performance. While I did not investigate it, the impression I got was that some which didn’t work would work if S15 included GTK-3 and/or Qt5 libraries. I didn’t test the LibreOffice AppImage as my LibreOffice SFS functioned. In addition to Gimp, some version of most Graphic applications worked. That covers 2 of the ‘big-3’ often-desired types of Applications for ‘fleshing out’ a Puppy. The third is video editors. A version of KDEnlive opened. None of Openshot did. [Ubuntu’s have the opposite condition]. Olive also opened. I didn’t ‘grade’ the Shotcut video editors. Opening, they reported that ‘Jack’ had to be installed. This shouldn’t be a problem. It wasn't under Void. The same may be true for digikam. Shotwell opened, but complained about a missing plug-in.

I accumulated the AppImages using debian/Ubuntu. Most, but not all, of the accumulated versions worked under some of those. But the screenshot shows more than one version of an AppImage because one version worked OOTB in one Puppy, while another didn’t under that Puppy but did under another Puppy. I’ve never used the some AppImages so I don’t know if its fully functional under any Puppy. Note that Green=Opened. I didn’t test if it was fully functional. Grey=Not tested could mean (a) I don’t care because, like LibreOffice, the SFS works; or (b) it would take too long to work thru the initial configuration (c) some other reason requiring the expenditure of a lot of time such as VLC which would have to be started by a not yet written script to ‘run-as-spot’.

The following is withdrawn for now. I'll see what other portables work with Qt5 & GtK present. Will install versions offered by PPM.
Depending on your needs, the many AppImages which didn't open out of the box may not be significant. But it may suggest the difficulty you'll have obtaining a functional application you do want.
I'll report on portables after I've finished my examination. But the preliminary results are dismal, suggesting either that the flexibility of portables will not be available, or to achieve their common use comparable to that under debian/Ubuntus a lot of time and effort will have to be spent.

which would have to be started by a not yet written script to ‘run-as-spot’.

That might be as easy as copying a version of the script from a Puppy that has it. I did and put into KLV-Airedale as is. Works really well.

here are both types to test it out.

run-as-spot from Fossapup64-9.6-CE

#!/bin/ash
# generic wrapper to run as ${XUSER} (when currently running as root)
# (C) James Budiono 2012, 2017
# License: GPL version 3 or later
#

#set -x

XUSER=spot

case $0 in *run-as|*run-as-user)
	if ! [ "$1" ] ; then
		echo "$0: Specify user"
		exit 1
	fi
	XUSER=$1
	shift
esac

# if spot-sandbox is present, run the shell inside a sandbox
SANDBOX=
case "$1" in
*.AppImage|flatpak|*/flatpak) ;;
dbus-daemon) ;; # Landlock breaks xdg-desktop-portal, which fails to open /proc/%u/root
*) SANDBOX=`command -v spot-sandbox` ;;
esac

CWD=$PWD
CMD=''
while [ "$1" ]; do
	CMD="$CMD \"$1\""
	shift
done

[ "$CMD" ] || exit

USER_HOME=$(awk -F: '$1=="'"${XUSER}"'" {print $6}' /etc/passwd)
if ! [ "${USER_HOME}" ] ; then
	echo "$0 ERROR: could not HOME dir for user $XUSER"
	exit 1
fi
CURDIR=$PWD

if [ $(id -u) -eq 0 ]; then
	[ $XAUTHORITY ] && cp $XAUTHORITY ${USER_HOME}/.Xauthority 2>/dev/null
	touch ${USER_HOME}/.Xauthority
	export XAUTHORITY=${USER_HOME}/.Xauthority

	# replace all occurences of /root in XDG_* with /home/spot, because we don't
	# run a login shell and source /etc/profile.d/*
	OLD_HOME="$HOME"
	while IFS='=' read NAME VAL; do
		case "$NAME" in
		XDG_*) export $NAME="`echo "$VAL" | sed -e s~^$OLD_HOME~$USER_HOME~ -e s~:$OLD_HOME~:$USER_HOME~g`" ;;
		esac
	done << EOF # hack for old busybox, which doesn't understand <() and <<<
`env`
EOF

	export XDG_CONFIG_HOME=${USER_HOME}/.config
	export XDG_CACHE_HOME=${USER_HOME}/.cache
	export XDG_DATA_HOME=${USER_HOME}/.local/share

	for i in ${XDG_CONFIG_HOME} ${XDG_CACHE_HOME} ${XDG_DATA_HOME}
	do
		if ! [ -d $i ] ; then
			mkdir -p $i
			chown ${XUSER} $i
		fi
	done

	export XDG_RUNTIME_DIR=/tmp/runtime-${XUSER}
	if [ ! -d ${XDG_RUNTIME_DIR} ] ; then
		mkdir -p ${XDG_RUNTIME_DIR}
		chmod 0700 ${XDG_RUNTIME_DIR}
		chown ${XUSER} ${XDG_RUNTIME_DIR}
	fi

	if [ -s /tmp/.spot-session-bus ]; then
		. /tmp/.spot-session-bus
		export DBUS_SESSION_BUS_ADDRESS
		export DBUS_SESSION_BUS_PID
	fi

	# close all file descriptors except std{in,out,err}, in case one of
	# them points to a file under /root
	for FD in /proc/self/fd/*; do
		FD="${FD##*/}"
		[ $FD -gt 2 ] && eval "exec ${FD}<&-"
	done

	exec su ${XUSER} -s /bin/ash -c '
# try to switch to original directory, unless it is under /root
case "'"$CURDIR"'" in
/root|/root/*)
	cd "'"$USER_HOME"'"
	;;
*)
	cd "'"$CURDIR"'"
	;;
esac
exec '"${SANDBOX}"' '"$CMD"'
'
else
	exec ash -c "exec $CMD"
fi

### END ###

run-as-spot version in KLV-Airedale:

#!/bin/bash
# generic wrapper to run as normal user (when currently running as root)
# (C) James Budiono 2012
# License: GPL version 3 or later
# edited by fredx181 for DebianDog/DevuanDog
#set -x 
if [ "$1" = "" ]; then
GUICMD=yes
if [ ! -f /root/.config/run-as-user-firstrun ]; then
Xdialog --title "Run as unprivileged user" --msgbox " First run info: Next you can type the name of the program to run \n e.g. chromium or firefox \n You can also run this script from commandine, e.g. \n run-as-user vlc \n The program will run as user 'spot' or if not existing as user 'guest' \n (will be created (with no password) if not exist \n This is modified 'run-as-spot' from Fatdog by jamesbond " 0 0
echo "this file was created by 'run-as-user' at first run to prevent showing first-run message again" > /root/.config/run-as-user-firstrun
fi
APPCMD=$(Xdialog --title "Run as spot" --inputbox " Please type application name to run as unprivileged user \n e.g. chromium or firefox \n You can also run this script from commandine, e.g. \n run-as-user vlc " 0 0 2>&1)
[ $? -ne 0 ] && exit
fi
SPOT_HOME=$(awk -F: '$1=="spot" {print $6}' /etc/passwd)
if [ -n "$SPOT_HOME" ]; then
user=spot
else   # use user guest, create it if not exists
user=guest
#pass=`tr -cd '[:alnum:]' < /dev/urandom | fold -w30 | head -n1`
#adduser $user --gecos ",,," --disabled-password
#echo "$user:$pass" | chpasswd
adduser --disabled-password --shell /bin/bash --gecos ",,," $user
usermod -a -G audio,sudo,video,plugdev,cdrom,disk $user
SPOT_HOME="/home/$user"
#mkdir -p $SPOT_HOME
#chown -R $user:$user $SPOT_HOME
fi
CWD=$(pwd)
APP="$1"; shift
if [ "$GUICMD" = "yes" ]; then
APP=$(echo $APPCMD | awk '{print $1}')
  if [ -z $(which $APP) ]; then
  Xdialog --timeout 5 --title "Run as user" --msgbox " Command $APP not found \n Please try again with command existing in PATH, exiting...  " 0 0
  exit
  fi
else
  if [ -z $(which $APP) ]; then
  Xdialog --timeout 5 --title "Run as user" --msgbox " Command $APP not found \n Please try again with command existing in PATH, exiting...  " 0 0
  exit
  fi
fi

if [ $(id -u) -eq 0 ]; then
	[ -z "$XAUTHORITY" ] && XAUTHORITY=/root/.Xauthority
	[ -e "$XAUTHORITY" ] && cp $XAUTHORITY $SPOT_HOME/.Xauthority &&
	chown $user:$user $SPOT_HOME/.Xauthority && 
	export XAUTHORITY=$SPOT_HOME/.Xauthority  
	
	export XDG_CONFIG_HOME=$SPOT_HOME/.config
	export XDG_CACHE_HOME=$SPOT_HOME/.cache
	export XDG_DATA_HOME=$SPOT_HOME/.local/share
        mkdir -p $XDG_DATA_HOME; chown $user:$user $XDG_DATA_HOME

#    export FATDOG_STATE_DIR=$SPOT_HOME/.fatdog
[ "$GUICMD" = "yes" ] && exec su $user -s /bin/bash -c "cd \"$CWD\"; $APPCMD"
	ARGS=""
	while [ "$1" ]; do ARGS="$ARGS \"$1\""; shift; done
	exec su $user -s /bin/bash -c "cd \"$CWD\"; \"$APP\" $ARGS"
else
[ "$GUICMD" = "yes" ] && exec su $user -s /bin/bash -c "cd \"$CWD\"; $APPCMD"
	exec "$APP" "$@"
fi

https://github.com/dimkr/woof-CE/releas ... 9.6-alpha1

This one is built from https://github.com/puppylinux-woof-CE/woof-CE/pull/3571. The biggest changes compared to 9.5 are the inclusion of apt, PulseAudio, Blueman and lxterminal. Otherwise, it's pretty similar to 9.5. It brings all the improvements in woof-CE since 9.5, like much faster boot, a better menu generator, proper GTK+ 3 support, more efficient tray icons and much more. However, it uses ptheme (with ptheme's tray layouts and all), because it's nearly impossible to build a Puppy without it nowadays.

It's alpha-grade and not a "release candidate", but fairly complete.

The biggest issues I see in a quick glance are:
1) quickpet offers "updates" which do exactly the opposite because they target 9.5
2) quickpet offers many ancient applications
3) Some harmless errors during boot
4) The default browser is simply ancient and needs to be replaced with something up to date (maybe other internet-facing applications, too)

I'll see what I can do with 3.

Does anyone have permissions to upload .pet packages to https://distro.ibiblio.org/puppylinux/puppy-fossa/?
Any volunteers to package the latest Pale Moon (or something else?) and upload a new .pet package for use in an alpha2 build?
Any volunteers to test quickpet thoroughly, fix what's broken or remove what's beyond repair, then upload a new .pet package?

Alternatively, maybe we can see if we can polish and release one of these:

Hi all

This is just a suggestion from a user not a developer
Why not use the sfs system
As a buffer from old to new

That is the main pup
Has the modern stuff
That is maintained by the developer

And there are sfs files available
Which are maintained if there is time and energy
With older stuff like gtk2 apps etc
Since these apps aren't being updated
The sfs files probably won't need to be either

Saving work for the developers
And keeping the main iso small

Wanderer