[DESKTOP] But WHY is Neon not a distribution

[Tahaan]

I see the FAQ says it is not a Distribution. Can that be fixed?

[clivejo]

What do you mean "Can that be fixed?"

[Tahaan]

Make it a distribution (So that the answer becomes YES :-p )

I wonder whether Nubuntu has been taken .....

It has.


Nebunto then?

That appears to be a surname ...

Hmmmm

[GreyGeek]

So, you think if it looks like a duck, walks like a duck and quacks like a duck it must be a duck?

For one thing Jonathan Riddell, a principal developer, says it's not. It is a test bed that is primarily focused on the rapid development of KDE Plasma5. I suspect that when qt.io releases QT6 then Neon will be abandon for the new API.

Neon uses only a small subset of Kububtu/Ubuntu's repository. The last time I checked Kubuntu had over 70,000 pkgs in theirs and Neon had less than 5,000. That's why I decided to install Kubuntu 16.04 and later add the Neon repository to sources.list. As time progressed Neon eventually rebranded my installation as "KDE Neon 5.7.3" but I still have updates from Kubuntu when the version numbers of the new packages are greater than the installed version numbers.

That may not make the guys and gals working on Neon happy but it makes me happy! I get the best of both worlds but with my past background as a programmer and with the very knowledgable help of the fine folks on this forum I am able to minimize the problems. The combo is the best AND fastest "distro" I've ever run, and I've been using Linux since May of 1998.

[claydoh]

You can say it is not a distro as neon does not package or work on or otherwise touch any part of the actual OS -kernel, drivers, and the like.

sent from my LG V10 using Tapatalk

[clivejo]

I suspect that when qt.io releases QT6 then Neon will be abandon for the new API.

Neon are building their own Qt packages. When qt.io release Qt6, Neon will probably be one of the first to get it into .deb's and installed on machines.

This has been one of the road blockers for Kubuntu backporting Plasma 5.7.2 to Xenial as it requires Qt5.6.1 or better. Xenial shipped with 5.5.1, so will will have to backport Qt to Xenial as well. This can then introduce problems with non-KDE software which uses Qt.

[GreyGeek]

[QUOTE=clivejo;391943]Neon are building their own Qt packages. [/uote]
That I knew.

When qt.io release Qt6, Neon will probably be one of the first to get it into .deb's and installed on machines.

So Neon will continue on as Neon after Qt6 arrives. A "rolling release"!?! That I didn't know, and it is good to hear.

This has been one of the road blockers for Kubuntu backporting Plasma 5.7.2 to Xenial as it requires Qt5.6.1 or better. Xenial shipped with 5.5.1, so will will have to backport Qt to Xenial as well. This can then introduce problems with non-KDE software which uses Qt.

The only problem I have with Neon is the small sample of pkgs in the repository. That's why I began with Kubuntu and added Neon. So far, things have worked out. IF they don't and I began having trouble because of they hybrid nature of my setup I'll have to make a decision.

[clivejo]

KDE Neon is a project to get the latest software straight from KDE and package it for use on Ubuntu LTS. They are adding other KDE software as and when they get the time to do so. For example, they just started releasing Muon Package Manager and KDevelop 5 ( http://jriddell.org/2016/08/25/kdeve...-plasma-5-7-4/ )

[claydoh]

The only problem I have with Neon is the small sample of pkgs in the repository. That's why I began with Kubuntu and added Neon. So far, things have worked out. IF they don't and I began having trouble because of they hybrid nature of my setup I'll have to make a decision.

While neon itself has a smaller set of packages, as it is still using standard Ubuntu repos, it is not at all necessary to add neon to Kubuntu to get everything.

[GreyGeek]

While neon itself has a smaller set of packages, as it is still using standard Ubuntu repos, it is not at all necessary to add neon to Kubuntu to get everything.

When I first ran Neon as a guest OS I was stunned to see how few packages were in the default repository. That's where I got that 5,000 number from. Things may have changed since then.

[GreyGeek]

KDE Neon is a project to get the latest software straight from KDE and package it for use on Ubuntu LTS. They are adding other KDE software as and when they get the time to do so. For example, they just started releasing Muon Package Manager and KDevelop 5 ( http://jriddell.org/2016/08/25/kdeve...-plasma-5-7-4/ )

Yup, Muon shows that it came from Neon's repository.
I usually install QtDesigner and the rest, including qtcreator but they are still only in Ubuntu's repository.

[claydoh]

When I first ran Neon as a guest OS I was stunned to see how few packages were in the default repository. That's where I got that 5,000 number from. Things may have changed since then.

yes, 5000, plus nearly 80k more via the Ubuntu repos
I am not lacking any software in any way, so far outside of those due to the rare packaging/dependency conflict (early on).

Again, adding neon to Kubuntu is not at all necessary (or supported, as we all know), especially for a clean install, where it is a useless extra set of steps.

[oldgeek]

Again, adding neon to Kubuntu is not at all necessary (or supported, as we all know), especially for a clean install, where it is a useless extra set of steps.

Well, I just tried it anyway; let's see how it goes.

[woodsmoke]

There is an old story.

The "Head monK' of a Zen monastary passed away.

And, because beuracracies always have to have beuracracy stuff, there was a ....."conclave" to determine WHO WOULD BE ...the "head Zen Monk".

The question was asked:

" "WHAT"....is....Zen?" "

One answer was:

"It is a bright light shineing!!!"

Another opined..."It is a bright light shining on a MIRROR!!"

Another opined...."It is a MOTE on the mirror of the bright light shining!"

Well....while that was going on, there was a cook monk who was serving tsampa and tea and listening to all this.

He.... kicked the teapot into the brasier and walked away to the kitchen.

The cook monk was elected to be the new head Zen Abbot.

just sayin'.

wooddoeswordkatasmoke

[Tahaan]

You can say it is not a distro as neon does not package or work on or otherwise touch any part of the actual OS -kernel, drivers, and the like.

This doesn't seem to be a pre-requisite for "being a distribution"? If it is, where is the rule documented?

As to what other people wrote, pretty much the same thing applies - doesn't seem to technically preclude KDE Neon from being a distribution. Seems to me like the only reason this is not a distribution is, well, because it was decided. In fact I'm going to guess it is because "being a distribution" might imply or create an expectation of a level of commitment that the developers doesn't want to give at this time, probably due to wanting to focus their attention on other things.