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206 lines
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ReStructuredText
206 lines
6.4 KiB
ReStructuredText
.. _faq:
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FAQ
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###
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Below is a list of commonly asked questions with answers sourced from the
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|CL-ATTR| team and `Clear Linux community forums`_.
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.. contents:: :local:
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:depth: 2
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General
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*******
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Why did you make another distro?
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================================
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The |CL| team felt that performance was left on the table with Linux software.
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|CL| takes a holistic approach to improve performance across the stack. We
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also wanted to take more modern approaches with OS updates and tooling.
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Can other distros copy |CL| improvements?
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=========================================
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Yes, we absolutely love open source reuse and upstreaming improvements.
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How often do you update?
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========================
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The |CL| team puts out multiple releases a week, often releasing two or more
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times a day. This rolling release approach allows |CL| to remain agile to
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upstream changes and security patches.
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Is telemetry required?
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======================
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The telemetry solution provided by |CL| is entirely optional and customizable.
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It is disabled by default. If you do choose to enable telemetry, the data
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helps the |CL| team proactively identify and resolve bugs. See the
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:ref:`telem-guide` guide for more information.
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What is the default firewall?
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=============================
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|CL| packages :command:`iptables` as a bundle, however, there are no default
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firewall rules. All network traffic is allowed by default.
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Where are the files that I usually see under /etc like fstab?
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=============================================================
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|CL| has a stateless design that maintains a separation between system files
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and user files. Default values are stored under :file:`/usr/share/defaults/`.
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Files under :file:`/etc/` are not created unless you create one.
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A blog post explaining how this is accomplished with :file:`/etc/fstab/`
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specifically is available here:
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https://clearlinux.org/news-blogs/where-etcfstab-clear-linux
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Software packages
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*****************
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How is software installed and updated?
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|CL| provides software in the form of :ref:`bundles-guide` and
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updates software with :ref:`swupd <swupd-guide>`.
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:ref:`Flatpak\* <flatpak-tutorial>` is an application virtualization solution
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that allows more software to be available to |CL| users by augmenting the
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software |CL| packages natively with software available through Flatpak.
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Our goal is to have software packaged natively and made available through
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bundles whenever possible.
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Does |CL| use RPMs like other distros?
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======================================
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|CL| provides software in the form of :ref:`bundles-guide`. The RPM
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format is used as an intermediary step for packaging and determining software
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dependencies at OS build time.
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Individual RPMs can sometimes be manually installed on a |CL| system with the
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right tools, but that is not the intended use case.
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Can I install a software package from another OS on |CL|?
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=========================================================
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Software that is packaged in other formats for other Linux distributions is
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not guaranteed to work on |CL| and may be impacted by |CL| updates.
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If the software you're seeking is open source, please submit a request to add
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it to |CL|. Submit requests on GitHub\* here:
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https://github.com/clearlinux/distribution/issues
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Software availability
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*********************
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What software is available on |CL|?
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===================================
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Available software can be found in the `Software Store`_, through the GNOME\*
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Software application on the desktop, or by using :ref:`swupd search <swupd-quick-ref>`.
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Is Google\* Chrome\* available?
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===============================
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The Google Chrome web browser is not distributed as a bundle in |CL| due to
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copyright and licensing complexities.
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A discussion on manually installing and maintaining Google Chrome can be found
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on GitHub: https://github.com/clearlinux/distribution/issues/422
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Is Microsoft\* Visual Studio Code\* available?
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==============================================
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Yes. Find the CLI command for installing `VS Code`_ and other Flatpak apps in
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the `software store`_. Installing Flatpak apps is also covered in our
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:ref:`tutorial <flatpak-tutorial>`.
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The |CL| team is working on a natively packaged version of Visual Studio Code
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for future release.
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Join a community forum discussion about manually installing and maintaining
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Visual Studio Code: https://community.clearlinux.org/t/need-native-support-for-vs-code-through-swupd/
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.. _VS Code: https://clearlinux.org/software?search_api_fulltext=vscode
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Is FFmpeg available?
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====================
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`FFmpeg`_ is a multimedia software suite, which is commonly used for
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various media encoding/decoding, streaming, and playback.
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|CL| does not distribute FFmpeg due to well-known licensing and legal
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complexities (See https://www.ffmpeg.org/legal.html and
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http://blog.pkh.me/p/13-the-ffmpeg-libav-situation.html).
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Read more in the |CL| repository, including discussion of an alternative
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hardware-based solution:
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https://github.com/clearlinux/distribution/issues/429.
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While |CL| cannot distribute FFmpeg, a manual solution to build and install
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FFmpeg under :file:`/usr/local` has been shared on the community forums:
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https://community.clearlinux.org/t/how-to-h264-etc-support-for-firefox-including-ffmpeg-install.
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Is ZFS\* available?
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===================
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ZFS is not available with |CL| because of copyright and licensing
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complexities. BTRFS is an alternative filesystem that is available in |CL|
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natively.
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A user on GitHub notes that the ZFS kernel module can be compiled, built, and
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installed manually: https://github.com/clearlinux/distribution/issues/631
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Can you add a driver that I need?
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=================================
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If a kernel module is available as part of the Linux kernel source tree but
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not enabled in the |CL| kernels, in many cases the |CL| team will enable it
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upon request. Submit requests on GitHub here:
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https://github.com/clearlinux/distribution/issues
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The |CL| team does not typically add out-of-tree kernel modules as a matter of
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practice because of the maintenance overhead. If the driver was unable to be
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merged upstream, there is a good chance we may be unable to merge it for
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similar reasons.
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Kernel modules can be individually built and installed on |CL|. See the
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:ref:`kernel modules <kernel-modules>` page for more information.
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.. _`Clear Linux community forums`: https://community.clearlinux.org
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.. _`Software Store`: https://clearlinux.org/software
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.. _`FFmpeg`: https://ffmpeg.org/
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