Updated ISO?

stocc

Just wondering how often the ISO images are updated? I see that the latest version available is the one from late January. Given the number of updates since then (including the splitting of the firmware files into separate packages), are we due an updated one?
I appreciate that it's a small team so it may not be feasible to update the ISO images often. I just thought about it yesterday as I was considering going back to a fresh install, but decided against it due to the age of the current ISO image.

craigtoyoracer

stocc Solus is a rolling release. With each Friday's update you are running a current "fresh install".

So a new ISO is already old for those running updated Solus systems. 🙂

TraceyC

stocc Just wondering how often the ISO images are updated?

New ISOs are made public with every new release, as AlphaElwedritsch said. We publish a blog post every time we publish a release. You can see all of them on our blog under the releases tag and see when that happened.

Original-Syn Took 10 minutes to install and double that for the update.

Was this a slow machine? Installation in a VM for me after I've made all the selections is about 5 minutes. That initial time wouldn't be affected by a new ISO, but updates after obviously will.

Nonetheless, this is a valuable observation. I'll bring it up with the other staff members to see what the appetite for providing mid-release public ISOs is. This would definitely be beneficial to people with slower machines or internet connections.

Original-Syn

craigtoyoracer

I will say that it probably does need a refresh. Did a fresh install the other day. Took 10 minutes to install and double that for the update. Arch based distros like EndeavourOS and Cachy put out an updated iso every couple of months due to the size of updates. They also allow to pull the latest during install or have traditional offline installation.

stocc

craigtoyoracer Thanks. I'm aware it is a rolling release, but most/all such distributions refresh the ISO from time to time. Otherwise, the updates once you've installed an outdated ISO will take forever...

AlphaElwedritsch

There are new ISOs for major updates when the release is counted high.

Original-Syn

TraceyC The installation is fine, and I would consider faster than most, but the updates are what is taking a long time.

It is just a lot of updates at this point and a few of them take a while to install. This is not on the fastest systems, one being an 8th gen Core i7 with only 8Gb of Ram, but the other is a 12th gen Core i7 with 64GB of RAM. I also have gigabit internet.

TraceyC

Original-Syn

I've remembered that we had a known issue with updates taking a long time. I've added an updated note about it to our Known Issues. The linux-firmware package was split into several subpackages to address a prior issue (now resolved). New installations from the public 4.7 ISO, and systems that haven't been updated for a while will take a long time to process this update.

We've started discussing how to improve the situation with updates in general. Unfortunately, updates taking a while, even without the above mentioned issue, is something that won't be solved with more frequent ISOs. We need to improve eopkg itself to do deltas to make updates smaller and quicker. This is something we're discussing, but there are no firm plans yet.

The good news in this case is that after the very slow update caused by linux-firmware is done, future updates shouldn't be anywhere near as long. Let us know if this addresses your situation for now.

Original-Syn

TraceyC Yep, just ran a fresh test and yeah, it was indeed the linux-firmware that made it take so long and pushes the CPU hard, so older and/or slower systems would certainly take even longer. Delta updates would certainly be a solid improvement and help. Not a fun thing to get setup, but nice once it is in place.

stocc

@TraceyC, a one-off ISO update, to circumvent the firmware issue, would be helpful, but only if it's a relatively simple exercise. If it's too much effort then it's probably not worth it. My main concern was for people new to Solus who might be put off by the first update, not realising it's a one off.