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:author:
mcgillij
:category:
Linux
:date:
2021-03-29 14:49
:tags:
Linux, Arch, py3status, #100DaysToOffload, Python
:slug:
35-mins-to-arch
:summary:
35 minutes from release to Arch
:cover_image:
arch.png
Some people (myself included) enjoy the stability of Linux. Certain distributions bring this to another level see
for a lesson on stability, used as a basis for countless other distributions. Iāve used Debian for a very long time, and still do on my server.
Over the Xmas holidays I built a new workstation and decided to give
a chance since for many years Iād actually started to hear some āgoodā things about it. Ever curious I decided it would be a decent opportunity to install it on my system. **Spoilers** I didnāt even know that the installer was essentially just a wiki pageā¦ Thatās how much research Iād done on the project before-hand. The installation took roughly an hour and went smoothly. Anyways this isnāt what this is about.
A number of times Iāve written about the switch here:
Building AURās with a chroot
Still running Arch on my workstation, and itās been quite pleasant. No issues so far. However I was impressed by how quickly changes were getting into the distribution. I didnāt really have any **metric** to go by, maybe just the frequency of the updates (not only application, but also Kernel updates) that were finding their way onto my system at best this was a guesstimate.
Note: I used to run Debian **unstable and experimental** on my systems. However I mostly stick to **Testing** for workstations.
A couple weeks ago, I ran into an issue with
while writing a module for it
. Iāve written a few other modules that didnāt run into any issues, and managed to get them working as Arch packages (AUR) as well.
A little background not that itās important. Py3status has 3 supported ways to load modules.
1. Built-in modules
2. User modules (**~/.i3/py3status/**)
3. Python environment (pip installed modules, or AUR, apt etc)
I wanted users to be able to install the AUR or PyPi package and have the module be loadable by Py3status. As itās not recommended that AURās or Arch packages for that matter write files to the users **$HOME**.
And I wasnāt super interested in trying to get my modules merged into the built-in Py3status modules.
Only option left was creating a Python module, pushing it to
for anyone to install and have Py3status pick it up when configured properly.
This was the case for my other modules:
,
and
py3status-github-notifications
.
They all loaded up correctly when loaded from PyPi or AUR. But for some reason my HTTP monitor wasnāt working as expected.
If I loaded up a single instance of the HTTP monitor, it would work correctly. However itās created in a way that you can call it several times for different services that you would like to monitor.
[image: Image of the http monitor.]
The *http* module would load perfectly fine, when copied into the built-in modules and loaded that way. Would also work fine when run from the *User* modules.
When installed as a System Python package via *pip* or package manager there were errors. And there were only issues if it was loaded multiple times with different parameters (something supported by the other 2 installation methods).
Py3status being open source and hosted on Github, I snagged a copy of the code and started reproducing the issue locally. Finally when it was clear it wasnāt just some crazy issue that I had on my system or my own ineptitude. I put in an issue ticket for it with the project. And the next day I had a quick patch and **pull request** up for fixing the issue.
My pull request was eventually closed in favor of an easier fix by someone who was actually familiar with their codebase, which is fine since I just wanted the issue fixed.
Turns out that the bug was valid, and that not many people make re-usable modules that are distributed as python or system packages, so it slipped through the cracks till I was messing with it.
At this point I had already built up a patched version of py3status for my system, but this issue was blocking my āreleaseā of the http monitor module, since I didnāt want to have something out there that you could install but wasnāt working right.
So a couple days ago, I ran my daily *pacman -Syu*, for those not in the know, thatās a system update in the Arch world. And oh shit, new version of py3status! I wonder if it has the fix I needed. So I look at the version, hop onto Github to check the releaseā¦ OK the numbers match the latest release, great. Thatās when I noticed it.
Props to the Arch maintainers, even on Debian unstable, Iād have waited likely weeks before this would have even been built.
Granted, it could have been even quicker. As I donāt have my update service chain spamming looking for updates.
Finally I was able to push my packages to PyPi and push to the AUR for my new py3status module.
Py3status falls under the ācommunityā packages, which I assume donāt have as rigorous testing / stability requirements as the main packages. However as someone actively developing a module for it, I was super pleased at the turn-around time.
After a while you get desensitized to how well open source actually ājust worksā. And sometimes youāre reminded how great it is as well.
If it only takes 35 minutes to get a fixed release from Github to my system through the proper channels. And how infrequent there are breaking bugs. Is there a down side to living on the bleeding edge? Technically yesā¦ but for a home workstation I think the risk is acceptable for me at least.
![[image: Image of the http monitor.]](/kennedy.gemi.dev/archive/cached?url=gemini%3a%2f%2fgemini.mcgillij.dev%2fimages%2fstatus_bar.png&t=638427230470000000&raw=False){kind=link}