Updating news and creating the first wiki pages

2024-01-06 23:21:42 +03:00 · 2024-01-06 23:21:42 +03:00 · c8023cc4a2
commit c8023cc4a2
parent 7981cdaa80
13 changed files with 241 additions and 8 deletions
--- a/assets/boot.png
+++ b/assets/boot.png
--- a/index.json
+++ b/index.json
@ -1,3 +1,3 @@
 {
-  "name": "Index"
+  "title": "Index"
 }
--- a/index.md
+++ b/index.md
@ -2,21 +2,22 @@
 Matterlinux is a tiny [free/libre](https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/free-sw.html) and 
 [open source](https://opensource.com/resources/what-open-source) GNU/Linux distribution 
 for `amd64` systems. It has its own package management system and its own package repos. 
-All source code for Matterlinux is licensed under GPLv3 and avaliable on 
+All source code for MatterLinux is licensed under GPLv3 and avaliable on 
 [Matterlinux Git Server](https://git.matterlinux.xyz/matterlinux).

 ## Goals & Status 
 The project aims to create a tiny and simple yet still usable GNU/Linux system from the 
 scratch. So the project is not based on any other distribution, nor it's package ecosystem.

-Currently matterlinux is under development, here is a rough roadmap if you want to 
+Currently MatterLinux is under development, here is a rough roadmap if you want to 
 follow the development of the project:

 - [+] Package system 
 - [+] Website 
 - [+] Offical repos (`base` and `desktop`) 
 - [>] Wiki/documentation
- [x] First release
+- [>] First release
+- [x] Expanding `desktop` repo (100 packages) 

 ## Contributing
 Currently active contributers are:
--- a/news/base.json
+++ b/news/base.json
@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 {
  "id": "progress-base",
-  "name": "Progress of the base repo",
+  "title": "Progress of the base repo",
  "date": "15/12/23",
  "author": "ngn"
 }
--- a/news/boot.json
+++ b/news/boot.json
@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 {
  "id": "a-bootable-system",
-  "name": "A bootable system",
+  "title": "A bootable system",
  "date": "22/12/23",
  "author": "ngn"
 }
--- a/news/boot.md
+++ b/news/boot.md
@ -5,7 +5,7 @@ Well, at least in theory, there is no documentation so good luck figuring
 it out yourself.

 ## Details 
-![](/images/boot.png)
+![](/assets/boot.png)

 Currently the `base` repo has (I think) 114 packages while the `desktop`
 repo only has 3, and yes I will be expanding both of these repos overtime.
--- a/news/hello.json
+++ b/news/hello.json
@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 {
  "id": "finally-a-website",
-  "name": "Finally a website!",
+  "title": "Finally a website!",
  "date": "09/12/23",
  "author": "ngn"
 }
--- a/news/wiki.json
+++ b/news/wiki.json
@ -0,0 +1,6 @@
+{
+  "id": "new_wiki",
+  "title": "New wiki!",
+  "date": "06/01/24",
+  "author": "ngn"
+}
--- a/news/wiki.md
+++ b/news/wiki.md
@ -0,0 +1,49 @@
+2 weeks ago, in the last post I said that I will start working on the wiki.
+Well... I technically didn't lie, I worked on the wiki, but not on the wiki pages,
+on the wiki itself `:)`
+
+Anyway here all the updates:
+
+## Re-Re-write: `mp-repo`
+Yes, I rewrote `mp-repo`, *again*. This is the last time I swear. I did so because 
+I realized that `mp-build`, the tool for building packages, is completely useless.
+The package manager (`mp`) does not support standalone packages anyway, so we don't 
+really a seperate tool to build packages, `mp-repo` may handle that as well. So 
+that's what I did, I rewrote `mp-repo`, in bash, and added the functionality of 
+building packages. As a result `mp-build` is now deprecated, source code for `mp-build` 
+is now in a private repository.
+
+## Repos are now up!
+`base` and `desktop` repos are now up at [pkgs.matterlinux.xyz](https://pkgs.matterlinux.xyz)!
+So now it's possible to download packages without building them. The signatures are 
+used for the repos belong to me (ngn) and its [F9E70878C2FB389AEC2BA34CA3654DF5AD9F641D](https://keys.openpgp.org/vks/v1/by-fingerprint/F9E70878C2FB389AEC2BA34CA3654DF5AD9F641D).
+
+Now that MatterLinux have working repos, I will start working on a mirror tool, that people
+can use to setup mirrors easily. I want repos to be more accessible, the MatterLinux server 
+is located in Turkey, so it does not have the greatest *accessibility* for the most part of 
+the world.
+
+## The new wiki
+After writing 2 pages using the MediaWiki, I got really annoyed by the its syntax. Like FFS 
+just use markdown or something! Anyway, I also didn't like the look of the themes, so after 
+few minutes of scrolling in the [awesome-selfhosted](https://github.com/awesome-selfhosted/awesome-selfhosted#wikis) list, I picked wikmd, and after installing it with docker, I realized that it's running in development mode, I couldn't find anyway to change that and I didn't want to build the 
+docker image myself. 
+
+So I decided to pick another one, WikiJS, which turned out to be pretty bloat. 
+
+After checking out few more of the wiki software on the list, I found out that they are all bad- 
+I mean, they are not bad but they were just not what I was looking for. So I decided to expand 
+the MatterLinux's website so I can use it as a wiki. And that's what I did, I moved around a lot 
+of the server code, and added a new `/wiki` route, which just simply acts like the `/news` route. 
+
+Go ahead and [check it out!](/wiki)
+
+## What's next?
+I will finish writing all the important pages, currently the most important page is the 
+`installation` page, when its done, well, I will publish the first release archive and it 
+will be possible to install MatterLinux!
+
+After that I will start expanding the `desktop` repo and I will also work on the mirror tool 
+that I mentioned.
+
+I think that's all for now, see you in the next post.
--- a/wiki/main.json
+++ b/wiki/main.json
@ -0,0 +1,6 @@
+{
+  "id": "main",
+  "title": "Welcome to MatterLinux Wiki!",
+  "author": "ngn",
+  "date": "06/01/24"
+}
--- a/wiki/main.md
+++ b/wiki/main.md
@ -0,0 +1,28 @@
+You can use this page as a catalog, it will let you discover other pages. If you want to
+edit a page or create a new page, make a pull-request to [website-content](https://git.matterlinux.xyz/matterlinux/website-content) repository.
+
+**Important:** Wiki is currently under development, so some of the pages on the tables 
+don't have a link yet.
+
+## Installation
+| Name                  | Description                                     |
+| --------------------- | ----------------------------------------------- |
+| Introduction          | Learn about MatterLinux and other general stuff | 
+| Installation          | Learn how to install a base MatterLinux system  |
+| Post-Installation     | Make your system (somewhat) usable              |
+
+## Packaging 
+| Name                                  | Description                                           |
+| ------------------------------------- | ----------------------------------------------------- |
+| Repo                                  | Learn about MatterLinux repos and how they work       | 
+| [Package](wiki/package)               | Learn about MatterLinux packages                      |
+| Package Managment                     | Learn about MatterLinux package manager               | 
+| Mirrors                               | Discover repo mirrors and learn how you can setup one | 
+
+## Other 
+| Name                             | Description                                             |
+| -------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------- |
+| Bugs and Issues                  | Learn how you can report bugs and issues to developers  | 
+| Contributing                     | Learn how you can contribute to MatterLinux             | 
+| Contact                          | Learn how you can contact developers and users          | 
+| Licensing                        | Licensing for the MatterLinux repositories and software | 
--- a/wiki/pkg.json
+++ b/wiki/pkg.json
@ -0,0 +1,6 @@
+{
+  "id": "package",
+  "title": "Package",
+  "author": "ngn",
+  "date": "06/01/24"
+}
--- a/wiki/pkg.md
+++ b/wiki/pkg.md
@ -0,0 +1,137 @@
+A MatterLinux package is a compiled files of a software, tool or a libary. 
+
+# Format 
+MatterLinux packages uses the **M**atterLinux **P**ackaging **F**ormat, `MPF`. Don't let fancy name 
+mislead you, a basic `MPF` file is just a renamed `TAR GZ` archive. The reason that packages use the 
+`.mpf` extension and not the `.tar.gz` extension is to make it easier to recognize and easier to work 
+with in the scripts and the tools. 
+
+### Naming
+A package is named after the software and the version of that software that it provides. For 
+example package containing `bash` version `5.2.15` is named `bash_5.2.15.mpf`.
+
+### Structure 
+File structure of a package matches with the MatterLinux root file structure. This is important
+as a package will most likely be extracted in a MatterLinux root filesystem. 
+
+For example, we can take a look at the `which` package, to do this you can download the `MPF` file 
+and list its contents with the `tar tf` command:
+```
+usr/
+usr/share/
+usr/share/man/
+usr/share/man/man1/
+usr/share/man/man1/which.1
+usr/share/info/
+usr/share/info/dir
+usr/share/info/which.info
+usr/bin/
+usr/bin/which
+```
+
+### Install Scripts
+Some packages may contain an install script, `install.sh`, this shell script is ran by the 
+[MatterLinux Package Manager (`mp`)](/wiki/package_man) using the bash shell, right after the 
+extraction.
+
+This script is used to do post-install actions, such as adding users, groups etc.
+
+This script is located at the root of the package. For example let's take a look 
+at the `systemd` package:
+```
+...
+etc/X11/xinit/
+etc/X11/xinit/xinitrc.d/
+etc/X11/xinit/xinitrc.d/50-systemd-user.sh
+etc/credstore.encrypted/
+install.sh
+usr/
+usr/lib/
+usr/lib/libudev.so
+usr/lib/libnss_resolve.so.2
+...
+```
+
+# Usage
+While installing a package using the [MatterLinux Package Manager (`mp`)](/wiki/package_man), `mp` 
+downloads the target package(s) from the repos, these packages are in the format discussed above.
+After downloading and verifying the target package(s), `mp` extracts the packages [using the `tar`
+tool](https://git.matterlinux.xyz/Matterlinux/mp/src/main/src/utils/util.c#L103). 
+
+To learn more about this process see the [page for `mp`](/wiki/package_man).
+
+It's also possible to install packages manualy. To do this you can grab a package you want 
+and extract it to your the root directory by running: `tar xvf <package_version.mpf> -C /`
+
+# Building  
+Package are built with the `mp-repo` tool. In order to build a package, you will need the source 
+for the repo that contains the package. This is because a package itself does not store any metadata, 
+this is all handled by the repo. 
+
+To learn more about the `mp-repo` tool, and how you can use it to build packages, see the 
+[repo package](/wiki/repo).
+
+### Package Source
+Source code for a packages can be found in the source code of the repo that the package is in.
+Source files for a repo will be located under the `src` directory.
+
+### Package Script 
+Each package source contains a `pkg.sh` shell script. This is the source script that is used to 
+build the package. In the build process, this shell script gets imported  by the `mp-repo` tool 
+using the `source` command.
+
+Let's take a closer look at a `pkg.sh` file:
+```
+NAME="which"
+DESC="Shows the full path of (shell) commands"
+VERSION="2.21"
+FILES=("https://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/which/which-$VERSION.tar.gz")
+HASHES=("097ff1a324ae02e0a3b0369f07a7544a")
+DEPENDS=()
+
+build() {
+  tar xf $NAME-$VERSION.tar.gz
+  cd $NAME-$VERSION
+
+  ./configure --prefix=/usr && make
+  make DESTDIR=$ROOTDIR install
+
+  cd .. && rm -rf $NAME-$VERSION 
+}
+```
+This `pkg.sh` file is for the `which` package (version `2.21`). Let's start by breaking down the 
+variables:
+
+- `NAME`: Specifies the package name. A package should be named after the software, tool or libary 
+it provides. Preferably the name should not contain `_` to avoid confusion with naming. 
+- `DESC`: A short description about the software, tool or the libary that package provides. 
+Explain what it does, what it contains etc.
+- `VERSION`: Version of the software, tool or libary the package provides. If you are using a 
+git commit version, you can name the version `LAST_VERSION+COMMIT_ID`
+- `FILES`: Upstream files and patches needed to build this package, you can use `http`, `https` 
+or `ftp` protocols.
+You can also specify multiple files. These files will be downloaded by `mp-repo` in the build 
+process.
+- `HASHES`: Hashes for the files you specify. You can use `MD5`, `SHA1`, `SHA256` or `SHA512` sums.
+And yes, you need to specify hashes for all the files, using the same order with the `FILES` variable.
+- `DEPENDS`: Package(s) that this package depends on. 
+
+Now let's take a look at the `build` function. Each package needs a `build` function, this 
+function is called by `mp-repo` after downloading and verifying all the packages. It will be 
+called in the `$ROOTDIR`. This directory will contain all the downloaded files, any files 
+in this directory will be included into the build, so don't forget to cleanup. 
+
+**Note:** You don't need to cleanup the downloaded files, they will be cleaned by the `mp-repo`.
+
+- `tar xf $NAME-$VERSION.tar.gz`: Extract the downloaded archive file.
+- `cd $NAME-$VERSION`: Change directory into the extracted directory.
+- `./configure --prefix=/usr && make`: Builds the `which` tool, different packages may have 
+different build instructions. These instruction are usually provided by the upstream. You can 
+also check out [LFS](https://www.linuxfromscratch.org/lfs/view/12.0-systemd/) and [BLFS](https://www.linuxfromscratch.org/blfs/view/12.0-systemd/) for instructions.
+- `make DESTDIR=$ROOTDIR install`: Install the package. Make sure that you are installing the package 
+into the `$ROOTDIR` and not the root file system.
+- `cd .. && rm -rf $NAME-$VERSION`: Change directory back into `$ROOTDIR` and clean the extracted archive.
+
+Check out [`base`](https://git.matterlinux.xyz/Matterlinux/base) and 
+[`desktop`](https://git.matterlinux.xyz/Matterlinux/desktop) repo sources for more 
+example `pkg.sh` scripts.