content/wiki/pkg/release.md

On this package you will find information about MatterLinux release cycle and version numbering.

Release Cycle

MatterLinux will make a new release once a year. A new release means every package will be updated to a more recent version. Packages will replace the old ones, meaning old packages will no longer be available and support for the old release will end. If you are using an old release, you will able to update to the latest one by running a full update using the MatterLinux Package Manager.

During the testing of the new release, repos for the new release will be located at next.matterlinux.xyz.

Package Updates

Packages usually won't be updated to a more recent version during the life of a MatterLinux release, however sometimes packages may be updated for bug fixes, security issues and minor improvements.

ISOs and Release Archives

• ISO: A bootable disk image
• Release Archive: An archive used during the installation of a release

With new release, a new ISO and a release archive will be published. ISO and release archive file for a release may update before the next release to keep the packages in these archive files and the ISOs up-to-date.

Learn the version you are using

You can learn the MatterLinux release version you are using by printing out the /etc/os-release file:

# cat /etc/os-release

Version Numbering

MatterLinux and all it's projects are version numbered after the year. For example MatterLinux release for the year 2024 is versioned "MatterLinux 24".

Minor numbers may be added for other releases. For example the 2nd release of the MatterLinux 24 ISO would be named "MatterLinux 24.01".

Similarly 15th release of the MatterLinux package manager for the year 2024 is versioned "24.14".

Building Releases

You can build an up-to-date ISO and a release archive using MatterLinux tools. These tools can be installed with the tools package.

You should be on a MatterLinux system for a proper build!

Building the Release Archive

To build a release archive, you can use the matter-base tool. This tool will create a temporary directory, install all the required base packages into it and then it will archive it all up for the final archive.

All you need to do is to specify a name for the archive, for example:

# matter-base matterlinux_example-build

Building the ISOs

Official ISOs are built using the matter-iso tool. By providing a release archive and a configuration directory to this tool, you can create an ISO image.

Note

ISO image is created using grub-mkrescue, so you should install libisoburn before proceeding.

As the configuration directory, you can clone the official ISO configuration. Or you can use your own custom configuration.

To build the ISO with the release archive that we created on the previous example, using the configuration directory located at ./iso:

# matter-iso matterlinux_example-build.tar.gz iso

The final ISO should be available at ./iso/dist/<name_version>.iso after the build.