Siduction Linux 2024.1.0 (Shine On) Review [KDE Plasma Edition]
Feb. 21, 2025, 8:20 p.m.
Siduction Linux is a rolling release distribution based on the unstable branch of Debian, permanently assigned the codename Sid, from which the name of the distribution is derived.
The distribution provides installation images featuring the KDE Plasma DE, LXQt and, Xfce, as well as an X Window System only version without a DE and minimal version without even the X Window System.
The standout feature of the current incarnation of Siduction is the default use of the Btrfs filesystem with a subvolume layout compatible with Snapper which fully configured out-of-the box.
Introduction
Early in my second Linux career, when I was regularly distrohopping, I converted a Debian based distribution to use the Debian Testing repositories in order to have access to more current software. This eventually broke because of the Debian release process. At some point later, I discovered Siduction, a rolling release distribution based on the Debian Unstable repositories. Besides a few minor problems, I found it to be extremely stable without the breakage I experienced with the distribution converted to Debian Testing.
Now, I decided to review the current release of Siduction because, after having installed it on my secondary laptop -- a Dell G5 (Dell G5-5587 Review for Linux Users [G5-5587-7037RED-PUS]) -- I was impressed with how it does not suffer from some problems with resuming from suspend that began about six months ago as do some other distributions. In that period all of the distributions on that laptop (except openSUSE Tumbleweed) including Fedora and Arch based distributions, such as EndeavourOS and CachyOS, had problems resuming from suspend; for example they experience a very long delay before displaying the greeter after resuming, and in the case of CachyOS even being unstable after finally being able to log in.
Besides not being subject to whatever problems the Arch based distributions and Fedora have related to resuming, the distribution is excellent (apart from a few minor issues).
Review Summary
A full review of Siduction Linux 2024.1.0 KDE Plasma Edition is presented below, but for readers short on time, my observations of the distribution are summarized here.
- The obvious observation is that it provides Linux users who prefer Debian, its architecture, its administrative programs, its infrastructure, its community, etc., a distribution that offers not only current versions of software as with regular release distributions with short intervals between releases, but a rolling release.
- The default installation is on a Btrfs filesystem with a layout, while not as complicated as openSUSE's layout due to its additional levels of hierarchy, is compatible with both GRUB (which now supports the rootsub variable) and Snapper, which is fully configured. I had an opportunity to test the reliability of the rollback using the snapper rollback command and can say it works as it should.
- The most serious problem I experienced -- which I used as an opportunity to test the rollback -- was a dependency problem when installing VirtualBox and KMyMoney with one of sub packages of Python after an upgrade of the initial installation's Python 3.12.x to Python 3.13.x.
- Another serious problem for me concerned the KDE Kmail application. Whatever package provides an XOauth2 authentication mechanism for Kmail to be able to connect with Microsoft Outlook services is not available in Siduction, precluding the ability to add the Outlook email service in Kmail. This has not been an issue on other distributions except Kubuntu; on other distributions such as openSUSE, Arch, and Fedora, when attempting to add an Outlook email account, the process is automatic with a pop up window from the email provider allowing users to enter the credentials for the account to be connected to Kmail.
- A simple but important problem I found was that the distribution does not provide a way to verify the authenticity of downloaded ISO images with GPG signatures; it only provides MD5 and SHA256 checksums at the same URI as ISO images for download integrity verification.
- GTK applications such as Inkscape and others which use GTK components such as Visual Studio Code do not display menus in Plasma's Global Menu widget in Siduction's KDE Plasma Edition. This is usually enabled in other distributions which have a KDE Plasma Edition with the simple inclusion of the appropriate GTK components.
Review
Pre-Installation
The pre-installation experience, as usual, when considering installing a new distribution, centers around the distribution's website and online resources. It seems the Siduction main website has received an update which improves it since the last time I installed Siduction. The download links for installation media was easy to find by selecting the "Installation Media" item from the "Download" drop-down menu in the top menu bar. This dorp down also has items, Packages and Mirrors which, respectively, link to a page providing the repository URI's for Siduction's own repositories -- extra and fixes, and to a list of mirrors for its own repositories.
The other items of interest on Siduction's website are the links to its forum and the Siduction manual. Besides these, the distribution's website and online resources are basic if not lacking what other distributions provide. But this is not an issue when considering the manual (see below) is adequate for addressing nearly all issues a Siduction user may face and Debian's online resources are complete, for example, including the online package search portal.
The only negative aspect of the pre-installation experience, one that can be easily corrected is that the distribution does not provide a way to verify the authenticity of downloaded ISO images with GPG signatures; it only provides MD5 and SHA256 checksums at the same URI as ISO images for download integrity verification.
The Siduction Web Site
The third image shows the installation media download page with download links for each flavor of Siduction installation media. Each has a download link for a mirror in the US and the EU.
The Live ISO Environment
After powering on the laptop and selecting the USB from the firmware interface, the Siduction live ISO environment presents a a GRUB menu customized with the release's default wallpaper that has items for setting the time zone, the keyboard map -- which, in my case, were correctly preselected, as well as other items for editing the kernel command line to insert kernel parameters, for detecting firmware boot managers, and for accessing help. Unfortunately, I did not investigate these items, and booted.
The Live Installation Medium GRUB Menu
The menu has items for setting the timezone, keyboard map, language, and for editing the kernel commandline.
The KDE Plasma Edition's live ISO environment look and feel is based on a standard Plasmashell layout with a modified default Breeze theme and a wallpaper that based on the default current KDE Plasma wallpaper with additional elements added by the distribution to reflect its identity and the identity of the release, namely a watermark that contains the distribution name and the release codename, and a prominent diamond. The SDDM greeter theme, shown later in the article in Review->First Boot, also has the same visual theme, but the fields for username and password, and controls for session type selection and other control elements are unique to Siduction.
The Siduction Live ISO Look and Feel
The look and feel of the live ISO environment is a standard upstream Plasmashell layout where the only custom theme elements are a modification of the default plasma wallpaper and a Breeze based theme.
The live ISO environment is filled with the most extensive set of software I have seen recently in any live ISO environment, making it very usable without additional package installations. The software available in the live ISO, which is shown in the following set of images of the application launcher, is also made available out-of-the-box in the installed system.
Applications Available in the Live ISO Environment
The selection of available applications is large, and should be adequate for most users, especially if using the live ISO without installing Siduction. The applications available in the live ISO medium are also installed when installing Siduction permanently on a system.
Click on any of the thumbnails to view a slideshow of the images.
Click on any of the thumbnails to view a slideshow of the images.
Installation
Siduction, like many Linux distributions, uses the Calamares installer. The installation process, which is shown in the following set of screenshots, was simple and quick. The most notable item of the installation is that Siduction adds one screen to the standard progression of screens or components in the installer, namely one that allows users to specify whether non-free software repositories should be enabled by adding them to the APT sources configuration. This is necessary in order to install, for example, Nvidia proprietary drivers.
The only other notable item is that in my installation on the Dell G5, preselected locale was set to en_GB, although the preselected time-zone was correctly pre selected to Americas/New_York, however, in my installation on the Lenovo Legion 5i Pro, the locale was also set correctly.
Siduction Linux 2024.1.0 (Shineon) KDE Plasma Edition Installation
Siduction uses the Calamares installer almost universally used by Linux distributions. The only notable items of the installer is that the default filesystem is Btrfs and that it prompts whether to activate Debian's non-free repositories.
Click on any of the thumbnails to view a slideshow of the images.
Click on any of the thumbnails to view a slideshow of the images.
First Boot
Upon rebooting after the installation completed, I was presented with a GRUB that used the same theme as the live ISO and a desktop environment exactly the same as the live ISO, with the same applications. The following set of screenshots were taken during my initial use of Siduction, immediately after the installation. Note the number of package updates, and the contents of /etc/fstab.
Siduction Linux 2024.1.0 (Shine On ...) KDE Plasma Edition Immediately After Installation
The SDDM theme (featured image, Images 2&3) adds a customization by Siduction that displays the current snapshot that is mounted as the system root, which is updated after each rollback. Image 6 shows a Konsole window with /etc/fstab. Image 7 shows the first update after installation with 993 packages selected for update.
Click on any of the thumbnails to view a slideshow of the images.
Click on any of the thumbnails to view a slideshow of the images.
Btrfs
The Btrfs filesystem has gained popularity in recent years as distributions' default filesystem format. Siduction has also adopted the filesystem as its default format. It is the preselected filesystem format for existing partitions, except the EFI System Partition, when configuring storage targets for the installation is Btrfs.
Siduction not only uses Btrfs for the installation, but also makes the subvolume layout compatible with Snapper for system snapshots and rollbacks, including integration with the default CLI package manager for automatic snapshots during package management transactions, and integration with GRUB for producing a GRUB submenu for selecting snapshots into which to boot as a first step in initiating a rollback. The details of the various aspects of the Btrfs/Snapper/GRUBi configuration is discussed below.
Siduction's Subvolume Layout
The Siduction installation on Btrfs is unlike most distribution's which use Btrfs as the default subvolume or provide it as an option. Some distributions, such as Fedora as of release 39, format a partition with Btrfs and place the installation on the main subvolume (subvolid 5) created when the partition is formatted with Btrfs. Some other distributions create a set of subvolumes within the top level subvolume one of them being an @ subvolume to be mounted at /, and others for filesystem hierarchy paths to be excluded from Btrfs snapshots, such as /var/log. Of these distributions, those which include Snapper integration will also create a snapshots subvolume under the subvolume to be mounted at /, as required by Snapper.
Siduction's subvolume layout, as illustrated in the following image, goes further in the direction of openSUSE's -- the Btrfs pioneer -- subvolume layout, by creating a subvolume (subvolid=256) under the top level subvolume, and placing all other subvolumes in this subvolume. In the initial state of the system, illustrated in the left pane of the image, before any rollbacks are performed, the @ subvolume (subvolid=256; subvolume path /@; the first subvolume created after the top level subvolume, itself created automatically by the Btrfs formatting operation) is mounted at /. At the initial state the default Btrfs subvolume is not set, as is necessarily the case with openSUE because of their customization of GRUB and their installation of the filesystem hierarchy, with the exception of paths to be excluded from snapshots, into a manually created Snapshot #1. (See An Arch Linux Installation on a Btrfs Filesystem with Snapper for System Snapshots and Rollbacks which describes the openSUSE layout, as well as A Fedora Installation with an openSUSE Style Btrfs Subvolume Layout and Snapper Integration for System Snapshots and Rollbacks and Converting an Existing Ubuntu 24.10 Installation on Ext4 to Btrfs with an openSUSE Style Subvolume Layout and Snapper Integration for System Snapshot Management, which describe, respectively, converting a Fedora Btrfs installation and an Ubuntu ext4 installation to openSUSE's Btrfs/Snapper configuration.)
The Siduction 2024.1.0 (Shine On ...) Btrfs Subvolume Layout
The subvolume layout places subvolumes for the filesystem hierarchy root (/), the snapshots subvolume, and subvolumes for filesystem hierarchy
paths (/root, and /var/log) in
subvolume under the main Btrfs subvolume.
When a Snapper rollback is performed, the initial state of the subvolume changes in that the @ subvolume will no longer be mounted at /, but the new read-write snapshot -- a copy of the snapshot to which the system is rolled back -- created as part of the rollback process. The new read-write snapshot is also set as the default Btrfs subvolume. This state is illustrated in the right pane of the above image. Subsequent rollbacks will repeat this process such that the new read-write snapshot created by the rollback will be mounted at the filesystem hierarchy root and will be set as the default Btrfs subvolume.
In my opinion this subvolume layout is the best of any distribution that I have used that also incorporates Snapper, except perhaps, openSUSE's. It is fully compatible with Snapper, but, while creating a subvolume below the top level to contain all other subvolumes, it reduces the complication of openSUSE's layout by reducing the level of subvolumes by one.
Snapper
The subvolume layout described above is compatible with Snapper in that it has a @snapshots subvolume and that it is mounted under the subvolume mounted at the root of the filesystem hierarchy (accessible at /.snapshots). This allows snapshots at snapper, whether automatically through Snapper/APT integration, systemd units, or manually to be created under ./snapshots.
But unlike distribution's like Garuda, which also integrate Snapper with a Btrfs filesystem, Siduction fully uses Snapper for both snapshot creation and rollbacks. When a Garuda system is rolled back, it uses btrfs commands to move the current system subvolume to a backup and then copies the read-only snapshot to which to rollback to a subvolume named @ at subvolume path /@, replacing the former system subvolume. In a Siduction system, the snapper rollback command can be used, which makes the two new snapshots mentioned earlier, a read-only copy of the current system and a read-write copy of snapshot to which to rollback, also setting it as the default Btrfs subvolume.
Siduction adds several scripts as part of its own siduction-btrfs package to enhance Snapper functionality, three of which are executed by Siduction's Snapper plug-in at /usr/lib/snapper/plugins/50-siduction.sh. These scripts perform actions such as modifying Snapper's snapshot descriptions with information from APT logs when snapshots are created as a result of an APT package management transactions.
Snapper/APT Integration
Snapper also integrated with APT in Siduction's Btrfs/Snapper configuration, such that pre and post snapshots transactions are created with each package management transaction. In the process used to convert an Ubuntu system originally installed on an ext4 filesystem as described in Converting an Existing Ubuntu 24.10 Installation on Ext4 to Btrfs with an openSUSE Style Subvolume Layout and Snapper Integration for System Snapshot Management, this functionality relied on the apt-btrfs-snapshots package which contained the APT configuration file /etc/apt/apt.conf.d/80-btrfs-snapshot and the Python package apt_btrfs_snapshot.py. The configuration causes the Python program to execute the Snapper commands to create snapshots before and after APT package management transactions.
This package does not exist in Debian's package repositories, neither does anything similar exist in Siduction's Fixes or Extras deb repositories or in its Github repositories. However, the APT configuration file, /etc/apt/apt.conf.d/snapper, with contents as shown below.
# https://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=770938
DPkg::Pre-Invoke { "if [ -e /etc/default/snapper ]; then . /etc/default/snapper; fi; if [ -x /usr/bin/snapper ] && [ ! x$DISABLE_APT_SNAPSHOT = 'xyes' ] && [ -e /etc/snapper/configs/root ]; then rm -f /var/tmp/snapper-apt || true ; snapper create -d apt -c number -t pre -p > /var/tmp/snapper-apt || true ; snapper cleanup number || true ; fi"; };
DPkg::Post-Invoke { "if [ -e /etc/default/snapper ]; then . /etc/default/snapper; fi; if [ -x /usr/bin/snapper ] && [ ! x$DISABLE_APT_SNAPSHOT = 'xyes' ] && [ -e /var/tmp/snapper-apt ]; then snapper create -d apt -c number -t post --pre-number=`cat /var/tmp/snapper-apt` || true ; snapper cleanup number || true ; fi"; };
The DPkg::Pre-Invoke and DPkg::Post-Invoke configuration parameters in this file cause a snapper create command to be executed, respectively, before and after each package management transaction. The following image of a split Konsole window displays in the top pane, the file /etc/apt/apt.conf.d/80snapper.conf open in a vim instance. The bottom pane of the Konsole window shows the output of snapper list; note the snapshot description fields which indicate that they are the created by package management transactions. As we see later in the article the descriptions are actually modified by Siduction's own scripts to reflect the same information as the APT log.
Snapper/APT Integration
The top pane of the Konsole window shows /etc/apt/apt.conf.d/80snapper.conf with the DPkg::Pre-Invoke and DPkg::Post-Invoke configuration parameters. The bottom pane of the Konsole window shows the output of snapper list; note the snapshot description fields which indicate that they are the created by package management transactions.
Btrfs/Snapper/GRUB Integration
GRUB integration is also complete. Snapshots are automatically detected during package management transactions by the grub-btrfs program, as illustrated in the following listing showing an excerpt of the output of a package management transactions. (For more on grub-btrfs, see Upgrading a Fedora 39 Installation on a Btrfs Filesystem with an openSUSE Style Subvolume Layout to Fedora 40)
Generating grub configuration file ... Found theme: /usr/share/grub/themes/shine-on/theme.txt Found linux image: /boot/vmlinuz-6.12.11-1-siduction-amd64 Found initrd image: /boot/initrd.img-6.12.11-1-siduction-amd64 Found linux image: /boot/vmlinuz-6.12.10-1-siduction-amd64 Found initrd image: /boot/initrd.img-6.12.10-1-siduction-amd64 Found linux image: /boot/vmlinuz-6.12.6-1-siduction-amd64 Found initrd image: /boot/initrd.img-6.12.6-1-siduction-amd64 Found memtest86+ 64bit EFI image: /boot/memtest86+x64.efi Found memtest86+ 32bit EFI image: /boot/memtest86+ia32.efi Found memtest86+ 64bit image: /boot/memtest86+x64.bin Found memtest86+ 32bit image: /boot/memtest86+ia32.bin Warning: os-prober will be executed to detect other bootable partitions. Its output will be used to detect bootable binaries on them and create new boot entries. Found Windows Boot Manager on /dev/nvme1n1p1@/EFI/Microsoft/Boot/bootmgfw.efi Adding boot menu entry for UEFI Firmware Settings ... Detecting snapshots ... Found snapshot: 2025-01-24 23:34:23 | @snapshots/33/snapshot | pre | apt | Found snapshot: 2025-01-23 19:05:14 | @snapshots/32/snapshot | post | Upgrade | Found snapshot: 2025-01-23 19:04:52 | @snapshots/31/snapshot | pre | Upgrade | Found snapshot: 2025-01-23 18:25:50 | @snapshots/30/snapshot | post | Install biber +132 pkg | Found snapshot: 2025-01-23 18:24:57 | @snapshots/29/snapshot | pre | Install biber +132 pkg | Found snapshot: 2025-01-23 18:04:44 | @snapshots/28/snapshot | post | Install kdevelop +26 pkg | Found snapshot: 2025-01-23 18:04:32 | @snapshots/27/snapshot | pre | Install kdevelop +26 pkg | Found snapshot: 2025-01-23 17:58:17 | @snapshots/26/snapshot | post | Install bison +3 pkg | Found snapshot: 2025-01-23 17:58:13 | @snapshots/25/snapshot | pre | Install bison +3 pkg | Found snapshot: 2025-01-23 17:48:23 | @snapshots/24/snapshot | post | Install perl-tk | Found snapshot: 2025-01-23 17:48:20 | @snapshots/23/snapshot | pre | Install perl-tk | Found snapshot: 2025-01-23 17:47:55 | @snapshots/22/snapshot | post | Install tk9.0 +2 pkg | Found snapshot: 2025-01-23 17:47:53 | @snapshots/21/snapshot | pre | Install tk9.0 +2 pkg | Found snapshot: 2025-01-23 17:38:45 | @snapshots/20/snapshot | post | Install starship | Found snapshot: 2025-01-23 17:38:43 | @snapshots/19/snapshot | pre | Install starship | Found snapshot: 2025-01-23 17:38:32 | @snapshots/18/snapshot | post | Install fish +3 pkg | Found snapshot: 2025-01-23 17:38:28 | @snapshots/17/snapshot | pre | Install fish +3 pkg | Found snapshot: 2025-01-23 17:34:26 | @snapshots/16/snapshot | post | Install tree-sitter-cli +102 pkg | Found snapshot: 2025-01-23 17:34:03 | @snapshots/15/snapshot | pre | Install tree-sitter-cli +102 pkg | Found snapshot: 2025-01-23 17:32:08 | @snapshots/14/snapshot | post | Install fzf | Found snapshot: 2025-01-23 17:32:06 | @snapshots/13/snapshot | pre | Install fzf | Found snapshot: 2025-01-23 17:20:56 | @snapshots/12/snapshot | post | Install neovim +12 pkg | Found snapshot: 2025-01-23 17:20:52 | @snapshots/11/snapshot | pre | Install neovim +12 pkg | Found snapshot: 2025-01-22 23:40:53 | @snapshots/10/snapshot | post | Upgrade | Found snapshot: 2025-01-22 23:23:24 | @snapshots/9/snapshot | pre | Upgrade | Found snapshot: 2025-01-22 23:14:13 | @snapshots/8/snapshot | post | Install firefox +1 pkg | Found snapshot: 2025-01-22 23:14:06 | @snapshots/7/snapshot | pre | Install firefox +1 pkg | Found snapshot: 2025-01-22 22:53:29 | @snapshots/6/snapshot | post | Install code | Found snapshot: 2025-01-22 22:24:18 | @snapshots/5/snapshot | pre | Install code | Found snapshot: 2025-01-22 20:45:57 | @snapshots/4/snapshot | post | Install python3 | Found snapshot: 2025-01-22 20:45:56 | @snapshots/3/snapshot | pre | Install python3 | Found snapshot: 2025-01-22 20:45:15 | @snapshots/2/snapshot | post | Install libnvidia +90 pkg | Found snapshot: 2025-01-22 20:43:47 | @snapshots/1/snapshot | pre | Install libnvidia +90 pkg | Found 33 snapshot(s) Unmount /tmp/grub-btrfs.Gzlc9GT7Vv .. Success done Setting up libzxing3:amd64 (2.3.0-2+b2) ... Setting up libpathplan4:amd64 (2.42.4-2+b4) ... Setting up firefox-beta (135.0b9~build1) ... Setting up usbmuxd (1.1.1-6) ... usbmuxd.service is a disabled or a static unit not running, not starting it. Setting up libspdlog1.15:amd64 (1:1.15.0+ds-2+b1) ... Setting up libglapi-mesa:amd64 (24.3.4-1) ... Setting up weechat-core (4.5.1-1+b2) ... Setting up xserver-xorg-video-vesa (1:2.6.0-2) ... Setting up linux-headers-siduction-amd64 (6.12-11) ... Setting up weechat-curses (4.5.1-1+b2) ... Setting up tree-sitter-cli (0.20.8-6+b2) ...
The detected snapshots are added to a Snapshots GRUB submenu item which opens to a list of available read-only snapshots into which the system can be booted to initiate a system rollback.
The Siduction GRUB Menu
Image 1: The top level GRUB menu before any rollbacks. Note that menu item to boot Siduction includes the subvolume that contains the current system. Also note the siduction snapshots menu item.
Image 2: When selecting the siduction snapshots menu a list of the available snapshots into which to boot the system is displayed. Selecting any of the snapshots will display the available kernels for that snapshot.
Image 4: The list of snapshots when there are more snapshots.
Image 5: The top level GRUB menu when multiple kernels are available in the subvolume that is to be mounted at the filesystem hierarchy root.
GRUB Kernel Image Path and / Mounting
The GRUB Btrfs integration also ensures that the initial installed system subvolume at subvolume path /@ is used in the path to the kernel image in kernel command line in GRUB. When the system is rolled back, the kernel command line is modified for subsequent boots to reflect the subvolume that contains the new system (the read-write snapshot that is a copy of the snapshot to which the system was rolled back created during the rollback). In the following listing displaying the kernel command line after the system has been rolled back, the kernel image path uses the absolute subvolume path to Snapshot #36.
89% 19:05:20 USER: brook HOST: Legion-Siduction PCD: 22h46m31s ~ ❯$ cat /proc/cmdline BOOT_IMAGE=/@snapshots/36/snapshot/boot/vmlinuz-6.13.3-1-siduction-amd64 root=UUID=3b0b2b91-34d0-4559-a1ec-88b4a54b34e5 ro rootflags=subvol=@snapshots/36/snapshot quiet resume=UUID=980ddbbf-9b79-4390-be21-850e62b7ebb2 systemd.show_status=1
The kernel command line also shows that the GRUB variable rootflags is used and is set to the snapshot that is to be used as the current root of the system, specified with the subvol mount option with a value of the snapshot expressed as a subvolume path,
In distribution's such as Garuda which do not set a default Btrfs subvolume and copy the snapshot to which to roll back to the /@ subvolume, as described earlier, the rootflags parameter is always set to /@.
The fact that rootflags is used by Siduction, and that it is not set to /@, except initially before any rollbacks, may be a recent change in GRUB that allows this. Expect an article on this site after investigating this.
Rollback
Initiating a Rollback After Booting Into a Read-Only Snapshot to which to Rollback
After booting into Snapshot #2, the command used was
snapper --ambit classic rollback
The state of the system with respect to Btrfs/Snapper related characteristics.
Snapper created two new snapshots, a read-only backup of the pre-rollback system and a read-write duplicate snapshot of the snapshot to which to rollback, which became the new system after reboot. The GRUB configuration also was modified to boot into the new system,
Nvidia
initally worked with nouveau including external screen installed nvidia-driver linux-nonfree-firmware blacklisted nouveau automatically default was hybrid mode one of the screens did not work don't remember which installed envycontrol rebooted with tv connected by hdmi laptop screen worked but connected screen did not work was necessary to use --use-current option when switching to nvidia wayland session default in siduction as is the default session as set by upstream kde envycontrol recreates the xorg.conf file
Package Management
Package management on Siduction KDE Plasma Edition are typical of Debian and Debian based distributions. The most common apt-xxx CLI programs are available by default, as well as aptitude -- which I attempted to use for manual package dependency resolution for the dependency problem described below -- as well as the preferred interactive CLI tool apt. Various package management tools are available besides the standard Debian CLI tools, including both Synaptic Package Manager and KDE's Discover package management GUIs. I am uncertain how well these programs work with the Snapper integration during package management, as I did not use either for package management in my four weeks with Siduction, except for one attempt to try Discover which could not complete the requested update operation due to an error.
The most notable items regarding package management were a warning about missing specification of Signed-By parameter in the sources.list files and dependency resolution problems caused by a mismatch in python3 component packages after upgrade from python 3.12.x to python 3.13.x. Both of these issues are described below.
Signed-By APT Notice
This problem resolved itself without any intervention on my part. 100% 23:23:37 USER: brook HOST: Legion-Siduction ~ ❯$ sudo apt update [sudo] password for brook: Hit:1 https://packages.microsoft.com/repos/code stable InRelease Hit:2 https://packages.mozilla.org/apt mozilla InRelease Hit:3 https://deb.debian.org/debian unstable InRelease Hit:4 https://ftp.snt.utwente.nl/pub/linux/siduction/extra unstable InRelease Hit:5 https://ftp.snt.utwente.nl/pub/linux/siduction/fixes unstable InRelease 52 packages can be upgraded. Run 'apt list --upgradable' to see them. Notice: Missing Signed-By in the sources.list(5) entry for 'https://deb.debian.org/debian' Notice: Missing Signed-By in the sources.list(5) entry for 'https://ftp.snt.utwente.nl/pub/linux/siduction/extra' Notice: Missing Signed-By in the sources.list(5) entry for 'https://ftp.snt.utwente.nl/pub/linux/siduction/fixes' Notice: Missing Signed-By in the sources.list(5) entry for 'https://packages.microsoft.com/repos/code' Notice: Consider migrating all sources.list(5) entries to the deb822 .sources format Notice: The deb822 .sources format supports both embedded as well as external OpenPGP keys Notice: See apt-secure(7) for best practices in configuring repository signing. 100% 23:23:46 USER: brook HOST: Legion-Siduction PCD: 6s ~ ❯$
Python Dependency Issues After Upgrade from Python 3.12 to Python 3.13
Problems
Kmail
GTK Applications and Plasma Global Menu
GTK applications such as Inkscape and others which use GTK components such as Visual Studio Code do not display menus in Plasma's Global Menu widget in Siduction's KDE Plasma Edition. Whenever I encountered this problem in other distributions, correcting this issue was simply a matter of installing the appropriate package, most importantly, appmenu-gtk3-module. Unfortunately, on Siduction, the Python dependency problem discussed above prevented the installation, as shown in the following listing. This was after at least two weeks since I initially encountered the problem.
91% 19:30:15 USER: brook HOST: Legion-Siduction
~ ❯$ sudo apt -f install appmenu-gtk3-module
You might want to run 'apt --fix-broken install' to correct these.
Unsatisfied dependencies:
appmenu-gtk3-module : Depends: libappmenu-gtk3-parser0 (>= 24.05-1.1) but it is not going to be installed
Depends: appmenu-gtk-module-common (>= 24.05-1.1) but it is not going to be installed
virtualbox : Depends: python3 (< 3.13) but 3.13.1-2 is to be installed
Error: Unmet dependencies. Try 'apt --fix-broken install' with no packages (or specify a solution).
94% 19:34:50 USER: brook HOST: Legion-Siduction
~ ❯$
Documentation
Support
Fixes and Enhancements
APT Fixes
Modernize Sources
Add Microsoft GPG Keys
18:11:54 USER: brook HOST: Legion-Siduction ~ ❯$ curl -fsSL https://packages.microsoft.com/keys/microsoft.asc | sudo gpg --dearmor -o /etc/apt/keyrings/packages.microsoft.gpg [sudo] password for brook: 18:12:22 USER: brook HOST: Legion-Siduction PCD: 3s ~ ❯$
Types: deb URIs: https://packages.microsoft.com/repos/code/ Suites: stable Components: main Signed-By: /etc/apt/keyrings/packages.microsoft.gpg
Enable Global Menu Support in GTK Applications
appmenu-gtk3-module
Install Kvantum
Enable Hibernation
-edit /etc/fstab to add existing swap partition -choose the closest geographical mirror for siduction repo debian repos probably use cdn or have something that automatically chooses the best mirror as does openSUSE so cant be set in sources
Install EnvyControl
Add User to sudo Supplementary Group
Welcome to fish, the friendly interactive shell Type help for instructions on how to use fish 100% 23:17:07 USER: brook HOST: Legion-Siduction on exp [✘!?] U2004Book/document-main ❯$ su Password: root@Legion-Siduction:/home/brook/DataEXT4-16ITH6/ordinatechnic-store/MultipurposeServer/U2004Book/document-main# adduser brook sudo info: Adding user `brook' to group `sudo' ... root@Legion-Siduction:/home/brook/DataEXT4-16ITH6/ordinatechnic-store/MultipurposeServer/U2004Book/document-main#
Add Mozilla Repository
- add mozilla's deb repos for firefox-beta and firefox-dev
root@Legion-Siduction:/home/brook# wget -q https://packages.mozilla.org/apt/repo-signing-key.gpg -O- | tee
/etc/apt/keyrings/packages.mozilla.org.asc > /dev/null
root@Legion-Siduction:/home/brook# gpg -n -q --import --import-options import-show
/etc/apt/keyrings/packages.mozilla.org.asc | awk '/pub/{getline; gsub(/^ +| +$/,""); print "\n"$0"\n"}'
gpg: keyblock resource '/root/.gnupg/pubring.kbx': No such file or directory
35BAA0B33E9EB396F59CA838C0BA5CE6DC6315A3
root@Legion-Siduction:/home/brook# echo "deb [signed-by=/etc/apt/keyrings/packages.mozilla.org.asc] https://packages.mozilla.org/apt mozilla main" | sudo tee -a /etc/apt/sources.list.d/mozilla.list > /dev/null root@Legion-Siduction:/home/brook# apt update && apt install firefox-beta firefox-nightly Hit:1 https://deb.debian.org/debian unstable InRelease Hit:2 https://packages.microsoft.com/repos/code stable InRelease Hit:3 https://ftp.snt.utwente.nl/pub/linux/siduction/extra unstable InRelease Hit:4 https://ftp.snt.utwente.nl/pub/linux/siduction/fixes unstable InRelease Hit:5 https://packages.mozilla.org/apt mozilla InRelease 995 packages can be upgraded. Run 'apt list --upgradable' to see them. Installing: firefox-beta firefox-nightly Summary: Upgrading: 0, Installing: 2, Removing: 0, Not Upgrading: 995 Download size: 151 MB Space needed: 551 MB / 83.0 GB available Get:1 https://packages.mozilla.org/apt mozilla/main amd64 firefox-beta amd64 135.0b8~build1 [74.5 MB] Get:2 https://packages.mozilla.org/apt mozilla/main amd64 firefox-nightly amd64 136.0a1~20250122165122 [76.3 MB] Fetched 151 MB in 10s (14.8 MB/s) Selecting previously unselected package firefox-beta. (Reading database ... 287869 files and directories currently installed.) Preparing to unpack .../firefox-beta_135.0b8~build1_amd64.deb ... Unpacking firefox-beta (135.0b8~build1) ... Selecting previously unselected package firefox-nightly. Preparing to unpack .../firefox-nightly_136.0a1~20250122165122_amd64.deb ... Unpacking firefox-nightly (136.0a1~20250122165122) ... Setting up firefox-beta (135.0b8~build1) ... update-alternatives: using /usr/bin/firefox-beta to provide /usr/bin/gnome-www-browser (gnome-www-browser) in auto mode update-alternatives: using /usr/bin/firefox-beta to provide /usr/bin/x-www-browser (x-www-browser) in auto mode Setting up firefox-nightly (136.0a1~20250122165122) ... Processing triggers for hicolor-icon-theme (0.18-1) ... Processing triggers for man-db (2.13.0-1) ... Processing triggers for mailcap (3.74) ... Processing triggers for desktop-file-utils (0.28-1) ... Scanning processes... Scanning processor microcode... Scanning linux images... Running kernel seems to be up-to-date. The processor microcode seems to be up-to-date. No services need to be restarted. No containers need to be restarted. No user sessions are running outdated binaries. No VM guests are running outdated hypervisor (qemu) binaries on this host. root@Legion-Siduction:/home/brook#
100% 23:35:30 USER: brook HOST: Legion-Siduction
PCD: 1m31s ~ ❯$ sudo apt install virtualbox
Some packages could not be installed. This may mean that you have
requested an impossible situation or if you are using the unstable
distribution that some required packages have not yet been created
or been moved out of Incoming.
The following information may help to resolve the situation:
Unsatisfied dependencies:
virtualbox : Depends: python3 (< 3.13) but 3.13.1-2 is to be installed
Recommends: virtualbox-qt (= 7.0.20-dfsg-1.1) but it is not going to be installed
Error: Unable to correct problems, you have held broken packages.
Setting up grub-btrfs (4.11-1~1siduction1) ...
Configuration file '/etc/default/grub-btrfs/config'
==> Modified (by you or by a script) since installation.
==> Package distributor has shipped an updated version.
What would you like to do about it ? Your options are:
Y or I : install the package maintainer's version
N or O : keep your currently-installed version
D : show the differences between the versions
Z : start a shell to examine the situation
The default action is to keep your current version.
*** config (Y/I/N/O/D/Z) [default=N] ? d
--- /etc/default/grub-btrfs/config 2025-01-22 20:20:07.444551167 -0500
+++ /etc/default/grub-btrfs/config.dpkg-new 2025-01-06 10:44:38.000000000 -0500
@@ -6,7 +6,7 @@
# Name appearing in the Grub menu.
# Default: "Use distribution information from /etc/os-release."
-GRUB_BTRFS_SUBMENUNAME="siduction snapshots"
+#GRUB_BTRFS_SUBMENUNAME="Arch Linux snapshots"
# Custom title.
# Shows/Hides "date" "snapshot" "type" "description" in the Grub menu, custom order available.
Configuration file '/etc/default/grub-btrfs/config'
==> Modified (by you or by a script) since installation.
==> Package distributor has shipped an updated version.
What would you like to do about it ? Your options are:
Y or I : install the package maintainer's version
N or O : keep your currently-installed version
D : show the differences between the versions
Z : start a shell to examine the situation
The default action is to keep your current version.
*** config (Y/I/N/O/D/Z) [default=N] ?
Progress: [ 68%] [███████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████▋
Generating grub configuration file ... Found theme: /usr/share/grub/themes/shine-on/theme.txt Found linux image: /boot/vmlinuz-6.12.10-1-siduction-amd64 Found initrd image: /boot/initrd.img-6.12.10-1-siduction-amd64 Found linux image: /boot/vmlinuz-6.12.6-1-siduction-amd64 Found initrd image: /boot/initrd.img-6.12.6-1-siduction-amd64 Found memtest86+ 64bit EFI image: /boot/memtest86+x64.efi Found memtest86+ 32bit EFI image: /boot/memtest86+ia32.efi Found memtest86+ 64bit image: /boot/memtest86+x64.bin Found memtest86+ 32bit image: /boot/memtest86+ia32.bin Warning: os-prober will be executed to detect other bootable partitions. Its output will be used to detect bootable binaries on them and create new boot entries. File descriptor 12 (/dev/pts/4) leaked on lvs invocation. Parent PID 113040: /bin/sh Found Windows Boot Manager on /dev/nvme1n1p1@/EFI/Microsoft/Boot/bootmgfw.efi Adding boot menu entry for UEFI Firmware Settings ... Detecting snapshots ... Found snapshot: 2025-01-22 23:23:24 | @snapshots/9/snapshot | pre | apt | Found snapshot: 2025-01-22 23:14:13 | @snapshots/8/snapshot | post | Install firefox +1 pkg | Found snapshot: 2025-01-22 23:14:06 | @snapshots/7/snapshot | pre | Install firefox +1 pkg | Found snapshot: 2025-01-22 22:53:29 | @snapshots/6/snapshot | post | Install code | Found snapshot: 2025-01-22 22:24:18 | @snapshots/5/snapshot | pre | Install code | Found snapshot: 2025-01-22 20:45:57 | @snapshots/4/snapshot | post | Install python3 | Found snapshot: 2025-01-22 20:45:56 | @snapshots/3/snapshot | pre | Install python3 | Found snapshot: 2025-01-22 20:45:15 | @snapshots/2/snapshot | post | Install libnvidia +90 pkg | Found snapshot: 2025-01-22 20:43:47 | @snapshots/1/snapshot | pre | Install libnvidia +90 pkg | Found 9 snapshot(s) Unmount /tmp/grub-btrfs.NhemIF8UXK .. Success done grub-btrfs.service is a disabled or a static unit not running, not starting it. Setting up vim-runtime (2:9.1.0967-2) ...