Hi I’m interested to know if Maidsafe packages will be in the official Debian repo? I read there was a possible issue with Rust packages and the way they compile being incompatible with Debian packaging ?
The reason I think this is important is that Freedombox uses the official Debian repo and I think a possible route to get adoption is to sell people a pre-configured box as a home server that had a nice Webui
Will it be possible to get Maidsafe into the official Debian Repos?
Thanks
Sam
I reckon it will get into the repo’s - it’s all a matter of time and energy and this isn’t at the top of the list now where they are focused.
Isn’t Freedombox semi-dead?
I haven’t heard anything about it since it was announced, virtually zero media presence and no traction anywhere.
I just took a look and can’t see much reason to even try it (although I have several idle Pi’s sitting around) - there’s like 5 packages that I can install myself.
A recent presentation explains how nothing is going on:
I think it’s more neglected rather than dead, there is code being written: FreedomBox · GitHub
I think that’s the heart of the problem. I hope that Safe network might help resolve this.
Thanks
Sam
I said semi-dead, not dead, but “neglected” is also fine. I just took a look: out of 8-10 repos, the Web GUI and Image Builder are alive, the rest haven’t been touched for months, some for years.
Because SAFE will have its own Web GUI and Pi comes with a complete GUI which can be accessed remotely (with VNC or MSTSC), I would rather get a “clean” Pi 2 with Linux (or Windows 10 for Pi 2) image and install SAFE on it, than install this “neglected” software which probably has dozens of unfixed bugs and security holes which will remain unfixed for months and possibly years.
I think the current status of Freedombox tells you how much interest there is in such a stand-alone package without support. A non-technical user would probably want to buy a $69.90 appliance that comes with Pi 2, Raspbian and SAFE professionally integrated and properly supported. More recently that idea has been discussed here.
Doesn’t installing a whole GUI introduce loads of extra software that can introduce vunerabilities? I always understood it was better to have a more minimal install for server stuff.
A Cubiebox 3 & case for hard drive would be £85 ish and would have double the Ram of a Pi as well as native SATA support and USB3.
I’d anticipate for farming it would outperform a Pi with 1G Ram and USB 2 to access the drive.
I’m interested in exploring the Freedombox on Cubieboard3 plus Maidsafe package combo for my own use anyway.
No it doesn’t if you do it right. For example, you can connect to the GUI (X-Windows) over SSH.
Of course it’s better to have less stuff that runs, but normally you wouldn’t connect to X-Windows, you’d only connect once when you set up the system (then you connect Pi to your monitor) and the rest would be through a Web GUI for MaidSafe and some other apps. You could always connect to X-Windows using VNC via SSH, of course.
USB 2 is about as fast as most folks’ internet connection, but some people will want faster (at more than twice the price, though).
@sam_uk: Excellent question - and becoming relevant now…:
Few days ago the first Rust libraries was uploaded officially to Debian - and is now waiting for ftpmaster approval: https://ftp-master.debian.org/new.html
When core Rust libraries have entered the archive we can help the Rust team adding more libraries until we reach the Maidsafe ones.
Please consider join the Debian Rust team to help package and maintain those Rust libraries.
Maidsafe browser is based on Electron, which requires a lot of Nodejs libraries. Fortunately it seems most of them are packaged by now: https://wiki.debian.org/Javascript/Nodejs/Tasks/electron
Please consider join the Debian Javascript team and help package and maintain the remeaining dependencies for electron, and then the Maidsafe browser itself.
Rust libraries are now slowly entering Debian, with second batch of core libraries getting approved by ftpmaster earlier today, and getting flagged for inclusion in Ubuntu too - as can be seen at the dashboard of the Debian Rust team.
This seems to conflict with other considerations of yours on other threads:
Something in particular made you change your mind?
Or should we still be positive?
Getting code into Debian is an important first step, but getting from there to having it long-term maintained is not a given: Apart from code continuing to be relevant enough for someone to invest the needed time in continued care for the packages, the underlying stack of dependent code need to also not evolve too fast - i.e. the developers of underlying code need to maintain a stable API.
I guess what I am trying to get at, is that we should be hopeful, but also realize that the project has better chances at living long and prosper when based on stable codebase(s) - and Electron and Nodejs has so far not proven stable.
Progress on getting safenet code officially into Debian can now be tracked at https://bugs.debian.org/1008016 (you can subscribe to that bugreport to get notified by email whenever it is updated).
My latest post to that bugreport also lists ways you can help (no, you don’t need to be an official member of Debian to help maintain packages in Debian).
Similarly, official Debian packaging of the vdash tool is now in preparation, tracked at https://bugs.debian.org/1009781
Getting Safe into the Debian repositories is an absolutely great project that I wholeheartedly support!
Great! The ways you can support this work is listed in the referenced bugreports.
I am looking forward to receiving your support 
