On July 13th, at the deepin Meetup in Shanghai, we officially announced the brand-new name of our project - Linyaps (hereinafter referred to as "Linglong"). Additionally, we shared the news that the project signed a donation agreement with the Open Atom Open Source Foundation on May 24, 2024. Linglong has now become an official incubator project of the foundation.
Linyaps: A New Independent Package Management Toolset
In the development of the Linux open-source software ecosystem, the software ecosystem has faced numerous challenges, especially regarding software compatibility and security issues. Packaging and distributing applications across different operating systems not only consumed a lot of time and resources but also often caused compatibility problems due to upgrades, creating significant headaches for software developers and users.The emergence of Linglong undoubtedly provides a new approach to solving this problem.
The history of the Linglong project dates back to 2017 when the package management mechanism of deepin was restructured and transformed based on the Flatpak solution. In 2020, the project completed the core development of the Linglong prototype by adopting sandbox/container technology solutions. In 2022, with the release of deepin V23 preview, Linglong became one of its core features, initially demonstrating usability. Essentially, Linglong is an independent package management toolset that, through its isolation technology, can completely decouple applications from the system, thus thoroughly resolving compatibility issues caused by upgrades between the system and applications, and between applications themselves. Additionally, it reduces the number of times packaging is needed for distribution across different operating systems, achieving "one architecture, one build," providing a solid foundation for the development of the Linux ecosystem.
Latest Developments in the Linyaps
At the Shanghai Meetup, Deng Bo, the technical leader of the Linglong project, provided an in-depth introduction to the latest developments of Linyaps.
◉ Technical Architecture
At the event, Deng Bo provided a clear and in-depth explanation of the technical framework of the Linglong project. The most significant difference between our system and traditional package management systems is our support for cross-distribution. This means that once built, it can support all distributions with a single architecture. The principle is that Linglong provides a unified, OS-independent application runtime environment based on User Namespace and CGroup mechanisms, mainly including libraries and dependencies commonly used by desktop applications such as Qt. This runtime environment supports the coexistence of multiple versions.
Linglong, with its layered design philosophy, supports compatibility across hardware platforms and Linux distributions. It provides a unified and stable runtime environment, simplifying application dependencies, and ensuring compatibility and security through continuous updates. Linyaps optimizes resource usage through file-sharing technology, allowing multiple runtime versions to coexist. Its main open-source components include virtualization containers, command-line interfaces, package repositories, and runtime management services, providing package management capabilities. At the top of the project framework, Linglong also provides convenient package building tools and conversion tools for software developers, and an application store for developers to distribute applications for users to download and install.
◉ Version Progress
Currently, the main program version of Linglong, ll-box, has iterated to 1.5.7. Important features in the recent release include:
- Linglong building tools support building UAB packages (supported only on deepin V23 and UOS V20)
- Linglong conversion tools support converting UAB packages
- Linglong building tools support AppImage to UAB package conversion
- Linglong supports offline running of UAB
◉ Mainstream Distribution Adaptation
Integrated into deepin V23, UOS 1071, and openEuler system repositories, available for direct installation and use.
Adapted to openKylin, Kylin Professional Edition, Ubuntu 24.04, Debian 12. Independent repositories for each distribution will be provided in the upcoming 1.6 version, which can be manually added and used.
◉ Ecological Progress
As the project has developed, dozens of individual developers have joined to contribute to the application ecosystem. We also continue to invite ecosystem partners to jointly promote the prosperity of the ecosystem. Currently, we have successfully adapted more than 2000 Linglong applications, which will gradually be available in the deepin, Tongxin App Store, and Linglong Web Store, providing users with a richer selection and more convenient experience.
(Some of the adapted commercial software, listed in no particular order)
◉ Foundational Construction
① The new official website of the Linyaps community is about to go live.
The Linyaps community is dedicated to promoting the open-source and innovation of package management toolsets, providing a free and open communication platform for everyone. The new website includes:
- Comprehensive technical documentation: providing in-depth technical guides and documents.
- Selected solutions: gathering best practices and solutions.
- Latest news and events: getting real-time updates and community activity information.
- Forum communication platform: providing a new platform for interactive communication.
- Encouraging participation and contribution: code contributions, ecosystem adaptation, community promotion, content contributions, etc.
② Developer platform supports Linglong application distribution.
Currently, the listing and distribution of Linglong applications follow the Tongxin Developer Platform. This platform not only supports application uploading and management but also provides developers with a complete set of technical documentation, including building and debugging guides for Linglong applications, to facilitate more efficient application development and optimization.
Future Development
The future development of Linyaps focuses on the following key points:
- Supporting more distributions: compatible with more mainstream Linux distributions, replacing the traditional deb package format.
- Ecosystem construction: continuously optimizing Linglong package conversion and compilation tools, providing complete Linglong learning tutorials and technical guidance documents, and encouraging more developers to join Linglong application conversion or development.
- Fully open-source: gradually open-sourcing Linglong's code, store, and technical documents, allowing open-source enthusiasts to join in the project co-construction.
- Application distribution mechanism: building a cross-distribution application distribution system, enabling Linglong applications to reach more Linux distribution users, reducing developers' application maintenance costs.
Finally, we sincerely invite every developer and user passionate about the Linux ecosystem to join us. Here, you will have the opportunity to participate in a vibrant community and jointly promote the progress and development of the Linux ecosystem.
Appendix:
（1）deepin Previous Versions（include deepin V15）：https://distrowatch.com/index.php?distribution=deepin
（2）Linyaps Project Address：https://github.com/OpenAtomFoundation/linglong
Content source: deepin community
Reprinted with attribution