Siduction Forum

BUGS => 2022.1 Masters of War => Topic started by: WetGeek on 2022/12/31, 16:21:44

Title: Hello, and here's a Nala bug.
Post by: WetGeek on 2022/12/31, 16:21:44
Hello, I'm a retired software engineer in the US Pacific Northwest, where it's been said to rain all the time.  Hence my nickname, and my domain name.  I'm a Solus OS user, and in our forum we have a number of threads entitled "Other Interesting Distros, Part x."  I recently reviewed Siduction there, in a VirttualBox VM, and was quite impressed.  In fact, I plan to install Siduction on a spare laptop and use it for a while as a daily-driver.

During my exploration I was impressed with Nala, but found one bit of misbehavior I thought I'd share here.  When I do an update using nala update followed by nala upgrade, the final step is to run dpkg.  Twice now, nala (or apt) has gotten stuck at that point.  I've waited about 5 minutes the first time, then killed the process.  I thought I might have been too impatient, so the second time I wated about 10 minutes.  The progress ikons on the left keep moving, but no progress occurs.  This is what it looks like at that point.  I can always use apt instead, but I like the output that nala creates.  Is there anything I can do differently to make this work better?
(https://i.imgur.com/ahGTE6E.png)
Title: Re: Hello, and here's a Nala bug.
Post by: FT on 2022/12/31, 17:27:45
New user here, I installed this realese yesterday for fun on real hardware
I pressed some randoms keys and "Y" was good for me.
Not too techical anwer but got the job done on my laptop :-X
Happy 2023
Title: Re: Hello, and here's a Nala bug.
Post by: WetGeek on 2022/12/31, 17:53:52
Thanks.  I'll give that a try.  Perhaps it's prompting for permission to continue, but I'm not seeing the prompt.

Since I posted that first bug report, I've now installed Siduction on a spare laptop, which is a duplicate of the one I use on a daily basis.  I'm answering you from there, this time.  I noticed that on hardware, an update and upgrade had the same problem as on the VM.

I think I'll try it again now, adding -y to the command.  I run the command from an update alias anyway, so I won't need to remember to do that.  That's probably what it's looking for.  Thanks again.
Title: Re: Hello, and here's a Nala bug.
Post by: devil on 2022/12/31, 18:01:31
Hi WetGeek, 
hope it does not rain today :)
I have had the same issue happen to me twice during our tests, but none of the other devs could reproduce it. For me, it happened when packages, that needed a confirmation of their conf file (new conf coming in), were processed, just before the confirmation came up. After killing it, apt did the job just fine. I openend up an issue today: https://gitlab.com/volian/nala/-/issues/211

FT: Have not tried that, will do next time it does hang.

Happy New Year!

Title: Re: Hello, and here's a Nala bug.
Post by: edlin on 2023/01/01, 10:46:59
Yes, it are the dialogs that should be displayed for confirmation that remain invisible.
And I don't like to give a signature blindfolded. At least the confirmation suggestion (Y or N) is usually a good choice, so you can confirm with ENTER. But I don't like it any more than a hard abort of the upgrade.

edlin

Title: Re: Hello, and here's a Nala bug.
Post by: H-Cl on 2023/01/04, 12:38:56
The same issue here with an installation in VM-Ware.
Title: Re: Hello, and here's a Nala bug.
Post by: dieres on 2023/01/10, 13:51:58
I use up from now the --raw-dpkg Parameter to avoid this.

But now I see this Output from nala at the end.

What doe this mean ? illegal snapshot?

Code: [Select]
..........
Prüfe Prozesse...                                                                                                                                                                                        
Prüfe Kandidaten...                                                                                                                                                                                      
Scanning processor microcode...                                                                                                                                                                           
Prüfe Linux-Kernel...                                                                                                                                                                                    


Der laufende Kernel ist aktuell.



Der Prozessor Mikrocode ist aktuell.



Es müssen keine Dienste neugestartet werden.



Es müssen keine Container neu gestartet werden.



Nutzer-Sitzungen mit veralteten Prozessen:

 didi @ user manager service: systemd[1581]



No VM guests are running outdated hypervisor (qemu) binaries on this host.

Illegaler Schnappschuss.

Title: Re: Hello, and here's a Nala bug.
Post by: towo on 2023/01/10, 14:01:15
What's unclar?
That's the output from needrestart package.
If you don't want so see it, purge needrestart.
Title: Re: Hello, and here's a Nala bug.
Post by: dieres on 2023/01/10, 17:12:19
Hallo Towo,
ich verstand die letzte Zeile nicht: illegaler Schnappschuss. Der Rest ist klar.
Title: Re: Hello, and here's a Nala bug.
Post by: towo on 2023/01/10, 17:19:56
Ach sorry, hatte nicht gesehen, dass es da noch weiter ging.
Title: Re: Hello, and here's a Nala bug.
Post by: devil on 2023/01/12, 07:17:19
Regarding the bug, where nala hangs, waiting for confirmation, the developer has reacted to my bug report (https://gitlab.com/volian/nala/-/issues/211).
So, for now, a workaround is to add --raw-dpkg, when you call nala. You can set up an alias to include that in your call.

To help fixing that bug, he needs /var/log/nala/dpkg-debug.log from an instance where nala was hung because that file gets deleted after every run. If you want to help with that, just let me know when you have a file that will have the needed information.
Title: Re: Hello, and here's a Nala bug.
Post by: PCreto on 2023/01/12, 14:49:51
Regarding the bug, where nala hangs, waiting for confirmation, the developer has reacted to my bug report (http://reacted to my bug report).
So, for now, a workaround is to add --raw-dpkg, when you call nala. You can set up an alias to include that in your call.

To help fixing that bug, he needs /var/log/nala/dpkg-debug.log from an instance where nala was hung because that file gets deleted after every run. If you want to help with that, just let me know when you have a file that will have the needed information.
In my case, as I installed siduction today on real hardware, I was only able to upgrade the packages with pure APT, that is:
Code: [Select]
sudo apt update ; sudo apt full-upgrade
Best regards,
Creto

T+ = See you later
Title: Re: Hello, and here's a Nala bug.
Post by: devil on 2023/01/12, 19:55:57
To use nala all you need is
Code: [Select]
nala upgradeThat incorporates
Code: [Select]
apt update && apt full-upgrade
Title: Re: Hello, and here's a Nala bug.
Post by: unklarer on 2023/01/13, 10:41:00
To use nala all you need is
Code: [Select]
nala upgradeThat incorporates
Code: [Select]
apt update && apt full-upgrade
Where is this documented ?

I mean, that was the first of two reasons why I uninstalled nala in October/November 2022, after a 14 day test.
I came to the conclusion that nala exactly does not do this dist-upgrade/full-upgrade and in the long run, I will destroy my system.
------------------------------------
Wo ist das dokumentiert ?

Ich meine, das war der erste von zwei Gründen, warum ich im Oktober/November 2022, nala nach einem ca.14 tägigen Test wieder deinstalliert habe.
Ich kam zu dem Schluß, dass nala dieses dist-upgrade/full-upgrade genau nicht macht und langfristig gesehen, ich mir meine System zerstören werde.
Title: Re: Hello, and here's a Nala bug.
Post by: hendrikL on 2023/01/13, 10:52:35
man nala?
nala upgrade --help?
nala --help?

Code: [Select]
SYNOPSIS
       nala upgrade [--options]
 
DESCRIPTION
       By default nala will run the equivalent of apt update && apt full-upgrade --auto-remove.

Und zurzeit ist es die bessere Wahl noch die Option --dpkg-raw zu benutzen.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Currently , it is wise to use always the option --dpkg-raw too!


Edit; In our manual too;
https://manual.siduction.org/sys-admin-nala_en.html#nala-package-management



Title: Re: Hello, and here's a Nala bug.
Post by: unklarer on 2023/01/13, 11:59:09
Danke für die Aufklärung, hendrikL.  8)

Ich schwöre diese Dateien seinerzeit zu der damaligen Version 0.11.1 (https://metadata.ftp-master.debian.org/changelogs//main/n/nala/nala_0.12.1_changelog) befragt zu haben. Mir ist nicht bewußt, dabei Tomaten auf den Augen gehabt zu haben.  >:(
Title: Re: Hello, and here's a Nala bug.
Post by: fams on 2023/01/13, 17:28:32
To use nala all you need is
Code: [Select]
nala upgradeThat incorporates
Code: [Select]
apt update && apt full-upgrade
Where is this documented ?

I mean, that was the first of two reasons why I uninstalled nala in October/November 2022, after a 14 day test.
I came to the conclusion that nala exactly does not do this dist-upgrade/full-upgrade and in the long run, I will destroy my system.
------------------------------------
Wo ist das dokumentiert ?

Ich meine, das war der erste von zwei Gründen, warum ich im Oktober/November 2022, nala nach einem ca.14 tägigen Test wieder deinstalliert habe.
Ich kam zu dem Schluß, dass nala dieses dist-upgrade/full-upgrade genau nicht macht und langfristig gesehen, ich mir meine System zerstören werde.
gelöscht
Title: Re: Hello, and here's a Nala bug.
Post by: hendrikL on 2023/01/13, 17:44:20
Um einiges noch einmal klarzustellen/ To clarify some things again:

nala upgrade == apt update ; apt full-upgrade

nala upgrade --no-full == apt update; apt upgrade.

And a second thing, always read what apt or nala want's to do, it is the same output with another formation!

Und noch etwas, lest was apt oder nala vorhat, es ist immer das gleiche nur anderst formatiert!

Both uses dpkg / beide nutzen dpkg!




Title: Re: Hello, and here's a Nala bug.
Post by: Michael on 2023/01/17, 17:24:33
Hi, I'm new to participating in a forum, hope to manage everything! And I'm by no means a computer expert, just reading manuals and trying to follow them correctly.

Regarding the bug, where nala hangs, waiting for confirmation, the developer has reacted to my bug report (https://gitlab.com/volian/nala/-/issues/211).
So, for now, a workaround is to add --raw-dpkg, when you call nala. You can set up an alias to include that in your call.

To help fixing that bug, he needs /var/log/nala/dpkg-debug.log from an instance where nala was hung because that file gets deleted after every run. If you want to help with that, just let me know when you have a file that will have the needed information.

So I updated with Nala today just to see whether I could capture a log. The update failed, the log and a screenshot is attached. Hope it helps.

Cheers, Michael
Title: Re: Hello, and here's a Nala bug.
Post by: edlin on 2023/01/17, 18:11:48
Try a simple
Code: [Select]
apt update && apt full upgradeThe output is not as perfectly formatted as with nala, but it does the same job.
With nala there are still some small problems with the communication with the user.

edlin
Title: Re: Hello, and here's a Nala bug.
Post by: devil on 2023/01/17, 19:13:13
Hi Michael,

thank you for the report. I added it to the bug report (https://gitlab.com/volian/nala/-/issues/211).
Title: Re: Hello, and here's a Nala bug.
Post by: devil on 2023/01/20, 08:43:01
The problem with nala and debconf  seems to be caused by siduction using the program dialog for debconf messages, whereas Debian uses whiptail. Blake Lee, the dev of nala has made a fixed version that we can try out before it hits sid. Find it under nala_0.12.1+dev_all.deb (https://gitlab.com/volian/nala/uploads/0576c26048e9fe381a73521d28fac27c/nala_0.12.1+dev_all.deb). The bug report (https://gitlab.com/volian/nala/-/issues/211#note_1246841502) has the latest developments. Please report back any findings.
Title: Re: Hello, and here's a Nala bug.
Post by: eriefisher on 2023/01/20, 15:08:08
I ran the new version this morning. It completed fine but I find it hangs on the update off and on. I'll run --fetch again to change mirrors and see if it makes a difference. I also see a lot of flicker of the terminal while it's "hanging".
Title: Re: Hello, and here's a Nala bug.
Post by: devil on 2023/01/20, 19:56:19
Thanks for that, submitted to the bug report (https://gitlab.com/volian/nala/-/issues/211#note_1246841502).
Title: Re: Hello, and here's a Nala bug.
Post by: eriefisher on 2023/01/22, 13:23:30
Out of curiousity I ran it again this morning against a different mirror list just to see if there was a difference. No difference. My cpu's get hit pretty hard during the entire process and it can take some time to complete the "update" part of things. The Download and install/upgrade part seems to happen without issue and quick. Attached the new log and some shots for reference.
Title: What is the preferred method to regularly update packages/system?
Post by: popo on 2023/01/23, 11:15:04
Hello Siducers,

What is the "official" way to regularly update one's system?

Discover tells me now that I have 166 packages to update for a 128.5Mb size,
while
"apt full-upgrade" tells me I have 169 packages for a 303Mb size (I'm following the manual for "apt full-upgrade").

Thanks!
Title: Re: What is the preferred method to regularly update packages/system?
Post by: edlin on 2023/01/23, 13:16:22
Please use apt or alternatively nala (based on apt).
Discover or Synaptic will cause you problems sooner or later (Sid was the boy next door who destroyed toys :'( ).

apt (and nala) do not cause any problems with sid. But pay attention to the output of apt or nala before updating!
The normal way:
Code: [Select]
apt update && apt full-upgradeor
Code: [Select]
nala upgrade During a transition it can happen that a lot of essential packages have to be removed. In this case, use the safe option for the transition:
Code: [Select]
apt update && apt upgradeor
Code: [Select]
nala upgrade --no-fullIn this case, only the packages that do not cause the removal of other packages will be installed.
And always check if there are warnings about upgrading; if you are unsure, just ask.

edlin
Title: Re: What is the preferred method to regularly update packages/system?
Post by: michaa7 on 2023/01/23, 13:22:12
Code: [Select]
apt update && apt dist-upgrade
is the established way to go. 


***Read the output of what is going to happen !!!***


If no package is to be removed, you may go on.
If packages are to be removed evaluate by yourself whether you consider one of the packages' removal as doubtfull.
If you're insecure wait, look in this subforum or ask.
Title: Re: What is the preferred method to regularly update packages/system?
Post by: edlin on 2023/01/23, 15:48:14
@michaa7
dist-upgrade is IMHO only documented for apt-get.
full-upgrade, on the other hand, is documented for apt (and not for apt-get); however, apt also runs dist-upgrade.
My question: Are there differences between apt full-upgrade and apt dist-upgrade? And if so, what are they?

edlin

Title: Re: What is the preferred method to regularly update packages/system?
Post by: towo on 2023/01/23, 15:51:27
Quote
My question: Are there differences between apt full-upgrade and apt dist-upgrade? And if so, what are they?
No differnence. apt dist-upgrade is an alias for full-upgrade.
Title: Re: What is the preferred method to regularly update packages/system?
Post by: michaa7 on 2023/01/23, 17:02:22
towo already answered it, but to make it even more specific: The underlaying function is called DoDistUpgrade. Both, full-upgrade and dist-upgrade call this function and thus have exactly the same outcome.

And as far as I read somewhere in the net, apt developers chose a new name because they felt dist-upgrade being too much associated with a new release when testing becomes stabel and a dist-upgrade (read: distribution upgrade) is absolutly neccessary. They felt the more general use of "dist-upgrade" outside of a transition from testing to stable to keep all packages and their dependencies consistent being less obvious. That's why they chose a new name .... pointing to exacly the same underlying function.
Title: Re: What is the preferred method to regularly update packages/system?
Post by: popo on 2023/01/23, 17:35:13
Thank you all for the info!
Title: Re: What is the preferred method to regularly update packages/system?
Post by: Pip on 2023/01/23, 21:00:26
One extra bit which you may find useful

Code: [Select]
apt install apt-listbugswhich can point out some possible problems.

If, as edlin suggested you take a look at nala, there is (probably) the capability to reverse any installations: I've never done it myself, but it sounds interesting.
Title: Re: What is the preferred method to regularly update packages/system?
Post by: devil on 2023/01/24, 12:22:34
»reverse any installations« is a concept of nala, that does not really work yet. If I remember correctly, the dev of nala once told me that he will try to fully roll that out when he rewrites nala in rust.
Title: Re: What is the preferred method to regularly update packages/system?
Post by: Pip on 2023/01/24, 18:04:09
Thanks devil. I won't even experiment with a rollback, then.
Title: Re: What is the preferred method to regularly update packages/system?
Post by: popo on 2023/01/24, 20:31:40
Thanks!
Title: Re: Hello, and here's a Nala bug.
Post by: WetGeek on 2023/01/25, 17:03:37
This may be considered off-topic here, but it's definitely related.  In my first post (that started this thread) I mentioned that I was trying Siduction in a VM as part of a set of threads on the Solus forums about reviewing "Other Interesting Distros."

A couple of weeks ago, Solus went dark.  Their web sites won't allow connections, repositories won't support upgrades (when syncs normally happen on a weekly basis), and even development links are inactive.  I have no way of learning what's happened.  And I don't look forward to no more security updates.

On the "Other Interesting Distros" threads, it was common for participants to start a post with something like, "If anything ever happens to Solus ... " to explain an interest in non-solus distros.  Well, now something has.  And because of my exposure to Siduction when I reviewed it, that's what I've now installed on two of my laptops.  I was very pleased to discover that, when configured the same way, using Siduction is virtually identical to using Solus.  Only two more laptops and three desktops to go!
Title: Re: What is the preferred method to regularly update packages/system?
Post by: disc0biscuitz on 2023/01/26, 02:51:27
Hello

New to Siduction,but I love it!!

Thank You to those responsible..

Nala Upgrade hangs eveytime..righ at the end.

Usually th text renders correctly.

This is the first time it was illegible.

Thanks all
Title: Re: What is the preferred method to regularly update packages/system?
Post by: disc0biscuitz on 2023/01/26, 02:57:33
Hmmm 

I closed it and ran apt upgrade.

Everything was up to date.

Usually the packages are downloaded,but not installed after it hangs.
Title: Re: Hello, and here's a Nala bug.
Post by: volitank on 2023/01/26, 02:57:45
Hi Erie,

I'm the Nala developer, decided I'd make an account over here so I could view the thread attachments you posted.

This issue is a bit different, and I don't believe the update one to be an issue with Nala. Since it displays the `Fetched` message, the update is basically complete at this point.

The next steps are to generate the package cache binary, and run any post update install scripts.

I'm actually real glad you posted the CPU usage, cause that points us to exactly what is happening here. `cnf-update-db` is updating their database of possible commands. This script is part of the `command-not-found` package. So if you type `nala` and don't have it, it'll tell you how to get it.

I wouldn't immediately think that there is a issue with this script right off, maybe is just slow to update that database. I imagine if you give it a moment it will complete.

To test you can go find `/etc/apt/apt.conf.d/50command-not-found` and rename it with `.disabled`, or comment out the lines in the file. Then run the update again and I imagine you won't experience this any longer.
Title: Re: Hello, and here's a Nala bug.
Post by: devil on 2023/01/26, 06:54:13
@wetgeek
On Twitter the devs claim, they are having serious server troubles and have to rebuild everything. 
Title: Re: Hello, and here's a Nala bug.
Post by: eriefisher on 2023/01/26, 12:56:47
Hi Erie,

I'm the Nala developer, decided I'd make an account over here so I could view the thread attachments you posted.

This issue is a bit different, and I don't believe the update one to be an issue with Nala. Since it displays the `Fetched` message, the update is basically complete at this point.

The next steps are to generate the package cache binary, and run any post update install scripts.

I'm actually real glad you posted the CPU usage, cause that points us to exactly what is happening here. `cnf-update-db` is updating their database of possible commands. This script is part of the `command-not-found` package. So if you type `nala` and don't have it, it'll tell you how to get it.

I wouldn't immediately think that there is a issue with this script right off, maybe is just slow to update that database. I imagine if you give it a moment it will complete.

To test you can go find `/etc/apt/apt.conf.d/50command-not-found` and rename it with `.disabled`, or comment out the lines in the file. Then run the update again and I imagine you won't experience this any longer.
I'm glad the attachments helped. I agree, I don't think this is a Nala issue now. It seem I'm showing at least similar behavier with straight apt update and apt upgrade. I will look into your suggestions. Thank you.
Title: Re: Hello, and here's a Nala bug.
Post by: WetGeek on 2023/01/26, 15:42:22
@wetgeek
On Twitter the devs claim, they are having serious server troubles and have to rebuild everything.
Thanks for letting me know. After five years there, I have many friends in the Solus forum, and I look forward to chatting with them again.  Not sure if I'd re-install Solus, though.  Siduction is now working very well here. 
Title: Re: Hello, and here's a Nala bug.
Post by: devil on 2023/01/26, 17:56:23
Glad, you like it here.
Title: Re: Hello, and here's a Nala bug.
Post by: volitank on 2023/01/29, 05:26:18
I haven't heard much chatter about the issue from here after the dev release. We're going to get this update pushed to Sid soon. The freeze is causing some issues, and I'm working on getting Debian Maintainer status so I can push updates directly. So it may be a bit because of this, but I want everyone to know that we're working to resolve it asap.

I'm quite lax on bugs due to some personal issues, but deadlocks are always a priority. If you experience this, or anything similar after the dev release, please report them directly to our gitlab https://gitlab.com/volian/nala.

In case you're not aware, the release that should fix this can be downloaded https://gitlab.com/volian/nala/uploads/0576c26048e9fe381a73521d28fac27c/nala_0.12.1+dev_all.deb.
Title: Re: Hello, and here's a Nala bug.
Post by: fams on 2023/03/06, 11:39:48
Today, I installed the gnome testbuild and the nala upgrade afterwards still hangs several times when a question was displayed in the background.
So despite nala is now version 0.12.2 the dialog bug seems to be still there?

Title: Re: Hello, and here's a Nala bug.
Post by: devil on 2023/03/06, 17:05:48
Yes, I have no confirmation from the dev that it's fixed. But if you know, that hitting Enter will let you move on, it is not so bad.
Title: Re: Hello, and here's a Nala bug.
Post by: fams on 2023/03/06, 17:54:37
Yes, but it's nice to see (and have) the options when configuration files are updated.
First and default option is normally to keep the old file, but on my installation something went wrong an the default font was changed that it was unreadable.
I didn't take the challenge to elaborate the issue, just installed it a second time and used apt full-upgrade afterwards...

Title: Re: Hello, and here's a Nala bug.
Post by: hendrikL on 2023/03/06, 21:17:13
Well, what I do is to run 'nala upgrade --download-only' first and then 'apt full-upgrade' to see what dpkg wants to do.
Title: Re: Hello, and here's a Nala bug.
Post by: volitank on 2023/03/12, 18:44:06
0.12.2 should have the dialog bug figured out.

If it happens again if I could get the /var/log/nala/dpkg-debug.log it would be helpful in debugging.

This could be a separate issue not related to dialog at all tbh. The operations in this part of the code are almost impossible to diagnose without that debug log, which is exactly why it exists. I'm hoping during the rewrite I come up with a better way to handle these cases, as issues here are currently handled case by case hard coding a lot of different things to trigger nala to switch from raw output and formatted output.

If it doesn't switch to raw during something that is asking for your input, that is what causes it to hang. There is probably another trigger that I missed or wasn't shown in the previous logs I received.

Thanks,
Blake
Title: Re: Hello, and here's a Nala bug.
Post by: WetGeek on 2023/03/15, 16:01:12
I use Sparky Linux on one of my laptops, and after installing that OS I attempted a nala upgrade.  Nala wasn't installed by default, nor could I find it in the repository.  After some research, I found a similar name, and decided to try that.

"The following NEW packages will be installed:
  nala-legacy
0 upgraded, 1 newly installed, 0 to remove and 1 not upgraded.
Need to get 12.1 MB of archives.
After this operation, 44.0 MB of additional disk space will be used.
Get:1 https://repo.sparkylinux.org potolo/main amd64 nala-legacy amd64 0.11.0 [12.1 MB]"

Indeed, it was our nala, and I did a major upgrade with it with no dialog issues such as we've been discussing here.  But why is it available only as a legacy package?  I'll bet there's a very interesting story behind that.
Title: Re: Hello, and here's a Nala bug.
Post by: WetGeek on 2023/03/15, 16:28:52
I use Sparky Linux on one of my laptops, and after installing that OS I attempted a nala upgrade.  

I should have mentioned that Sparky is a Debian-based distro, and I'm pretty sure it's based on Sid.
Title: Re: Hello, and here's a Nala bug.
Post by: eriefisher on 2023/03/15, 16:43:11
I thought it was something I did and originally saw it a few days ago. Today's upgrade brought a console-setup update which you need to interact with to set up. Ncurses I assume. The menu pops up but before you can interact with it the Nala interface covers it up. Just hitting enter brought through a broken ncurses interface but it continued on and completed. I just reconfigured console-setup after since I had no idea what was happening.

Has anybody else seen this? I tried to get a screen shot but screwed it up.
Title: Re: Hello, and here's a Nala bug.
Post by: volitank on 2023/03/16, 04:31:45

Indeed, it was our nala, and I did a major upgrade with it with no dialog issues such as we've been discussing here.  But why is it available only as a legacy package?  I'll bet there's a very interesting story behind that.
I can't speak for Sparky linux, it seems they may not have it in their repos. You can follow https://gitlab.com/volian/nala/-/wikis/Installation on installing our repo and get updates direct from there.

For nala-legacy though, this was created for older distros that don't have all of the required dependencies. It basically is a binary that has all the dependencies statically linked. It uses a python compiler called Nuitka. It was an okay choice for distributing to older distros, but is no longer receiving updates. It had a whole class of it's own weird compiler bugs and was too cumbersome to maintain.

For why sparky has nala-legacy and not the regular nala, I have no idea.
Title: Re: Hello, and here's a Nala bug.
Post by: WetGeek on 2023/03/16, 06:54:54

For why sparky has nala-legacy and not the regular nala, I have no idea.

Indeed.  Sparky is a Debian Sid-based distribution.  I'm very surprised as well.  Thanks for letting me know about the origin of nala-legacy.  At least I can stop wondering about that.
Title: Re: Hello, and here's a Nala bug.
Post by: dieres on 2023/06/27, 23:39:29
On Distrowatch Sparky Linux is listed as debian testing branch not sid/unstable.
Title: Re: Hello, and here's a Nala bug.
Post by: vinzv on 2023/06/28, 00:19:11
Sparky has two kinds of branches: stable and testing based, but nothing based on Sid.