Thoughts and questions on 19.10 daily builds

Development Discussion
#1

I'm currently running the daily builds, and it looks like one of the best releases (I'd say the best) of Mate so far, so thank you and congrats to all the people involved!
So far it seems much more stable than 19.04 ever was, even this late into the 19.04 release.

Couple of things I noted immediately:

  • No more frustrating 1px draggable borders (finally!!)
  • Absolutely no screen tearing out of the box, everything is buttery smooth

Questions:

  • Are the above improvements a direct the result of using the Adaptive compositor (set as default in 19.10)?
  • When you resume after suspend the screen isn't locked. Have I missed a setting, or is this still not implemented?
  • Will my current installation automatically progress to the final release once it's out, or will I need to reinstall in order to have the equivalent of the official release?
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#2

Interesting. If I suspend my laptop by closing the lid or pressing the power button then the screen is locked on resume but if I suspend using the menu indicator applet then it isn't. I'd say that is a bug that needs reporting.

Daily build ISOs are a snapshot of development so far and with each batch of updates you get a little closer to what the final release will look like. So no, you won't need to reinstall on or after release day with the final image.

Edit: I think bug 1777889 is the lock screen bug.

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#3

Thanks for the reply!

I get no screen locking neither when I use the menu nor a custom shortcut that invokes systemctl suspend.

#4

@anon80411811 @anon64428677 this is what I am seeing:

If suspend is called via systemctl suspend lock does not occur when resumed.
If suspend done from Power panel applet indicator screen does not lock.
If suspend done from Menu screen is locked.
If suspend is done via closing laptop lid screen is locked.

@anon64428677 I updated the LP bug

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#5

I thought we were seeing something different but I now see my error in the terminology I used so I've corrected my previous post.

I've also tested systemctl suspend now and that too does not lock the screen on resume. So it looks like we agree on the extent of the problem.

#6

I can't confirm the laptop as I'm running a desktop.

The other 3 I can confirm; when I wrote that I suspended from the menu, it was in fact from the panel applet. I have now tried suspending from the menu, and the screen locks correctly.

I.e. we're all in agreement.

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#7

Another question: are the daily builds running any services (e.g. debugging, logging, etc...), or have packages/configurations, that will be disabled/removed from the final release, but that I could get stuck with after the official release is out as a result of "arriving there" from the daily builds?

#8

You do raise an interesting point in as much as the standard reply amongst the various forums is that if you continue to update from a daily build then you will arrive at the final release. You will but how much it will differ from a new installation is never really discussed. It's not really important if you're going to immediately move on to the next development release as I usually do.

Any changes to the services being run should be dealt with by various updates as the release date approaches. I'm sure there are also differences in the way apport notifies the user and sends information to the Ubuntu developers before and after the release date but updates should also change this behaviour.

When I installed Ubuntu MATE 19.10 it included vlc as the default video application but a decision was later made to remove vlc and replace it with gnome-mpv. A change to the ubuntu-mate-desktop meta-package was made to make this change. gnome-mpv was subsequently installed but vlc was not removed.

Because of changes like this I run

sudo apt autoremove --purge

to remove any applications or packages that are no longer required as part of my installation.

I occasionally run synaptic or aptitude to look for and remove any packages that I have installed that are no longer downloadable but may still be installed so are no longer included in a standard installation. There can be quite a few during the development period of a release.

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#9

I figured as much; your example of vlc illustrates perfectly what I was getting at. I don't want to be stuck with redundant and old cruft later on.

I have therefore reinstalled 19.04, and will simply upgrade when the official release is out. At least I know that the next release will be a great one :slight_smile:

Thanks again!

#10

It will not automatically remove applications like vlc for example. However you will get the notification that for example vlc

"The following packages were automatically installed and are no longer required:"

sudo apt autoremove will remove them but retain the config files while adding --purge will remove everything.

If you want to keep something like vlc you can simply run sudo apt install vlc this will not reinstall the application but will mark it as being installed manually and thus will not mark it as a candidate for autoremove.

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#11

I also wanted to thank you all for taking a look at the 19.10 daily builds and providing the team and the community feedback.

It is very helpful and much appreciated.

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#12

I'm running 19.10 and found that a network connection will allow me to copy files (both to and from) between a server and a client without changing their timestamps. This behavior is not possible in UM 18.04.

See - https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/gvfs/+bug/332646

"I note that this issue does not exist in Ubuntu-MATE 19.10 alpha (September 16, 2019) using gvfs 1.42.0-1ubuntu1 and Caja to SFTP both to and from a server. Files can be copied without changing their timestamps."

Also, it appears that I can reconnect to a server without getting this notice every other time I attempt to connect -

04

Another definite improvement.

#13

On my 19.10 installation the time applet doesn't display the date (day of week + day of month + month), while the 19.04 installation does.
Also, when you click the time applet the mini calendar in 19.04 shows week number, while 19.10 doesn't, and there doesn't seem to be an option for it.

Will these feature be included in the final 19.10 release, or have they been removed?

#14

I seem to recall not being pleased with whatever was supplied as a "time applet" so I immediately removed it and replaced it with Clock and Indicator Applet. Clock works as expected as does Indicator Applet.

#15

I just read the Beta release post, and the explanation is there:

We’ve added the Date/Time Indicator and integrated it with MATE Desktop and it now replaces the MATE clock applet

The issue is that you now can't remove/replace only the time indicator, as it's "hard-coded" into said Desktop component; to remove the time means removing the whole component that also houses several other icons (battery, wifi...).
So it's a matter of either losing a bunch a useful icons, or adding the Clock applet and having duplicate time indicators.

This is the only [feature] regression I've come across.
So the question becomes: will the new Time indicator also be able to display date info in the final release? Being able to see the full date along with the time is very useful.

#16

I noticed that the clock applet regresses at least the graphical preferences, but it is customisable by using dconf-editor:

dconf-editor /com/canonical/indicator/datetime

This lets you change between 12/24 hours, date format, year, and such. I wonder if this can be incorporated into the clock settings as seen when pressing "Time & Date Settings..." from the context menu.

Each one is actually a package, so you could remove indicator-datetime, indicator-sound, indicator-messages, etc to prevent them from appearing.

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Displaying 12 hour clock format for non-English regions
#17

dconf-editor solved it, thanks! No complaints now. But yes, ideally it should added to the clock settings.
Just hope that the screen lock bug will be completely resolved in time for the official release.

Either way, the Beta release announcement confirmed what I noticed within minutes of using 19.10: it is the best release in a very long time (the best ever in my opinion). Mate now has the smoothest/flicker-free scrolling of webpages, and the smoothest and best video quality of all the DEs.

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