Hey there!

More than a year after our previous stable release, I'm happy to announce that Redcore Linux Hardened 2101 (Orion) reached the stable milestone. This cycle should have been a smooth sail after January when we released the Beta image and February when we released the Release Candidate image, but problems with the buildserver prevented a final release sooner. One day we realised we cannot reach it anymore, it went down and down it stayed. And with the pandemic restrictions in place, it was a challenge to travel and see what is wrong. Long story short, it took over a month to sort things out. But during that month, the software world moved along with new releases, so we decided to extend the testing cycle. And it's finally ready!

Changelog :

• rsync with Gentoo's testing tree as of 31.05.2021
• built using Gentoo's new profiles, for details read here
• linux kernel 5.11.22 as default, 5.10.40 LTS && 5.4.122 LTS Legacy in repositories
• glibc 2.32, gcc 10.2.0, binutils 2.35 && llvm-12.0.0 toolchain
• mesa 21.1.1, libdrm 2.4.106, xorg-server 1.20.11 graphics stack
• alsa 1.2.5, pulseaudio 13.0, gstreamer 1.16.3 audio stack (no pipewire, as from our testing it breaks audio, or bluetooth, or both)
• kde plasma 5.21.5, kde-frameworks 5.82, kde-apps 21.04.1 desktop stack
• rich web browser selection with firefox 89.0, chromium-91.0.4472.77, google-chrome-91.0.4472.77, opera-76.0.4017.154, vivaldi-3.8.2259.42, microsoft-edge-91.0.864.37, falkon-3.1.0-r1
• flatpak is supported out of the box, just enable Flathub in Discover (do NOT follow any "flatpak on Gentoo" guides you find online, flatpak support is builtin in Redcore)
• no more passwords for the live environment, the iso will boot straight into Plasma ... if you need root, just type su - and enter
• open-vm-tools are preinstalled and enabled, so it should play nicely with vmWare virtual machines
• spice-vdagent is preinstalled and enabled, so it should play nicely with Qemu/KVM virtual machines
• sisyphus (our package manager) has a very nice documentation, don't be shy to read it and find out how it works and what it can do : sisyphus --help (wiki documentation for it is obsolete, will be updated eventually)
• sisyphus can now remember any custom USE flags, keywords, masks, unmasks when switching between master (stable) and next (testing) branches of the distribution (as long as you use the files in /etc/sisyphus for such custom settings)
• sisyphus no longer tries to install a package or upgrade a system which is on the next (testing) branch, but points to the master (stable) binhost (binary repository) or the other way around
• too many other changes and fixes to remember

Errata :

• live session can freeze after connection to wi-fi ... if you need internet during live, use a wired connection ... if you intend to install, you can leave it unplugged, as the installer does not need network connectivity
• although the live user has no password, just pressing enter won't unlock the session if the screenlock kicked in (works fine on installed system with a password)
• the installer may crash at first launch (for some weird reason) ... launch it again and it will complete the installation
• no virtualbox integration of any kind

Note :

• since this release (2101 Orion) is based on the new Gentoo profiles, upgrades from previous releases (2004 Neptune, 1908 Mira, 1812 Luna, 1806 Kepler) are no longer possible. Seriously, don't even attempt as it will break the system. We strongly recommend a fresh install. Upgrades from Alpha, Beta and Release Candidate releases of 2101 Orion are possible.
• while previous release versions meant to represent the year and month of the release (2004 - April 2020, 1908 - August 2019), starting with this release we will follow a mesa like versioning. In this case : 2101 = first release in 2021. The next release will have version number 2102 (aka second release in 2021) even if it comes in December this year. If it comes in 2022 (It won't, as we really intend to release more often, but bear with us) will have version number 2201 (aka first release in 2022).
• whatever the version, the codename for the next release is Polaris, following our tradition of naming each release after a star, planet, galaxy, nebulae etc.