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ROX-Filer minimal leak fix

April 24, 2026 — BarryK

Posted about ROX back-forward buttons and crashing:

However, going back to the start, there was just one thing, a fix for a memory leak. I have now applied only this small patch to fix just this leak:

diff -Naur ROX-FilerORIG/src/filer.c ROX-Filer/src/filer.c
--- ROX-FilerORIG/src/filer.c	2026-04-22 19:39:39.120011090 +0800
+++ ROX-Filer/src/filer.c	2026-04-24 07:44:30.890035201 +0800
@@ -2001,6 +2001,7 @@
 				gtk_widget_destroy(filer_window->window);
 		}
 	}
+	g_free(real);
 }
 
 /* Like minibuffer_show(), except that:

See also forum discussion:

https://forum.puppylinux.com/viewtopic.php?p=168970#p168970

So this is likely to be the one in next release of EasyOS.     

Tags: easy

Fix Xorg Wizard session save at reboot

April 23, 2026 — BarryK

This is a very old bug! Thanks to Caramel who discovered the problem:

https://forum.puppylinux.com/viewtopic.php?p=168843#p168843

...yes, changes are made to /etc/modprobe.d/gpu.conf and then a reboot; however the changed file doesn't get saved.

There is a section of code in /usr/sbin/xorgwizard-cli that was written in 2015, in the Quirky Linux days, and it is completely wrong for EasyOS. That is starting at line 1466.

There is a simple fix, that I think will restore session save:

 #20260422 fix very old save-session code...
 #save to .session/session1 if running in ram ...
 if [ "$EOS_TOP_LEVEL_ZRAM" == "1" ];then #in /etc/rc.d/PUPSTATE
  #/usr/sbin/reboot calls /etc/rc.d/rc.shutdown, which will save session if this file has "yes"...
  echo -n 'yes' > /tmp/ask-save-zram1-answer
 fi
 sync
 exec reboot ###EXIT###

That should do it, writing "yes" to /tmp/ask-save-zram1-answer, /etc/rc.d/rc.shutdown will then perform the session-save.

Oh man, that explains a lot of odd behaviour that puzzled me. Quirky did not use an aufs/overlayfs and all writing was direct to the physical media. EasyOS can also be direct-write, but the default is to run in RAM and save at shutdown or via the "save" icon on the desktop. So Easy's indirect save would have caused Xorg Wizard to misbehave.    

Tags: easy

Nvidia driver compiled, SFS created

April 23, 2026 — BarryK

This was a big thing back in the Scarthgap-series. You could install a nvidia SFS via SFSget, and you would have the nvidia kernel modules, Xorg driver and all required library files. This was great if the 'nouveau' kernel driver does not work properly on your GPU hardware.

After having installed it, there was also an automatic update when Easy was updated to the latest version, reported in 2023:

"Automatic NVIDIA SFS updating"
https://bkhome.org/news/202311/automatic-nvidia-sfs-updating.html

The nvidia SFS is now back for Excalibur-series. It is now compiled in woofQ2. When a new kernel is compiled, so to can the nvidia SFS be created for that kernel. This is downloadable via SFSget, or by direct download:

https://distro.ibiblio.org/easyos/amd64/packages/sfs/easyos/devuan/excalibur/

...you can download those three nvidia files, and move them to /mnt/wkg/sfs/easyos/devuan/excalibur, then run SFSget to install it. The current SFS is 'nvidia_6.12.81-595.58.03_amd64.sfs' -- the kernel number is first, followed by the nvidia version.

Hopefully the automatic updating still works. I had a very brief look at it, seems OK.    

Tags: easy

ROX-Filer crashes, rolled back

April 22, 2026 — BarryK

Forum member don570 reported the problem, I have confirmed:

https://forum.puppylinux.com/viewtopic.php?p=168807#p168807

Recent blog posts about new patches:

It seems the copy-leak patch is the culprit.

Forum member l0wt3ch will be onto it, and the other patches, such as forward-back buttons and improved thumbnail handling are probably OK; however, for now have compiled rox without any of those patches. We are back to the original rox, but should be able to move forward again soon.    

Tags: easy

EasyOS version 7.2.99 (7.3RC) released

April 21, 2026 — BarryK

This is the Release Candidate before 7.3. It is intended that version 7.3 will be announced on Distrowatch and promoted elsewhere.

Lots of changes since 7.2.5:

Download:

https://distro.ibiblio.org/easyos/amd64/releases/excalibur/2026/7.2.99/

There are a couple of bugs:

  1. Click on audio CD desktop icon, runs Celluloid. It should run Audacious.
  2. CherryTree missing from the menu; it should be in the "personal" category.

...both of these are fixed, for the next release. For now, in the case of CherryTree, type "cherrytree" in a terminal to run it.

Feedback welcome:

https://forum.puppylinux.com/viewtopic.php?p=168734#p168734

Have fun!    

Tags: easy

CherryTree replaces NoteCase notes manager

April 21, 2026 — BarryK

I was reminded about CherryTree, the guys are discussing it here:

https://forum.puppylinux.com/viewtopic.php?t=292

They are discussing a fork with improved table creation.

NoteCase is very "long in the tooth". I did consider CherryTree in 2024:

https://bkhome.org/news/202411/cherrytree-notes-manager.html

...but wasn't motivated enough to change from NoteCase.

CherryTree home page:

https://www.giuspen.net/cherrytree/

CherryTree and import NoteCase files and has data encryption feature, plus lots more. Decided to go for it, just using the DEB available in the Devuan repository. It will be in the "Personal" menu category.     

Tags: easy

libcdio utilities

April 21, 2026 — BarryK

There is discussion about Xfburn CD/DVD burner app unable to detect the drive:

https://forum.puppylinux.com/viewtopic.php?t=16759

Forum member earlgrey posted to use the 'cd-drive' utility to test that optical drive is accessible. That is in the 'libcdio-utils' package, so I have added that to be builtin in the next release of EasyOS.

I have tested xfburn on my Lenovo PC and get the same error message as tammi806 at startup. Other apps, such as 'audacious' work OK.

I installed libcdio-utils and ran cd-drive, and the drive is detected OK. I don't have a blank CD or DVD, as never use optical media; only have a few audio CDs. Plugged one in and ran 'cd-info' utility, and the audio CD was detected OK. Which I already knew anyway, as audacious audio player plays audio CDs OK.   

Tags: easy

Audio CD fixes

April 21, 2026 — BarryK

On my Lenovo Ideacentre desktop PC, when plug in a audio CD, there is a long delay, finally the icon appears on the desktop; however, it is  not the expected optical disc icon, instead the fallback generic icon.

I traced it down to the 'blkid' utility; "blkid /dev/sr0" returns nothing. I have put fixes into /usr/local/pup_event/frontend-change and /usr/sbin/probepart. Now get the correct desktop icon, and a bit faster.

Clicking on the icon runs the default audio CD player, pCD. This is written by forum member zigbert and is very old; it no longer works properly. It parses the output of the 'cdda2wav' utility, incorrectly, causing indefinite wait at startup.

I have removed the pCD PET, and now when click on the optical disc icon, audacious will play the songs on the CD. I modified /usr/local/bin/drive_all, changed player of a audio CD to "defaultaudioplayer cdda://", which is audacious.

Note, I started looking into the optical media after reading this report of xfburn CD/DVD burner not recognizing the optical drive:

https://forum.puppylinux.com/viewtopic.php?t=16759

...I still have no idea why that is happening. Same problem confirmed on my Lenovo PC, but other apps access the media OK.   

Tags: easy