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  Teaser: $ uname -a SunOS server 5.11 11.4.96.227.1 sun4v sparc sun4v logical-domain $ ./bin/java -version openjdk version "19.0.2-internal" 2023-01-17 OpenJDK Runtime Environment (build 19.0.2-internal-adhoc.ptribble.jdk19u-jdk-19.0.2-ga) OpenJDK 64-Bit Server VM (build 19.0.2-internal-adhoc.ptribble.jdk19u-jdk-19.0.2-ga, mixed mode, sharing)

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  Tribblix and OmniTribblix m41 available for download (and upgrades): https://www.tribblix.org/download.html

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  The changes in the latest Tribblix m41 release are pretty boring, just the usual laundry list of package updates (and I don't bother tracking python or perl module updates, as there are hundreds). And some illumos security fixes squeezed their way in there too. https://www.tribblix.org/Changes/changes-in-0m41.html

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  AWS AMIs for Tribblix and OmniTribblix m41 now available in the London (eu-west-2) region. https://www.tribblix.org/aws.html

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  Let's Try Tribblix, the Solaris-Derived x86-64 Operating System https://lowendbox.com/blog/lets-try-tribblix-the-solaris-derived-x86-64-operating-system/

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  That's one of my Tribblix webservers, the one on Digital Ocean, updated to m41. Incredibly smooth - new instance, zfs send/recv the data, done. I'm still wondering whether I might move this one, due to Digital Ocean not supporting IPv6 with custom images.

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  And that's the Tribblix package repository server upgraded to m41. Now, while IPv6 is available (and was available on the previous iteration too) and works, should I add an AAAA record for it? Why not! Let's go for it - the Tribblix package repository is now available via IPv6. (If that causes problems, I'll revert back.)

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  Still plugging away in the background on a new release of Tribblix for SPARC. The key feature here is updating gcc to 10 (from 7), which has unblocked a number of broken packages and opened up new opportunities. And uncovered a number of ... entertaining ... bugs along the way.

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  I'm seeing increased fragility with JDK8 builds on Solaris/illumos/SPARC. It's sort of maintained, but apart from security fixes most of the change is to get an antiquated codebase buildable in a modern environment. I'm starting to wonder if the effort is worth it.

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  I've been using ZFS for over 20 years, and today was the first time I lost a pool that wasn't easily explicable (other occasions have been clear hardware failure or administratively provoked). This is where I find out about that important file I thought was backed up but isn't :-(

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  Some idiot has been running what is effectively a denial of service attack on the Tribblix repo server by downloading lots of my openjdk builds, in parallel, repeatedly, each request from a unique IP address. Sigh.

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  Upgrades to Tribblix m35 on SPARC now available, bringing gcc10 to the party. This is a synthetic release, with updated applications atop m34 as the underlying OS. https://www.tribblix.org/relnotes.html#m35-sparc #tribblix #illumos #sparc

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  Tribblix and OmniTribblix m41 images suitable for running Droplets on Digital Ocean are now available: https://www.tribblix.org/digitalocean.html

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  Just got a refurbed Dell Optiplex 5050, just to get something a bit more modern, and with more storage and RAM. OK, so it's a bit old, but the i7-7700 - like the i7-3770 and i7-4790 before it - is more than adequate. As expected, Tribblix installed flawlessly in a matter of seconds. And the graphics (the built in HD630) appears to work straight off. All I now have to do is copy all the data across.

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  ISO images for Tribblix m39 available for download: https://www.tribblix.org/download.html

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  Changes in Tribblix m39: https://www.tribblix.org/Changes/changes-in-0m39.html

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  OK, that's my primary and backup home desktops running Tribblix m39 (the backup machine runs OmniTribblix). Onwards! I've actually been running a mishmash of m38 and m39 for the past couple of weeks, getting the new release built and tested. Which means I end up being well ahead of the repos, and have to be careful not to accidentally "update" anything which would roll things back and break a bunch of packages. But now I'm back in regular supported terr...

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  Observations on Tribblix m39. https://ptribble.blogspot.com/2026/03/observations-on-tribblix-m39.html

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  Idly musing as to whether I should give each Tribblix release a codename. It's not long before I reach milestone 42, after all, which would have an obvious moniker.

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  To handle python modules that have odd or incompatible dependencies, I'm planning on just packaging a whole python venv and be done with it. It's just vendored dependencies by another means.

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  Version 1 of the AWS CLI is coming up on end of support, so we're supposed to move to AWSCLIv2. Sadly it's no longer pure python, but uses the AWS CRT underneath. With a little bit of (decidedly non-trivial) effort I've managed to persuade it to build on illumos, and verified that simple queries of EC2 and S3 work. (This is one of the things that prompted my earlier comment about just packaging up a whole venv.)

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  Tribblix for SPARC m34 ISO image: https://www.tribblix.org/download.html#sparc (It ought to work, but I don't happen to have a spare machine or LDOM to test it right now. I know m34 in general works, because I've upgraded to it, but haven't explicitly tested the ISO.)

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  While it's a long way in the future for Tribblix (where I keep invoking laziness as an excuse for not updating from gcc10 to gcc14), an interesting Solaris/illumos change for gcc16: https://gcc.gnu.org/gcc-16/porting_to.html

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  Interesting. Radicle builds cleanly on Tribblix, and initial testing shows it to work as advertised. Need to find some time for a proper investigation.

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  OK, now is as good a time as any. Freezing the Tribblix repos and cutting development across to the next release. (The next release isn't imminent, there's a lot of changes incoming.)

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  News for Tribblix on SPARC - upgrades to new m34 release now available. https://www.tribblix.org/relnotes.html#m34-sparc No ISO image yet for this release, but I am planning to create one this time.