KPMcore 3.0.2 or later is required to build the installer

Jan 21, 2017 00:37 GMT  ·  By

Calamares, the open-source distribution-independent system installer, which is used by many GNU/Linux distributions, including the popular KaOS, Netrunner, Chakra GNU/Linux, and recently KDE Neon, was updated today to version 3.0.

Calamares 3.0 is a major milestone, ending the support for the 2.4 series, which recently received its last maintenance update, versioned 2.4.6, bringing numerous improvements, countless bug fixes, and some long-anticipated features, including a brand-new PythonQt-based module interface.

"Calamares 3.0 includes countless fixes and improvements to the core application and to the modules, as well as an all new PythonQt-based module interface. The PythonQt interface is optional, and allows module developers to create view modules in Python with Qt," reads the release announcement.

KPMcore 2 support dropped, KPMcore 3.0.2 or later now required

Another interesting change implemented in the major Calamares 3.0 release of the universal installer framework is support for the next-generation KPMcore 3 series. For those unfamiliar with KPMcore, it's an open-source library used by GNU/Linux distributions for managing disk partitions.

Starting with Calamares 3.0, support for KPMcore 2 is being dropped, which means that, in order to build the installer system on your Linux-based operating system, you'll need to have KPMcore 3.0.2 or later installed. Additionally, to build Calamares 3.0 with PythonQt support, you must pass the "-DWITH_PYTHONQT=ON" parameter to the CMake call.

Of course, PythonQt 3.1 or later, built against the latest Python 3 and Qt 5 technologies, is required to build the new Calamares 3.0 stable series, which includes up-to-date documentation for the dummypythonqt module, as well as an example that lets developers and integrators build their own PythonQt Calamares modules.

Calamares 3.0 is available for download right now if you want to integrate it in your operating system. Users should expect to see Calamares 3.0 in the next respin ISO images of their favorite distros. In related news, the KDE Neon developers have announced the adoption of the Calamares graphical installer for their platform.