14 DAY TRIAL // Numerous independently-developed GNU/Linux distributions are relying these days on the Calamares universal installer framework to provide their users with a decent, modern, and up-to-date graphical installer.
If you installed well-known distros like OpenMandriva, KDE Neon, Sabayon, KaOS, Siduction, Netrunner, Apricity OS, Chakra GNU/Linux, GeckoLinux, Pisi Linux, Tanglu Linux, or Manjaro before, chances are you already interacted with the Calamares installer.
The latest version of the installer is Calamares 3.1.1, a release that fixed a password weakness issue, and to which all the above GNU/Linux distributions should upgrade. But it looks like Calamares is getting ready for the next-generation Wayland display server, which offers improved security over X11.
"The future of graphical desktops in the Linux world is with Wayland instead of X11. This means that Calamares needs to be ready for it, too," revealed the Calamares devs in a recent blog announcement. "That will be the big change for [Calamares] 3.2: no root for the UI part."
Calamares 3.1 series to still be maintained until Calamares 3.2 is out
The Calamares devs are planning many improvements and new features for future releases of the universal installer framework for GNU/Linux distributions, starting with extra translations for the .desktop file and plain Python modules, which should land in the next Calamares 3.1 point release, versioned 3.1.2.
From the looks of it, the Calamares 3.1 series will still be maintained until Calamares 3.2 is out later this year, and a Calamares 3.1.3 maintenance update is planned as well for next month with a new API that performs additional checking of system requirements before performing a new installation.
The team also revealed plans to drop the Boost::Python implementation in future versions of the installer, making all supported Python modules run in the same embedded Python interpreter, such as PythonQt. As this major change affects the installer's build- and runtime dependencies, it might not land in Calamares 3.2.