Armbian 21.08 has been released

[Igor]

Armbian is an established Linux for single board computers that is used in enterprise, IOT micro services and various hobby deployments. Recent desktop improvements bring the platform on-par with key players in the Linux desktop arena while keeping the key advantage – you can easily build your own Linux distribution.

 

 

 

 

Armbian provides stable releases every three months. They are driven by CURRENT LTS kernel. Adventurers which likes rolling releases, can check EDGE releases which are using latest daily kernel builds with fresh packages from sid, hirsute or impish userland.
 

Armbian has powerful build system which can build a whole Linux distribution, an OS image or a kernel. Key advantages are simplicity, speed and excellent hardware support. Provides native or cross compilation.

 

This release is hard work of exceptional individuals who have contributed their time and expertise into this release. Many thanks to – in alphabetic order:

@balbes150 @AristoChen @belegdol @Werner@Heisath @iav @Igor @Icenowy @lanefu @jock @piter75@Rich Neese@rpardini@going @tkaiser @tparys @TonyMac32 @Azq2 @henkiejan1 @juanesf @psztoch, @redchenjs @Uglymotha

Special thanks to users and vendors @orangepi, @friendlyelec, @khadas and @olimex that understand the importance of our work and supports the project with donations of cash, hardware & expertise.

Enjoy!

 

Highlights

 

• minimal, server or XFCE, Cinnamon and Budgie desktop
• fast and effective automated language selection on first run
• regular stable and daily beta & EDGE updates
• CLI is powered with ZSH or BASH
• added automated kernel upgrade on EDGE 5.13.y kernels
• added mainline based SPI boot support for Odroid HC4
• added Qemu virtual Armbian builds
• added CSC images for Tinkerboard 2, Rockpi N10,
• added ZFS upgrade to v2.1
• improved Github Actions CI and CDN network
• added Cinnamon and Budgie desktop
• enabled 3D support wherever its possible and works reasonble well
• added Khadas VIM1-3 & Edge boards, Avnet Microzed
• enabled VPU support for Rockchip
• added legacy kernel support for OrangepiZero2, Nvidia Jetson
• declare Ubuntu Hirsute and Debian Bullseye packages as stable
• added Ubuntu Impish and Debian Sid as beta build targets
• added KDE plasma DE as a beta build target

Details:

Spoiler

 

Solved bugs

AR-886 u-boot package naming
AR-885 Odroid C4 / HC4 boot failure
AR-881 First login shows "degraded"
AR-879 RK3328 5.10 + GPU failure
AR-875 Homepage fix
AR-874 Add SATA fix for eBin
AR-873 khadas vim3 no sound
AR-872 When reverting u-boot to last known, some boards are broken
AR-867 H6 Freezing
AR-863 Unstable u-boot also noticed on H3 based boards
AR-862 normalize RK3399 xorg configs
AR-857 Qemu custom hook executing on non-targeted images
AR-854 Pinebook PRO desktop doesn't build in CI
AR-853 Missing folder when making BSP file
AR-852 Error when placing wallpaper
AR-850 Disable XFWM compositor on XFCE4 desktop to make it run smoother
AR-844 CI is picking up wrong kernel
AR-835 Amlogic GLX desktop fails
AR-834 edge v network weirdness
AR-833 Khadas Edge V no HDMI audio
AR-830 CI needs to rsync cache before start to building new images.
AR-829 CI pipeline could not find some files when signing rootfs cache
AR-825 Fixing I2S related errors on RK3399
AR-824 Broken wifi on Station boards and kernel 5.12.y
AR-823 Pine H64 doesn't boot kernel 5.12.y
AR-822 Motd false reporting of unsupported
AR-821 Docker creation failed to load repository keys
AR-820 Broken Odroid C2 audio patch
AR-819 Wireguard repo errors
AR-818 When building selected images via CI, status is changed to user-built
AR-816 ZRAM is missing in Jeston Nano legacy
AR-780 Nanopi R4S USB broken
AR-779 New bsp package is common. Per branch changes doesn't work anymore
AR-777 Docker doesn't install on Hirsute host
AR-776 Tinkerboard legacy have some troubles booting
AR-774 Orangepi Lite 2 EDGE is failing
AR-770 U-boot fails to install when switching kernel to EDGE
AR-764 Htop configuration exploit / vulnerability
AR-749 Allwinner A20 bootloops on 5.12.y / 2021.04
AR-748 Headers install broken
AR-747 Deeping Desktop doesn't want to reboot / poweroff
AR-744 Nanopi K2 S905 network is broken
AR-741 Pinebook pro desktop missing tweaks
AR-740 Vnstat throws out garbage
AR-737 Jetson nano throws out some error on boot loader compilation
AR-736 Rockpi S u-boot doesn't build on GCC.-10
AR-713 Board specific desktop things are going into common desktop package
AR-593 Rockpi S doesn't boot mainline based kernel

Epic

AR-788 Add Official Support for Some Khadas devices

Story

AR-877 build_all needs separate logs per image
AR-847 Tinkerboard 2 Support
AR-746 Upgrade EDGE to 5.12.y
AR-734 CSC Support for Avnet MicroZed
AR-214 CI improvements
AR-202 Drop packaging patches and introduce own packaging
AR-42 Merge packaging patches

Tasks done

AR-892 Promoting Bullseye to supported
AR-890 Desktop analysis with 3D enabled
AR-887 Re-enable Debian Stretch repository update
AR-882 Optimise image compression
AR-876 Make package lists in one row
AR-869 Upgrade ZFS on Linux to v2.1.0 (Focal / Bionic only)
AR-865 Updating driver for 2.5G NIC on Helios64
AR-864 Upgrading EDGE to K5.13.y
AR-859 set apt.armbian.com redirect default to http instead of https
AR-856 Basic RC Branch build support
AR-846 Add Ubuntu 21.10 Impish
AR-794 Khadas Edge-V support
AR-793 Khadas VIM3L support
AR-792 Preliminary Khadas VIM3 support
AR-791 Khadas VIM2 support
AR-790 Preliminary Khadas VIM1 support
AR-785 Move mainline boot console to UART0 on Rockpi S
AR-784 Add Nvidia Jetson Nano legacy kernel
AR-782 Provides NFS mount functionality out of the box on CLI images
AR-778 Do not pre-install obsolete apt-transport-https
AR-768 Move Odroid XU4 EDGE to mainline source
AR-745 chroot packaging: build script as separate function
AR-743 Delay first-run autologin
AR-732 Unlock Ubuntu Hirsute as supported target
AR-714 Adjusting support status
AR-665 rk3399 patch failure
AR-649 Adding Rockchip VPU support for 5.11.y
AR-635 Add legacy kernel for Zero2
AR-537 Create Armbian “virtual” build target to run as VM
AR-519 Odroid N2 Mainline u-boot for edge kernel
AR-315 Add support for GPT table inside nand-sata-install

 

What’s Left
 

• long term armbian-config refactoring
• upgrading Rockchip u-boot from 2010.y to latest
• resolving Allwinner boot troubles on last u-boot
• enable 3D on Meson G12 / SM1
• infrastructure improvements: mirros, runners, publishing.

 

Details:

Spoiler

 

Bugs that needs to be resolved
 

AR-895 USB sticks doesn't show after plugging-in / XFCE desktop
AR-891 Ubuntu Hirsute server host image could be without default locales
AR-889 NanoPi K2 audio high-pitched
AR-884 Apt cache prompts at fresh install and locales issue
AR-880 Ubuntu desktop is missing gawk utility
AR-878 Failed to calculate available space
AR-871 Debian SID also broken
AR-868 Jetson Nano EDGE kernels are not building
AR-866 Missing merge from master on build images
AR-861 build-all race conditions
AR-858 BSP packaging design issue
AR-855 Setting wallpapers in Gnome is failing
AR-851 Cache signing can run out of memory
AR-839 Bluetooth doesn't work on Nanopi Air and perhaps other similar ones
AR-828 Broken building out-of-tree modules on EDGE kernels
AR-781 Bluetooth not working on Orange Pi Zero Plus2 H3
AR-771 htop hardening
AR-765 systemd logrotate fix
AR-650 Odroid N2+ possible boot problems on eMMC
AR-297 Bananapi floods RC0 IR event FIFO is full to console

Epic

AR-702 Improve packaging of Device Tree Patches and Overlays
AR-689 Armbian Device Under Test Platform to automate deploying images to real hardware and test
AR-626 Investigate Replacing ppa:oibaf/graphics-drivers with our own builds

Story

AR-840 Understand how armbian packaging works and move to it (BSP)
AR-738 Improve chroot packages creation
AR-735 Rockpi 4 PWM overlay
AR-677 Odroid HC4 Improvements - 21.05
AR-676 Improving download infrastructure Phase 3
AR-675 Armbian General Infrastructure Improvements (non-mirror)
AR-672 Develop proper distro upgrade
AR-671 Changing package namings
AR-580 Add pull request making to the build script
AR-573 Refresh Nanopi R2S
AR-492 Defining a bugfix update process
AR-175 Improve the recreation of "released" images
AR-50 Optimize armbian-config dependencies

Sub-task

AR-684 Dl-router env variable for config file
AR-224 Support for http-only repository

Tasks waiting for love

AR-896 xarchiver missing from desktop images
AR-894 Switch ROCK Pi S legacy to 4.19.y
AR-893 Cleanup rockchip64 u-boot scenarios
AR-860 Solve ALSA settings the same way
AR-849 Improve images packaging
AR-848 Investigate OOM LE patches for inclusion
AR-838 Changing how packages are defined for CLI / desktop
AR-836 single DEB package for the kernel and DTB
AR-832 Create u-boot rebuild Github action
AR-773 Add support and bug report URL to /etc/os-release
AR-757 Adding Rpi
AR-739 Put back mpv configuration to desktop-bsp package
AR-733 Parallel Decompress Toolchains
AR-715 Find and adjust "supported" text according to discussion on forum
AR-655 Create overclock overlay for Odroid N2+
AR-621 Enable SPI boot option for PineBook Pro
AR-596 Moving blobs and BSP to proper location
AR-586 Implement fan controller for Nanopi M2V2
AR-581 Redefine UUID on first boot
AR-572 Improve kernel changing procedure
AR-481 Native compilation - covering corner cases
AR-469 Enable stereo on Odroid XU4 HDMI
AR-455 Add keyboard switching to the desktop
AR-453 Enable OTG port on Rockpi E
AR-435 Update firmware for Nanopi boards
AR-398 Disable wireless debug general way
AR-386 Boot logo needs some adjustements
AR-377 Integrate Cedar video engine for sunxi
AR-306 Add SElinux toggle in armbian-config
AR-292 Add USB3 support to H6 u-boot
AR-283 Discuss how to deal with snap in Ubuntu

 

Tough Decisions
 

• Odroid C4/HC4 boot problem has to remain unresolved in CURRENT 5.10.y kernel since fixing it would break Khadas boards. Problem was properly solved in EDGE kernel.
• We had to disable 3D on latest Amlogic boards due to instability
• Leaving behind published Deepin, Enlightenment, Gnome, i3, KDE plasma, Mate, Xmonad desktop due to space constrains and lack of maintenance. These options are still available within the build tool.

 

Known problems

 

• XFCE desktop is missing package gvfs-backends and xarchiver
• bullseye doesn’t properly detect locales
• Helios64 eMMC IO errors with CURRENT kernel
• OrangepiZero2 EDGE kernel based image doesn’t boot. Will be fixed in bug fix release.

 

Edited September 1, 2021 by Igor
release is every three months

[hahnpo]

Am 31.8.2021 um 17:49 schrieb Igor:

Odroid C4/HC4 boot problem has to remain unresolved in CURRENT 5.10.y kernel since fixing it would break Khadas boards. Problem was properly solved in EDGE kernel.

 

Which is the unresolved Odroid C4/HC4 boot problem? I cannot find it. Thanks in advance

[Werner]

6 hours ago, hahnpo said:

 

Which is the unresolved Odroid C4/HC4 boot problem? I cannot find it. Thanks in advance

If it works for you this might have been addressed already with an intermediate release.