VirtualBox upgrades

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VirtualBox in antiX-19 Main will be upgraded to version 6.1.2 tomorrow, 2/6/2020. There have been a number of bugfixes and improvements since the current version, and the current version will not build its modules on the new 5.4+ version kernels so this update is necessary,

VirtualBox users need to know that any Saved or Paused VMs will not open after a VirtualBox version update. Here are your options to avoid trouble:

1) Shutdown the OS in any VMs you have before you upgrade.
or
2) Lock your current VirtualBox version so it won’t upgrade.

sudo apt-mark hold virtualbox*

If you also do updates with Synaptic you will need to lock the virtualbox packages there as well since it ignores apt-mark hold and apt-get ignores Synaptic’s package locks.

If you have already upgraded you have two options to repair.

A) If the saved state of the VM is not important to you, you can use the Discard Saved State… option in the settings for that VM and it should start up.
B) If the saved state is important you can reinstall your old Virtualbox packages from /var/cache/apt/archives, then follow 1) or 2) above.

New kernels available

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Latest secure kernels available in the repos for 32 (pae and non-pae) and 64 bit architecture.

5.5.0 (antiX-17, antiX-19, testing and sid)
4.19.100 (antiX-17, antiX-19, testing and sid)
4.9.212 (antiX-17, antiX-19, testing and sid)
4.4.212 (antiX-16, antiX-17, antiX-19)

Note: The 5.5.0 kernel will not build broadcom-sta wifi, nvidia drivers or virtualbox drivers (yet).

(g)ufw and default 4.9 kernel – fix

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Running with default antiX-19 series, running sudo ufw enable gives an error.
Previously, we suggested upgrading to a 4.19 or later kernel.

However, it may not be necessary. Instead just switch to using legacy iptables.

# update-alternatives --set iptables /usr/sbin/iptables-legacy
# update-alternatives --set ip6tables /usr/sbin/ip6tables-legacy

Package upgrades

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Lots of upgrades to packages for antiX-19 (including testing and sid repos).

Newer firmware from Debian-backports, via MX packagers.
Most antiX upgrades are minor changes.
Upgraded fluxbox to 1.3.7 version in Debian experimental – it is mostly a bugfix release from 2015!
Upgraded links(2) to latest upstream version.

NB: If you find that there are double menu entries under Desktop – Other Desktops – here’s the fix.

sudo apt update && sudo apt install --reinstall desktop-session-antix

eudev upgrade

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For those using the testing or sid branches of antiX, you will notice that eudev will be upgraded and you may/should be prompted at /etc/init.d/udev to ‘accept package maintainer’s version’, answer ‘yes’/Y (default is ‘no’/N).

nnn file manager upgrade

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nnn is a fork of noice, a blazing-fast lightweight terminal file manager with easy keyboard shortcuts for navigation, opening files and running tasks.
Latest version back-ported from Debian testing to antiX buster repos.