burn0050's picture

Hi,

It looks like the last images were all from 10/28/13. Is this project still active? Upgrading Wordpress is a bit of a pain for a local VM (because I can't use FTP), but we were considering using these for production boxes. However, if the images haven't been updated for over a year, it makes me wonder if this has stalled. I would expect to see an updated Linux image with a Wordpress 4 installation.

Does anyone know what the status is?

Thanks,

Bill

 

Forum: 
Jeremy Davis's picture

Hi Bill, yes we are still very active!

It's just we are a small team (2 core devs and myself) and there is so much to do. In particular we have had some urgent work going on behind the scenes (which has taken much longer than we anticipated - as seems to be the norm in the IT world...).

Despite the fact that we subscribe to the 'release when ready' schedule; historically we have always tried to provide refreshed/updated images every six months +/-.

Obviously that has slipped and we are now way overdue. Part of the problem is that the internal infrastructure config we use requires updates of all images at the same time (which we also intend to tweak), but some require more manual maintenance than others. We were probably about 50% of the way through the update/refresh process about 6 months ago, when an urgent behind-the-scenes issue arose and our attention got diverted...

Whilst I am onboard now (for roughly the last 12 mths) to help out; I mostly do community/customer/partner stuff e.g. posting on the forums, answering emails, initial support contact and issue triage (if I con't deal with it directly), signing up new hosting partners, etc. Whilst I am pretty handy (if I don't say so myself) and know my way around TurnKey pretty well; doing the whole library refresh (100+ images in multiple build formats) is well beyond my abilities (at least at this point in time anyway). So we need to wait for the current 'behind the scenes' work to be complete. Then with Alon and Liraz back onboard 100%; we'll be all over it! :)

So whilst that may give you some context, it doesn't really directly help you in your current situation. So perhaps if you could explain in a little more detail what you are trying to achieve and how you hope to go about it, I may be able to advise how TurnKey can help and what the best way around it might be...

Also FWIW the TurnKey WordPress appliance build code automatically installs the latest WP version. If you intend to do multiple local bare-metal or VM installs then I would suggest that you use TKLDev to build your own up-to-date TurnKey WordPress ISO (that you can then install from USB stick). On face value that may seem like a big ask, but it's actually pretty straight forward...

Jeremy Davis's picture

It'd be super fantastic if you could do a pull request (on GitHub)! That way when (finally/eventually) we do our maintenance release it'll be good to go!

TKLDev builds the ISOs itself. The code to build the other formats has only just become publicly available (it was all tangled up with some keys and credential stuff that we couldn't make public until we went over it with a fine tooth comb). But it is available here on GitHub - although TBH I haven't played with it and don't know how it works...

Thanks for the info and for offering to lend a hand! :)

L. Arnold's picture

Sorry to be off site recently.  I did make the Joomla 3.2 TKLDEV process.  Perhaps that could be helpful. Other projects for sure.

Magento 2 is coming

I really recomend an Oodo Box (have documented how I built my v 7 Openerp).

etc.  I know it is a lot of work.  Thanks for doing it.

Landis

Jeremy Davis's picture

Although only in the very early stages at this point...

The general plan is that all current appliances that include upstream software which also have new version available will have that upstream software updated. Software that has LTS (long term support) type versions available (e.g. Joomla) will use the most recent LTS version; other software will have the most recent stable version. In some cases if a major stable version has only just come out (e.g. v2.0.0); the most recent stable version of the previous version may be used instead (e.g. 1.9.20). That will be to maximise stability and will be decided on a case-by-case basis.

New appliances will not be added to the library unless they are complete and verified working. The TurnKey devs (including me) will not be building any new appliances for this release. The only possible exception may be the BigBlueButton appliance that I have almost finished (although most likely that will wait until v14.0). So if you want to see OpenERP and/or Oodo then you'll need to get them working! :)

I have no ETA for v13.1 at all at this point but it will be tracked on the TurnKey GitHub tracker wiki. I think that you should have probably at least a month although that's only a very rough guess. Even if you miss the v13.1 release; if it's very close to complete then hopefully v14.0 (based on Debian Jessie) won't be too far behind (v13.1) so you could get it in that release...

[update] As I just posted below we are going to skip v13.1 and skip straight to v14.0. This will mean that everything will bump to the latest stable version. Also I just noticed that Joomla no longer have the release schedule they used to and don't do an LTS version.

Jeremy Davis's picture

Really appreciate your honest and forthright feedback. Unfortunately we dropped the ball (again) on our v13.1 update and have now decided to cut our losses and head straight to v14.0. It will be based on (the very soon to be released) Debian Jessie, which is just around the corner. Getting this updated and out the door within the next few months is my #1 priority (I have shelved the other project that I was working on). Moving forward into the future I anticipate making more regular releases as well as the ability to release 'out of band' (i.e. release individual appliances between full library maintenance releases).

In relation to your suggestion, we are pretty committed to keeping the images free to download although tweaks to increase our revenue should always be considered. Ideally we want our revenue stream to come from value add services on top so it's an 'opt in'. Currently that's how it works and although it still doesn't raise as much as we would ideally like; it is sustainable.

So if you'd love to help out financially then have a think about signing up for a TurnKey Hub account (they start from $10/mth). There are other things that are also helpful to contribute (upgrading appliances if you have the skills or interest; helping out on the forums frees me up for other stuff; etc).

Anyway, I digress... Back to your suggestion; out of interest how much did JumpBox charge originally? TBH I wasn't even aware that they still existed. I just went and looked and sure enough they are still there, but WTF $60/mth!?! That seems like a lot of money when you still need to pay for the hardware or hosting...! All I can say is wow!

What do you think would be a fair price? Do you think that it should be a per download? Or some sort of subscription model like JumpBox use? Maybe we could include an intermediate 'nag' screen asking for people to pay a contribution for the appliances they download? Maybe we could provide a "TKL Membership" subscription which gives people some range of benefits

Add new comment