Backports of asahi-scripts, asahi-audio, triforce-lv2
Hey there,
A few hours ago I uploaded three packages to backports-NEW:
asahi-scripts, asahi-audio and triforce-lv2. Since all three have low
popcon and I saw packages being rejected for not having a notable
userbase (but I could not find a precise definition of "notable
userbase") let me provide some context on these packages and their userbase.
All three packages are required for support of Apple Silicon hardware in
Debian. Specifically:
- asahi-scripts is in charge of a number of low-level functionalities
such as populating the initramfs, updating the DTBs, diagnosing
misconfigured systems and updating firmware
- asahi-audio is needed for audio support (it installs the required
wireplumber/pipewire configuration files)
- triforce-lv2 is a DSP plugin that makes mics sound decent (with it,
mics actually sound good). It is enabled by default and AFAIK it cannot
be disabled (unless you hijack the audio stack, of course)
As such, the userbase of all three packages above is all Debian users on
Apple Silicon. For asahi-audio and triforce-lv2, since the audio stack
may not be installed on console-only installations, the userbase is,
more precisely, all *desktop* users of Debian on Apple Silicon (they are
a large majority, see below). Indeed, asahi-scripts gets pulled in by
asahi-platform-core, the core metapackage for Debian on Apple Silicon,
and asahi-audio and triforce-lv2 get pulled in by asahi-platform, the
metapackage for Debian on Apple Silicon desktops.
Please note that to install Debian on Apple Silicon [1], you need a
custom installer which never asks the user to install and enable popcon.
Hence in our case popcon only counts users who were previously aware
that popcon exists and willfully installed it and enabled it.
As for how large the Debian on Apple Silicon userbase is, I can
personally only give initial estimates, since an installer managed by
DDs (i.e. the Debian Bananas Team) was only made available a couple of
months ago starting with trixie. In three months we had slightly upwards
of 200 trixie installations, of which 150+ are desktop ones. All of
those have asahi-scripts, asahi-audio and triforce-lv2 installed.
Cheers!
[1] https://wiki.debian.org/InstallingDebianOn/Apple/M1
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