Aero7 Weekly Devlog — August 2, 2026

[memegeko]

Aero7 Weekly Devlog — August 2, 2026

Period: July 27–August 2, 2026

This was Aero7’s first major development week: the repository was established, the Beta 1 desktop and installer were prepared, VM reliability improved, documentation and community infrastructure were added, and the first prerelease was published.

Highlights

• Built the initial Aero7 distribution repository around Arch Linux, KDE Plasma 6 Wayland, and a purpose-built Qt/QML installer.
• Prepared the Aero7 Beta 1 desktop, documentation, screenshots, and versioned Wiki handbook.
• Added a focused Plasma desktop with Aero7 applications, branding, taskbar layout, and first-login repair behavior.
• Published the v0.1.0-beta.1 prerelease.
• Added source validation, release gating, community policies, and contribution templates.

Bugs fixed

• Fixed QEMU pointer mapping and display scaling.
• Switched VM input to a VirtIO tablet and SPICE to prevent dropped or incorrectly positioned clicks.
• Restored the Welcome background on the SDDM login screen.
• Repinned shell integration and taskbar repair revisions.
• Corrected Beta 1 download links so they point directly to the prerelease rather than GitHub’s stable “latest release” URL.
• Made Wiki publishing fail safely on unexpected access errors while allowing an uninitialized Wiki to wait cleanly.
• Updated the Wiki workflow’s checkout runtime to remove its Node.js 20 deprecation warning.
• Updated release verification to check the current Beta license, desktop repair components, and focused Plasma package selection.

Features and additions

• Full-screen Qt 6/QML installer and first-boot experience.
• Guarded VM-only whole-disk installation to VirtIO disks.
• Direct-to-installer boot without exposing the live desktop.
• Aero7 application bundle, including File Explorer, Photo Viewer, Control Panel, Device Manager, KolourPaint, Gadgets, and Command Prompt integration.
• Recovery console and verbose boot option.
• Beta 1 handbook covering installation, architecture, recovery, troubleshooting, security, system requirements, and known issues.
• Bug-report and feature-request templates.
• Contributor guide, code of conduct, security policy, support policy, and pull-request checklist.
• Dependabot configuration and a GitHub Actions source-validation workflow.
• Public-release checklist and machine-readable release gate.

Branding changes

• Adopted the updated Aero7 identity outside Plymouth.
• Replaced installer and SDDM branding assets.
• Updated documentation screenshots to match the new identity.
• Removed unused legacy installer and Plymouth branding assets from the current tree.
• Pinned the merged Aero7 shell branding revision.

Release and testing status

Aero7 Beta 1 was published as a prerelease with the following identity:

• Tag: v0.1.0-beta.1
• ISO: aero7-beta1-2026.08.02-x86_64.iso
• Size: 1,406,070,784 bytes
• SHA-256: 64115bd497315a871d06786160016487eb9e3eb514fc48900c770a8d9fc6feec

The documented release verification inspected the ISO’s boot structure, embedded filesystem, source locks, destructive-operation protections, package manifest, desktop layout, branding, and Beta identity. A clean boot reached the graphical language screen successfully.

Source checks were updated to use the Qt 6 QML linter and to enforce actionable ShellCheck warnings.

Known limitations

• Beta 1 supports only x86-64 UEFI virtual machines.
• Installation is limited to a complete /dev/vd* VirtIO disk.
• Dual boot, encryption, manual partitioning, legacy BIOS, and physical hardware are unsupported.
• An internet connection is required during installation.
• Upstream Arch package changes could affect installation behavior over time.
• Public redistribution remained blocked pending artwork-rights, trademark, repository-history, security, and final release reviews.

Development activity

• 36 commits
• 6 merged pull requests
• 1 Beta prerelease
• 360 files introduced or changed
• 12,495 lines added
• No issues were closed during the reporting period

Notable merged work:

• #1 — Prepare Aero7 Beta 1 desktop, docs, and Wiki
• #2 — Keep the Beta 1 handbook available before Wiki initialization
• #3 — Fail closed on unexpected Wiki access errors
• #4 — Point Beta 1 downloads at the prerelease tag
• #5 — Use the current GitHub checkout runtime
• #6 — Prepare Aero7 for a controlled public release