Kevin Carmony

I've noticed a lot of questions here on the forum about CNR, so I thought it would be helpful to share an FAQ here, just about CNR. Many of you will already know the answer to some of these questions, so you should scan the headings and read the answer to those you may not yet be clear on.

What is CNR?

CNR (click and run) was introduced into the Linspire operating system in 2002, and Linspire has spent the last several years refining, enhancing and perfecting the CNR technology. Freespire will be incorporating the CNR technology into Freespire. CNR's technology allows easy installation, updating and management of all software on your Linux computer.

How is CNR different from apt-get?

CNR is different from Debian's normal "apt-get" software management system in many ways:

• One-click graphical install and uninstall of thousands of programs, both open source and proprietary.
• Automatic update notification and one-click updating of OS components and software applications.
• Program and services management.
• Optional access to proprietary codecs, drivers and software.
• Allows you to buy commercial programs, such as StarOffice, games, accounting programs, Crossover Office, Cedega, DVD Player, etc.
• Menu entries and desktop icons (optionally) are automatically added when installing and removed when uninstalling.
• "Charts" to easily find the most popular software programs by category.
• Search feature to easily find software programs by name, keywords or similar programs.
• Clear, easy-to-understand product pages, including:
  • Screenshots of programs
  • User reviews of the programs
  • Description, versions, specs, file size, etc.
  • User support and help by program
• "Aisles" to group applications together for one-click install of multiple applications.
• Dedicated, high-speed server farms with huge bandwidth pipes for fast downloads.
• Friendly naming shown alongside normal package name.
• Voting booth where you can help prioritize new software to be added or updated.
• Publisher program where anyone can submit software to be QA-ed and tested for inclusion in the CNR Warehouse.
• Built-in service manager for things like web filtering, advanced security, wallpaper delivery service, etc.
• Automatically retries and fixes any misconfigured or problem downloads.
• CNR uses additional layers of intelligence, giving it a better than 98% success rate. (The < 2% failures are usually a result of modem dropoffs, in which case CNR will can automatically resume when connected, providing the user with a successful install.)
• Many of the most popular applications are enhanced and improved before adding them to the CNR Warehouse.
• Future support will be available for dozens of languages via IRMA.
• Tracks problem packages on the server automatically 24/7 and immediately notifies the maintainer.
• Ability for managing multiple machines per user.
• Local or networked software repository ("CNR Express") for quick install of same programs on multiple Freespire computers on the same network or from a CD.

Is the CNR Service free?

The basic CNR Service is $20 per year. However, to encourage development work on Freespire and CNR, the service will be made available freely to many who contribute in some fashion to the Freespire project (providing code, helping with documentation, translation work, graphics, and so on). The CNR Service is also available free to anyone for 30 days to try out, no credit card required.

Can I still use apt-get?

Absolutely. For those who prefer the apt-get command line method of installing programs, the Freespire Warehouse of software may be freely accessed using apt-get to install free, open source software. (apt-get can not install 3rd-party, commercial applications which are sold, such as StarOffice, Win4Lin, etc., but these may be purchased and installed via CNR.)

Will unrestricted, free access with apt-get also be added to Linspire?

Yes this will happen in the future, probably as part of Linspire 6.0.

Will I break anything if I sometimes use CNR and at other times use apt-get?

You shouldn't, provided you only pull from the same CNR Warehouse repository when using either CNR or apt-get. CNR does have several additional safeguards that the apt-get technology does not have to automatically correct dependency problems, but as long as you are using the same repository, you should be able to install using both apt-get or CNR. However, if you mix repositories (pulling directly from Debian SID, from different Linspire/Freespire pools, from other distro repositories, etc.), then you do run the risk of creating dependency problems within your system. Rather than having to pull from multiple warehouse pools, it is our hope to get as much current software in the Freespire pools as possible, so the need to go outside these pools is minimized, thereby reducing the risk of breaking your system. (This is the #1 item in the Freespire Vision.)

Do Linspire and Freespire use the same repository?

The very first beta release of Freespire will use the same repository as Linspire, but that may or may not always be the case. Freespire, by its very nature of being a community distribution will tend to be more fluid than Linspire.

Can Freespire and CNR handle more than one repository?

Yes. As with Linspire, there will be different warehouses, allowing for different levels of stability, ranging from fluid and bleeding edge to more refined, tested and stable.

Where can I see what software is available in the current CNR Warehouse?

Click here to view the current CNR Warehouse. This pool is always being updated, but this is one in a way to insure we don't break existing systems. Again, our hope with Freespire is to be able to be even more aggressive in keeping the most current repository of all Linux software, both open sourced and proprietary.

I already have a CNR Service subscription for Linspire. Will this work with Freespire?

Yes. Linspire and Freespire both use the same CNR Service from Linspire. However, the support options may vary between the two projects. In the future, that information will be made available at http://freespire.org/support.

I purchased a Lifetime Membership for the CNR Service. Is this still valid?

Yes. CNR is a subscription service. Your Lifetime access provides you access to the CNR service for the rest of your life. (These Lifetime Memberships were a one-time special offer and are no longer available.)

Does the CNR client software use an open source license?

Presently CNR is not open source, but it will be in the near future as part of the Freespire project. (The exact open source license that will be used has not yet been addressed, but will be in the near future.)

When will CNR be moved to an open source license?

Soon after the first beta release of Freespire.

Why won't CNR be moved to an open source license sooner?

Because the original CNR client software was written as a closed source application, so it had different requirements to work properly. A new CNR client is being worked on which is intended to be open sourced, with the necessary changes to solicit community involvement.

What will be different with the new, open source CNR client?

Some of the enhanced features planned for the new CNR client are:

• Licensed as open source and the source code made available.
• Extensive reworking of the software design, including exposing as much of the functionality of CNR as programmable, scriptable APIs as possible.
• Redesign of the default UI to make using CNR even easier.
• Moving UI implementation into an easier-to-modify language, like Python, which will allow for far more rapid prototyping and make it easier for the community to get involved and make UI adjustments.
• Dramatic simplification of the processes CNR uses, which will in turn help to make the client easier to develop with, while simultaneously reducing its resource usage.
• Improvements to developer support, including:
  • Source package and build dependency downloads.
  • Better management of apt repositories, including local repositories.
  • Developer documentation
• Improvements to Aisle management, sharing, and use.
• Improvements for greater scalability and growth, as well as future expansion to other distributions.
• and much more...

So what CNR client will be shipped in August when the first beta for Freespire is made available?

A slightly modified version of the existing CNR client that is used in Linspire. This version of the client will intentionally remain closed source because we do not want anyone building on this older version. We want to encourage work on CNR to use the new client and new APIs.

When will this new , open sourced CNR client be available?

Even though the first beta versions of Freespire will ship with the current CNR client, the new client will start to be shared soon after Freespire is released. It will not be the default CNR client at that time, as it will still need some work, but we do want to get it out there for others to start playing around with, helping us with development and testing, trying out the APIs, and so on. The bottom line is that we want to use the existing CNR client initially so that Freespire has solid functionality and can be released in August, but we want to share (just not as the default) the new client soon after, so that we can open source it and get input and help from the Freespire community. For example, you will see UI prototypes made available so the community can get involved in design decisions and provide information about how the community uses the client, what they want to do with it, and so on. We want to do this to get others involved not just in the design, but also the development of the client. We want to encourage the community to tinker with the CNR client and share their work back for possible inclusion in CNR for Freespire/Linspire.

Will the version of Freespire which is 100% open source include CNR?

Not until the new CNR client is ready. Because the old client will remain closed sourced (as explained above), we can't add it into the 100% open source version of Freespire. As soon as the new, open-sourced CNR client is far enough along to replace the old one as the default in Freespire, it will then start to be included in all versions, including the 100% open sourced version.

What language will the new, open source CNR client be written in?

Mostly C++ for the back end, with the UI written in Python.

I hope this helps answer many of the questioned some of you have had about CNR in Freespire. If you have more, please post them here in this thread and we'll try to answer them.

Thanks,

Kevin

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TekMate

Excellent post Kevin this clears up many things.

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macrohard

Interesting.....

Chris

Mind if I ask exactly what part of it you find interesting? I think the move to Python for the UI is going to be a great one, but I'd love to hear reasons why you might (or might not) feel the same, and if it's going to impact whether you tweak with the client or not (and in what ways).

Kevin Carmony

As an FYI...CNR in Linspire is written entirely in C++. We are moving the UI in the new CNR to Python to make it easier for others to work with CNR.

Kevin

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macrohard

I just had the feeling that CNR was originally written in C++ for some reason. No one had to my understanding had ever said what programming language it was written in.

So is this the direction with CNR (C++ w/Python as UI) overall for both Freespire and Linspire?

Kevin Carmony

Yes.

Kevin

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