Conary is pursuing a cross-distro package-installation preview: make RPM, DEB, and Arch packages retain their source ABI while Conary installs them on any supported Linux target with the required typed capabilities. Conary owns normal install, update, remove, and rollback operations. Native package managers remain authority only for packages in the explicit adoption/takeover migration path.
The first external tester milestone is ten people outside the existing project circle completing a bounded cross-distro artifact loop on supported systems and reporting friction. Each qualifying run installs at least one package whose source format differs from the host's native format. An evidence-backed maintainer pivot may close the milestone instead only when a reproducible systemic blocker is documented with the affected attempts and chosen next action.
W7's ordinary-package gate closed through #110 and PR #487. The active launch lane now completes the signed immutable public universe in #598, the pre-release daily-driver floor in #122, #534, #718, #132 (including #644), #642, and #643, the synchronized public-artifact journey in #639, and launch proof in #121/#149. CLI usability is the next product workstream and proceeds alongside the universe work, with clear preflight/refusal messages required before testing. Outreach remains at 0/10 and still waits for the separate cached-history and venue checks. The machine-readable launch status owns the current gate and tester-pin state; release publication alone does not assign tester authority.
Detailed maturity, workstream status, proof, blockers, and longer horizons live in the development roadmap.
- Public package-manager proof is scoped to Fedora 44, Ubuntu 26.04 LTS, and Arch Linux. Treat other distro and architecture support as unproven.
- Generation boot and export proof is x86_64-focused. Other architectures, signed boot authority, and broader system-builder claims remain later work.
- The local CLI package-manager flow and operator-run Remi service are the useful preview path. conaryd and federation are outside the reliable core path and must not be presented as production-ready fleet services.
- Preview releases remain unsuitable for irreplaceable daily-driver systems; start with a VM, snapshot, or non-critical host.
- rBuilder integration or revival of the proprietary appliance-builder model
- revival of
cvc; normal Git workflows remain the project direction - original-lineage appliance groups or specialized desktop package templates
- broad production, federation, or multi-architecture claims before the current milestone and their owning proof gates are complete