1.2.8 and the beta after it — where we are and what comes next

[MacRimi]

Hey @Vaso73, @f3rs3n, @jcastro and @MaEscalanteHe,

I've opened this thread for the next stretch, picking up where #439 left off.

1.2.8 is going to be a short corrective release, and I'd like to publish it in about a week. Most of it is already in develop:

Log2RAM 2.0, redesigned after #540 so the journal no longer has to fit in the RAM disk.
Idle mechanical disks shown again as HDD, with their model and serial number (#542, #553).
Proxmox updates that keep running after signing out, and the pending reboot after a new kernel (#551, thanks Vaso).
Custom image importing multi-service Compose files, TeslaMate, Zigbee2MQTT and the guide for proposing apps to the catalog (thanks Jonatan).
VM disk thresholds in Settings, and fixes for the LVM warning on ZFS hosts (#552) and the VM disk usage of Alpine guests (#559).
On the website, @MaEscalanteHe has kindly offered to look after the documentation. Blocks 1, 3 and 5 of his roadmap in #554 go into 1.2.8, and the major upgrades and missing pages into the next beta.

The beta after it, 1.2.8.1, is where the bigger plans start, beginning with the multi-node view, which people have been asking for. These are the other things I have in mind for it:

An optional VLAN tag in the network step of OCI manager. @DrOwl offered to test it.
User profiles with OIDC sign-in, where Jonatan's #466 fits.
A comparison of the automatic translations with an LLM, as Martino suggested, with Slovak and Italian as the reference.
Creating plain LXC containers from the official Proxmox templates. The Create LXC card on the Roadmap is still free, Vaso, if you'd like it.
The disk controller mapping and the ZFS pool details that @DrOwl is preparing.
A first look at ARM64 (#548). I've set up a PXVIRT lab to start testing it.
If you see any of this differently, or there's something you'd like to take, tell me here.

[MacRimi]

Hi @Vaso73 and @f3rs3n,

1.2.8 is ready in develop, with the version, the release notes and the changelog in place. Before opening the PR to main, I'd like to give you the chance to look over your languages, if you want to.

Slovak (@Vaso73), since f40e0a5: 34 new strings in lang/sk.json, about 100 in the Monitor, most of them the new features of this version and its release notes, and 22 in the website docs.

Italian (@f3rs3n), since 01584b9: 87 new strings in lang/it.json, about 110 in the Monitor, and 35 in the website docs.

In the docs, 11 of those are texts whose English changed while the translation stayed as it was, because the bot doesn't touch what's already translated. They are in the OCI manager pages, mostly lifecycle and storage-network, and they cover the VLAN tag and what updates keep from Proxmox.

The Monitor release notes and the VLAN strings carry a first translation from me, so please correct anything that doesn't sound right.

There's no pressure at all, and I'll wait for you before merging.

Thanks also to @jcastro and @DrOwl for everything that went into this version. It has grown well beyond a short corrective release, and it's a pleasure to build it with all of you.

[Vaso73]

Hi Pedro (@MacRimi),

I have prepared a working proposal for the Monitor's LXC and OCI creation wizards:
LXC/OCI web wizard proposal

This is an early review branch, not a pull request or a merge-ready implementation. Before continuing, I would appreciate your feedback on whether this matches your intended direction.

The proposal adds a Create LXC entry to the existing VM/LXC inventory, a grouped wizard for plain Linux containers, and a catalog/detail flow for OCI applications. The OCI web wizard uses the maintained engine's questions, choices and defaults; application metadata and installation logic stay in the existing catalog and engine. The main navigation redesign and broader management UI are left out. Community Scripts installation would be a separate follow-up after feedback on LXC/OCI.

Local builds, automated checks and browser fixtures have been exercised. Selected single-node creation scenarios were tested during earlier development, but live creation has not been repeated for this separated branch. Real HA failover, migration, multi-node behavior and every catalog scenario remain unverified. The preview guide records these limits, existing TypeScript diagnostics and three image-import test failures also reproduced on unchanged develop:
Preview guide and verification limits

Could you review the approach and, if useful, try it on an isolated test node? Suggestions on the flow, scope and coordination with the ongoing OIDC/profile work would help before we expand it.

[MacRimi]

Hi everyone (@Vaso73, @f3rs3n, @jcastro, @DrOwl and @MaEscalanteHe)

First of all, thank you all for the excellent work these past weeks. A special thanks to @jcastro, who keeps adding new applications to the OCI manager catalog, and for the catalog update, which brings new apps to users without waiting for a ProxMenux release. It's a great addition.

A ninth language: Russian

Russian is now part of ProxMenux: the Monitor, the script menus and the website docs. @Umnov91 kindly offered to review it (#599), and their help makes a real difference. For your PRs, please keep ru in mind alongside the other languages when you add new strings.

Where I'd like to go next

This is the direction I have in mind, roughly in this order:

1. New sign-in for the Monitor, starting from merging #466 (OpenID Connect) and adding an option for #589 (Proxmox VE authentication).
2. User profiles in the Monitor.
3. A restyling of the Monitor, with some smaller adjustments to the mobile version.
4. Creating VMs, LXCs and OCI apps directly from the VM & LXC page. This is your proposal, @Vaso73, and I think it's excellent. I'd like to add it as you describe it, so the VM & LXC page offers the options to create a VM, an LXC or an OCI app right where they are managed.
   • To go with it, in the menu, option 3, Create VM from template or script, would become something like Create VM and LXC from template or script. It would add creating an LXC from the official Proxmox templates, with the same logic we use for VMs and the variants specific to containers, so the menu and the Monitor offer the same thing. I'm not sure whether it's better to keep templates and scripts together or split them, so I'd love your view on that.
5. A new Catalog tab, as a general page for everything ProxMenux offers, not only creation: a search bar at the top, like the search in the menu that finds any option, and below it blocks of categories, recommendations, carousels and so on. It's a concept I still want to give shape to, but that's the idea.
6. A wider Hardware section, in the menu and in the Monitor. Today it centres on GPUs and related devices, plus the new USB/IP option @jcastro added. I'd like to add fan control and power management with UPS options.
7. Cluster mode, as the final block.

In steps, not all at once

I don't think all of this belongs in a single version. Some OCI images still get fixes along the way, and I'd like those to reach users soon. The catalog update helps a lot here. Some app improvements also need changes in the engine, though, so updating the oci-compose alone isn't always enough. Releasing in steps also means users see new apps and improvements arriving regularly.

I'll write all of this on the roadmap board, so anyone can pick up one of these parts. Along the way, fixes for what users report and new features will keep coming in as usual.

Meanwhile, I'll go through the open PRs to see which ones can be merged, and then start on the points above.

Thank you all, truly. Without you, ProxMenux wouldn't be moving forward with the quality it has now, and it would be very hard to maintain.

[Vaso73]

Hi Pedro, thanks for adding the creation proposal to the roadmap.

The Monitor preview already uses one Create LXC entry on the VM & LXC page. From there, users can choose to install an app, create a plain Linux container from an official Proxmox template, or use a custom image or Compose. If they choose an app, the next screen lets them browse OCI and Community Scripts separately.

I'd use the same principle in the console. Keep one “Create VM and LXC” entry at option 3, then offer separate choices for the existing VM setup, a plain LXC from an official Proxmox template, and External Scripts. I'd keep Community Scripts in its current dedicated menu entry. That way, users can start in one place and immediately see which path fits what they want to create.

When creation comes up on the roadmap, we can align the preview with the new sign-in and profiles. I also checked the archive import fix in #608. The focused tests we ran on develop passed, including the case behind the copy failure mentioned in the preview guide.

[MacRimi]

Hi Vaso,

Sorry for not getting back to you sooner. Thank you for the time and care you've put into this. I installed the preview on a test node and went through it. A lot of thought clearly went into it: the grouped steps, keeping the engine as the only owner of the app logic, the safety checks.

After trying it, I'd like to share how I see this part, so we build the same thing.

VM & LXC page: guests without apps

The button there would create infrastructure only:

• A VM by operating system, as the console menu does today (NAS, Windows, Linux…), with all its configuration options, or a blank VM where the user only picks the ISO. I'd also add systems the menu doesn't have yet, such as Proxmox Backup Server.
• A plain LXC from any official Proxmox template, not only the ones already downloaded. It would get the same care as the VM flow: sensible defaults, an advanced mode, and the extras ProxMenux adds, such as GPU and shared directories.
• In both, as alternatives, only the Community Scripts that install a plain VM or LXC with no app inside, as the menu already does under External Scripts.

Catalog: a new tab in the Monitor menu

OCI apps and Community Scripts apps would live in a new Catalog tab in the menu. That's where users will find and run anything ProxMenux offers, visually and without commands. Simple VMs and LXCs would show up there too, opening the same wizards. I can take care of this one myself, reusing part of what you've built and adding some improvements I already had in mind.

One logic for the console and the Monitor

I'd like both to run the same scripts. The console asks with its menus. The Monitor shows a grouped web form like yours and passes the answers to the same script. That keeps them identical with nothing to maintain twice, and the Monitor can rely on the admin permissions it already has instead of a separate activation policy.

A lot of your work fits straight into this. The five groups of your plain LXC wizard are the layout I'd like for the web form, and your catalog and app detail screens will be the starting point for the Catalog tab.

Order

1. The plain LXC from official templates in the console.
2. The Create VM and Create LXC button in the Monitor.
3. The Catalog tab, after the sign-in and profiles work.

Would you like to take the plain LXC part, in the console and in the Monitor? It would fit well with what you've already built.

Thanks again, truly.

[Vaso73]

Hi Pedro, thanks for trying the preview and explaining how you’d like to split up creation and the Catalog.

I’d be happy to take on plain LXC creation from official Proxmox templates in both the console and the Monitor. I’ll start with the console wizard and use a shared script for the creation logic. The Monitor can then keep the five groups from the preview and pass the user’s choices to that same script.