I’d say actually a bit of the opposite. Generally speaking we don’t need a new package manager or init system, and better hardware support is almost entirely a kernel concern (one might make an argument that the loose bits of key management and tpm2 tools and authentication agents could be better integrated for “Windows Hello” type function I suppose, but I doubt that’s what the meme had in mind.
Not really needing to reinvent the wheel on those, we got a variety of wheels, sometimes serving different sensibilities, sometimes any difference in capability went away long ago (rpm/dnf v. deb/apt).
The best motivation I can think of at this point is to make specialty distribution that is ‘canned’ toward a specific use case. Even then it’s probably best to be an existing distribution under the covers. I think Proxmox is a good example, it’s just Debian but installer made to just do Proxmox. You want to do automated installation? Just use Debian and then add Proxmox (the official recommendation), because they have no particular insight on automated deployment, so why not just defer to an existing facility?
The biggest conceptual change in packaging has been “waste as much disk as you like duplicating dependencies to avoid conflicting dependencies”, maybe with “use namespace and cgroup isolation to better control app interactions” and we have snap, flatpak, appimage, and nix very well covering the gamut for that concept.
For init, we have the easy to modify sysv init, or the more capable but more inscrutable systemd. I don’t see a whole lot of opportunity between those two sorts of options already.
It’s usually easier to criticize something than to go through the effort of understanding it. Posts like the OP are an example of that.
… And ironically, your post is doing the same thing here with software packaging:
The biggest conceptual change in packaging has been “waste as much disk as you like duplicating dependencies to avoid conflicting dependencies”,
Nobody is perfect, so it’s important to keep an open mind about things, especially when one don’t understand them, and especially² when one thinks they understand them as it’s always possible to be wrong (unless they don’t care about going through life as an ignorant asshole. Plenty of people thrive like that.)
I understand it fine, and it’s not just a packaging phenomonon, all sorts of software developers have stopped trying to have consensus on platform and instead ‘just ship the box’. 99% of the time a python application will demand at least virtualenv. Golang, well, you are just going to staticly build (at least LTO means less unrelated stuff comes along for the ride). Of course docker style packaging is bring the whole distro. I’ll give credit to snap and flatpak that at least allow packaging to have external dependency packages to mitigate it somewhat.
i like novel implementations of these things, it’s the reason why linux as it is today is so good, people were willing to try novel methods of package management, and the repo worked great.
Idk, it’s a hobby. There’s no problem with new distros. If they’re good, they take off, if not, it’s going to be a niche project. No issue at all.
It’s more than a hobby. That’s kinda the point.
Sorry, the best I can do is busybox as init.
All the different distros are all about the vibe and not a lot else. The Linux kernel remains pretty much the same and we just choose different window dressings.
I suppose we could role it all back to Debian Stable and Slackware I guess. Do we need a “Distro Thanos?” Besides, without all those different distros, how you gonna surf?
So don’t harsh the vibes man.
< Do we need a Distro Thanos? > Ubuntu has enough snaps for all the distros!
The Linux kernel remains pretty much the same
So you’ve never tried the Zen Kernel?
No I haven’t bothered to surf that one up yet. But, if it’s vastly different, then it’s not Linux and not germane to this meme.
Is Linux, called linux-zen on some package managers.
But is different than the LTS Kernel, which is also different than the pre-release kernels, which are also different than the stable kernels.
So idk, “what is” Linux and what’s not, according to you.
Maybe you thinking of GNU Hurd? Or the Darwin kernel?
After doing a quick search, I don’t see enough differences for the Zen kernel to claim it’s so special. The main line kernel has to be a “one size fits all” from servers to gaming and anything in between. Zen is just a recompiled mainline kernel with some chosen optimizations for better specific use cases-- mostly desktop/gaming. Which is nothing I can’t do if I recompile my bog standard Fedora kernel for those optimizations.
I never said it was special, but I’m glad you searched bud!
Choose a distro by the default wallpaper.
By logo openSUSE ftw
In that case uwuntu for life.
Nah. Push them out like rabbits do with their babies. Let them fight and see which ones prevail!
Cybersecurity engineers and pentesters don’t need Kali or Parrot. You don’t need Proxmox to use LXC and KVM. You don’t need OpenMediaVault to have Samba and NFS shares. You don’t need Clonezilla to make use of the OCS toolkit. You don’t need LMDE to have a Debian OS with Cinnamon and nonfree drivers installed, or Endeavour to have Arch with KDE Plasma.
But it’s sure as shit good to have everything packed together and preconfigured by professionals.
Or if not professionals at least someone who knows more about it than yourself.
And even if they don’t, they know enough to do it to a level I am happy to not bother doing it myself.
Or at least willing to push whatever barely working bullshit they forgot to test.
Absolutely.
Edit, responded to the wrong comment somehow.
Sounds like a perfect application for Nix, IMO. Either ship a flake or a NixOS config module, and you’re set.
The only disadvantage I can see is the unusual directory structure of NixOS.
Clonezilla is more like an app that comes with an OS on a liveCD for convenience, as it’s troublesome to use the very OS you’re cloning.
Yeah its a program that has a minimal OS. Its more about the program than the operating system.
Proxmox does add extended hardware support, as does Kali. Parrot enables necessary repos and kernel modifications for Red and Blue team workflows. I don’t know enough about DEs to speak about the others but those three don’t apply to the meme.
I’m not sure I’d go to the lengths of using OMV just to have a samba share.
Maybe the existence of these distros (appliances) is a sign of the state of Linux.
May the next distro win.
Or a new based DE, like with new libs and frameworks for making ui
At least own the libs
Make your own framework just to own the libs.
Owning libs in this economy? You’ll have to settle for renting a few.
No need to make a new distro, just package it into NixOS
Just a reminder that nix packages works on most any distro, and then they work like other universal packages, but without the sandboxing
NixOS is just when you take this to the logical conclusion and have every part of the distro packaged in Nix, including configuring your OS, and optionally your users configuration files as well.
Good point
Actually, create as many distros as you like and can!
Hannah Montana 2: Electric Boogaloo Distro Incoming!!!
featuring Dante from Devil May Cry!
And Knuckles!
Except for distros like Apartheid Linux … maybe uncreate those.
Musk has a distro???
Don’t give him any ideas…
“Distro of Gaming Excellence”
- Comes with a Fiverr account for paying someone else to level up your character!
- Built-in GrokAI to provide tips on what to say in game chat. “Hello, fellow gaming kids.”
- Preconfigured X (Twitter) + OBS Studio, so your followers can watch your livestream fail! Repeatedly!
I don’t want to search this… Wth is it?
nazi distro
How? Why? I can’t even
We already have NixOS, why anything else?
(Guix is cool too).
A good wiki for it?
https://wiki.nixos.org/wiki/NixOS_Wiki
Still lacking a bit of information about specific stuff.
Unofficial should have the same information, but sometimes there is a discrepancy.
https://search.nixos.org/options
For any option you might need the name of.
https://nixos.org/manual/nixos/stable/options.html
For basically anything else where you just have the implementation documentation
Gentoo with an external build server. (for storage ir performanceconstrained systems)
Does it use Systemd? If so, then we need something else.
Derive something from PCLinuxOS please, but with actual anaconda kick-starts.
Doesn’t have too! You can just use nix as a package manager and install it to whatever distro you choose 😉
The services it installs are systemd, though
Hardware support is not really the province of distro, to me. Which makes them even more ridiculous.
They can go ahead and create all they want. I just wont use any of them unless they give me a reason.
Exactly! Nobody has to listen to OP and change plans because OP doesn’t approve! Like you, OP is free to NOT use the product!
I mean, bait aside, creating a new distro with an existing package manager allows you to set up a different set of default packages and even add your own new/updated ones. That’s the value of it there.
Eh I guess, but really just define your own meta packages and use arch 😄
Take it a step further and declaratively configure your entire installation with nixos
Literally tons of distros could be some
lib.mkDefaultnixos configs. And they would get a package manager improvement.
This should be in c/ControversialOpinions.
btw
(it was implied 😜)
But that doesn’t deserve to count as a separate distro. At best it’s just a variant, like the relationship between Kubuntu and Ubuntu.
Ship of Theseus.
How much do you need to change to make a new distro? Is Linux Mint still Ubuntu? Or is Ubuntu still Debian?
