I’ve spent years with immutable Linux – RakuOS fastened my largest annoyance

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ZDNET’s key takeaways

• RakuOS is a hybrid immutable/commonplace Linux distro
• With RakuOS you get one of the best of each worlds with safety and usefulness.
• RakuOS might be downloaded and put in at no cost.

Immutable Linux is about as safe as an OS can get. By mounting sure directories as read-only, malicious code or unhealthy actors can’t have an effect on the info inside. I may significantly place my full religion in immutable Linux and never fear a couple of factor.

Till I needed to put in an utility utilizing the distribution’s built-in package deal supervisor.

With immutable Linux distributions, software program is usually put in through containers, reminiscent of Flatpak or Snap. Set up of apps is finished this manner due to the read-only nature of sure directories. Due to that, commonplace package deal managers can’t set up the required information, so utilizing the likes of apt, dnf, or pacman is a no-go.

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Does that imply you are restricted to the apps you could have accessible on an immutable distribution? Considerably. Do not get me flawed, the common person will not really feel as in the event that they’re lacking out on something as a result of Flathub and Snapcraft have tons of apps.

However after I’m utilizing an immutable distribution, and I wish to set up one thing like Ollama, I am out of luck if I wish to guarantee I am utilizing the most recent model of the app (I presently run Ollama 0.30.7 on my Pop!_OS desktop). I’ve tried to put in Ollama through Flatpak, and though the command completes, the app is nowhere to be discovered. 

I’ve tried a number of instances, however the finish result’s a failure. Nonetheless, working the command sudo dnf set up ollama works simply positive; it should not, however it does.

Why ought to the DNF command fail? As a result of RakuOS is immutable, putting in through DNF should not be attainable. That is the place RakuOS says, nay, nay. How does RakuOS pull this off? In response to the official web site, “RakuOS makes use of a persistent overlay system mounted immediately on /usr. Your base system is all the time pristine — however you possibly can set up any native package deal you need, and it survives each system replace.”

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With this hybrid system, you get:

• An immutable base system with immediate bootc rollback.
• Native packages that mechanically persist throughout updates.
• Permits set up through dnf, dnf5, or the RakuOS Software program Middle.
• A pristine system reset with a single command (extra on that in a bit).
• Flatpak for sandboxed apps (heightened safety) and native packages for all the things else.

In different phrases, you get one of the best of each worlds.

My expertise with RakuOS

The factor I appreciated probably the most about RakuOS is that, whereas it had all the underpinnings of an immutable distribution, it nonetheless felt like a conventional Linux OS. The one distinction was that as an alternative of the KDE Plasma Uncover app retailer, there was the RakuOS Software program app retailer. The excellent news is that the RakuOS Software program app seemed and behaved equally to that of Uncover.

With RakuOS, I used to be capable of set up all the software program I usually would use through a mixture of Flatpak and DNF. If I needed to put in an app with the added safety of isolation, I used Flatpak; in any other case, I dove into DNF.

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So far as efficiency is worried, RakuOS makes use of the CachyOS kernel, so it is constructed for velocity. It doesn’t matter what I threw on the desktop, it did not bat an eye fixed. Even working a hefty Ollama question (writing a Python GUI app) did not gradual the machine down.

That CachyOS kernel is one thing particular, and the RakuOS devs have been good to incorporate it.

However then, my curiosity bought one of the best of me, and I made a decision to attempt the “pristine reset” choice to see how nicely it labored. After putting in a number of apps and saving some information/information to my house listing, I scoured the RakuOS web site for any point out of the particular command used for this, however discovered nothing.

Given how RakuOS creates the overlay in /usr, I assumed, “What occurs if I merely take away all the things in /usr? Could not harm, proper? I’m working RakuOS as a digital machine, so if it does FUBAR the system, I can spin up one other VM with out a lot hassle. 

Ergo, I issued the command:

sudo rm -rf /usr/

That was a bit nerve-racking.

A fast restart to see what the outcomes have been, solely to seek out the restart failed. I compelled the VM off after which restarted. The boot course of took significantly longer than I’d have anticipated, however then, on condition that I might nuked the /usr listing, I am considering perhaps RakuOS needed to rebuild it. 

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Perhaps?

I waited, and waited, and waited. 

No cube.

As soon as extra unto the breach with a reboot, and the identical difficulty endured. Time to reinstall. This time round, I remembered that RakuOS was primarily based on OSTree, so the command was easy:

sudo rpm-ostree reset

Even somebody who’s used a chunk of know-how for many years can get tripped up from time to time.

The second time round, all the things went nicely, and I wound up with a pristine OS (after set up, use, and resetting with the correct command).

My closing thought on RakuOS is that this: I am impressed. This Linux distribution offers customers one of the best of each worlds: immutability with the power to make use of default package deal managers. Though set up takes a bit longer than I am used to, the top end result could be very a lot well worth the time invested. 

If you happen to’re searching for an OS that’s equal elements safe and user-friendly, give RakuOS a attempt. You may obtain an ISO for the KDE Plasma, GNOME, or COSMIC variations, create a bootable USB drive, and set up it.

If you happen to’re already working a Fedora Atomic-based distro, you possibly can reset with:

sudo rpm-ostree reset

After which you possibly can rebase to RakuOS with one of many following instructions: