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this post was submitted on 19 Aug 2023
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Linux
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The point is you don't need to change stuff. You tell the resulting state of the system, the system will generate that state for you.
You don't change some file somewhere, you change the pipewire settings in your configuration file and rebuild. You save your config to version control so you can recreate the exact copy of your system any time and on any computer by just letting it download the locked versions of all of the packages you have installed.
Well back when I didn't know any better and would go through linux installations because I would break things but also because many of the "recommended linux distros" had problems (f*** you Canonical forcing buggy snaps onto us) I might've thought it was an awesome idea. But now that I know better (both how to not break stuff + fix things if they're broken, and know when people are recommending glitchy trash) it just feels more restrictive. Kind of like a game console, android phone, or S mode. It's not necessarily as restrictive as those things because you can turn it off and do what you want but the updates to the OS will almost never respect the changes you make, as I know from SteamOS.
Because I want to Install portmaster or create services to launch my own scripts on Boot without them being purged blindly by an update (just like How on Game consoles System updates will remove installed homebrew) I'm not into the idea of using immutable systems that lock you out of changes you might want to do that aren't official.
Immutable systems do not "lock you out of changes you might want to do that aren't official", even if steamOS specifically does.
Microos and coreos both allow package layering client side. There is also features landing allowing "unlocking" the read-only filesystem.
More importantly, coreos now allows using Containerfile to customize the distro server side, and then all your computers can pull the same image (with all your hard work stored in the registry, and reapplied via the Containerfile and some cicd). It's certainly a very different and new workflow and there is a lack of tools user facing tools, but that is always the case with new tech.
The workflow I would sell you on is this:
This is a simplification and in practice currently a lot of things are hard to accomplish this way (say bootloader changes). But that is the "goal", and after running highly customized distros for a decade, I at least would love to be able to have all my changes in all my (present and future) computers without the hassle that brings currently
You can just describe the effect you want for your system. Most common cases are done for you in NixOS. Like configuration of packages, systemd services, etc. But you could write your own. I submitted a pull request for a service, and then made a half-assed fork of a GUI for the NUR.
Could I just used a different distro and just installed it? Sure, but now people use my package
I could have figured out how to set the iptables myself instead of using some software, but we're sharing solutions here so the next person can just write the package name and just use it.
You're creating your own ad-hoc solutions with different benefits and drawbacks.
Portmaster wants to download its own updates. They could just go the Firefox "managed by your organization" route if they wanted to