Misconceptions About Immutable Distributions
Misconceptions About Immutable Distributions
I find that many Linux users have a misconception about immutable distributions without knowing what it actually is. There is a lot of misinformation and generalization in the Internet about immutable distributions being “locked down”, “inflexible”, etc., when we could argue the same with many tradi...
Inflexible by Nature
This is my biggest concern with immutable distros, but this article says nothing to address it. It gave examples of changing certain parts in NixOS, but I'd rather see a couple of "hello world" type examples for a few other popular immutable distros.
Eg, how do I alter a file, say /etc/fstsb, in Fedora Silverblue, Nitrux, BlendOS etc? Is it as easy as remounting your root as r/w and saving? Or does it require a 100 steps? If it isn't straightforward, then it may well be considered as inflexible.
Eg, how do I alter a file, say /etc/fstsb, in Fedora Silverblue, Nitrux, BlendOS etc?
I'll answer for Fedora Silverblue as it's the only one I'm confident about. So, by default, both
/etcand/varare writable. Furthermore a lot of traditionally writable parts (like/home) are contained within/varas well. So say you'd want to edit/etc/fstab(which I've done in the past), then you'd literally do it the very same way you'd do it on non-'immutable' distros. So; copy (the content of)/etc/fstab, change whatever you want andsudo cpthe modified file to/etc/fstaband you're done.Perhaps interesting to point out is that, on Fedora Silverblue, all changes compared to the pristine copy of
/etc(which is kept in/usr/etc) are being tracked and can even be accessed withostree admin config-diff. Note that 'traditionally' the contents of/usrhas been one of the harder parts to modify on Fedora Silverblue and I'd argue the average Joe should not engage with it as it's very easy to mess up. However, uBlue actually enables one to engage relatively easily with those harder to modify parts. And the amount of configurability it allows should definitely put anyone to shame that continues to posit that "immutable is inflexible".Oh crap thanks for letting me know about config-diff! I've always wondered if silverblue could tell me what files I've changed
Thanks! It's good to know that
/etcis writable.But are are you able to elaborate a bit on this please :
However, uBlue actually enables one to engage relatively easily with those harder to modify parts.
What exactly does uBlue do differently to Silverblue, which makes it easy to modify those parts?
In NixOS you can just mount your directories and run
nixos-generate-config.
I didn’t realize some of these were conceptions. They are totally more secure than windows though, especially qubes.