[HN Gopher] JuNest - The lightweight Arch based distro that runs...
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       JuNest - The lightweight Arch based distro that runs upon any Linux
       distribution
        
       Author : pantalaimon
       Score  : 66 points
       Date   : 2021-12-13 15:01 UTC (2 days ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (fsquillace.github.io)
 (TXT) w3m dump (fsquillace.github.io)
        
       | benbristow wrote:
       | For when you want to boast that you run Arch and take those
       | screenfetch screenshots but you don't actually want to properly
       | run Arch because you've got better things to be doing with your
       | time.
        
         | xondono wrote:
         | I think the Arch installation is the best way to understand the
         | basic plumbing behind a linux distro.
        
         | peakaboo wrote:
         | Yeah that hour installing Arch to get the best Linux distro on
         | the planet...tough decision!
         | 
         | I'm a long time Arch user and it's just the best system there
         | is. Pacman with the Aur has literally everything in its latest
         | version. When I need anything at all to be installed, it takes
         | me 10 seconds to type a single command and then I have it.
         | 
         | But sure, if you think the install is difficult despite the
         | billions of user guides, Pop OS would be my second choice. It's
         | really really stable and beautiful and fast.
        
           | benbristow wrote:
           | > if you think the install is difficult despite the billions
           | of user guides
           | 
           | I've installed Arch from scratch many a time. It's not the
           | setup, it's keeping it working that's the interesting bit.
        
             | Starlevel001 wrote:
             | In the last ~eight years of using arch I can count the
             | number of times it's broken on one hand.
        
             | jcelerier wrote:
             | My distro journey started with Red Hat 5.2, Mandrake,
             | Mandriva, Ubuntu, Debian, and settled on Arch. It's _by
             | far_ the most stable system I 've used. I managed to bork a
             | Debian stable's dpkg two months ago, I've absolutely never
             | been able to make pacman break.
        
               | seanw444 wrote:
               | I used to be a big fan of Ubuntu, up until apps just
               | stopped working because the UI refused to function.
               | Something something pixbuf something. Never had the issue
               | once since taking the time to get acquainted with Arch.
               | So glad Ubuntu broke for me.
               | 
               | Starting with Arch taught me way more about Linux than
               | anything, and also had a factor in starting me on the
               | path of using Emacs, and a tiling window manager.
        
           | atweiden wrote:
           | Void [1] gives Arch a run for its money, particularly if you
           | want musl-libc or non-systemd init. I'm a long-time user of
           | both.
           | 
           | Chimera [2] is also worth watching.
           | 
           | [1]: https://voidlinux.org/
           | 
           | [2]: https://chimera-linux.org/
        
             | pantalaimon wrote:
             | musl sounds like too much of a hassle. Too much stuff out
             | there depends on glibc, if you don't know what software you
             | are going to be running, that sounds like a world of pain.
        
       | throwamon wrote:
       | Has anyone here tried to run this in NixOS?
        
         | spindle wrote:
         | It's not in nixpkgs, so I guess nobody's made a derivation for
         | it. It would be nice.
        
           | seniorivn wrote:
           | adding a package to nixpkgs is much more hussle than writing
           | an experimental derivation for an interesting package
        
       | zmix wrote:
       | Finally I can use Arc, btw.!
        
       | eatonphil wrote:
       | > Almost everything is shared between host OS and the JuNest
       | sandbox (kernel, process subtree, network, mounting, etc) and
       | only the root filesystem gets isolated (as the programs installed
       | in JuNest need to reside elsewhere).
       | 
       | And
       | 
       | > Run on a different architecture from the host OS via QEMU
       | 
       | How is it possible to share the process tree between a QEMU host
       | and guest? Network and mounting filesystems yeah that sounds
       | normal but sharing a process tree?
        
         | selfhoster11 wrote:
         | Presumably QEMU is available as a fallback when the guest
         | binaries cannot run directly on the host CPU.
        
         | danhor wrote:
         | If only the binary is emulated by QEMU and sharing the same
         | Kernel, this should work fine. Similar to what Apple is doing
         | with their x86-to-ARM tech.
        
         | phaer wrote:
         | you are probably thinking about qemu system emulation,
         | simulating a whole computer? There's also qemu user space
         | emulation which would fit the quoted description:
         | https://qemu.readthedocs.io/en/latest/user/main.html
        
       | encryptluks2 wrote:
       | What I'd like to see operating systems do is move to a simple
       | YAML or similar format for creating install configs. I think
       | cloud-init has something similar but always had issues.
        
         | otterz wrote:
         | GNU Guix can do that. You can describe [1] the system in Guile
         | Scheme and you can install a system or create a virtual machine
         | image from that configuration.
         | 
         | [1] - https://guix.gnu.org/en/manual/en/html_node/Using-the-
         | Config...
        
           | encryptluks2 wrote:
           | This is very Nix like, and what I'm really asking for is a
           | simple YAML markup file to define the OS, packages, devices,
           | encryption, users, etc. Arch has something similar but it is
           | a cluserfuck to be frank. Also, there are some edge cases
           | that I'd like to see included like using a detached LUKS
           | header.
        
       | artemonster wrote:
       | This saved me once to enable me to install my own updated tools
       | on an outdated centos (as non root user). Really nice!
        
       | akdor1154 wrote:
       | Fabulous.. i had been toying with PoC-ing exactly this ("there is
       | a pkgbuild for most of the random small projects i use, can't i
       | just use that? I like my Debian/Ubuntu/Pop base system, but I
       | hate checking for a new GitHub release all the time/using an
       | appimage/flatpak/etc bundle/manually pulling and building
       | master/etc")
        
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       (page generated 2021-12-15 23:01 UTC)