live-bootstrap VS nix-ld

Not using this, but tangentially related is (full disclosure, i am a maintainer of this project) live-bootstrap, which uses about a KB of binary to do a full "Linux from scratch" style thing - read https://github.com/fosslinux/live-bootstrap/blob/master/part... for all 143 steps you have to go through to get there.

Actually you can skip a file system entirely if you do something like stage0 or live-bootstrap https://github.com/fosslinux/live-bootstrap

See https://github.com/fosslinux/live-bootstrap, and https://github.com/fosslinux/live-bootstrap/blob/master/parts.rst has all the steps we take.

live-bootstrap builds a variety of intermediate systems, starting from a <1KB binary seed (kernel excluded). Check parts.rst for a description, it's kinda wild just how many C and C subset compilers get compiled... but the end result is a system with musl and GCC 4.7, from which building the latest GCC is 2 steps away.

There is also live-bootstrap which uses a similar bootstrap chain to Guix (stage0 -> Mes -> tcc -> gcc), but without needing Guile/guix-daemon binaries etc. The whole thing starts with just a 357-byte binary seed (source)!

There's some cool stuff being done in this area. For example, live-bootstrap goes from a tiny, auditable binary seed to a full GNU userland using only source code (and a Linux kernel).

You may be interested in `nix-ld`. https://github.com/Mic92/nix-ld

As I mentioned I used nix-index to build LD_LIBRARY_PATH. I believe I picked that up from nix-ld. The README on that page shows an example and mentions some tools (nix-autobahn, nix-alien, and nix-index) to help figure it out.

Hi guys, I really like NixOS. I also do not want to miss nix-ld, because it allows me to run "normal" Linux programs on nix.

As someone who has been using NixOS for a couple of years now, I really want to say how appreciative I am of everybody for making noticeable improvements to the system on a somewhat regular basis. The nix command keeps on adding great new features like flake templates and bundling as well as just being more user friendly (error messages, actionable hints, etc.) Additionally, tools like nix-ld [1] make nix more usable than ever with software from external sources. Things just keep on getting better for NixOS users!

Despite the reputation, I feel that NixOS or some derivative of it has the power to become the best distribution for non-technical users in the long run. What NixOS has done is effectively built an interface to every component of a modern Linux system, all that needs to be built is a user application to take advantage of it. Of course, there still needs be some improvements in Nix itself for it to blossom into its final form, but I really see a path to greatness here.

I have often thought about creating a simple unified Win2K-esq or BeOS-like X11 WM/DE specifically for NixOS but unfortunately I like the time/motivation.

[1] https://github.com/Mic92/nix-ld

Regarding the ld thing, I don't know if this is relevant but probably: https://github.com/Mic92/nix-ld

Have a look at nix-ld and nix-autobahn.