not-os VS luet

Hi. I'm new to nix and want to ask if you have an idea how to build an ISO image file of not-os and run it on QEMU virt vanager?

Maybe not-os?

oh oops, I think I was intending to type "crowd source" but I really met "crowd fund".

I do want to finish my FreeBSD cross PR, but is is hard. We already have NetBSD working, including building the kernel, so I think it is better to start there.

I opened https://github.com/cleverca22/not-os/issues/16 because I think that would be the absolute easiest first step, with the fewest moving parts. But I don't know how kernels, even Linux, are packaged into bootable thingies at all.

I also found this: https://github.com/cleverca22/not-os

It's like an OS that has builtin salt/ansible/chef/puppet.

Because Nix language describe the OS instead of what to change/configure it's superior to these tools, and solves the problem that supposedly same machines are drifting apart.

For example if in the CM you tell it to install a package, then change your mind and remove the entry that does it. The package will remain installed.

With NixOS if you remove the package from configuration, it's gone.

I personally really like Nix's building capability. For example I can use it to generate a minimal docker container. It requires some knowledge, but I can also modify compilation options in dependencies (like remove unneeded functionality).

It looks like there's also an option to similarly build lightweight OS images[1]. I haven't tried it yet but looks cool.

[1] https://github.com/cleverca22/not-os

You might want to check out https://github.com/telent/nixwrt and https://github.com/cleverca22/not-os as solutions with similar goals. The former is a promising but yet-unfinished way of using Nix to manage a router, while the latter is a similar way of using Nix to generate an immutable OS image.

I spent some time with the Depot Lite paper, and it's wild how much much there are little hints (less strict) of many of the exact principles the are used in Nix. Turning software installations read-only after a few weeks was one that stuck out the most, along with the basic FHS adjustments.

I've read through a few if the Nix papers before, but they're probably worth revisiting by now after using Nix for a few years and experimenting with Guix a bit.

> I can geek out about package management all day.

Same! I've been fascinated with package management probably since I was about 12 or 13, when I first tried desktop Linux. Package managers are incredibly powerful systems tackling an equally incredibly tough problem space. Multi-language package managers (i.e., ports systems and Linux distro package managers have always especially impressed me. (Imo even the 'bad' Linux distro package managers are pretty good, as much as I can be harsh on them in certain aspects when comparing them.)

Getting into Nix has made me think more deeply about the designs of the many language-specific package managers, since each one needs/gets a different treatment in Nixpkgs according to its unique properties. It's similarly provided an illuminating alternative to the container approach to traditional deployment troubles— one that conserves more of what is good about the traditional package management paradigms on Linux and elsewhere.

Have you looked at Michael Stapelberg's work on package management? I think it's the most exciting work on package management outside the Nix and Guix worlds: https://michael.stapelberg.ch/posts/2019-08-17-introducing-d...

Luet also looks interesting, but I've not really played with it yet. Its approach seems to be to add more package-like granularity to existing container systems: https://github.com/mudler/luet