Anyone using an Immutable distro of Linux?

[igor_kavinski]

I love Phoronix for introducing me to stuff I never knew existed. So I just found out that immutable Linux distros are a thing. Who here uses them religiously and how would a typical mutable distro like Ubuntu or Mint be hell for you?

 

[quikah]

I am not sure anyone would use one as you would something like Ubuntu. They are for very specific use cases, like creating a container host or running some very specific application.

 

[igor_kavinski]

What about an organization preferring them for their relative stability to run some common applications across their fleet of office PCs? I can think of something like a call center.

 

[crashtech]

Seems like it would be great for mission-critical apps, or even where the admin isn't competent or trusted. I don't need anything like this myself, but it is interesting to think about. Are call centers still a thing? Most reps I reach sound like they are at home these days.

 

[tcsenter]

How is this different from embedded market whether Linux or Windows? 90% of embedded market could be divided into infrequently changes and never changes. Entire device-specific OS software images are often deployed rather than "updating" components.

Didn't Linux pretty much used to be this way all along prior to the attempt(s) to create client OS that would be widely embraced by non-technical users (i.e. compete with Windows or Mac)?

 

[quikah]

Didn't Linux pretty much used to be this way all along prior to the attempt(s) to create client OS that would be widely embraced by non-technical users (i.e. compete with Windows or Mac)?

Not really, it was a lot of download sourcecode and compile your applications. Good luck when the app was developed with a library which you don't have, or you have the wrong version of.

 

[Red Squirrel]

I had to google it. Sounds like an interesting concept. So basically an OS where nothing within the system files changes, so it stays the same. When you update you're updating the whole thing in one go. Any system updated to same patch level will be the same. I can see it being useful in situations where you need many nodes that do the same thing. It could be a bunch of workstations being used by employees, or perhaps a bunch of server nodes as part of a cluster. If you write a clustered application, you could then deploy it on an immutable OS and just keep adding nodes as required. That way you know everything is going to be the same across the board except for the data.

 

[manly]

I am not sure anyone would use one as you would something like Ubuntu. They are for very specific use cases, like creating a container host or running some very specific application.

Agreed that it mainly applies to server deployments. Like with ABroot, Linux-based network OSs have employed dual OS images for a while (i.e. CumulusOS). I think Android can do this also if the hardware manufacturer implements it (Samsung doesn't).

Canonical has announced they're jumping onto the bandwagon soon:

https://canonical.com/blog/ubuntu-core-an-immutable-linux-desktop

 

[manly]

YouTube has been recommending I watch NixOS videos recently (Chris Titus Tech went down the rabbit hole). The configuration model that underpins the OS is pretty interesting.

Although it's not an immutable OS, the way they handle "generations" seems a lot like ABroot.