Bedrock Linux Combines Benefits of Other Linux Distros

First time accepted submitter Paradigm_Complex writes "From the distro's front page: 'Bedrock Linux is a Linux distribution created with the aim of making most of the (often seemingly mutually-exclusive) benefits of various other Linux distributions available simultaneously and transparently. If one would like a rock-solid stable base (for example, from Debian or a RHEL clone) yet still have easy access to cutting-edge packages (from, say, Arch Linux), automate compiling packages with Gentoo's portage, and ensure that software aimed only for the ever popular Ubuntu will run smoothly — all at the same time, in the same distribution — Bedrock Linux will provide a means to achieve this.' The timing of this release is particularly nice for those who were excited to hear that Valve was bringing Steam to Linux, but were disappointed that it was targeting Ubuntu as Ubuntu was not their distro of choice. If it works on Ubuntu, it should work fine on Bedrock Linux, while still ensuring the majority of the system feel very, very similar to Fedora or Slackware or whatever you prefer."

Comments

Sounds great!

[skipkent]

I'm sure the devs will have a gay old time.

Minimal busybox LFS with chroots

[Anonymous Coward]

The tl;dr version is that this "distro" is just an installation manual for a linux-from-scratch style install of a kernel, busybox, and little else (think initrd-style minimal system) plus chroots under which you can install regular distros.

While a novel concept, this is clearly a niche idea. At best I could see it useful to the developer who wants to test his packages across multiple distros, but you can already do that with a standard "host" distro and chroots for "guest" distros. It also does nothing (at least yet) to deal with the fact that each "client" will want/expect its own daemons to be running, but lots of them will be system-exclusive (e.g. anything to do with devices or networking).

Re:Minimal busybox LFS with chroots

[Paradigm_Complex]

You've missed the way it integrates the various chroot'd clients together, which is really the whole point. See the second point here. That was literal barely anything more "apt-get install compiz && pacman -S xorg", throwing compiz in the .xinitrc and running "startx". As another example, it can have an RSS reader from one distro open a page in a browser from a completely different distro, transparently; it all feels like one single cohesive Linux distribution.

I do agree it is niche. It's not for everyone. However, I can't be the only one who has interest in the fact that I can have the vast majority of the system running Debian, nice and stable unchanging, yet still grab something from Arch with nothing more than a single pacman command if I feel like playing with something new.

Other than Ubuntu/Upstart's expectation to have its specific init running (which isn't technically a daemon, I don't think), I've yet to run into issues with conflicting distro-specific daemons. However, until very recently I'm the only one whose actually run it, and I'm sure people will find issues I've not yet thought up. That's why it's still in alpha.

Re:Minimal busybox LFS with chroots

[MurukeshM]

I disagree that it is niche. With two (admittedly major) things, this could be the Linux distro to take over the desktop. A decent setup program and corporate backing. Seriously. If I could Google how to do X and be able to apply the solution for any distro on mine, just think about how much would that simplify things for grand mas and granddads. Corporate backing to push vendors to pre-install it and get companies to use it. I understand that it's a long way out. A unified front. That said, I wish you the best and I hope that I can get to contribute in some way in the future (too much of a n00b/scaredy-cat to venture into an open-source project now).

Re:Too bad it's not free

[knuthin]

-1 RMS fanatic.

Re:Sloppiness

[Paradigm_Complex]

I apologize, I literally just learned HTML/CSS within the last week to create the website. I've had other people offer to create a website for me who actually know what they're doing with respect to website creation - once they're done I'll gladly switch it away from what I'm sure is a poor example of a proper website.

What I am knowledgeable about is the content discussed within the website. Don't judge the book by its cover here, as I'm reasonably confident there is something unique in there.

Re:Sounds familiar enough...

[Paradigm_Complex]

You're not the first one to point to that xkcd in respect to this project. However, I don't think it is complete apt. If anything, Bedrock Linux benefits from the large variety of Linux distributions out there, rather than adding to the mess. If that issue noted in the xkcd comic didn't exist, this distro would not have any point. Think of it as bringing value from what is traditionally seen as a weakness.

Re:Sloppiness

[poetmatt]

this is linux, not apple. not everyone focuses on marketing first.

Re:anyone tested the alpha?

[Paradigm_Complex]

At the moment, I don't yet have a package manager manager (not a typo), but it is on the TODO and will get there eventually. For the time being, just run the package manager from the client Linux distribution of your choice and install the packages as you normally would. "apt-get install wine" or "pacman -S wine" or "yum install wine" or whatever else you'd like - take your pick.

I've yet to try installing the nvidia drivers through a package manager, as I expect that might make assumptions about the kernel which won't be true. Thus far I've just installed it manually from the drivers provided on nvidia's website. Installing it via a package manager may be possible eventually, just isn't there quite yet.

Re:Or just install gentoo....

[binarylarry]

I'd start the flames but my browser isn't fully compiled yet.

Re:Debian Testing

[Paradigm_Complex]

Then you misunderstood the advantages outlined above. It might be my fault for explaining them.

I really, really like Debian. I like the fact that, once released, it really doesn't change for well over a year. Once I have it set up I can just let it run. However, it becomes out of date fast - if I want some new toy that just came out and isn't in Debian backports. With Bedrock Linux, I can have 95% of the system be Debian except for that one package I want from Arch, which I will get from Arch. Take a look here for what may be better examples.

If you still feel Wheezy covers this, reply again and I'll try to explain it differently. This is really nothing like Wheezy at all. Unless you want it to be, of course, then it is almost exactly like Wheezy.

Re:YaLd

[Paradigm_Complex]

Sadly, it really can't be considered user friendly at the moment. I don't expect to take any market share away from, say, Linux Mint. In fact, I should probably actively discourage it, at least for this release. However, this fit my use case, and I figure at least a few others had similar interests but were disappointed no one distro provided all of them at the same time.

Re:Or just install gentoo....

[Paradigm_Complex]

Gentoo lets you do all of this....

If you truly feel that way, then I have failed to explain what it does properly.

The beauty of this is you can have the majority of the system be Gentoo if you want, except if you are in a rush and can't wait for something to compile, you can just grab it from the repository of another Linux distribution. Or the opposite - you can have the majority of the system be, say, Debian, except those two or three packages that you really don't like the Debian developer's compilation choices and just get them from Gentoo's portage.

Release Names

[UmbraDei]

Where do the release names come from?
All of the Bedrock Linux releases are named after characters from the Nickelodeon television program Avatar: The Last Air Bender.

This is definitely the main reason I'll be trying it out.

Re:Too bad it's not free

[Anonymous Coward]

Luckily, there is no "-1 RMS fanatic", "-1 disagree" or "-1 your worldview sux mine rox" moderation option.

Re:already exists. Its called Debian

[Paradigm_Complex]

I really, really like Debian. If Debian could do what Bedrock Linux can, I would have never tried to make Bedrock Linux. The issue is, however, that you can't install an arbitrary program from testing/unstable into stable.. Many of those packages are dependent on specific libraries which aren't available in stable. With Bedrock Linux, you can install and use packages from both, at the same time. I can run Squeeze's newsbeuter in Sid's X11 and have it open a window in Wheezy's iceweasel. It's all transparent and feels like one cohesive OS.

Re:Debian Testing

[Paradigm_Complex]

Well, the issue then is that testing and unstable aren't quite stable enough for me. I want something which I can learn and set up, then leave running for years. Debian stable could do that, but neither testing nor unstable could.

However, at times I also want to play with the newest goodie from Debian Sid. I don't want to reboot, I don't want to use a VM, I just want to run a program from Sid. With Bedrock Linux, I can do that: I can have a system which is almost entirely Debian Stable, except for the packages I want from Sid when I want them. Any library compatibility issues one would normally have trying to get a .deb from Sid into Stable are non-issues with Bedrock Linux.

Add on to that that I can use Gentoo's portage to relatively easily keep a specific package customized to my specific tastes. Say I don't like dbus, but I want firefox - Debian's iceweasel is dependent on dbus. I could just get it from Gentoo with the flag set to exclude dbus. Yet everything else would be Debian.

At the same time, I am 100% library-compatible with Ubuntu, so for projects like sage mathematics, which I know provides packages for Ubuntu, I can use those with absolutely no worry that they won't work. Debian Testing cannot do that.

Re:Sloppiness

[Paradigm_Complex]

I really did not intend to be misleading in quite that way; if you truly feel that way, I apologize. I created something I feel is really neat and would like to share, and felt slashdot would be a great place to share it. You can check my UID - I'm not exactly new around these parts. I'm also not making any money on this - I'm not sure an advertisement is the best description of what this is.

Re: If it works on Ubuntu

[sylvandb]

Not really.

Ubuntu has made a lot of changes (from the kernel and init system to the Unity desktop and notifications). If something depends on any of those changes it isn't going to be happy with debian.

I have had nearly complete success the other direction though. So I would say if it runs on debian it should run on Ubuntu.