 DistroWatch Weekly |
| DistroWatch Weekly, Issue 956, 21 February 2022 |
|
Welcome to this year's 8th issue of DistroWatch Weekly!
While most of our attention here at DistroWatch is focused on changes and releases in the Linux community we also enjoy talking about the various flavours of BSD. As it turns out, some of you are interested in the BSD projects too. This week, in our Questions and Answers column, we clear up some confusion about how projects like FreeBSD (and its cousins in the BSD world) operate. In our News section we also start with some news from the FreeBSD community as one enterprising developer is working to make Qubes-like process isolation possible on the venerable operating system. We also share updates from the UBports project and link to an article which shares tips on how to handle software on Fedora Silverblue, an emerging flavour in the Fedora ecosystem. First though we talk about a tool called Distrobox. The Distrobox project aims to make it possible to run software from multiple Linux distributions without the overhead of a virtual machine. Our Feature Story discusses some of the benefits and hurdles that come with working with Distrobox. Have you tried Distrobox yourself? Let us know what you thought of it in this week's Opinion Poll. Plus we are pleased to share the releases of the past week and list the torrents we are seeding. We wish you all a fantastic week and happy reading!
Content:
Listen to the Podcast edition of this week's DistroWatch Weekly in OGG (15MB) and MP3 (11MB) formats.
|
| Feature Story (by Jesse Smith) |
Running guest distributions with Distrobox
A project I recently discovered in my travels around the Linux community is Distrobox. The project describes itself as follows:
Simply put it's a fancy wrapper around Podman or Docker to create and start containers highly integrated with the hosts. The Distrobox environment is based on an OCI image. This image is used to create a container that seamlessly integrates with the rest of the operating system by providing access to the user's home directory, the Wayland and X11 sockets, networking, removable devices (like USB sticks), systemd journal, SSH agent, D-Bus, ulimits, /dev and the udev database, etc...
Why would someone want to use Distrobox? Basically it is a way to run another Linux distribution on your system without a lot of extra overhead. It's lighter than a virtual machine, for example. The container approach Distrobox uses offers us a way to test new software without cluttering the host distribution.
Distrobox also gives us the opportunity to run different types of distributions. For instance, if we usually run a conservative project such as Debian or Rocky Linux we can use Distrobox to run more cutting edge distributions such as Arch Linux. In theory the reverse also applies where we could run a cutting edge distribution as the host, but run a Distrobox container to run older software that needs a specific, long-term support operating system.
Another reason to use Distrobox is to give ourselves access to a guest distribution where we have root access, for added flexibility. In situations where we can't install or run certain software in the host environment, this may be beneficial. Though, as I'm about to discuss, we still need a certain level of access in the host environment in order to create Distrobox containers.
Installing
The first thing I noticed when reading through the Distrobox documentation is that its installation instructions skip a number of steps. For instance, there isn't a clear indication of dependencies, required permissions, how to set the shell's PATH variable. We're just told to run a cURL command to download a script and pipe it to our shell, which is really dangerous and shouldn't be done unless you trust the author. It seems to be assumed that setting up dependencies and dealing with paths and permissions are just things we will figure out on our own.
I decided to set up Distrobox on a fresh install of KDE neon. The first thing I had to handle was installing dependencies. I figured I'd need cURL to fetch the install script and then Docker. A word of warning here: on Ubuntu-based distributions there is a package called docker and one called docker.io. We need the latter. From the command line I fetched the desired dependencies:
sudo apt install curl docker.io
Next I grabbed the install script, looked it over, and executed it:
curl https://raw.githubusercontent.com/89luca89/distrobox/main/install > install
chmod 755 install
./install -p ~/.local/bin
The install script failed at first because the directory ~/.local/bin did not yet exist and the script doesn't know how to handle this. I fixed this by running:
mkdir -p ~/.local/bin
./install -p ~/.local/bin
At this point the documentation suggests we should be able to run commands like "distrobox-create" (or "distrobox create") to get started making semi-isolated containers. However, there is another step left to do: we need to add the location of the executable Distrobox programs to our shell's path. We can do this by running:
PATH=$PATH:~/.local/bin
We may wish to add the above line to our shell's start-up script too so Distrobox is available the next time we login.
Getting started
Another issue I ran into was that I couldn't find an easy way to list which guest distributions are supported. The documentation tells us that Fedora is the default guest distribution and we can specify others. However, which other distributions are supported is left up to the imagination (or reading the Distrobox code). I found reference to using Arch Linux in a set of examples showcasing what Distrobox can do, but no easily accessible list of alternatives. Keeping this in mind I decided to focus on using Arch Linux as my guest during my trial.
To get started I ran the following command to grab the latest version of Arch Linux and name my guest container "arch":
distrobox create --image archlinux:latest --name arch
The above command failed with an error reporting I could not connect to the Docker socket due to a permission issue. I tried to work around this by running the distrobox command with sudo. Unfortunately the Distrobox helper programs are not in the default sudo path and distrobox doesn't know how to find them. So this workaround failed. I discovered the issue was my user had not been added to the docker permission group. Running the following command fixed this:
sudo adduser jesse docker
Once I had logged out and then back in again I was able to try again. This time running the following command worked:
distrobox create --image archlinux:latest --name arch
Less than a minute later I had a copy of Arch Linux in a container. I could start this semi-isolated copy of Arch and access its command line by running another command:
distrobox enter --name arch
At this point I was effectively running Arch Linux in my terminal. I could run Arch's programs and use its package manager to fetch the latest versions of software. Running the command "exit" left the container and returned me to my host's shell.
Distrobox -- Running Python on the host and guest systems
(full image size: 463kB, resolution: 1536x864 pixels)
While logged into the Arch terminal I could run both command line programs and desktop applications. When a desktop application is launched from the Distrobox container it integrates with our host's desktop environment. I especially appreciate how smooth this experience is as it means I can test multiple versions of desktop software, or the same package from two different distributions, on the same machine without worrying about conflicts.
Other observations
A few times now I've mentioned Distrobox containers are semi-isolated from the rest of the system. What I mean by this is the programs and libraries the guest distribution runs are kept separate from the host system. If I install and run Firefox from within my Arch Linux guest it won't interfere with programs and libraries on my host KDE neon system. However, the guest containers are not meant to be used as secure environments. Distrobox guests have access to the host distribution's filesystem, including our home directory. Distrobox allows us to install packages in a contained environment, but it doesn't wall them off from the host operating system or our files. In other words, don't count on Distrobox for protection the way we would while using a virtual machine or Firejail sandbox.
Distrobox -- Running gedit in a guest and locating its text file with the host file manager
(full image size: 486kB, resolution: 1536x864 pixels)
We can see what containers are installed on our system and whether they are running by using the command:
distrobox list
Once we are done with a guest container we can remove it by running the remove command:
distrobox rm --name arch
The first time I tried to remove a container I was told it could not be done because the container was still running. Once a container is started or entered it remains running in the background, even if we exit the guest's shell session. I could find no mention of stopping guest containers in the Distrobox documentation.
There are two approaches we can take to dealing with guest containers we no longer want to leave running. The Distrobox software doesn't appear to have a stop command, but its underlying technology (Docker) does. We can use the "docker stop" command to halt a running container:
docker stop arch
Should we wish to both stop and remove a running container we can use a "--force" flag with the Distrobox command. From the host system we can run:
distrobox rm --name arch --force
The above command forces the container to stop and then removes it.
Conclusions
My trial with Distrobox got off to a rough start and it was mostly due to a lack of documentation. The project has a quick-start guide, some examples on installing fresh guests, and entering the guest containers. However, the documentation hasn't been fleshed out. I couldn't find anything on installing dependencies, dealing with permission issues, finding a list of supported guest distributions, or stopping containers. Hopefully these items will get added later.
As it stands, I spent most of my trial trouble-shooting issues which involved getting Distrobox installed, getting its dependencies running, and trying to figure out which Linux distributions I could install through Distrobox.
Once these issues were resolved I found using the software quite enjoyable. I liked being able to quickly install an Arch or Fedora container, experiment with it, mess it up, and then delete it - all within a few minutes. I like being able to start up a container and run a few programs without the overhead or headaches of a full virtual machine. I liked how easily guest programs, even desktop applications, integrated into the host environment.
The whole experience was very similar to my trial with JuNest last year. The setup of JuNest was a little more straightforward, but it required more trouble-shooting for some guest applications once it was up and running. JuNest also focuses exclusively on running Arch environments while Distrobox should be able to run virtually any distribution as a guest.
All in all, I think Distrobox is worth checking out, especially if you find yourself wanting to experiment with new versions of software or run packages not available on your host system.
|
| Miscellaneous News (by Jesse Smith) |
Isolating processes on FreeBSD, how to manage software on Fedora Silverblue, progress from UBports
Many people are fans of the Qubes OS project, a system which strives to improve security by strictly isolating various processes and data. The FreeBSD operating system also supplies a lot of tools to isolate processes, though they require more manual work. One project, called quBSD aims to improve the situation by automating a lot of the steps required to make FreeBSD isolate its processes and components the way Qubes OS does. The quBSD project accomplishes this using shell scripts, the bhyve virtual machine technology, and FreeBSD jails. "quBSD is wrapper for a jails/bhyve implementation of a Qubes-inspired containerization schema. Written in shell, based on ZFS, and uses the underlying FreeBSD tools.
The goal is to run all workloads inside of jails, and make [the] host merely a coordinator. quBSD comes with an installer script, which creates and configures a series of jails, and even a couple VMs for PCI device isolation. There are a set of scripts which facilitate management of the entire setup."
* * * * *
The idea of a static operating system which does not change and, by normal means, cannot change, is appealing for a lot of people. Having a fixed system offers stability and a guard against corruption (accidental or malicious). But how does one navigate updating a static system and installing new applications? Fedora Magazine has a write-up which explains how to handle software on Fedora Silverblue: "When one says Fedora Linux, the first edition that comes to mind is Fedora Workstation. However, do not overlook the emerging editions Fedora Silverblue (featuring the GNOME desktop environment) and Fedora Kinoite (featuring the KDE desktop environment). Both of these are reprovisionable operating systems based on libostree. They are created exclusively from official RPM packages from the Fedora Project. In this article, I will demonstrate some common steps you might take after a clean installation of Fedora Silverblue or Fedora Kinoite. Everything listed in this article is optional. Exactly what you want to install or how you want to configure your system will depend on your particular needs. What is demonstrated below is just meant to give you some ideas and to provide some examples." The article goes on to explain how to handle system upgrades, adding new package repositories, and installing software.
* * * * *
The UBports team has published a new update to their open source, mobile operating system. The UBports team have released over the air update 22 (OTA-22) which introduces fingerprint reader support on Volla Phone X, provides video chat support in the Morph web browser, and polishes the lock screen. "For the Volla Phone X we are switching to a Halium 10 system image. This enables the fingerprint reader and fixes a few other problems. Volla Phone X is younger than Volla Phone and therefore was recommended to run with a later Android base. We originally released it with Halium 9, and now the in-place upgrade keeps us very excited: The updater has to flash a few critical system partitions. While it was tested extensively random errors could happen, resulting a soft-bricked device. In such a case please contact HalloWeltSysteme via their support." Additional details can be found in the project's blog post.
* * * * *
These and other news stories can be found on our Headlines page.
|
| Questions and Answers (by Jesse Smith) |
Talking about how the BSDs do things
Trying-out-the-BSDs asks: Over the past 30 years I've installed just about every operating system except one, that being BSD. I've read your reviews of several of the flavors of BSD you tested. I've installed FreeBSD using the ZFS filesystem and found that it was not as responsive as openSUSE with the Btrfs filesystem. It also uses more system resources than I expected for a UNIX-like operating system and the hardware compatibility is also not as good, however I haven't done much research on "ports". Ports are a new concept for me but look interesting. What would be the comparable language in Linux, drivers?
My next attempt is installing DragonFly BSD with the HAMMER2 filesystem. I read your review and have one question: what do you mean by active memory vs wired memory? "In its default configuration DragonFly used little RAM (13MB of active memory and 390MB of wired memory) and little disk space (530MB)".
DistroWatch answers: Before I dive into answering these specific questions, I'd like to first be pedantic about something. Specifically I'd like to share that "BSD" refers to a family of operating systems rather than one specific operating system or set of tools. Projects like FreeBSD, NetBSD, and OpenBSD are each their own, complete operating system with their own kernel and userland utilities. Most of the core BSD projects offer a lot of the same functionality, however they have their own kernel, package manager, and system installer. Each core BSD project maintains its own command line programs. These utilities are all maintained by their own in-house developers.
This is a bit different from how things tend to work in the GNU/Linux ecosystem where many of the components come from separate upstream sources and are pieced together differently to form different distributions.
There are younger flavours of BSD which are basically custom versions of the core group. In particular you'll find projects like GhostBSD are essentially FreeBSD with preconfigured tools and add-ons.
Regarding the comparison of FreeBSD versus openSUSE, I would certainly agree hardware compatibility lags behind with FreeBSD (and most of the other BSDs) compared to Linux, especially on desktop machines. Most of the BSDs have fewer developers than the Linux kernel and some of them are geared more toward running on servers than, for instance, laptops.
I was surprised to hear that FreeBSD was less responsive and used more resources than openSUSE. I'd normally expect a fresh install of each (with similar components enabled) to have similar performance. FreeBSD's default configuration is one of the more efficient I've run over the years. While ZFS can add some overhead, it usually isn't nearly as impactful on performance (or memory consumption) as people tend to assume. Usually I find notable performance issues on fresh installs tend to come from either drivers (which may be a weak point if you're running a desktop environment) or background services such as file indexing. It's possible one of these is to blame for the difference in performance.
Moving on to the question about ports. A port, in this instance, refers to a recipe for fetching, building, and installing software which is not part of the operating system. Earlier I mentioned the BSDs each have their own kernel, command line utilities, package manager, and so on. These components are developed in-house by the operating system's team. Anything else, any third-party software you might want to run on your BSD installation, will come from a port.
Each BSD has its own collection of ports. These ports provide a mostly-automated approach to downloading source code, configuring it, and installing popular third-party applications such as Firefox, LibreOffice, desktop environments, network services, and games.
Most flavours of BSD build binary packages from these ports and make the software available through a package manager, much the same way Linux distributions usually use a package manager. In short, you don't typically need to use (or know anything about) ports when you run a flavour of BSD since you'll normally just use the package manager the same as you would on Linux.
If you're looking for a comparable technology on Linux to BSD ports, you're in luck. Several Linux distributions maintain their own collections of ports. Gentoo famously does this. The Arch AUR is, in a way, a collection of ports. People who run Void may be familiar with xbps-src which is approximately the same concept.
Moving onto memory - what is Active memory and what is Wired memory? The FreeBSD wiki has a write-up of the categories of memory which explain it in detail. My short and generalised summary is that Active memory refers to memory being currently used by userland programs. Wired memory is usually being used by the kernel and/or is "locked" in place and so cannot be reclaimed for something else. Typically adding Active memory and Wired memory together would roughly give you the same result as looking at the "Used" memory column from the free command on a Linux distribution.
In the example quoted, DragonFly BSD was using about 403MB of RAM which couldn't be used for anything else at the moment. A tiny amount (13MB) was being used by its userland utilities like the shell. The other 390MB was used by the kernel and, probably, the HAMMER2 filesystem cache.
* * * * *
Additional answers can be found in our Questions and Answers archive.
|
| Released Last Week |
KaOS 2022.02
The KaOS distribution is a rolling-release project with a strong focus on the KDE Plasma desktop and related software. The project has announced a new version, KaOS 2022.02, which features a significant new milestone: "With the release of Plasma 5.24, a first for KaOS can be announced. Wayland on Plasma is in such a good shape that it now can be the default session for KaOS. For VirtualBox, this means some intervention is needed for auto-resize, upstream does not support this yet for a Wayland session, so you will need to set the desired screen resolution in System Settings. When you choose to use non-free NVIDIA during the boot-up of the Live session, then Wayland won't be used, for NVIDIA, it is still better to use an X session. The one application that is not ready for Wayland, is SMplayer, used in KaOS for many years as the default media player. From the many bug reports for Wayland support and SMplayer (dating back to 2017), it seems SMplayer is unable to move to Wayland, thus can no longer be the default. Haruna is the replacement. It is developed for Plasma, is QML based, has yt-dlp support, subtitle feature, and a rich set of configuration options." Additional information can be found in the release announcement.
Kali Linux 2022.1
Kali Linux is a Debian-based distribution with a collection of security and forensics tools. The project's first release of 2022 introduces several new changes which are highlighted in the project's release announcement: "Today we are pushing out the first Kali Linux release of the new year with Kali Linux 2022.1, and just in time for Valentine's Day. This release brings various visual updates and tweaks to existing features, and is ready to be downloaded or upgraded if you have an existing Kali Linux installation. The summary of the changelog since the 2021.4 release from December 2021 is: visual refresh - updated wallpapers and GRUB theme; shell prompt changes - visual improvements to improve readability when copying code; refreshed browser landing page - Firefox and Chromium home page has had a makeover to help you access everything Kali you need; Kali everything image - an all-packages-in-one solution now available to download; Kali-Tweaks meets SSH - connect to old SSH servers using legacy SSH protocols and ciphers; VMware i3 improvements - host-guest features properly work now on i3; accessibility features - speech synthesis is back in the Kali installer; new tools - various new tools added, many from ProjectDiscovery."
AV Linux MX-21
AV Linux is a versatile, Debian-based distribution featuring a large collection of audio and video production software. The project's latest release is based on MX Linux 21. "AV Linux MX-21, code-named 'Consciousness', has been released, based on MX-21 'Wildflower' and Debian 11 'Bullseye'. This new version has been completely built from the ground up, it is the first version to not be a re-spin of an existing system, and it was built with same tools that are used to build MX Linux and antiX. Because it has moved to a whole new Debian platform (from 'Buster' to 'Bullseye'), there is no upgrade path from previous versions of AV Linux and you will need to install from the ISO image. Please note that the initial releases of AV Linux MX edition are still receiving updates through the MX repositories so if you are happy where you are, there is certainly no hurry to upgrade. The work on this release has brought AV Linux much closer to MX in many ways and it is hoped that both projects will benefit from serving more users across more niches." This release also drops the legacy 32-bit build. Further details may be found in the release announcement.
AV Linux MX-21 -- The welcome window
(full image size: 1.8MB, resolution: 2560x1600 pixels)
pfSense 2.6.0
Jim Pingle has announced the release of pfSense 2.6.0, the latest stable version of the project's FreeBSD-based specialist operating system for firewalls and routers. Some of the changes and new features of the release include: "IPsec VTI interface names have changed in this release, configurations will be updated automatically where possible to use the new names; IPsec status page and widget are significantly faster, show more complete information, and have additional useful functionality; ZFS is now the default filesystem for installations where possible; new Disks widget to replace the disk usage list in the System Information widget - this widget is automatically added and enabled if the firewall configuration contains the System Information widget with disk usage section active; AutoConfigBackup no longer makes pages wait to load during the backup process; the default password hash format in the User Manager has been changed from bcrypt to SHA-512; improvements to the Captive Portal logout page and process; RAM disks have been converted to tmpfs." Read the rest of the release announcement for further information.
* * * * *
Development, unannounced and minor bug-fix releases
|
| Torrent Corner |
Weekly Torrents
The table below provides a list of torrents DistroWatch is currently seeding. If you do not have a bittorrent client capable of handling the linked files, we suggest installing either the Transmission or KTorrent bittorrent clients.
Archives of our previously seeded torrents may be found in our Torrent Archive. We also maintain a Torrents RSS feed for people who wish to have open source torrents delivered to them. To share your own open source torrents of Linux and BSD projects, please visit our Upload Torrents page.
Torrent Corner statistics:
- Total torrents seeded: 2,683
- Total data uploaded: 41.5TB
|
| Upcoming Releases and Announcements |
|
Summary of expected upcoming releases
|
| Opinion Poll (by Jesse Smith) |
Running Distrobox
In this week's overview of Distrobox we talked about how to run guest distributions in a container. Distrobox provides a method for running non-native software which can easily share access to the user's home directory. Have you tried Distrobox? Let us know your thoughts on this container technology in the comments.
You can see the results of our previous poll on when people tried out Slackware Linux for the first time in last week's edition. All previous poll results can be found in our poll archives.
|
What do you think of Distrobox?
| I have used it and like it: | 37 (3%) |
| I have used it and do not like it: | 11 (1%) |
| I have not tried it but plan to: | 348 (33%) |
| I have not tried it and will not: | 672 (63%) |
|
|
| Website News |
Package tracking update
DistroWatch maintains a list of over 200 open source packages which are common across a wide range of Linux distributions. These packages and their version information are tracked in our database and can be searched to reveal which distributions include versions of these packages.
This February we updated the database, cleaning out two old packages which are not typically packaged anymore: libgnome and wicd. We also added four new packages:
- dracut - the event driven initramfs infrastructure.
- hplip - Hewlett-Packard's Linux imaging and printing software.
- nuspell - a spelling checker software program.
- PipeWire - a server for handling audio and video streams and hardware on Linux.
When distributions package these software components on their install media package versions will appear in our Feature & Package table on the distribution's information page.
* * * * *
New distributions added to waiting list
- MassOS. MassOS is a free (as in freedom) GNU/Linux operating system for laptops and desktops which is designed to be minimal and lightweight, without compromising on features. MassOS uses a themed Xfce desktop environment. This allows it to be lightweight on system resources while still being visually appealing and easy to use. MassOS is completely independent and not based on any existing GNU/Linux distribution. This means we are free from being tied down to distributions outside of our control.
* * * * *
DistroWatch database summary
* * * * *
This concludes this week's issue of DistroWatch Weekly. The next instalment will be published on Monday, 28 February 2022. Past articles and reviews can be found through our Article Search page. To contact the authors please send e-mail to:
- Jesse Smith (feedback, questions and suggestions: distribution reviews/submissions, questions and answers, tips and tricks)
- Ladislav Bodnar (feedback, questions, donations, comments)
- Bruce Patterson (podcast)
|
|
| Tip Jar |
If you've enjoyed this week's issue of DistroWatch Weekly, please consider sending us a tip.
(Tips this week: 1, value: US$39.20) |
|
|
|
 bc1qxes3k2wq3uqzr074tkwwjmwfe63z70gwzfu4lx  lnurl1dp68gurn8ghj7ampd3kx2ar0veekzar0wd5xjtnrdakj7tnhv4kxctttdehhwm30d3h82unvwqhhxarpw3jkc7tzw4ex6cfexyfua2nr  86fA3qPTeQtNb2k1vLwEQaAp3XxkvvvXt69gSG5LGunXXikK9koPWZaRQgfFPBPWhMgXjPjccy9LA9xRFchPWQAnPvxh5Le paypal.me/distrowatchweekly • patreon.com/distrowatch |
|
| Extended Lifecycle Support by TuxCare |
|
|
| Reader Comments • Jump to last comment |
1 • Distrobox (by Andy Prough on 2022-02-21 01:51:49 GMT from United States)
Hi Jesse, Distrobox sounds intriguing. It sounds similar to Bedrock Linux, except with easily disposable containers for quickly using one small set of applications for a short period of time. I need to give it a try - I've been using Bedrock daily since you wrote about how to use it last year and it's been just incredible.
Can you talk about some of the applications you used, and about how thoroughly they seemed to integrate with the host OS? I'm assuming you had networking, but were you able to print, or to open files from the host directory, or save files to host folders? Did you try any multimedia applications, and were they able to use the host's sound and video systems?
2 • Distrobo (by Jesse on 2022-02-21 02:07:45 GMT from Canada)
@1: >> "Can you talk about some of the applications you used, and about how thoroughly they seemed to integrate with the host OS?"
They seem to integrate entirely.
>> " I'm assuming you had networking,"
I did.
>> "but were you able to print"
Hard to tell, I've hardly printed anything in the past 15 years. I don't own a printer.
>> "or to open files from the host directory, or save files to host folders? "
As I wrote in the review: "Distrobox guests have access to the host distribution's filesystem, including our home directory. Distrobox allows us to install packages in a contained environment, but it doesn't wall them off from the host operating system or our files."
>> " Did you try any multimedia applications, and were they able to use the host's sound and video systems?"
I didn't try any multimedia applications. Media applications usually don't need to be imported through a guest OS given their nature. Since the guest has full filesystem access to the host it should be easy enough to access the sound card.
3 • Distrobox Question (by Adam Drake on 2022-02-21 02:39:20 GMT from United States)
Is there any type of network gateway between the host and the guest or do apps running in distrobox use the host network connection directly?
4 • "However, the documentation hasn't been fleshed out." (by nooneatall on 2022-02-21 02:45:58 GMT from United States)
This I always find incomprehensible about Linux. Smart people spends hundreds of hours writing complex software, then expect mere "users" to A) know instinctively what it does and why they want it, and B) how to use it.
[It's not unique to Linux: I looked at hundreds of shareware programs in the DOS era. Potential users must be told WHAT for motivation, but even this most basic "selling point" is often vague to non-existent!]
Even given the WHAT, I'd never figure out the HOW though only a few simple steps that Jesse covers. (4K of text including explaining, copied/pasted to a file to get accurate byte count.)
Surely 4K of text isn't "making it TOO EASY" for users, it's simply necessary if want people to use your work!
5 • Distrobox (by Jesse on 2022-02-21 03:24:00 GMT from Canada)
@3: >> "Is there any type of network gateway between the host and the guest or do apps running in distrobox use the host network connection directly?"
It might help to check out the project's description of itself: 'This image is used to create a container that seamlessly integrates with the rest of the operating system by providing access to the user's home directory, the Wayland and X11 sockets, networking, removable devices (like USB sticks), systemd journal, SSH agent, D-Bus, ulimits, /dev and the udev database, etc...'
Basically the guest applications can access just about everything on the host directly.
6 • Distrobox (by penguinx86 on 2022-02-21 03:26:32 GMT from United States)
I have never used Distrobox, but I use Virtualbox all the time. It sure beats burning lots of CD/DVD's or putting images on USB flash drives and installing a new OS every time I want to try something new. Many times, installing new distros are incompatible with the Wifi adapter in my laptop, then I have to reinstall my old OS again. OS's that don't support Wifi are virtually useless these days! Some distros support my Wifi at first, then it dies after the first update. What a hassle! Now I stick with Linux Mint as my main OS because it ALWAYS works with my Wifi adapter.
I use Virtualbox to try new stuff without hosing my laptops Wifi. Virtualbox seems to provide a good hardware compatibility layer, where just about everything works virtually. Instead of Wifi, Virtualbox uses a virtual LAN for the guest OS. Sometimes I run into display resolution issues between Virtual box and new distros, but at least there is SOME video. Usually the Guest Additions ISO has a driver to fix the display resolution.
My laptop has an older Core i3 dual core processor, 8gb of RAM and 256gb SSD. That's usually enough to run 1 or 2 guest OS's at the same time in Virtualbox for testing. For testing purposes, most distros seem to run ok with 2gb of RAM and 20gb of storage in Virtualbox. So running Debian and Fedora at the same time in Virtualbox works ok with no load for example.
7 • distrobox (by gelu on 2022-02-21 03:58:18 GMT from Moldova)
I think that distrobox is an overkill, it is like using an airbus A380 for weekly journey to food mall, instead of a car,
I think that snap is good enough for such use case, when you need a newer version of an app.
while you stay on aging 20.04 ubuntu or debian.
8 • The poll -- Distrobox (by Andy Figueroa on 2022-02-21 04:15:43 GMT from United States)
What about the option 5) I have not tried it and might.
9 • DistroBox (by w Cairns on 2022-02-21 05:01:42 GMT from United States)
There is a list of distros that have been tested and to be working on the DistroBox Github page: https://github.com/89luca89/distrobox/blob/main/docs/compatibility.md#containers-distros
10 • The BSD's (by Matt on 2022-02-21 06:02:58 GMT from United States)
I read the question re: the BSD's and dragonfly/hammerfs.
I know less about Dragonfly, but if you have a spare laptop, especially an older thinkpad, trying out the BSD family of operating systems is actually pretty easy imo. OpenBSD is actually very well supported on that brand of laptops, it just takes a little while to get used to how they do things. I would categorize the 3 major BSD's this way:
FreeBSD: the most popular and of the three. The best hardware support, good documentation and a handbook, and the biggest community if you need help. Capable of being used as a desktop/workstation/server. ZFS, jails, linux emulation, poudriere.....also driven by what the core team wants. The project doesn't change as quickly as a linux can, and this can be a good thing.
OpenBSD: has a focus on security. Great for firewalls, servers, and for workstation if you want to set it up for that. Extremely quick and easy to install if you stick with the defaults. Limited in other ways. Possibly the best man pages of any Linux/BSD I've ever seen.
NetBSD: known for it's portability. Great for embedded devices, but can be used as a server, desktop/workstation, whatever you want. PKGSRC is an incredible tool that can be used on other OS's as well. Smaller but very welcoming community.
11 • poll option 5 (by AndyBananas on 2022-02-21 07:52:17 GMT from United States)
I agree with Andy Figueroa, another option would have been helpful.
For me this is a quite often annoyance with these polls, they assume that we all have opinions already, even when we are just learning about new distros or software that we have had no experience with.
Just a friendly suggestion, add a sort of "maybe" option in these polls. Thanks!
12 • Distrobox (by 89luca89 on 2022-02-21 09:17:02 GMT from Italy)
Hi Jesse, thanks for the review
I've opened an issue to keep track of the improvements in usability suggested by your review:
https://github.com/89luca89/distrobox/issues/177
13 • Poll option 5 --> 3 (by MCBuhl on 2022-02-21 09:34:54 GMT from Germany)
I fully understand and second this "maybe" and, more importantly, that I'm too missing one iron in the poll quite often ...
In today's poll however, I didn't feel bad to choose option 3, although "plan to" is a bit a of a strong word for "considering to check it out one day".
14 • Poll option 5 --> 3 correction (by MCBuhl on 2022-02-21 09:37:56 GMT from Germany)
Iron? Option!
15 • Distrobox (by Terryn Serge on 2022-02-21 10:22:04 GMT from Belgium)
What you do is running docker. If you used to be working with docker, we know that we must be in the docker group. We also know that you must stop container before you can remove it. Docker basic knowledge. What systems can you run ? Easy, goto https://hub.docker.com/ and search your distro. arch:latest is what it is, the latest official image from Arch. You want ubuntu, try ubuntu:latest to get the latest LTS version. ubuntu;21.04 will pull that version, etc ....
De nice thing is that you only need 1 container and distrobox uses the installed x11 or wayland on the host system. Otherwise on docker you need a specific docker images to launch an x11 server.
It's a nice tool to play with it. If it can also run database dockers or web dockers ...
16 • Package database (by Vuk on 2022-02-21 10:44:52 GMT from Serbia)
It's sad that mpv is still not in the package list and MPlayer is, which is quite obsolete
17 • Developers won't document (by Appalachian on 2022-02-21 12:11:36 GMT from United States)
I got my start in technical work at a place which made large, electrical equipment. Over the years I worked my way into companies which made electronic devices, and I found myself testing those devices and their related code.
By far, the most surprising part of this move was the relationship between software developers and their code. Here you have people who are quite eager to sit a computer and type to make a program, but those same people simply will NOT sit at that same computer and type out instructions on what their precious little project does. As #4 said above, it seems like the rest of us are just supposed to know everything about what a program does and how it does whatever function it performs. Oh, if only we were as enlightened as the developers are...
It isn't even limited to finished products. I've seen more than one program where the only use of comments was to take out large blocks of code, without any hint as to what that code did, why it was commented out, or why it wasn't simply deleted if it wasn't needed.
For every Arch wiki out there, you'll find dozens of projects with poor, outdated, or non-existent documentation. It seems that Distrobox is just another entry in the poorly documented crowd. Since that's the case, I'll just stick with VirtualBox. It may be a slower alternative, but at least I don't need to consult a medium to figure out how to set it up.
18 • Documentation (by 89luca89 on 2022-02-21 13:16:02 GMT from Italy)
I just wanted to inform that the documentation is present:
https://distrobox.privatedns.org
https://github.com/89luca89/distrobox/tree/main/docs
What it was missing was pointing the user to it (either man page command or linking it)
But it's present and quite complete (always possible to improve obviously)
19 • Improvements (by 89luca89 on 2022-02-21 13:30:35 GMT from Italy)
Anyway if anyone has some time and wants to suggest improvements for the usability of this program, I've opened an issue in the github bug tracker to tackle usability improvements:
https://github.com/89luca89/distrobox/issues/177
I've already implemented quite a few of them:
Add a way to consult the compatibility table from distrobox itself
Detect if we're running as sudo and point the user to the documentation if that's the case
Improve the installer to create the dest_path if not exists
Improve the installer informing the user to add dest_path to their $PATH
Improve the error messages for missing container_manager and point out to the docs in case of missing one
Improve the error messages in distrobox rm when container is running, suggesting the podman/docker command to run to stop it
They should already cover the usability bugs that Jesse encountered, but if there are others just open new issues and they'll be fixed
20 • "Jim, I'm a coder, not a tech writer.' (by Friar Tux on 2022-02-21 13:43:55 GMT from Canada)
@17, et al... coders do what they do best. As do tech writers. Most of the documentation written about any bit of software, in most cases, was not written by the coder. That job was either taken up by the community that developed around that bit of software, or, in the case of the bigger, enterprise type/run programs, by a paid writer. To the complaint of "how are we supposed to know", I would point to the intuitiveness of most modern software. Most folks, today, when entering an automobile/office suite/program, will intuitively know how to manoeuvre it - though maybe not expertly. In the case of distrobox, most folks realize from the start that it is container/virtual image software. Experimentation will teach the rest - as is true with all thing Linux. So my challenge would be that instead of ranting about the lack of documentation, take up the pen/keyboard and write what documentation you feel is needed. Start something good.
21 • Documentation help (by 89luca89 on 2022-02-21 14:03:38 GMT from Italy)
@20 thanks
As stated the documentation is ready to use both in the man pages and in the project page
I think this was more a discoverability problem (the author did not find the available docs) more than a scarcity of them
But community help is always warmly welcomed :-)
22 • Distrobox (by Otis on 2022-02-21 14:35:02 GMT from United States)
One thing's for sure: There is always something to learn about here. I confess to never having heard or read of Distrobox. I voted in the poll that I have not tried and and don't plan to.. but I will look into it more and keep up with it as I am wondering if it is something with enough of a substantial usefulness that it'll be discussed and used more and more like so many other things that've come along in the linux ecosystem.
23 • Coding (by cor on 2022-02-21 14:45:13 GMT from United States)
Document your own code, do not rely on others. It is lazy and arrogant to not provide documentation for something you coded.
24 • @20 FriarTux: (by dragonmouth on 2022-02-21 15:40:29 GMT from United States)
Must disagree with you. I spent close to 30 years coding and developing software. Nobody knows a particular piece of software better than the coder. Therefore it should be the coder who writes the instructions for an application.
"Most folks, today, ..... will intuitively know how to maneuver it"
Congratulations on being so perspicacious. After having dealt with non-IT users for over 30 years, I can tell you that statement is not true. Many, if not most, users need to be led by the hand. The only users that "intuitively knew how to maneuver it" were other programmers, coders, software developers and techies.
25 • Communication from the app writer to the end-user (by Ted H in Minnesota on 2022-02-21 17:04:49 GMT from United States)
I'm a bit of a tech writer, reviewer, etc. (And I like to make suggestions to improve software and other things, but usually there is no direct way to reach the author/ceator.)
Anyway, My feeling is that technicians often/usually don't know how to communicate what they know to the end user - starting with what the newbie would want to know about using the software/product/whatever. The software creator knows what it does, and tends to assume that it would also be obvious to whoever uses the software/ product/etc. The old assumption that "what I know, everyone knows, don't they?"! Well, we don't. Explain it to us.
Ted H
26 • Documenting code (by Robert on 2022-02-21 17:04:59 GMT from United States)
The problem with coders doing their own documentation is the curse of knowledge. I'm sure they could write their own documentation targeting other coders, and they probably should. Many probably could reach an audience of technical, but non-coder users. But it takes skill to write instructions for the type of user that gets lost with more than 2 or 3 applications open. That user is surprisingly common, and a lot of (most?) knowledgeable people cannot comprehend that lack of understanding
27 • I forgot to mention (by Ted H on 2022-02-21 17:26:19 GMT from United States)
I forgot to mention the equally important thing for the developer/coder to explain:
Not only what it does but HOW TO USE IT!
TED
28 • Lazy Paranoia (by Joe on 2022-02-21 20:45:57 GMT from United States)
I tend to like completely separate playgrounds e.g. VMs and the like, rather than something like Distrobox, as unless I decide to invest what I deem a satisfactory amount of time looking into it, I'm a bit too paranoid that I'd be tainting or somehow otherwise compromising my daily driver. Anyone else bias this way? I suppose I should just unlazy and setup a playground partition.
With @18 information helpfully posted though, I'll be doing some perusing.
@7, every time I think of snap, I think of this article.
https://ludocode.com/blog/flatpak-is-not-the-future
29 • distrobox on Fedora (by Scott Dowdle on 2022-02-22 00:30:39 GMT from United States)
There was an article about Distrobox posted on Fedora Magazine a while ago and that's how I learned about it. I've been using it for easy access to Arch packages on Fedora. One package in particular that Arch packages that Fedora/rpmfusion do not currently... is av1an. Since I'm running Distrobox on Fedora, I'm using podman rather than Docker... and it seems to work quite well.
30 • Re lack of documentation (by Lost in Documentation on 2022-02-22 02:12:31 GMT from Canada)
An additional suggestion re documentation:
Many of us have limited internet access &/or spend time working offline.
Many projects seem to depend on wiki style pages for their documentation, which simply does not work for us.
Assuming you ALREADY have some documentation available, make it available as a pdf, zip, tgz, whatever, for offline study; but don't hold us hostage to staying online having to traverse wikipages.
As examples, the Python makes the documentation readily downloadable in multiple formats. MX-Linux makes the manual available right on the desktop so it is available even for offline work. GIMP has a downloadable handbook. FreeBSD has extensive, downloadable documentation.
I'm not suggesting banning wikipages. Just saying there are situations where it's not practical or helpful.
Was just looking at EasyOS the other day. Very nice documentation, but you end up jumping all over the place to read it. Perfect example of you have the documentation sitting right there. Why not provide an option to download the whole thing as a pdf?
Not everyone wants to spend their time constantly online. Better to capture what you need, then cut the cord.
And don't even get me started on those who so need to be on full time that everything (PC, printer, scanner, baby monitor, doorbell camera, etc.) has to be on full time wireless. Not suggesting we go back to rotary phones. But beware those who want to live in the cloud and do everything online to the extent they want to live in virtual worlds. We have enough problems in the "real" world. I try to solve mine in the real world with offline documentation.
Hopefully have made a case without starting any flame wars.
Hmmm, the "onliners vs. the offliners". Sci-Fi movie potential? I'm not asking for any royalties.....
31 • The BSD's (by Tech in San Diego on 2022-02-23 00:47:33 GMT from United States)
I've been using Linux for several years now and I'm always amazed at how much I don't know about the benefits of the BSD operating system. I greatly appreciate all you do for the Linux community and the resources you put into each and every review.
32 • ports (by Trihexagonal on 2022-02-23 02:43:02 GMT from United States)
I taught myself to use ports as a PC-BSD user in 2005 and had never used the pkg system to build a desktop until last year.
The FreeBSD Base System not having third-party programs bundled with it, everything built after installation of the Base System being done through ports or pre-complied ports through the pkg system.
When working with ports I use portmaster to build them. it will pull in a list of all dependencies to be compiled and present you with a list for your approval prior to continuing with the build.
Unless there is a conflict that requires my intervention or it asks whether I want to keep or delete an old program it is hands free and very reliable.
Albeit, much slower than using the pkg system. I can do with pkg in 2-3 hours what it takes me 24 hours to compile with ports. However, you can choose options for each program before the start of the build with ports and cannot with pkg.
I have a Beginners Tutorial with a target audience of someone who has never used the command line that takes you from installation of the Base System to a Fluxbox desktop using ports to compile third party programs:
https://trihexagonal.org/
You can substitute pkg for ports, bypass the hand-holding and still use the outline. I include System and Security files that require editing after you hit the desktop and a pf firewall ruleset for general desktop activities and a modified version for people who use a printer.
33 • @28, paranoia, and Appimages vs others (by Dr.Hu on 2022-02-23 03:29:29 GMT from Philippines)
@28, Like you, I keep play and secure work separate by using VMs, but I do the reverse. My daily drivers are my playground. Anything requiring security is done in separate VMs. Nothing lives in my home partition that can't be easily replaced. I dual boot, so if one root system gets borked, I can boot into the other and reinstall. So I'll probably give Distrobox a try one of these days, although I doubt I'll find any real use for it.
On the article you link to: "AppImage, to its credit, technically does not require a service to run apps, but it doesn’t integrate with the desktop without it. I needed to use an AppImage app for a while and my solution was to just leave it in my ~/Downloads folder and double click it from my file manager to run it. This is a terrible user experience." THis is not so. The article seemed a well-reasoned argument, and I'd normally bow to superior knowledge, but the paragraph above bugged me. I run a Chromium AppImage on Ubuntu Jammy in my home partition, and it's quite simple to integrate. Al it requires is a desktop file pointing to it, and an icon. It even does the theming properly. No launchers or anything else required. As for bloat, as he claims; I also run Firefox on the same folder, extracted directly from a tarball. Firefox uses 223 MB of storage , while the Chromium AppImage only uses 130 MB. So much for bloat. It still may be a great article, but missing something that simple makes me question if his premises and conclusions need closer examination both for knowledge and bias. it would take more time and knowledge than I posses.
34 • AppImage (by Friar Tux on 2022-02-23 04:29:09 GMT from Canada)
@33 (Dr Hu) Of the three (Snaps, Flatpak, and AppImage) I strongly prefer and recommend AppImage. On my machine it seems to use the least resources, it picks up the desktop theme quite nicely, and it works flawlessly. The other two, again on my machine, use there own themes, occasionally don't launch, and also occasionally quit. There are other issues, but these three are the worst. (My machine is a stock HP Pavilion laptop running Linux Mint/Cinnamon.)
35 • BSD (by John on 2022-02-23 08:30:40 GMT from United States)
Nice BSD review.
Based on your encouragement, I have loaded and tried several BSD versions.
Gave up on all so far !!!!
Biggest problem was I couldn't examine and modify BSD file systems from Linux. So I couldn't figure out how to fix simple configuration problems.
I want to load a 'live' BSD from SD card so I don't nuke my working Linux system.
I am doing this now on this Toshiba laptop with an old fast version of AntiX.
Works great. VERY reliable and easy to really backup to USB hard drive.
John
36 • Distrobox and Docker (by far2fish on 2022-02-23 08:52:48 GMT from Denmark)
Docker is king, and I have used it daily for years. However I have yet not had any use case where I needed to run graphical applications inside it. If I did, I sure would have had a good look it Distrobox. It sounds like a really cool project, but for my use cases I have all I need with the Docker CLI.
37 • BSD world (by Otis on 2022-02-23 13:55:22 GMT from United States)
@35 (and others) My forays into BSD have strongly mirrored my first steps into Linux many many years ago: Excitement.. Effort.. Failure.. Try another.. Lather.. Rinse,.. Repeat...
..and I'm still doing it, even though I have my Linux distro daily driver and a few others that are very reliable and in some ways compete with my favorite Linux distro for more usage.
Best I have worked with in the BSD world is GhostBSD, a work by a dedicated developer and a lot more by the GhostBSD community spinning more flavors for us to try. But I keep having to correct this or that issue having to do with hardware mostly, and I realize as I spend time with it that I need to get my Manjaro or MX or Artix or Suse back on the screen so I can get stuff done without interruption.
I've VERY glad BSD is here to stay and have high hopes that some day we'll see more of them move up into the top 10 PHR (go Ghost go!) and be discussed as much as the dozens of Linux distros.
38 • BSD (by Friar Tux on 2022-02-23 20:04:36 GMT from Canada)
@37 (Otis) Take heart... I have tried many times over the years to install the different BSD distros and have not yet managed to actually be able to start one up to test it. FreeBSD was the only one that installed but, on reboot, it presented me with a full screen terminal opened to some man pages (?). I could do nothing on screen. I'm a bit sticky about distros (Linux or other) working out-of-box so, to me, these were a fail. I'll continue trying them. Maybe, in a few years, when they catch up to Linux, they may start working. (Yes, I believe BSD is way behind, but, yes, I see potential.)
39 • distrobox (by Keith Bainbridge on 2022-02-23 23:51:11 GMT from Australia)
I don't know what this means, but when I run uname -a in my arch, I get
keith@arch Thu24Feb2022@10:49:31 :~$ uname -a
Linux arch.asus3 5.13.0-28-generic #31~20.04.1-Ubuntu SMP Wed Jan 19 14:08:10 UTC 2022 x86_64 GNU/Linux
keith@arch Thu24Feb2022@10:49:37 :~$ su
Password:
root@arch Thu24Feb2022@10:49:44 :/home/keith# uname -a
Linux arch.asus3 5.13.0-28-generic #31~20.04.1-Ubuntu SMP Wed Jan 19 14:08:10 UTC 2022 x86_64 GNU/Linux
root@arch Thu24Feb2022@10:49:47 :/home/keith# su keith
keith@arch Thu24Feb2022@10:49:54 :~$
If this is a separate OS running, how can I get my mint/buntu kernel?
Keith
40 • Down the Rabbit Hole (by Tech in San Diego on 2022-02-24 02:21:45 GMT from United States)
I re-read the article on BSD, with the ZFS filesystem, just to see how much additional resources it used compared to other filesystems used with BSD, (and Linux for that matter), and got sucked down the rabbit hole. What an informative and through explanation on the advantages of ZFS. After reading about ZFS I was curious to learn more and with all things Linux there are several alternatives available such as Btrfs for snapshots, XFS for large chunks of data, F2FS for NAND, EXT4 for general purpose and many other filesystems for specialized use cases.
I currently use Btrfs, which is the default filesystem for my distro, and enjoy the flexibility of taking snapshots on the fly, pooling, data integrity with self healing, and backup with compression just to name a few. Btrfs is supported on many major distributions such as Fedora, openSUSE. Arch and ReactOS to name a few.
I appreciate the author going into detail with links to additional information for those who don't just want the quick answer, but want to learn more detail.
41 • Take heart... (by Trihexagonal on 2022-02-24 10:09:38 GMT from United States)
@38 "FreeBSD was the only one that installed but, on reboot, it presented me with a full screen terminal opened to some man pages (?)."
What you saw was the MOTD displayed on the login terminal.
Directly below that was the login prompt where you enter your usr name and password.
I have all that in the Beginner's Tutorial I referenced, if you want to try it again:
"Now you're at the last screen of the build process. Exit and remove the installation media you used (CD, DVD, Flash drive) while it's restarting or it will loop back.
Now you're presented with a black screen which is our terminal. You've only installed the base system and no GUI or desktop have been installed at this point.
Log into your user account with the user name you chose and the password for it."
Just click on my name.
Or not.
42 • @38, Friar Tux, BSD (by Dr.Hu on 2022-02-24 13:02:01 GMT from Philippines)
I what you are looking for is BSD for the desktop, GhostBSD is the choice. Installs quicker and easier on VirtualBox than some Linux distros. I tried the XFCE version and it ran well. Bare metal, however, is a story out of the past.
I tried PC-BSD, quite a few years ago. I believe they used KDE then, before morphing into TrueOS, and into Linux.as Trident. It installed and worked well on my laptop, but no WiFi and no Touch-pad. GhostBSD is, in the words of Yogi Berra, deja vu all over again. Someone mentioned going down the rabbit hole, and that is fitting. Seems like they've run as fast as they can just to stay in the same place. So if you will run it on a desktop with wired network, go for it. It ain't bad. Wasn't then. Isn't now.
43 • distrobox added to Fedora and EPEL repositories (by Scott Dowdle on 2022-02-24 13:04:57 GMT from United States)
Just wanted to mention that distrobox has made it into the official Fedora repositories (F34 and F35) as well EPEL8 and EPEL9.
44 • GhostBSD (by Otis on 2022-02-24 14:52:06 GMT from United States)
@42 The current GhostBSD cannot see modern hardware I'm using, including my common network card (on live disc, cannot install because of that). I've tried the latest and the older downloads but since I got this new laptop I'm not able to install any BSD with success for that same reason. Once again, this whole thing reminds me of early Linux days.
But yes, I "take heart" and keep trying and... wait for new releases. Always will.
45 • Ghosted by BSD (by Friar Tux on 2022-02-24 15:36:58 GMT from Canada)
@44 (Otis) I believe you're right about the hardware issue. I installed GhostBSD, and on reboot, the mouse and keyboard did nothing. Could not type or move the cursor/pointer.
46 • BSD to Linux (by Otis on 2022-02-24 16:14:45 GMT from United States)
One very telling thing about the evolution of computing is that back when Linux was cutting its teeth for desktop/home users, Windows was the fallback to get things done until a distro might come along to cut the mustard. Now trying BSD has us falling back to our daily Linux driver; no Windows needed.
Yes, hardware diversity exposes how small the BSD developer pool is, so we have to wait, submit error/bug reports (that's vital in all this), and wait some more.
47 • distrobox (by mike r in colorado on 2022-02-24 16:36:40 GMT from United States)
What distrobox runs is the userland environment of the containerized OS. That's why Mr. Bainbridge (#39) sees an OS version different from what he is expecting. I find it to be a very useful tool on Fedora Silverblue to get access to applications that are not in the immutable OS or packaged as a flatpak. It runs a container, not a VM, so it's "sort of" the "guest" operating system.
One nice feature of distrobox is the "export" command which creates a user-specific .desktop file to kick off an application in the DBox container directly from the user's desktop environment.
48 • cursory timestamped basic help (by grindstone on 2022-02-24 18:05:24 GMT from United States)
+1 to the comment about including some amount of docs in txt pdf or whatever where practicable (ie not graphic-laden help). Note (and link) to the current/live versions, but PLEASE put a minimal copy of whatever you have as a text file. Years ago, downloading was more dear. Now, connectivity is Almost everywhere and the assumption to just link is surely "bell-curve functional". For those of us where bandwidth and connections are still iffy (and/or costly), we've hosed.
It's exactly like taking the extra time to cater to color-blind or otherwise limited people--super easy to begin with, but helpful for everyone.
49 • @33 (by Justin on 2022-02-24 20:20:05 GMT from United States)
If your host system is compromised, you cannot trust a VM. The VM is a process that runs on the host OS, and if that is untrustworthy, you cannot guarantee no interference/monitoring/compromise in the host processes.
For analogy, if someone has the keys to your house and can open any door or window, locking yourself in a room won't protect you from harm. They can still turn off your power at a breaker, tap into or shut off your water (you did lock yourself in with a bathroom, right?), adjust thermostats, and do any number of things to make your life miserable.
My suggestion would be to use a live CD on your machine for "secure" purposes (like banking) to better guarantee a clean system.
50 • @49, Justin, VM or Host (by @49, Justin, VM or Host on 2022-02-25 00:33:24 GMT from Philippines)
"My suggestion would be to use a live CD on your machine for "secure" purposes (like banking) to better guarantee a clean system." Now that is paranoia! Actually, for most banking I use Android since the banks provide apps. Great convenience! My banks are more likely to be compromised at the source, maybe from some bored office minion clicking on a payload and sharing the wealth.
Jesse wrote a piece the other week about security, which was pretty much on the money. In many years of running and working on Windows and Macs for myself and others, then going on to Linux, there has not been one single instance where my system was compromised, nor do I expect it to be. Sure, if someone with the skills and means were to want me badly, they can get me. Last year the FBI got somebody using Tails. But since I'm not much concerned with the FBI or any other powerful initials, I'll keep happily playing.
51 • 'distrobox' poll. (by R. Cain on 2022-02-25 17:50:41 GMT from United States)
Out of all the Linux users who read this venue, and not considering *any* individual multiple-votes or other forms of 'ballot-stuffing'---
1000 votes.
96% respond with, "I have not tried it...".
No further comment.
52 • "I have not tried it..." (by Otis on 2022-02-25 23:07:51 GMT from United States)
@51 This poll result could have been, and very likely has been, similar to many distros and other Linux software, programs, inits, etc over the years. And then the results change, if the poll were to be repeated. This distrobox thing is pretty new... perhaps there'll be a repeat of this poll at some point in the future. Perhaps not and we'll just see it grow in popularity. We do not know. Until then your point of "No further comment" seems premature at best, and perhaps pointless.
Number of Comments: 52
Display mode: DWW Only • Comments Only • Both DWW and Comments
| | |
| TUXEDO |
TUXEDO Computers - Linux Hardware in a tailor made suite
Choose from a wide range of laptops and PCs in various sizes and shapes at TUXEDOComputers.com. Every machine comes pre-installed and ready-to-run with Linux. Full 24 months of warranty and lifetime support included!
Learn more about our full service package and all benefits from buying at TUXEDO.
|
| Archives |
| • Issue 1105 (2025-01-20): CentOS 10 Stream, old Flatpak bundles in software centres, Haiku ports Iceweasel, Oracle shows off debugging tools, rsync vulnerability patched |
| • Issue 1104 (2025-01-13): DAT Linux 2.0, Silly things to do with a minimal computer, Budgie prepares Wayland only releases, SteamOS coming to third-party devices, Murena upgrades its base |
| • Issue 1103 (2025-01-06): elementary OS 8.0, filtering ads with Pi-hole, Debian testing its installer, Pop!_OS faces delays, Ubuntu Studio upgrades not working, Absolute discontinued |
| • Issue 1102 (2024-12-23): Best distros of 2024, changing a process name, Fedora to expand Btrfs support and releases Asahi Remix 41, openSUSE patches out security sandbox and donations from Bottles while ending support for Leap 15.5 |
| • Issue 1101 (2024-12-16): GhostBSD 24.10.1, sending attachments from the command line, openSUSE shows off GPU assignment tool, UBports publishes security update, Murena launches its first tablet, Xfce 4.20 released |
| • Issue 1100 (2024-12-09): Oreon 9.3, differences in speed, IPFire's new appliance, Fedora Asahi Remix gets new video drivers, openSUSE Leap Micro updated, Redox OS running Redox OS |
| • Issue 1099 (2024-12-02): AnduinOS 1.0.1, measuring RAM usage, SUSE continues rebranding efforts, UBports prepares for next major version, Murena offering non-NFC phone |
| • Issue 1098 (2024-11-25): Linux Lite 7.2, backing up specific folders, Murena and Fairphone partner in fair trade deal, Arch installer gets new text interface, Ubuntu security tool patched |
| • Issue 1097 (2024-11-18): Chimera Linux vs Chimera OS, choosing between AlmaLinux and Debian, Fedora elevates KDE spin to an edition, Fedora previews new installer, KDE testing its own distro, Qubes-style isolation coming to FreeBSD |
| • Issue 1096 (2024-11-11): Bazzite 40, Playtron OS Alpha 1, Tucana Linux 3.1, detecting Screen sessions, Redox imports COSMIC software centre, FreeBSD booting on the PinePhone Pro, LXQt supports Wayland window managers |
| • Issue 1095 (2024-11-04): Fedora 41 Kinoite, transferring applications between computers, openSUSE Tumbleweed receives multiple upgrades, Ubuntu testing compiler optimizations, Mint partners with Framework |
| • Issue 1094 (2024-10-28): DebLight OS 1, backing up crontab, AlmaLinux introduces Litten branch, openSUSE unveils refreshed look, Ubuntu turns 20
| | • Issue 1093 (2024-10-21): Kubuntu 24.10, atomic vs immutable distributions, Debian upgrading Perl packages, UBports adding VoLTE support, Android to gain native GNU/Linux application support |
| • Issue 1092 (2024-10-14): FunOS 24.04.1, a home directory inside a file, work starts of openSUSE Leap 16.0, improvements in Haiku, KDE neon upgrades its base |
| • Issue 1091 (2024-10-07): Redox OS 0.9.0, Unified package management vs universal package formats, Redox begins RISC-V port, Mint polishes interface, Qubes certifies new laptop |
| • Issue 1090 (2024-09-30): Rhino Linux 2024.2, commercial distros with alternative desktops, Valve seeks to improve Wayland performance, HardenedBSD parterns with Protectli, Tails merges with Tor Project, Quantum Leap partners with the FreeBSD Foundation |
| • Issue 1089 (2024-09-23): Expirion 6.0, openKylin 2.0, managing configuration files, the future of Linux development, fixing bugs in Haiku, Slackware packages dracut |
| • Issue 1088 (2024-09-16): PorteuX 1.6, migrating from Windows 10 to which Linux distro, making NetBSD immutable, AlmaLinux offers hardware certification, Mint updates old APT tools |
| • Issue 1087 (2024-09-09): COSMIC desktop, running cron jobs at variable times, UBports highlights new apps, HardenedBSD offers work around for FreeBSD change, Debian considers how to cull old packages, systemd ported to musl |
| • Issue 1086 (2024-09-02): Vanilla OS 2, command line tips for simple tasks, FreeBSD receives investment from STF, openSUSE Tumbleweed update can break network connections, Debian refreshes media |
| • Issue 1085 (2024-08-26): Nobara 40, OpenMandriva 24.07 "ROME", distros which include source code, FreeBSD publishes quarterly report, Microsoft updates breaks Linux in dual-boot environments |
| • Issue 1084 (2024-08-19): Liya 2.0, dual boot with encryption, Haiku introduces performance improvements, Gentoo dropping IA-64, Redcore merges major upgrade |
| • Issue 1083 (2024-08-12): TrueNAS 24.04.2 "SCALE", Linux distros for smartphones, Redox OS introduces web server, PipeWire exposes battery drain on Linux, Canonical updates kernel version policy |
| • Issue 1082 (2024-08-05): Linux Mint 22, taking snapshots of UFS on FreeBSD, openSUSE updates Tumbleweed and Aeon, Debian creates Tiny QA Tasks, Manjaro testing immutable images |
| • Issue 1081 (2024-07-29): SysLinuxOS 12.4, OpenBSD gain hardware acceleration, Slackware changes kernel naming, Mint publishes upgrade instructions |
| • Issue 1080 (2024-07-22): Running GNU/Linux on Android with Andronix, protecting network services, Solus dropping AppArmor and Snap, openSUSE Aeon Desktop gaining full disk encryption, SUSE asks openSUSE to change its branding |
| • Issue 1079 (2024-07-15): Ubuntu Core 24, hiding files on Linux, Fedora dropping X11 packages on Workstation, Red Hat phasing out GRUB, new OpenSSH vulnerability, FreeBSD speeds up release cycle, UBports testing new first-run wizard |
| • Issue 1078 (2024-07-08): Changing init software, server machines running desktop environments, OpenSSH vulnerability patched, Peppermint launches new edition, HardenedBSD updates ports |
| • Issue 1077 (2024-07-01): The Unity and Lomiri interfaces, different distros for different tasks, Ubuntu plans to run Wayland on NVIDIA cards, openSUSE updates Leap Micro, Debian releases refreshed media, UBports gaining contact synchronisation, FreeDOS celebrates its 30th anniversary |
| • Issue 1076 (2024-06-24): openSUSE 15.6, what makes Linux unique, SUSE Liberty Linux to support CentOS Linux 7, SLE receives 19 years of support, openSUSE testing Leap Micro edition |
| • Issue 1075 (2024-06-17): Redox OS, X11 and Wayland on the BSDs, AlmaLinux releases Pi build, Canonical announces RISC-V laptop with Ubuntu, key changes in systemd |
| • Issue 1074 (2024-06-10): Endless OS 6.0.0, distros with init diversity, Mint to filter unverified Flatpaks, Debian adds systemd-boot options, Redox adopts COSMIC desktop, OpenSSH gains new security features |
| • Issue 1073 (2024-06-03): LXQt 2.0.0, an overview of Linux desktop environments, Canonical partners with Milk-V, openSUSE introduces new features in Aeon Desktop, Fedora mirrors see rise in traffic, Wayland adds OpenBSD support |
| • Issue 1072 (2024-05-27): Manjaro 24.0, comparing init software, OpenBSD ports Plasma 6, Arch community debates mirror requirements, ThinOS to upgrade its FreeBSD core |
| • Issue 1071 (2024-05-20): Archcraft 2024.04.06, common command line mistakes, ReactOS imports WINE improvements, Haiku makes adjusting themes easier, NetBSD takes a stand against code generated by chatbots |
| • Issue 1070 (2024-05-13): Damn Small Linux 2024, hiding kernel messages during boot, Red Hat offers AI edition, new web browser for UBports, Fedora Asahi Remix 40 released, Qubes extends support for version 4.1 |
| • Issue 1069 (2024-05-06): Ubuntu 24.04, installing packages in alternative locations, systemd creates sudo alternative, Mint encourages XApps collaboration, FreeBSD publishes quarterly update |
| • Issue 1068 (2024-04-29): Fedora 40, transforming one distro into another, Debian elects new Project Leader, Red Hat extends support cycle, Emmabuntus adds accessibility features, Canonical's new security features |
| • Issue 1067 (2024-04-22): LocalSend for transferring files, detecting supported CPU architecure levels, new visual design for APT, Fedora and openSUSE working on reproducible builds, LXQt released, AlmaLinux re-adds hardware support |
| • Issue 1066 (2024-04-15): Fun projects to do with the Raspberry Pi and PinePhone, installing new software on fixed-release distributions, improving GNOME Terminal performance, Mint testing new repository mirrors, Gentoo becomes a Software In the Public Interest project |
| • Issue 1065 (2024-04-08): Dr.Parted Live 24.03, answering questions about the xz exploit, Linux Mint to ship HWE kernel, AlmaLinux patches flaw ahead of upstream Red Hat, Calculate changes release model |
| • Issue 1064 (2024-04-01): NixOS 23.11, the status of Hurd, liblzma compromised upstream, FreeBSD Foundation focuses on improving wireless networking, Ubuntu Pro offers 12 years of support |
| • Issue 1063 (2024-03-25): Redcore Linux 2401, how slowly can a rolling release update, Debian starts new Project Leader election, Red Hat creating new NVIDIA driver, Snap store hit with more malware |
| • Issue 1062 (2024-03-18): KDE neon 20240304, changing file permissions, Canonical turns 20, Pop!_OS creates new software centre, openSUSE packages Plasma 6 |
| • Issue 1061 (2024-03-11): Using a PinePhone as a workstation, restarting background services on a schedule, NixBSD ports Nix to FreeBSD, Fedora packaging COSMIC, postmarketOS to adopt systemd, Linux Mint replacing HexChat |
| • Issue 1060 (2024-03-04): AV Linux MX-23.1, bootstrapping a network connection, key OpenBSD features, Qubes certifies new hardware, LXQt and Plasma migrate to Qt 6 |
| • Issue 1059 (2024-02-26): Warp Terminal, navigating manual pages, malware found in the Snap store, Red Hat considering CPU requirement update, UBports organizes ongoing work |
| • Issue 1058 (2024-02-19): Drauger OS 7.6, how much disk space to allocate, System76 prepares to launch COSMIC desktop, UBports changes its version scheme, TrueNAS to offer faster deduplication |
| • Issue 1057 (2024-02-12): Adelie Linux 1.0 Beta, rolling release vs fixed for a smoother experience, Debian working on 2038 bug, elementary OS to split applications from base system updates, Fedora announces Atomic Desktops |
| • Issue 1056 (2024-02-05): wattOS R13, the various write speeds of ISO writing tools, DSL returns, Mint faces Wayland challenges, HardenedBSD blocks foreign USB devices, Gentoo publishes new repository, Linux distros patch glibc flaw |
| • Issue 1055 (2024-01-29): CNIX OS 231204, distributions patching packages the most, Gentoo team presents ongoing work, UBports introduces connectivity and battery improvements, interview with Haiku developer |
| • Issue 1054 (2024-01-22): Solus 4.5, comparing dd and cp when writing ISO files, openSUSE plans new major Leap version, XeroLinux shutting down, HardenedBSD changes its build schedule |
| • Issue 1053 (2024-01-15): Linux AI voice assistants, some distributions running hotter than others, UBports talks about coming changes, Qubes certifies StarBook laptops, Asahi Linux improves energy savings |
| • Full list of all issues |
| Star Labs |
Star Labs - Laptops built for Linux.
View our range including the highly anticipated StarFighter. Available with coreboot open-source firmware and a choice of Ubuntu, elementary, Manjaro and more. Visit Star Labs for information, to buy and get support.
|
| Random Distribution | 
Sabily
Sabily (formerly Ubuntu Muslim Edition) was a free, open source operating system based on Ubuntu. Its main feature was the inclusion of Islamic software, such as prayer times, a Qur'an study tool and a web content filtering utility.
Status: Discontinued
|
| TUXEDO |
TUXEDO Computers - Linux Hardware in a tailor made suite
Choose from a wide range of laptops and PCs in various sizes and shapes at TUXEDOComputers.com. Every machine comes pre-installed and ready-to-run with Linux. Full 24 months of warranty and lifetime support included!
Learn more about our full service package and all benefits from buying at TUXEDO.
|
| Star Labs |
Star Labs - Laptops built for Linux.
View our range including the highly anticipated StarFighter. Available with coreboot open-source firmware and a choice of Ubuntu, elementary, Manjaro and more. Visit Star Labs for information, to buy and get support.
|
|
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
