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An overview of single-purpose Linux distributions

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Re: An overview of single-purpose Linux distributions

#31

Post by tych0 »

LeoPanthera wrote: post #5

This is one of those things that I've always been too scared to ask so I'm just going to ask it now: Is there a distro designed exclusively for running docker (and perhaps other) containers that also contains a friendly web UI for people who have no idea how docker actually works? I'm familiar with Proxmox, but it doesn't natively support docker.

docker-the-company maintained https://github.com/linuxkit/linuxkit when I worked there. I have no idea who maintains it now, but it looks like it is still active (presumably still docker-the-company, since their adopters list [1] lists docker desktop).

[1]: https://github.com/linuxkit/linuxkit/blob/master/ADOPTERS.md

Re: An overview of single-purpose Linux distributions

#32

Post by nfriedly »

eschneider wrote: post #3

Interesting article. For folks who need to put together their own distro, especially for embedded applications, Yocto and Buildroot both lower the barrier to rolling your own and getting exactly what you need to something quite reasonable.

+1 for Buildroot!

I haven't done much with Yocto, but I had very good experiences with Buildroot, particularly with getting helpful answers to noob questions I posted on stack overflow. One was answered by Thomas Petazzoni who, I think, is one of the main people behind Buildroot.

Re: An overview of single-purpose Linux distributions

#33

Post by jaywalk »

candiddevmike wrote: post #30
capableweb wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Docker Desktop is essentially an application, doesn't come close to being a OS or distribution.

A VM to run containers is a fairly large part of Docker Desktop...? https://www.docker.com/blog/the-magic-behind-the-scenes-of-d...

It still requires a full underlying Windows or Mac OS, so it's irrelevant to the topic at hand.

Re: An overview of single-purpose Linux distributions

#34

Post by vanilla-almond »

Is there a minimal or custom Linux image suitable for the following scenario? A custom Linux + web app combination:

- a Linux image that can upload to a VPS

- a Linux image including your web app and essential tools (web server, database)

- anything not needed from the Linux image is removed (tools, utilities)

The idea is that a custom Linux image (which includes your pre-installed web app) can be installed to any VPS: pre-configured to be Linux only for your web app. (Note: this a scenario without docker.)

Re: An overview of single-purpose Linux distributions

#35

Post by fsflover »

LeoPanthera wrote: post #5

This is one of those things that I've always been too scared to ask so I'm just going to ask it now: Is there a distro designed exclusively for running docker (and perhaps other) containers that also contains a friendly web UI for people who have no idea how docker actually works? I'm familiar with Proxmox, but it doesn't natively support docker.

Depending on why you are asking, Qubes OS might be relevant for you.

Re: An overview of single-purpose Linux distributions

#36

Post by iguessthislldo »

This isn't container-related like the article, but I recently came upon a specialized Linux in the wild. I bought a compact flash card off Amazon for to use as a drive in a Tandy 1000. I went to partition it and to my surprise it had a few partitions. One was an ext2 one that resembled some sort of root directory. Looking through the files, it appeared it was for a distro called AST Linux that was originally designed to run off compact flash and aimed at managing networked telephones. It also had firmware images for a Cisco SPA232D VOIP Adapter.

https://www.astlinux-project.org/about.html

Re: An overview of single-purpose Linux distributions

#38

Post by taylodl »

iguessthislldo wrote: post #36

This isn't container-related like the article, but I recently came upon a specialized Linux in the wild. I bought a compact flash card off Amazon for to use as a drive in a Tandy 1000. I went to partition it and to my surprise it had a few partitions. One was an ext2 one that resembled some sort of root directory. Looking through the files, it appeared it was for a distro called AST Linux that was originally designed…

I'd love to learn more about how you're using that Tandy 1000!

Re: An overview of single-purpose Linux distributions

#39

Post by slondr »

MichaelMoser123 wrote: post #20
dharmab wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Alpine is a general purpose OS; You can run it as a desktop or server OS on real hardware.

still they do have a strong focus on size reduction, like using musl instead of glibc.

As pmOS folks (and anyone running alpine on their desktop or server) will happily tell you, size reduction is not a goal only relevant to container runtimes.

Re: An overview of single-purpose Linux distributions

#40

Post by deckard1 »

vanilla-almond wrote: post #34

Is there a minimal or custom Linux image suitable for the following scenario? A custom Linux + web app combination: - a Linux image that can upload to a VPS - a Linux image including your web app and essential tools (web server, database) - anything not needed from the Linux image is removed (tools, utilities) The idea is that a custom Linux image (which includes your pre-installed web app) can be installed to any VP…

You can create your own.

In the days before Docker what we would use is CentOS with custom scripts using Anaconda[1]. You start with the base system and then add on whatever you need. You can also configure /etc however you need. The output is an ISO of your own custom Linux distribution.

One neat thing about Anaconda is you can add a provision script that runs on initial boot. So if you need to "bake" in your app but leave a certain amount of configuration for install-time, that's the way you do it.

[1] https://access.redhat.com/documentation/en-us/red_hat_enterp...

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