Earlier quoted context omitted.
MacOS is not a Linux distribution, though.
Well why are they calling it an OS then!
Because it is one? Linux distros are a subset of OSs.
Serpent OS Pre-Alpha-0 released
31–40 of 54 posts
Re: Serpent OS Pre-Alpha-0 released
#32> Rebootless atomic updates - no more interruptions
Does it mean the same as in all other distros when you install packages and they restart the services? Or does it actually replace the kernel as well? Maybe a stupid question, but the latter would be revolutionary, even if it is technically already possible, but very elaborated.
If the latter is not true, you should still reboot after a kernel update and there is not much difference to most other distributions.
Re: Serpent OS Pre-Alpha-0 released
#33> Rebootless atomic updates - no more interruptions Does it mean the same as in all other distros when you install packages and they restart the services? Or does it actually replace the kernel as well? Maybe a stupid question, but the latter would be revolutionary, even if it is technically already possible, but very elaborated. If the latter is not true, you should still reboot after a kernel update and there is no…
linux (the kernel) supports "Kernel Live Patching" and several distros provide the updates to do it
Re: Serpent OS Pre-Alpha-0 released
#34Why someone would want an imperative distro over a declaratively configured one?
This is true, there are already a plenty of imperative distros to choose from and they offer more or less similar experience. If I ever want to switch to something else, this would be NixOS or another declarative one.
Re: Serpent OS Pre-Alpha-0 released
#35> Rebootless atomic updates - no more interruptions Does it mean the same as in all other distros when you install packages and they restart the services? Or does it actually replace the kernel as well? Maybe a stupid question, but the latter would be revolutionary, even if it is technically already possible, but very elaborated. If the latter is not true, you should still reboot after a kernel update and there is no…
linux (the kernel) supports "Kernel Live Patching" and several distros provide the updates to do it
As I said. It is technically possible, but it is relatively elaborated (for the provider of these patches). As far as I know you don't get them without having an online account at the provider of these patches.
But the questions was: Does SerpentOS have the ability to change the kernel without reboot?
Edit:
> This will mean that the /lib/modules tree may not have the current kernel version, but the OS will still be usable while having had a live atomic update. Of course, to use the new kernel you must reboot. Unlike other atomic OS implementations, it will be up to you when you do so: no more deferred updates!
https://serpentos.com/blog/2024/04/30/calm-before-the-storm/...
Re: Serpent OS Pre-Alpha-0 released
#36Why someone would want an imperative distro over a declaratively configured one?
No idea. It seems to have gone off in the direction of "shiny and new" without deeply considering more practical architectural decisions like isolating system vs. userland, configuration management, or manageability. It's unfortunate because there are zillions of Linux distros, and most of them (numerically) are terrible, insanely impractical, user hostile, and/or poorly documented. If you're going to create a distro, at least have a use-case justification for it where other distros or other OSes ([wd]o|ca)n't meet the needs of them adequately.
Re: Serpent OS Pre-Alpha-0 released
#37did they implement the linux system call interface or come up with their own? how linux-compatible is it? it must be pretty complete if it can run firefox
> We're creating Serpent OS, an independent Linux distribution built from the ground up to look after itself.
where did you get that text? the page linked doesn't say "linux" anywhere
Re: Serpent OS Pre-Alpha-0 released
#38Re: Serpent OS Pre-Alpha-0 released
#39While I have a lot of respect for Ikey and think he's extremely talented, he tends to start a project and then either move to something else or disappear. Hey, life happens, and doing open source work for free is a grind, so it's not meant as an insult. But I'd see Serpent as a toy/POC rather than a long lived OS. I'm excited to try it, either way. I -believe- I read that a lot of this work will be going into Solus,…
I was a Solus user back when Ikey left. It was highly unusual, maintainer team had no insight, and frankly as a user it left a fairly bad taste.
But, Ikey had his reasons, and as I've grown up a bit over the years, I realize it is okay. Other maintainers picked up the tab pretty well, and for all its worth, quite a few of those maintainers have joined Ikey on this new distro, which signals a reconciliation.
Combined with other comments, I'd say what happened at Solus was imperfect, could have been communicated better, but probably still couldn't be avoided. Such is life.
Re: Serpent OS Pre-Alpha-0 released
#40Why someone would want an imperative distro over a declaratively configured one?
No idea. It seems to have gone off in the direction of "shiny and new" without deeply considering more practical architectural decisions like isolating system vs. userland, configuration management, or manageability. It's unfortunate because there are zillions of Linux distros, and most of them (numerically) are terrible, insanely impractical, user hostile, and/or poorly documented. If you're going to create a distro…
> It seems to have gone off in the direction of "shiny and new"
Ikey's last foray into distro-building also left same impression on me.
> without deeply considering more practical architectural decisions like isolating system vs. userland, configuration management, or manageability
I dunno, FWIW, Solus was very well regarded in UX for a while. It had the best steam integration, and the whole thing felt fairly well thought out for something built and maintained by half dozen people.
> If you're going to create a distro, at least have a use-case justification for it
That is unfair. The developers felt there is a gap between fully imperative state-modifying mudball and fully declarative purity-land, which is true, and decided to try their hand at it. How well they did is yet to be seen.