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Oasis: a small statically-linked Linux system

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Re: Oasis: a small statically-linked Linux system

#51

Post by 1996 »

Wowfunhappy wrote: post #27
gameswithgo wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As someone who uses linux casually, I often experience pain when I download a program, try to run it, and it fails because some dependency is not installed or is not the right version. So you try to figure out how to install it and it in turn needs a couple of things. All of this works fine if whatever package manager your distro uses has the program you want, but the package managers don't have evertying! So I'd lov…

> So I'd love an ecosystem where things tend to be statically linked unless there is a good reason not to. Me too, but I'm not sure this project brings us closer to that goal. I don't need the base OS to be statically linked—in fact, that's where static vs dynamic linking matters least , because it all comes preinstalled. What I want is for everything else which I may want to install on top to be available as statica…

Check out kiss linux, another interesting project: k1ss.org/install

I'm considering trying it: having the simplest distribution baremetal, and keeping the complexity "outside" and "contained" (docker for servers, flatpack for desktops and laptops, etc.) makes sense to me

Re: Oasis: a small statically-linked Linux system

#52

Post by jcelerier »

gameswithgo wrote: post #43
arendtio wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> So I'd love an ecosystem where things tend to be statically linked unless there is a good reason not to. Well, every time there is a bug fix in one of your dependencies you/your distribution would have to recompile everything that depends on it. Which will use quite some resources. So to actually use this you would have to reinstall (nearly) all programs once a week or so (no matter if source or binary distribution…

>Well, every time there is a bug fix in one of your dependencies you/your distribution would have to recompile everything that depends on it Well no, I could opt not to apply the bug fix if it isn't affecting me. This again is sort of serve mentality, where of course you want to get a bug fix in as quick as possible in case it is a security issue. A desktop user, maybe you don't. >After all, even nowadays application…

> Probably suggest arch linux to someone complaining about having to track down dependencies does not make sense, since such a person is more interested in the OS just working rather than making the OS a bit of a hobby that that they want to customize.

having used Red Hat, Mandrake, Ubuntu, Debian... Arch Linuxis by far the most "just works" distro I've used

Re: Oasis: a small statically-linked Linux system

#53

Post by jcelerier »

an_opabinia wrote: post #30
Wowfunhappy wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> So I'd love an ecosystem where things tend to be statically linked unless there is a good reason not to. Me too, but I'm not sure this project brings us closer to that goal. I don't need the base OS to be statically linked—in fact, that's where static vs dynamic linking matters least , because it all comes preinstalled. What I want is for everything else which I may want to install on top to be available as statica…

Since most common applications have moved to the web, and the biggest Linux end user deployment by far, Android, was created from fresh beginnings, the idea of the user being concerned with minutia of binaries is already far along a long road to the grave.

99% of the apps I use aren't on the web at all

Re: Oasis: a small statically-linked Linux system

#56

Post by AnIdiotOnTheNet »

1996 wrote: post #49
retrac wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> every time there is a bug fix in one of your dependencies you/your distribution would have to recompile everything that depends on it Back in the dark ages, some mainframe operating systems like MVS normally stored executables as object files, and would link the program every time you executed it. Has the on-disk space savings and updateable libraries of dynamic linking, without most of the complexity. I believe th…

I would be surprised if there was not a way to take a dynamic executable, "add in" all the required libraries, and return a fat static executable

If you know of such a utility I'd like to see it, because I've looked and never found it. The closest I've seen are things like AppImage.

Re: Oasis: a small statically-linked Linux system

#57

Post by an_opabinia »

krageon wrote: post #31
an_opabinia wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Since most common applications have moved to the web, and the biggest Linux end user deployment by far, Android, was created from fresh beginnings, the idea of the user being concerned with minutia of binaries is already far along a long road to the grave.

This right here is what's wrong with the application space. The idea that this could be true leads to terrible software design and slow, bloated applications. In the current landscape is it perfectly possible (and I'd say even usual) to do most of your work and processing on local system binaries (that aren't a browser or a browser with a different name).

It’s no one’s fault really. As long as people pirate software, it is economically Darwinian / inevitable that all commercial software will migrate to centrally controlled subscription gated servers. This includes open source software, if you correctly count how much of it is repackaged and sold to people this way.

Re: Oasis: a small statically-linked Linux system

#59

Post by yjftsjthsd-h »

ldng wrote: post #41
m463 wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Does anyone know whether it's possible to truly statically link an entire Linux install I think if you give busybox enough time, it might happen. That's if systemd doesn't get there first, of course...

The answer is probably downvoted because of the systemd comment but I think that busybox is statically linkable, is it not ?

It absolutely is; busybox is quite happy to be built into a single binary with no outside dependencies. Worked example: https://hub.docker.com/_/busybox
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