this post was submitted on 08 May 2025
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Linux is a family of open source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991 by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged in a Linux distribution (or distro for short).

Distributions include the Linux kernel and supporting system software and libraries, many of which are provided by the GNU Project. Many Linux distributions use the word "Linux" in their name, but the Free Software Foundation uses the name GNU/Linux to emphasize the importance of GNU software, causing some controversy.

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I've been feeling gushy about my setup lately, I think I've finally found my home on Linux. For decades I've distrohopped each year and never was really happy with it all, but Fedora Atomic has changed that.

Some things I can do with Fedora Atomic that I cannot do with other Linux distros:

  • I can rebase to Bazzite for gaming performance when I feel like having a long gaming session.

  • I can rebase to Secureblue when I think I will not be gaming and would prefer a more secure linux setup.

  • I can update my system and not have to worry about special instructions, its extremely stable. Many times in the past, running a small ma-and-pa distro with most things pre-configed for performance would end with it breaking after a couple of major updates. This isn't true for configs like Bazzite and Secureblue, they are remarkably stable across many major updates due to how rpm-ostree functions.

  • Distrobox and Flatpak are more than enough at this stage for most programs and they help you avoid making too many alterations to the base image, greatly speeding up the swaps between major images.

The kicker? Your user configs and home files are never changed when you 'image hop'. It always feels like you just installed a fresh distro whenever you upgrade, and the performance benefits are noticeable. You don't have to tinker and do the same changes over and over, its all handled for you by rpm-ostree.

10/10 this is the future of Linux. I hope for a future where I can rebase entire Linux distros while maintaining my configs with one simple command, but for now, Fedora Atomic is fantastic.

The downsides:

  • There is one major downside, and its that all of your system files are read-only. Personally, I've found a dozen ways to get around this, it requires thinking inside the Distrobox. It is a notable issue for many people, though. This means you cannot make specific tweaks without making a whole new image for yourself. Though in practice, I have found the ecosystem has grown a lot. Other people have already made the best tweaks available for you with only a few simple commands.

  • Rpm-ostree also is slow to update because its essentially building a whole git tree to make sure your updates never break and are as stable as possible. You also have to reboot each time you alter it, which can be annoying, but if you stick to flatpaks and distroboxes, this issue is mitigated significantly.

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[–] [email protected] 1 points 4 hours ago

You might wanna rephrase that or some feds are gonna have a field day.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 6 hours ago* (last edited 6 hours ago)

I dunno, usually shilling something as hard as possible just means you're a fanboy, it doesn't mean it's as good as you say it is.

I'll wait and see until most people willingly make the choice to immutable distros before believing it's "10/10 the future of linux" or whatever.

Personally, I get annoyed even on regular distros when there's a file that I can't easily edit. I don't really see any of the benefit of immutable distros other than giving the fedora crowd (who loves shilling their OS) a stiffy.

I'm more interested in fixing real issues like having to prepend prime-run to every game I want to use my dedicated GPU or why my IP can leak while connected to a VPN using my system's network configuration.

Heck, I'd be interested in seeing a fix for LUKS when entering the wrong password once requires restarting because something failed to mount or whatever.

You know, practical problems.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 day ago

10/10 this is the future of Linux

Totally agree

[–] [email protected] 5 points 2 days ago (3 children)

I've updated enterprise Linux machines automatically for decades. The score is tens of thousands of upgrades, 1 problem I caused, 1 packaging glitch.

You don't need to take on risky drek like flatpaks to get there. It's one command in enterprise and you're kinda done forever.

Glad you like your setup. I hope it works for you and you never learn the risks of flatpaks.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 day ago

I was gonna comment this, decided not to, then decided the info should be part of this thread either for OP or future readers, so here goes:

Enterprise Linux distributions are unbeatable for their purpose. To your point, I've never in my entire career had even the smallest issue maintaining one, they're wonderful. They achieve this, though, by being a stable, truly versioned release that will never see anything beyond minor upgrades. The reason why nobody recommends server distros for gaming is because of hardware compatibility and library support, and you end up maintaining more of your own junk anyway. Got the latest gpu? Great, compile your drivers.

Enterprise Linux distros are awesome and the most painless Linux experience imaginable, as well as a great workstation experience too BUT they typically are among the worst options for gaming if you want a simple system.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 day ago

Care to elaborate on 'the risks of flatpak'. If you are refering to the practice of people using unofficial flatpaks: Yes I think that poses a certain risk because you are adding an additional party to your threat model.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 day ago

EL 7 is EL 7. But that time is over

[–] [email protected] 69 points 3 days ago (10 children)

10/10 this is the future of Linux.

I hope it's a future of Linux, not the future. I'm not a fan of atomic distros, mostly because if their reliance on flatpak and the like

[–] [email protected] 7 points 2 days ago (2 children)

What about NixOS? It seems to be doing something very different from most distros. I used it briefly and it was a refreshing experience to just update the config file to add and remove programs, I know that a lot of people share their configs and it makes it easy to keep programs consistent from different installs. I would have installed it on this laptop if the installer wasn't giving me so many issues, so I ended up with MXLinux instead, but I still look on my NixOS days fondly.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 day ago

It's on my list to try!

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Having tried NixOS, I gotta say the ability to quickly restore everything from a single config (its main premise) is overrated when it comes to home systems. Invaluable for production environments, though.

The rest can be done on any other Linux, and it would probably be preferred by most.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 day ago* (last edited 23 hours ago) (1 children)

I keep saying this.

If you're a sysadmin in charge of a bunch of computers, by all means use NixOS.

But for personal use? Its easier to install everything by hand every time you reset your laptop (which should be maybe once per year at most) than it is to set up a config file on NixOS.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 21 hours ago (1 children)

It's about the certainty to have what you want, where you want it, reliably. I run NixOS with Impermanence, which means I reset my root partion on every boot, and have what state I need specifically opt-in. And I run a shared config over multiple devices (home PC and Laptop), so installing something on one also installs it on the other, next time I rebuild. It certainly takes time getting used to, but I've been really enjoying it so far

[–] [email protected] 1 points 13 hours ago

That's fine. Again, I don't understand the use case.

I certainly don't install or uninstall programs so often that I need to systematize it, and I only have 2 computers so its probably easier to just manually install them on each machine than to use some obscure coding language to achieve the same.

But to each their own. Linux is awesome also because of the options it offers to everybody.

[–] [email protected] 13 points 2 days ago (2 children)

Flatpaks are better for security though. Containerization is a necessity for any serious device connecting to the internet.

Linux users got way too confortable giving any obscure package they found on AUR root access to their entire device, lol.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 6 hours ago

Why are you installing malware in the first place?

[–] [email protected] 12 points 2 days ago (1 children)

And that's why it's good that it's an option! I just don't want it to become the only option

[–] [email protected] 4 points 2 days ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

Fair. I think for as long as there is a will to maintain traditional distros (which there is), there will be options.

Hell, people are still keeping Thinkpads T480 alive and relatively secure by making custom libre bootloaders! The F(L)OSS community is awesome.

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[–] [email protected] 10 points 2 days ago (2 children)

I really like it as well. I did three major version upgrades so far and they have been flawless. I also really like Flatpak, finally a way of easily installing something on Linux without breaking half of the system because the application you wanted to install uses libfoo 2.0 and not libfoo 1.9.9-patch-1337. With my atomic desktop applications that worked yesterday also work today. Things don't randomly break all the time.

The future of Fedora Atomic also looks exciting; Timothée Ravier is working on sysexts which are a way of installing applications without ostree layering. I could remove most of my ostree layered packages with that.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 day ago

did three major version upgrades so far and they have been flawless.

To be fair, I've upgraded normal Fedora for like.. 8-10 versions in a row maybe, and never had a problem

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[–] [email protected] 5 points 2 days ago

it’s also supported by Homebrew Package Manager so you can use command line shells outside containers without layering if you want to

[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)

Try NixOS. It's not that hard to use. And also try Home Manager when you'll be on it.

[–] [email protected] 37 points 3 days ago (7 children)

Sounds like a good way to do Linux phones.

[–] [email protected] 16 points 3 days ago

Honestly, I haven't considered this before but it sounds like a great idea.

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[–] [email protected] 0 points 1 day ago

I never see the cons (excluding nixos) being that only a few desktops(eg kde,gnome,i3 and budgie) are offered compared to mutable distros

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 day ago (1 children)

I agree it is great, but am I the only one running Opensuse MicroOS?

[–] [email protected] 12 points 2 days ago (2 children)

I appreciate your mentioning the downside. I am way too much of a tinkerer for a read-only root to be acceptable for me, but I'm glad you found something you like.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (1 children)

eh, it's not all root, essentially just the binaries. /etc and /var are RW

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 day ago
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[–] [email protected] 5 points 2 days ago (1 children)

does an Atomic / Immutable distro use more disk space than say my Arch install? if yes, how much more? if no, I am moving immediately.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 2 days ago

It uses more, yeah. But it's not a lot more. You could maybe compare the iso sizes

[–] [email protected] 12 points 3 days ago

It's not the future... it's the present for all users running mobile linux-based computing devices called Android smartphones. The paradigm is very similar to Atomic distros. As for what the future might hold for linux, that remains to be seen.

The Atomic UX has proven very popular with mainstream users running by Steam Deck and similar devices as running Bazzite. They may not be aware how they are built, they just know it just works and that's all they need.

As for the maintainers, containerized development removes a lot of development time, provided they have experience in cloud native development environments. Old school developers get annoyed by this constraints.

All in all, it's just another alternative, don't diss it out of fear it might take over the Linux scene... let others have what they need, provided by Linux and open source software.

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