[y2zs]

Recently have been trying out Bedrock Linux, it lets you use packages from other distros, all while being in the same distro.
For example, you could use some packages from Arch, compile some from Gentoo, and use them normally.

In Bedrock Linux terms these separate distros are called "strata" and a distro by itself is called a "stratum".

There's a concept of "global" directories which are shared between strata, so this means that your home directory is shared in amongst the strata (combination of distros), some other directories are also "global" so that packages from other distros can access the directories that they need.

And each strata has "local" directories, meaning a directory that is solely confined to that stratum. For example using packages from Arch repos, you can't use libraries from Gentoo for Arch packages, so these libraries are "local" inside the Arch stratum root directory (/bedrock/strata/arch/usr/lib, for example).

Now I can just use pacman in a terminal on Linux Mint and fetch packages from Arch repos and use them on the same distro nearly seamlessly.

A practical example is I can use the latest Emacs compiled with the Gentoo stratum, and use it on Linux Mint, like as though Linux Mint had the latest Emacs in it's repository.

Anyway, I think it is a pretty cool project, if anyone wants to check it out, here's a link: https://bedrocklinux.org/

Screenshot (neofetch running on all four strata, showing how much packages are installed on each):
https://imgur.com/a/QlJIZyo

From the website:

Bedrock Linux is a meta Linux distribution which allows users to mix-and-match components from other, typically incompatible distributions. Bedrock integrates these components into one largely cohesive system.

For example, one could have:

- Debian's stable coreutils
- Arch's cutting edge kernel
- Void's runit init system
- A pdf reader with custom patches automatically maintained by Gentoo's portage
- A font from Arch's AUR
- Games running against Ubuntu's libraries
- Business software running against CentOS's libraries

All at the same time and working together mostly as though they were packaged for the same distribution.

[Drako]

I had thought about running Bedrock before I switched from Artix to Gentoo, but it's just not worth it. Gentoo has arguably the best package manager I've ever used. I've never had any problems with broken packages either, even with 9999 packages. I'm not worried about libraries for emulation, and I'm not worried about kernels since I already compile my own.

The only reason I would even consider Bedrock would be for a different init system. OpenRC is alright, but it's not as fast as I would like it to be, and it doesn't get regular updates.

[y2zs]

I had thought about running Bedrock before I switched from Artix to Gentoo, but it's just not worth it. Gentoo has arguably the best package manager I've ever used. I've never had any problems with broken packages either, even with 9999 packages. I'm not worried about libraries for emulation, and I'm not worried about kernels since I already compile my own.

The only reason I would even consider Bedrock would be for a different init system. OpenRC is alright, but it's not as fast as I would like it to be, and it doesn't get regular updates.

Yeah, Bedrock does have some issues with using it with full disk encryption turned on, there are also some other issues with using ZFS as the filesystem and Bedrock.

The only reason that I chose to use Bedrock is because I always felt that there was something to be desired in any distro I used, I wanted to compile a package using Portage without having to do the same for the entire system,
so I got Linux Mint, used the script to install Bedrock and here I am now.

It does make it a bit more complex to understand everything that is going on, it will obviously be more complex than using a single distro, but for what I wanted to do (compile Emacs with portage on another distro that is binary based mostly) it has worked almost perfectly for my usecase, I guess I just don't have to patience for Gentoo compiling my whole system, but I still liked Portage.

Anyway, use what you want, my usecase was very specific and that is why I chose a niche thing like Bedrock to fill that need, a single distro will always be less complex then something like Bedrock which tries to get packages from multiple distros working together, and with Bedrock you have more things to worry about.

[y2zs]

Honestly after a few weeks of using Bedrock, I don't really see the point anymore.

The only thing I used Bedrock for was compiling one application with Gentoo's package manager.

Honestly at this point I'm just going to switch back to Gentoo, since Bedrock just bloats everything and makes it more complex than needed, you can't even use a hardened kernel with Bedrock and FDE with Bedrock is supported but still, Bedrock makes everything more complicated than it needs to be.

I might aswell just use Gentoo if I miss Portage this much LOL.

>The only reason I would even consider Bedrock would be for a different init system. OpenRC is alright, but it's not as fast as I would like it to be, and it doesn't get regular updates.
True stuff, although last time I did a Gentoo install I used systemD, this is unrelated to the thread, but why do you prefer OpenRC over systemD, is there an improvement in speed or something?
I did use runit which comes with Void, and it mainly uses bash scripts (I think OpenRC uses bash scripts too?), which is simple, compared to systemD's unit syntax, which I still don't understand LOL.

So which init system do you prefer @Drako? systemD or OpenRC or some other one like runit?

I think I'll use the stock init system that comes with Gentoo this time around (OpenRC), rather than systemD.

[Drako]

Honestly after a few weeks of using Bedrock, I don't really see the point anymore.

The only thing I used Bedrock for was compiling one application with Gentoo's package manager.

Honestly at this point I'm just going to switch back to Gentoo, since Bedrock just bloats everything and makes it more complex than needed, you can't even use a hardened kernel with Bedrock and FDE with Bedrock is supported but still, Bedrock makes everything more complicated than it needs to be.

I might aswell just use Gentoo if I miss Portage this much LOL.

>The only reason I would even consider Bedrock would be for a different init system. OpenRC is alright, but it's not as fast as I would like it to be, and it doesn't get regular updates.
True stuff, although last time I did a Gentoo install I used systemD, this is unrelated to the thread, but why do you prefer OpenRC over systemD, is there an improvement in speed or something?
I did use runit which comes with Void, and it mainly uses bash scripts (I think OpenRC uses bash scripts too?), which is simple, compared to systemD's unit syntax, which I still don't understand LOL.

So which init system do you prefer @Drako? systemD or OpenRC or some other one like runit?

I think I'll use the stock init system that comes with Gentoo this time around (OpenRC), rather than systemD.

Personally I prefer OpenRC over SystemD. Now, if we're talking runit VS OpenRC, I would chose runit. But OpenRC is more common. Void is the only distro I know of that uses runit.

But A lot of people complain about the lack of updates for both runit and OpenRC, but a lack of updates shouldn't be a big deal for an init system. All init systems do is initialize important checks and daemons. So as long as you don't have a special use case, you should be fine without SystemD.

[y2zs]

Honestly after a few weeks of using Bedrock, I don't really see the point anymore.

The only thing I used Bedrock for was compiling one application with Gentoo's package manager.

Honestly at this point I'm just going to switch back to Gentoo, since Bedrock just bloats everything and makes it more complex than needed, you can't even use a hardened kernel with Bedrock and FDE with Bedrock is supported but still, Bedrock makes everything more complicated than it needs to be.

I might aswell just use Gentoo if I miss Portage this much LOL.

>The only reason I would even consider Bedrock would be for a different init system. OpenRC is alright, but it's not as fast as I would like it to be, and it doesn't get regular updates.
True stuff, although last time I did a Gentoo install I used systemD, this is unrelated to the thread, but why do you prefer OpenRC over systemD, is there an improvement in speed or something?
I did use runit which comes with Void, and it mainly uses bash scripts (I think OpenRC uses bash scripts too?), which is simple, compared to systemD's unit syntax, which I still don't understand LOL.

So which init system do you prefer @Drako? systemD or OpenRC or some other one like runit?

I think I'll use the stock init system that comes with Gentoo this time around (OpenRC), rather than systemD.

Personally I prefer OpenRC over SystemD. Now, if we're talking runit VS OpenRC, I would chose runit. But OpenRC is more common. Void is the only distro I know of that uses runit.

But A lot of people complain about the lack of updates for both runit and OpenRC, but a lack of updates shouldn't be a big deal for an init system. All init systems do is initialize important checks and daemons. So as long as you don't have a special use case, you should be fine without SystemD.

Yeah runit is very simple too, just a bunch of bash scripts and the CLI is pretty easy to understand.

Yeah, I mean there aren't really that many usecases that are specifically for SystemD, but everyone has a different opinion.

My opinion is that for my usecase it doesn't really matter what init system I use, literally any init system would be fine for me, and I don't really have a usecase that I need SystemD for.

It's really just a matter of which one you like better at this point.

Plus GNOME and KDE, all the big DE's etc.. work perfectly fine without SystemD anyway.

I'm still getting to grips with how OpenRC works, so far it seems to be pretty decent and there's been no major issues that I've experienced while using OpenRC and the Cinnamon DE on Gentoo, everything works great.

> But A lot of people complain about the lack of updates for both runit and OpenRC, but a lack of updates shouldn't be a big deal for an init system. All init systems do is initialize important checks and daemons.
Doesn't really bother me tbh, unless there's some security flaw that hasn't been fixed, other than that I don't mind that much tbh.