5 reasons to switch to an immutable Linux distro today - and which to try first
Immutable Linux distros are getting more popular. Here's why they matter.
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I recently got a new desktop and decided to try something immutable for the first time. At the suggestion of a coworker, I went for Bazzite.
The install process was pretty simple; there were a few differences, but I expected that. For example, my desktop is a client of my NFS server and I'm accustomed to accessing the share through a directory immediately under root. Can't have that here. Presumably I could find a way to do that if it were necessary, but I just mounted it elsewhere.
Also, I like Cinnamon and was disappointed to find it wasn't simply available. However, it's been at least 12 years since I used any form of KDE and it's certainly improved a lot since then. I can get over that for now.
Those things settled, I setup all of my various accounts, ran a system update and rebooted just to bring everything in sync, as I would with any new install.
On coming back up, I could not launch steam; clicking the taskbar icon, clicking the start menu icon and manually attempting to launch from both the terminal and run prompt all returned the same error: steam not found.
I did some research and found a script entitled "fix-steam-reset" or something like that. I ran it and it did indeed appear to fix steam, even opening the main window when the script finished. However, when I closed that window and tried to launch steam manually through any of the other methods I mentioned, I got "you are not authorized to run this command."
I'm sure I messed up something - maybe I'm not supposed to run system updates manually or something? - and that it could have been recovered from where I left it, but it wasn't a great first UX for a distro that touts its own simplicity.
In the end I switched back to my old workhorse, Fedora, and have been very pleased with my machine.
I get it. I recently switched to NixOS from Arch and I absolutely love it. I would routinely go buck wild with Arch and eventually my system would just be populated with garbage or half assed things that I never bothered to fix. With Nix I don't have that choice. If I fuck around with the config well then it's not rebuilding and I need to actually fix it. It prevents me from breaking my system. If I do somehow many to break something then I can instantly roll back from the grub OR just retrieve a backup copy of my config which I keep on my server backup and my private git instance. Just have to git clone it.
So I was once one of those anti-immutable people but now I get it and i love it.
Thanks for understanding! We work with an immutable system at my office and it's fine, I just don't see the need for it on my desktop (yet). Next time I replace any of my server hardware (or otherwise reformat) I expect I'll go immutable.
Thanks!
no prob. I think for certain situations immutable is good. Like in your cause where you use it at work, it makes sense to have a workplace on an immutable distro, just makes things easier. In my case since I'm a developer it also makes sense as the likely hood of me absolutely breaking something is high. plus with nix and the nix flakes and nix shell environments it makes developing a breeze.
For someone at home who is NEW to Linux, yeah it also makes sense. For everyone else? meh I don't really see a need for it if you know what you're doing. Don't get me wrong I love Arch and all its various forks, especially CachyOS, so I mean if it works for you then why go immutable? there's no right and wrong distro for a user, it's whatever they prefer. Hell a buddy of mine uses Slackware and will never move from it.
This is a very canny take, and I appreciate the frankness of it. I find myself agreeing with basically everything you say (except about OS' I don't use because I don't have enough of an opinion).
Thanks for being a positive representative of the Linux community!