Add Vanilla OS post, other minor fixes (fix sitemap script)
This commit is contained in:
askiiart
parent
0eb45fcec5
commit
6e1ef23aab
GPG key ID:
EA85979611654C30
12 changed files with 326 additions and 37 deletions
|
|
@ -104,8 +104,7 @@
|
|||
(as used by Fedora atomic); instead, it just completely rebuilds
|
||||
the system every single time. Because of this, it takes a long
|
||||
time to run the updater/rebuilder, even to just install one more
|
||||
package.<a href="#fn3" class="footnote-ref" id="fnref3"
|
||||
role="doc-noteref"><sup>3</sup></a></p>
|
||||
package.</p>
|
||||
<p>Besides that, my only complaints are:</p>
|
||||
<ol type="1">
|
||||
<li>The <code>akshara</code>'s (the update/rebuild tool) major
|
||||
|
|
@ -184,23 +183,13 @@
|
|||
actually inherits from the <code>gnome</code> track.<a
|
||||
href="#fnref2" class="footnote-back"
|
||||
role="doc-backlink">↩︎</a></p></li>
|
||||
<li id="fn3"><p>In the meantime while I've been writing this, a
|
||||
community member has implemented <a
|
||||
href="https://aur.archlinux.org">AUR</a> package caching, which
|
||||
can definitely cut down on the build time by a lot, depending on
|
||||
how many packages you're using from the AUR. However, this
|
||||
hasn't been added to the upstream version of Akshara yet, though
|
||||
through no fault of the blendOS team; as far as I know, the dev
|
||||
who implemented it just hasn't sent it over to be added yet.<a
|
||||
href="#fnref3" class="footnote-back"
|
||||
role="doc-backlink">↩︎</a></p></li>
|
||||
</ol>
|
||||
</aside>
|
||||
<iframe src="https://john.citrons.xyz/embed?ref=askiiart.net" style="margin-left:auto;display:block;margin-right:auto;max-width:732px;width:100%;height:94px;border:none;"></iframe>
|
||||
<script src="/prism.js"></script>
|
||||
</body>
|
||||
<footer>
|
||||
<p><a href="https://git.askiiart.net/askiiart/engl-2311-blog">Source code</a> | <a href="/feed.xml">RSS</a></p>
|
||||
<p><a href="https://git.askiiart.net/askiiart/engl-2311-blog">Source code</a> | <a href="/feed.xml">RSS</a> | <a href="/glossary.html">Glossary</a></p>
|
||||
<small>Image captions are the same as the alt text; assuming you're sighted, you can most likely ignore them.</small>
|
||||
</footer>
|
||||
</html>
|
||||
|
|
|
|||
121
blog/vanilla-os.html
Normal file
121
blog/vanilla-os.html
Normal file
|
|
@ -0,0 +1,121 @@
|
|||
<!DOCTYPE html>
|
||||
<html lang="en">
|
||||
<head>
|
||||
<meta content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1" charset="utf-8" />
|
||||
<link rel="icon" href="/assets/askiiart.gif" type="image/icon">
|
||||
<title>OCI Images as a "Filesystem": Vanilla OS</title>
|
||||
<link href="/style.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" />
|
||||
<link href="/prism.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" />
|
||||
</head>
|
||||
<body class="line-numbers">
|
||||
<h1 id="oci-images-as-a-filesystem-vanilla-os">OCI Images as a
|
||||
"Filesystem": Vanilla OS</h1>
|
||||
<p>In looking for a layered solution to blendOS's issues, I
|
||||
found that the lead maintainer and creator of blendOS was
|
||||
looking into using OCI images, and has even forked a repo from
|
||||
Vanilla OS. So I'm trying out Vanilla OS's usage of OCI images
|
||||
(which are inherently layered) to see about implementing a
|
||||
similar system in blendOS.</p>
|
||||
<h2 id="installation">Installation</h2>
|
||||
<p>Installation is pretty simple, you're again dropped into a
|
||||
simple GNOME session with a GTK installer:</p>
|
||||
<img src="/assets/vanilla-os/1.png"
|
||||
title="A basic GNOME session with a white GTK-based installer; it's showing the date and time/time zone selector." alt="A basic GNOME session with a white GTK-based installer; it's showing the date and time/time zone selector." />
|
||||
<p>The process was very similar to blendOS's, though it also
|
||||
detects virtual machines and offers an option to install tools
|
||||
(e.g. clipboard sharing, video drivers) to help with that.</p>
|
||||
<p>Another notable bit is that it requires more space than
|
||||
blendOS, with a minimum disk size of 50 GB, but given its A/B
|
||||
slot architecture (which I'll get to later), this makes
|
||||
sense.</p>
|
||||
<h2 id="first-boot">First boot</h2>
|
||||
<p>On first boot, there's a very similar setup tool, surely
|
||||
based off the installer. It makes you put in your language,
|
||||
timezone, etc. again, which I was a bit annoyed by, but it's no
|
||||
big deal. Then it has you create your login, select what you
|
||||
want installed (from basic programs like a calendar, office
|
||||
suite, etc.), then restarts and does all that.</p>
|
||||
<img src="/assets/vanilla-os/2.png"
|
||||
title="A similar wizard to the installer; it has the Vanilla OS logo and says "Welcome", "Make your choices, this wizard will take care of everything"" alt="A similar wizard to the installer; it has the Vanilla OS logo and says "Welcome", "Make your choices, this wizard will take care of everything"" />
|
||||
<p>Then you just get a little slideshow detailing automatic
|
||||
updates, its Apx package manager, and other basics, nothing
|
||||
interesting, and nothing I care about.</p>
|
||||
<h2 id="usage-and-configuration">Usage and configuration</h2>
|
||||
<p>I tried checking the docs (<em>Vanilla OS Docs</em>), which
|
||||
by themselves were difficult to find. They're a bit hidden in
|
||||
"Help" despite being <em>absolutely essential</em> to using this
|
||||
distro[^1]. But what I found easily was screenshots of
|
||||
Overwatch. (<em>Vanilla OS</em>)</p>
|
||||
<p>Regardless, once I found the docs, I tried to figure out how
|
||||
it worked, and I was still very confused. After looking over it
|
||||
again, I decided to check Apx's docs, its package manager, and
|
||||
found how to install packages, of course. (<em>Vanilla OS
|
||||
Docs</em>) I tried to install GParted; after it not running at
|
||||
first due to Vanilla OS not being configured correctly and not
|
||||
showing a password prompt for it, causing GParted to exit, I ran
|
||||
it in the terminal with <code>sudo</code>, just to get a
|
||||
permission denied error. That's because all packages are
|
||||
installed in containers, there is no system package manager...
|
||||
kinda.</p>
|
||||
<h3 id="abroot">ABRoot</h3>
|
||||
<p>ABRoot is the magic behind Vanilla OS's OCI image backend. As
|
||||
far as I can tell (again, I don't believe there are no relevant
|
||||
for docs for this) it essentially generates a tarball of the
|
||||
relevant data for the new iteration, then symlinks to either
|
||||
that or the current iteration on boot, depending on what the
|
||||
user selects. It provides essentially no advantages over
|
||||
blendOS's approach, and is, in my opinion, massively
|
||||
overcomplicated. (<em>GitHub: Vanilla-os/abroot</em>)</p>
|
||||
<p>It also acts as a package manager of sorts - it's the only
|
||||
way to install packages system-wide on Vanilla OS, and it does
|
||||
this by running <code>apt</code> when the new image is built,
|
||||
similar to Akshara.</p>
|
||||
<p>ABRoot's config file is at
|
||||
<code>/etc/abroot/abroot.json</code>, but it doesn't support
|
||||
declarative system-wide packages. Instead, run the
|
||||
following:</p>
|
||||
<div class="sourceCode" id="cb1"><pre
|
||||
class="language-bash"><code class="language-bash"><span id="cb1-1"><a href="#cb1-1" aria-hidden="true" tabindex="-1"></a><span class="ex">abroot</span> pkg add <span class="va">$PACKAGE_NAME</span></span></code></pre></div>
|
||||
<p>(<em>Install additional drivers and libraries in Vanilla
|
||||
OS</em>)</p>
|
||||
<h2 id="conclusion">Conclusion</h2>
|
||||
<p>Vanilla OS wasn't very helpful as to OCI-based layers, but I
|
||||
don't think it was a complete waste of time. Vanilla OS gave me
|
||||
some ideas, and I like its backend's ideas; it will most likely
|
||||
serve as inspiration for when I add layers to blendOS. Plus, my
|
||||
idea would have an advantage: compression.</p>
|
||||
<p>But I'll get into it later, once it's a bit more fleshed out;
|
||||
plus, that's not the point of this post anyways.</p>
|
||||
<p>P.S. I can't get it across while keeping this post decent
|
||||
quality and on-topic, but I need to emphasize how confusing the
|
||||
docs were for Vanilla OS. It feels like they try to appeal to
|
||||
users with basic tech literacy while not explaining how it
|
||||
actually works or what anything does. They write how-to guides,
|
||||
not documentation.</p>
|
||||
<h2 id="footnotes">Footnotes</h2>
|
||||
<p>[^1] Below the big download button, there's a link to the
|
||||
installation guide, but this provides nothing helpful, it just
|
||||
guides you through the already extremely simple
|
||||
installation.</p>
|
||||
<h2 id="sources">Sources</h2>
|
||||
<p>“Install Additional Drivers and Libraries in Vanilla OS.”
|
||||
<em>Vanilla OS Docs</em>, Vanilla OS, <a
|
||||
href="https://docs.vanillaos.org/handbook/en/install-additional-drivers">docs.vanillaos.org/handbook/en/install-additional-drivers</a>.
|
||||
Accessed 19 Sept. 2024.<br />
|
||||
“Vanilla OS Docs.” <em>Vanilla OS</em>, Vanilla OS, <a
|
||||
href="https://docs.vanillaos.org/collections/docs">docs.vanillaos.org/collections/docs</a>.
|
||||
Accessed 19 Sept. 2024.<br />
|
||||
<em>Vanilla OS</em>, <a
|
||||
href="https://vanillaos.org">vanillaos.org</a>. Accessed 19
|
||||
Sept. 2024.<br />
|
||||
Vanilla-OS. “GitHub: Vanilla-Os/Abroot.” <em>GitHub</em>, <a
|
||||
href="github.com/Vanilla-OS/ABRoot">github.com/Vanilla-OS/ABRoot</a>.
|
||||
Accessed 19 Sept. 2024.</p>
|
||||
<iframe src="https://john.citrons.xyz/embed?ref=askiiart.net" style="margin-left:auto;display:block;margin-right:auto;max-width:732px;width:100%;height:94px;border:none;"></iframe>
|
||||
<script src="/prism.js"></script>
|
||||
</body>
|
||||
<footer>
|
||||
<p><a href="https://git.askiiart.net/askiiart/engl-2311-blog">Source code</a> | <a href="/feed.xml">RSS</a> | <a href="/glossary.html">Glossary</a></p>
|
||||
<small>Image captions are the same as the alt text; assuming you're sighted, you can most likely ignore them.</small>
|
||||
</footer>
|
||||
</html>
|
||||
60
blog/vanilla-os.md
Normal file
60
blog/vanilla-os.md
Normal file
|
|
@ -0,0 +1,60 @@
|
|||
# OCI Images as a "Filesystem": Vanilla OS
|
||||
|
||||
In looking for a layered solution to blendOS's issues, I found that the lead maintainer and creator of blendOS was looking into using OCI images, and has even forked a repo from Vanilla OS. So I'm trying out Vanilla OS's usage of OCI images (which are inherently layered) to see about implementing a similar system in blendOS.
|
||||
|
||||
## Installation
|
||||
|
||||
Installation is pretty simple, you're again dropped into a simple GNOME session with a GTK installer:
|
||||
|
||||
|
||||
|
||||
The process was very similar to blendOS's, though it also detects virtual machines and offers an option to install tools (e.g. clipboard sharing, video drivers) to help with that.
|
||||
|
||||
Another notable bit is that it requires more space than blendOS, with a minimum disk size of 50 GB, but given its A/B slot architecture (which I'll get to later), this makes sense.
|
||||
|
||||
## First boot
|
||||
|
||||
On first boot, there's a very similar setup tool, surely based off the installer. It makes you put in your language, timezone, etc. again, which I was a bit annoyed by, but it's no big deal. Then it has you create your login, select what you want installed (from basic programs like a calendar, office suite, etc.), then restarts and does all that.
|
||||
|
||||
|
||||
|
||||
Then you just get a little slideshow detailing automatic updates, its Apx package manager, and other basics, nothing interesting, and nothing I care about.
|
||||
|
||||
## Usage and configuration
|
||||
|
||||
I tried checking the docs (*Vanilla OS Docs*), which by themselves were difficult to find. They're a bit hidden in "Help" despite being *absolutely essential* to using this distro[^1]. But what I found easily was screenshots of Overwatch. (*Vanilla OS*)
|
||||
|
||||
Regardless, once I found the docs, I tried to figure out how it worked, and I was still very confused. After looking over it again, I decided to check Apx's docs, its package manager, and found how to install packages, of course. (*Vanilla OS Docs*) I tried to install GParted; after it not running at first due to Vanilla OS not being configured correctly and not showing a password prompt for it, causing GParted to exit, I ran it in the terminal with `sudo`, just to get a permission denied error. That's because all packages are installed in containers, there is no system package manager... kinda.
|
||||
|
||||
### ABRoot
|
||||
|
||||
ABRoot is the magic behind Vanilla OS's OCI image backend. As far as I can tell (again, I don't believe there are no relevant for docs for this) it essentially generates a tarball of the relevant data for the new iteration, then symlinks to either that or the current iteration on boot, depending on what the user selects. It provides essentially no advantages over blendOS's approach, and is, in my opinion, massively overcomplicated. (*GitHub: Vanilla-os/abroot*)
|
||||
|
||||
It also acts as a package manager of sorts - it's the only way to install packages system-wide on Vanilla OS, and it does this by running `apt` when the new image is built, similar to Akshara.
|
||||
|
||||
ABRoot's config file is at `/etc/abroot/abroot.json`, but it doesn't support declarative system-wide packages. Instead, run the following:
|
||||
|
||||
```bash
|
||||
abroot pkg add $PACKAGE_NAME
|
||||
```
|
||||
|
||||
(*Install additional drivers and libraries in Vanilla OS*)
|
||||
|
||||
## Conclusion
|
||||
|
||||
Vanilla OS wasn't very helpful as to OCI-based layers, but I don't think it was a complete waste of time. Vanilla OS gave me some ideas, and I like its backend's ideas; it will most likely serve as inspiration for when I add layers to blendOS. Plus, my idea would have an advantage: compression.
|
||||
|
||||
But I'll get into it later, once it's a bit more fleshed out; plus, that's not the point of this post anyways.
|
||||
|
||||
P.S. I can't get it across while keeping this post decent quality and on-topic, but I need to emphasize how confusing the docs were for Vanilla OS. It feels like they try to appeal to users with basic tech literacy while not explaining how it actually works or what anything does. They write how-to guides, not documentation.
|
||||
|
||||
## Footnotes
|
||||
|
||||
[^1] Below the big download button, there's a link to the installation guide, but this provides nothing helpful, it just guides you through the already extremely simple installation.
|
||||
|
||||
## Sources
|
||||
|
||||
“Install Additional Drivers and Libraries in Vanilla OS.” *Vanilla OS Docs*, Vanilla OS, [docs.vanillaos.org/handbook/en/install-additional-drivers](https://docs.vanillaos.org/handbook/en/install-additional-drivers). Accessed 19 Sept. 2024.\
|
||||
“Vanilla OS Docs.” *Vanilla OS*, Vanilla OS, [docs.vanillaos.org/collections/docs](https://docs.vanillaos.org/collections/docs). Accessed 19 Sept. 2024.\
|
||||
*Vanilla OS*, [vanillaos.org](https://vanillaos.org). Accessed 19 Sept. 2024.\
|
||||
Vanilla-OS. “GitHub: Vanilla-Os/Abroot.” *GitHub*, [github.com/Vanilla-OS/ABRoot](github.com/Vanilla-OS/ABRoot). Accessed 19 Sept. 2024.
|
||||
Loading…
Add table
Add a link
Reference in a new issue