WTF Is a Composable Distro?

Maybe I'm just out of the loop, or maybe things are passing me by, but I had no clue this was a change that had been made.
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#ramble #linux #thelinuxcast

[uuu]

To my understanding, *technically* every linux distro is a composable distro with a post-installation script

[CEOofGameDev]

Not to be mistaken with "compostable distros", that's just an euphemism to say it is dogshit...

[ThecatThecat-hqop]

Immutable seems to be something different though, it seems like it's referring to core components that you cant change, while "composable" seems to refer to how packages are able to be put together in a way similar to Legos or something. They seem to be different.

[alansmitheejr.]

A composable distro only offers you a Vivaldi browser.

[givemecoffeeee]

I think Composable and Immutable are different. As i understand it, they are in fact referring to different characteristics more than it being a change of name.
If I understood everything correctly, immutable refers to the distro being basically read-only and every change you wanna make on the system causes some type of "snapshot" to be made. But it doesn't necessarily means modular or containerized, it just happens to be the best way to achieve that maing goal.
Composable distros focus on that aspect and refer to the fact that they are modular and those parts are fully independent wich can be linked to the "everything you add means a new snapshot of your system" philosophy and you will get a distro that is both but for me is more related to the philosophy behind microkernels or microservice-based clouds.

Anyway, sending my best wishes to everyone and Matt, keep the amazing job that you do with the channel 😄

[MrSnivvel]

I still, and always will, use 'master' as my default Git branch so I completely understand the dislike over changing the name of things for no valid reason.

[utahnl]

Huh didn't know distros are compostable, can we compost gnome too? That would probably fertilize wayland development.

[gregcampwriter]

Composable sounds like the opposite of immutable.

[StupidusMaximusTheFirst]

Composable distro sounds like Gentoo or Arch.

[joshua-xqkx]

"Because we are nerds we want to be as accurate as possible" got me laughing.

[MarkusHobelsberger]

Immutable distros are interesting for companies who want to roll out dozens, hundreds or thousands of machines with the same config. While that's an important usecase, I think immutable distros never were made for the average Linux geek who wants to use the same config file on his desktop and laptop.

[JoshuaT]

6:30. Vanilla OS's website explains the main reasons you might want an immutable/composable distro on the main website. They explain it better than fedora's atomic desktop page does. I can't recommend it though until v2 leaves beta. V2 will be based on debian sid instead of ubuntu.

[musicalneptunian]

I thought it was compostable distro...

[russjr]

So I guess the term "Atomic" didn't quite work out? I really liked the term atomic.

[bitse]

Thanks, good show. I use one of those Immutable OSs with the sort of containerized special file system kinda thing. I too had not yet heard the term Composable Distro and that's why I'm here! Since there was no specific example to differentiate one from what I already got I'm going with your assessment of jargon to spruce up the verbal garbage describing a slowing of the creative juices in the Linux community. The great thing about all of Linux is the free and open source code to "Compose" whatever system you need.

[RobMoerland]

I've tried an Immutable Linux distro. But if I want an os to frustrate me I prefer Windows

[Skelterbane]

I just want an immutable distro that doesn't use gnome.

What I'd REALLY want is an immutable distro that's using hyprland.
Also no systemd, but we can't have everything.

[thesaigoneer]

Here you are: look at your Steamdeck? It just runs, updates, works (don't have one myself btw), in KDE/SteamOS, you run it in desktop mode if you want to and add a flatpak or two.. That's immutable. Build my own ublue/bluebuild image; adding and 'removing things from the main Fedora/ublue image: that's me composing a distro/spin. Marketing fluff. Btw, very useful for my uncle, who doesn't bother as long as everything works and it does. No sysadmin work for me there ;-)

[GarrettValdivia]

My first thought was the whole custom image oci ublue type things.

[mskiptr]

I'd say any DIY distro (like Arch, Gentoo, etc…) aims to be a "composable distro"