Void Linux

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tlmiller
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Void Linux

Post by tlmiller »

So I was updating my VM of this and reading the Void subreddit, and someone posted about a tool called xdeb. Simple script you can download from github that converts .deb pckages to void backages (I don't remember the extension). I've used this on a couple package (kdiskmark, softmaker freeoffice) and so far it's worked perfectly fine. Thinking about putting Void on the T495 to replace Q4OS for a while.
wove
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Re: Void Linux

Post by wove »

I ran into Void Linux on the Pinebook Pro. They created an solid U-boot and Kernel, but never went any further. They remind me of Alpine Linux in that neither distro makes clear what it is they are trying to do. Void says you can compile with either gcc or must without giving any clue as to why either might be better or more useful in certain situations. Void uses runit as the init system, but do not provide any reason why or how runit might be better that something else.

Void does not have a mission statement or one I could find. Perhaps @tlmiller has uncovered its purpose. I will be interested in how that works out.
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tlmiller
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Re: Void Linux

Post by tlmiller »

gcc is maximum compatibility. musl is a speed-optimized c compiler. So a musl system will be faster, but not EVERYTHING is compatible. Those that are going for maximum lightness and speed do musl. That that just want control of their own system go gcc.

Void is based around the same BASIC idea as Arch. It's what YOU want, and nothing more. Although a far smaller team (and far younger distro), so their repos are INSANELY smaller. They have an aur-like application in xbps-src, although again, VERY few (unique) applications available in it. If you wanted to recompile everything installed to musl after doing a gcc install, you could use the xbps-src to do so.

Runit is literally just "it's not systemd". The devs specifically didn't want their init trying to take over the whole system (systemd-mount, systemd-dns, systemd-network, etc). But it's also got many of the same advantages of systemd as an init program. It's modern, highly optimized, able to run parallel jobs. However, it sticks to the unix philosophy of "do one thing and do it well". It doesn't ATTEMPT to take over managing every aspect of the system. I actually REALLY love runit, it's the primary reason I keep testing Void. If it got better traction I personally feel it's the best init system currently avaialable for linux systems today.
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tlmiller
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Re: Void Linux

Post by tlmiller »

So found xbps-src templates for Onlyoffice and Microsoft Edge...so I've basically got EVERYTHING I normally want installed on here. Only thing missing is Sparkleshare, which I need to find a replacement for anyway, as development has been stalled for about a year now, and the Flatbak version has had security issues of using deprecated support packages for 8+ months, so no chance I'm installing it.
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tlmiller
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Re: Void Linux

Post by tlmiller »

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wove
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Re: Void Linux

Post by wove »

Thanks for the info on runit, and gcc/musl. How are updates handled on the system? When software is updated, does the update compile/install automatically, or do you need to keep track of updates on your own and then recompile yourself? In my experience with Homebrew and AUR the formulas for the software works well and the compile/install is very straight forward. I have always been leery to commit to that method because I just do not want to commit to lots of ongoing and frequent maintenance.

I can follow along with why systemd is an over reach and maybe worth avoiding, but from a casual user perspective systemd works pretty well. Of course what came before systemd worked well too, so perhaps there was no need for a change. For myself the lowest working parts of the system still seem quite mysterious to me. I want kernels and init systems to just work well enough that I do not need to dig into them.
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tlmiller
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Re: Void Linux

Post by tlmiller »

xbps-* handles normal updates well. With xbps-src, you'd do a git fetch, git pull, xbps-src update-sys. However, you'd want to make sure you'd already done a xbps-install -Syu because otherwise xbps-src will update EVERYTHING that there's updates for, even software that you haven't built yourself. It's clunky, but it works for what's in it. For software you create templates yourself in xbps-src, there's xbps-src update-check, which will check the source URL for newer versions, which you can then update the template. After telling it to build, it'll fail, give you the new hash sum of the new download, which you can then update in the template (I know, not very secure way of doing it, but it's EASIER than the proper secure way) and it'll build your new version.
wove
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Re: Void Linux

Post by wove »

Thanks for the info on Void. I want to spin that up on a virtual machine now and give it a good look. We are in the middle of summer projects at the moment and that is leaving me to tired to do much beyond read email and check in on a couple sites. Playing on computers for me is more of a dead of the winter, when the temp is -20 and there is 4' of snow on the ground, than activity for the dog days of summer.
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tlmiller
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Re: Void Linux

Post by tlmiller »

wove wrote: Wed Aug 03, 2022 8:26 pm Thanks for the info on Void. I want to spin that up on a virtual machine now and give it a good look. We are in the middle of summer projects at the moment and that is leaving me to tired to do much beyond read email and check in on a couple sites. Playing on computers for me is more of a dead of the winter, when the temp is -20 and there is 4' of snow on the ground, than activity for the dog days of summer.
Yeah, in Phoenix it's the opposite. WE love spending winters outdoors where it's 60's and 70's. Summer however, we avoid being outdoors than is ABSOLUTELY necessary since it's 105-115.

Overall, Void's not a bad OS. It's not the smoothest, the best polished, it's missing a LOT of software that many other distro's have, by default, and it does take a bit more work to get a desktop to work well (user-level font rendering is NOT enabled by default, so it's not the most attractive, but there's articles out there written on how to fix it). However, it's fast, it's lean, it stays out of your way for the most part, and I absolutely adore runit as as an init.
chris
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Re: Void Linux

Post by chris »

Like you, I like runit.
I run Void with MATE and find it eminently useable.
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