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Perhaps off-topic, but as someone who shares dissatisfaction with all things Poettering: Using Void on my main desktop has been fun and I've learned a lot abou

by ssl-3 2y ago

Perhaps off-topic, but as someone who shares dissatisfaction with all things Poettering: Using Void on my main desktop has been fun and I've learned a lot about how modern Linux systems fit together whether I liked it or not, because the instructions for using ZFS root at that time involved starting mostly from scratch. But I feel like a lot of people who use Void are using it mostly-headless, and that this means when something does go wrong then I'm in mostly uncharted territory. How does Alpine compare in the day-to-day business of using a computer, do you suppose?

ruthmarx 2y ago
> Using Void on my main desktop has been fun and I've learned a lot about how modern Linux systems fit together whether I liked it or not, because the instructions for using ZFS root at that time involved starting mostly from scratch. This is why I used Slackware 20 years ago. Slackware then tried to compete with Ubuntu and Fedora and IMO lost its way. > How does Alpine compare in the day-to-day business of using a computer, do you suppose? For day to day usage I think there are similairities, but I can share some reasons I prefer Alpine: - Not rolling release, possible to stick to a version and just get security updates - Focus on minimization. A minimal Alpine install is about 500mb, 700 after I install X and my WM and a few other core things. A void install was something like 1.2gb even trying to keep it minimal. - Because Alpine, IMO is more dedicated to musl, the ports to musl have more care behind them and seem to work better, just anecdotal maybe biased experience. - I prefer apk over xbps, one thing xbps can't do afaik is search files in packages, e.g. apk search library.h will return a result if it exists. - I still feel void gets in the way more than it needs to. Installing or overriding a bootloader and custom kernel was easier in Alpine then void, only barely, but enough I noticed. That's probably it.
- WhyNotHugo 2y ago
  > Not rolling release, possible to stick to a version and just get security updates If you do prefer rolling release, you can use the edge channel instead. That’s a nice thing about Alpine; you can pick between stable releases or rolling release depending on what fits best.
  - ruthmarx 2y ago
    Very true!
WhyNotHugo 2y ago
There are folks using Alpine in the desktop (or laptops). Several of us are lurking in #alpine-linux. postmarketOS is a downstream of Alpine, and they focus on shipping ready to use GUI images. They also count as Alpine users in terms of testing and fixing packages related to a GUI session.

by ssl-3 2y ago

ruthmarx 2y ago

> Using Void on my main desktop has been fun and I've learned a lot about how modern Linux systems fit together whether I liked it or not, because the instructions for using ZFS root at that time involved starting mostly from scratch. This is why I used Slackware 20 years ago. Slackware then tried to compete with Ubuntu and Fedora and IMO lost its way. > How does Alpine compare in the day-to-day business of using a computer, do you suppose? For day to day usage I think there are similairities, but I can share some reasons I prefer Alpine: - Not rolling release, possible to stick to a version and just get security updates - Focus on minimization. A minimal Alpine install is about 500mb, 700 after I install X and my WM and a few other core things. A void install was something like 1.2gb even trying to keep it minimal. - Because Alpine, IMO is more dedicated to musl, the ports to musl have more care behind them and seem to work better, just anecdotal maybe biased experience. - I prefer apk over xbps, one thing xbps can't do afaik is search files in packages, e.g. apk search library.h will return a result if it exists. - I still feel void gets in the way more than it needs to. Installing or overriding a bootloader and custom kernel was easier in Alpine then void, only barely, but enough I noticed. That's probably it.

WhyNotHugo 2y ago
> Not rolling release, possible to stick to a version and just get security updates If you do prefer rolling release, you can use the edge channel instead. That’s a nice thing about Alpine; you can pick between stable releases or rolling release depending on what fits best.
- ruthmarx 2y ago
  Very true!

WhyNotHugo 2y ago

There are folks using Alpine in the desktop (or laptops). Several of us are lurking in #alpine-linux. postmarketOS is a downstream of Alpine, and they focus on shipping ready to use GUI images. They also count as Alpine users in terms of testing and fixing packages related to a GUI session.