I recently set up Bazzite on my friend’s system after switching from Linux Mint due to some Nvidia driver issues. Although the hardware problems are not there anymore, the distro is now facing problems installing certain programs for software development that they had no problem installing in the previous distro. I think there are issues related to the immutability of the distro, though I am not sure since I am new to Linux too. Additionally, my friend is worried about higher storage consumption and slower performance in certain applications.
I realise the distro is primarily meant for gamers and my friend is not much of a gamer themselves, however they told me they appreciate its friendlier KDE interface so I wish to avoid switching from this distro again if possible. However I fear that they may encounter more errors in the future and that I may not be available to help them out whenever needed, so I am in a bit of a conundrum.
Thus I intend to ask here if it is possible to arrange something for easing development related tasks e.g. VM, distrobox etc. or whether it is easier to simply switch to some other compatible distro.
Actual developer and 30+ years Linux expert.
Don’t use anything but immutable distros for development work. Hands down.
Just develop in containers and have one container per project. Doing anything else will lead to broken projects as you can not properly control dependencies per project otherwise.
It is not harder to work in a container than on the real system.
Says who? Use proto for your tooling (which lets you lock the version per project), and a lockfile for your app’s dependencies.
Devcontainers work fine without an immutable distro, too.
OP is a beginner with Linux, as they stated.
Also, don’t come into the comments to be a dick, okay? You’re disregarding what OP said, and just coming in here to interject your own nonsense because it makes sense to you. This thread isn’t about YOU. We need less of people like you in general in these threads, and more people who READ THE POST and respond accordingly.
The OP has no experience with either immutable nor mutable linux. So let him go with the rubust version already installed over recommending some package-based, old-school distro, just because you are more familiar with those.
OP will need to learn things either way, let him learn the future proof stuff, not the outdated ways.
Yeah, you have no idea what you’re talking about.
“Guy doesn’t know Linux, so don’t just confuse him with that info, also throw in containers, advanced container management, storage layer interaction and what that even means, sandbox permissions, intermediate networking, RBAC routing, and WTF immutable means and why NONE of the best documentation on the Internet that exists for everything Linux covers whatever immutable distro.”
So yeah…there’s a stark contrast between all of the above, and having them use the SIMPLEST and best supported and documented version of a distro. You keep going banging that square peg into the circle whole you suggested without reason.
I bet you’re just GREAT with teaching 🤣
First off, you do not need to know most of that stuff. Tooling around container-based development is really nice nowadays. It just works almost all the time – and way more often than in mutable setups.
As a beginner you can not really transfer docs from one distribution to another, so you look for docs on your distribution and ask in the official support channels. Those of bazzite are pretty responsive and will be able to help. The community is able to help way better than in a traditional system where every installation is almost but not exactly the same.
Nothing is as bad as accidentally removing some important OS files and not knowing how to restore them. That will just not happen in an immutable setup.
I have installed immutable distros on lots of computers and the users usually are happier than they were on traditional linux: Nothing breaks anymore, the setup is way more solid. Its great for me, too, as I need to support them less often.
Seriously, you should give this a try: Immutable OSes are a huge step forward. Takes a few days to get used to, but I am pretty sure you will not want to go back afterwards.
I’ve been building custom immutable distros for more than a decade. They have their place. Desktop and development ain’t that place.
The main application and use-case is obvious: IoT, EDD, consumer devices…etc. Maybe even bare metal if you don’t have proper PXE or other remote image booting. They mean nothing for cloud, because, well, why? They certainly aren’t needed for any container-based work either, because containers.
There’s a reason why devs aren’t adopting them.
Also, on your point about people “accidentally” deleting crucial files, that’s a straw man’s argument. If you have users in any kind of setting where you need a stable and repeatable install, you’re working with mapped network mounts and these users don’t have sudo/root access. If you’re dumb enough to be giving them said access, or deleting these files yourself, well that’s on you.
Immutable distros are the future for everything. We just need to wait a for the people most heavily invested into the status quo to retire.
Any user can delete important OS files by turning their computer off while an upgrade is running in almost all traditional distros:-) Sure, you can disable updates, but that is not an option either.
Docker is broken as hell and not at all immutable. It is extremely reliant on system installs such as GPU drivers for deep learning.