----------------------------------------
Chimera Linux is almost ready for prime time
September 05th, 2022
----------------------------------------

Apologies for not writing in a while, in addition to having a bad case
of writer's block, I simply have not had time due to a busy work 
schedule... But I digress.


For several years now, I have been using Alpine Linux, mainly because
it doesn't use the abomination known as systemd as its init system, and
it generally does things simpler than other Linux distributions. It has
a lot less GNU-nonsense than other distributions, but it still has a 
small number of GNU utilities, such as gcc... 

Recently a new distribution called Chimera Linux has come on the scene.
Just a few days ago they enabled their repositories, making it easy
to apply updates and new packages. 
I really like this distribution because everything is compiled with
llvm/clang, and most of the userland is ported from FreeBSD, 
consequently Chimera has the least amount of GNUisms than any Linux
distribution I've ever seen.

I have installed Chimera on a test server here on Linode (aptly named
chimera.zcrayfish.soy) and compiled an inetd, crond, and lighttpd for 
fun. It wasn't too hard...
Here's a few things that is stopping Chimera Linux from being a daily
driver on servers:
i* bootloader installation is not managed at all by the install script
  (and the documentation only covers installion on UEFI systems)

• the install directions on the Chimera website should be binding more

  of the pseudo-filesystems, that way things such as reboot & poweroff
  actually work at the end of the install process.

• It's not clear on how to setup static IP addressing; although for

  IPv4, that could be handled at your DHCP server at least. I didn't 
  have any luck getting IPv6 to reliably work.

• the install script does not install the following absolutely

  essential packages (required to connect to the repos and diagnose
  basic networking):
    * c-ares-1.18.1-r0.apk
    * ca-certificates-20211016-r0.apk
    * curl-7.84.0-r0.apk
    * icu-71.1-r0.apk
    * icu-libs-71.1-r0.apk
    * jansson-2.14-r0.apk
    * libcurl-7.84.0-r0.apk
    * libev-4.33-r0.apk
    * libssh2-1.10.0-r0.apk
    * libxml2-2.9.12-r0.apk
    * nghttp2-1.49.0-r0.apk
    * openssl-3.0.5-r0.apk

Anyway, out of time for a more comprehensive writeup.

Relevant URLs:

=> https://chimera-linux.org/ Chimera Linux website | http://chimera.zcrayfish.soy/ my test server (web frontend) | gopher://chimera.zcrayfish.soy/ my test server

----------------------------------------

=> Back to phlog index | gopher.zcrayfish.soy gopher root

This phlog entry has been read 1523 times.
Future direct comment submission has been disabled for this phlog entry.
Comments are still accepted by email, please send to:
zacharygopher@gopher.zcrayfish.soy
Be sure to include the post title in the subject line! Thanks!
Nobody has commented on this post.