Immutable and atomic Mint
Posted by hugodcnt@reddit | linux | View on Reddit | 25 comments
Is Linux Mint planning to release an immutable and atomic version?
If not, what is the equivalent of Linux Mint that is immutable and atomic?
Is there an immutable and atomic distro without systemd?
Note: I know there are still very few immutable and atomic distros. Fedora and UniversalBlue are the ones most focused on these distributions.
Quietus87@reddit
Install NixOS with Cinnamon, or Guix, if you really don't want systemd. What are your goals though? Why do you want an immutable distro? What's your problem with systemd?
hugodcnt@reddit (OP)
Systemd is great at what it does and makes sense for the vast majority of modern setups. However, I highly value the classic Unix philosophy of modularity. My main goal is to explore and maintain an ecosystem where 'Init Freedom' is respected, allowing the user to choose their init system without modern desktop environments forcing a hard dependency on a single monolithic framework.
As for immutability, it's just a separate interest regarding system reliability, like Android.
Quietus87@reddit
The problem with init systems is that many distros that don't use systemd don't really offer much freedom either, because they typically offer one or two choices. In some cases that's sysvinit, which is ancient and worse than systemd. Artix offers a plethora of init systems, but that always felt like a problematic distro to me, one more concerned with protesting against everything over delivering good software engineering solutions.
As for immutable distros, I've been using Silverblue lately, which is damn fine and reliable. I've been thinking about giving Aeon Desktop a shot too, but at the moment I'm fine with my daily driver. I like NixOS, but its rigid and the syntax gives me seizure. Guix I haven't tried yet, and I don't plan to in the near future, but hey, it's declarative and atomic and uses no systemd, so it might work out for you.
TheOneWhoPunchesFish@reddit
I'm not 100% certain about mint, but you can base universal blue on other distros, but you'd have to build them on your own.
There was a blog post on their website that said they were able to quickly make an ubuntu based ublue image with their new setup. If there are mint bootc images, it might be doable.
It may not be worth your time to do that. Setting up normal mint with the home and some system directories as writable btrfs subvolumes, and the root as an immutable subvolume might get you close enough. You'd have to disable the package manager and only use flatpaks.
hugodcnt@reddit (OP)
I am not in that level hahahaha. I wouldn't know how to do it ...
glotzerhotze@reddit
Why not go full podman quadlets on immutable systems? Oh yeah, systemD hate… NVM!
TheOneWhoPunchesFish@reddit
Yeah xD, niche things being rare as is, mint+immutable+non-systemd is 2.5 niches at once, and almost impossible to find.
reticulated_spline_1@reddit
NixOS is one to check out.
hugodcnt@reddit (OP)
I am not ready for NixOS... :( I am on Linux Mint. I uses openSUSE, Ubuntu, Scientific Linux in the past
reticulated_spline_1@reddit
The Atomic Fedoras are pretty good as well.
hugodcnt@reddit (OP)
Which DE do you use, and why?
Why do you prefer Atomic Fedora over Aurora, Bazzite, Blufin, etc
Is it good for daily driver and for chemistry scientific work? My coleagues choose .deb based systems like Debian, Ubuntu and Mint
_DataFrame_@reddit
Man I love the idea of NixOS and used it for several months but it is such a hassle sometimes. If you don't want to customize much it's great but doing things like changing certain config files, installing non-repo packages, and dealing the more obscure errors that show up when you're doing a rebuild are awful. They're things that seem conceptually simple but end up being monumental tasks.
Sometimes I'd have to use an LLM for my problems and even then it could take a couple hours to solve some small issue. I spent the first 2 months with it getting it set up to my liking. Then, one day, it refused to let me rebuild so I could update Signal (had to join a group video call at a specific time) because some other package now had a problem and I missed the call. Decided to move to CachyOS after that.
I feel like maybe I'll try it again in 5 years to see how things have changed though because I love the idea of what it could be.
Chester-Berkeley@reddit
You have very strange and incoherent desires.
hugodcnt@reddit (OP)
it is not a desire. I just made 3 questions. c'mon guys! Help me out here....
Accurate_Hornet@reddit
Genuine question. What do you have against systemD that makes you want to avoid it so strongly?
hugodcnt@reddit (OP)
I have my own opinion, but that’s beside the point here. Why do I have to be against systemd? Can’t I just prefer freedom and having a choice? You look for a political response. Let's keep this clean, shall we?
Accurate_Hornet@reddit
It's not besides the point. You specifically asked for a non-systemd distro, and I asked why. It would have allowed me to make a more educated recommendation.
But based on your response, i guess the reason is indeed political
hugodcnt@reddit (OP)
I did 3 questions, but you focused on systemd... I know what you want! And NO, I will not get political. I want your recommendations. That is why I asked... duh
TheOneWhoPunchesFish@reddit
Not talking about OP, but people are susceptible to drinking hype juice about non-systemd / immutable / window managers / what have you.
Experienced users who would know how to set them up would simply do it instead of asking. And newbies are generally prone to asking strange questions.
hugodcnt@reddit (OP)
Yes, I am not a experience Linux user, probably like you. I want to learn and make my own path. Sorry for that...
TheOneWhoPunchesFish@reddit
Hey, sorry, I didn't mean to point a finger at you, that's why I prefaced it with 'not talking about OP'.
No, I encourage you to make, break, and take stuff apart and learn as you go. It's just that new users are likely to be influenced by others easily, and do things more experienced people find strange. But you do you, cause that's how you get good.
glotzerhotze@reddit
This right here. openSUSE Leap Micro does exist, but I only work with the commercial equivalent which is SL-Micro. Immutable OS is fun and stuff, until you want to „work“ with the system.
If you are not in server-land, I‘d rather use devbox/nixOS on a desktop machine. And to all the systemD hate in 2026: GTFO! Or educate yourself!
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Wonderful-Citron-678@reddit
Mint has never announced this, it seems unlikely.
I mean this sincerely, why in the world do you care about the init system, just use the clearly mature and well supported immutabe distros and get over the strange bias.
aliendude5300@reddit
> Is there an immutable and atomic distro without systemd?
I think GNU Guix may meet that criteria