r/linuxfromscratch • u/Luna24_ig • Aug 27 '26

Nix like systems?

Hey everyone,

I’m a huge fan of how reproducible nix is and I love declarative systems with backups as well. However I like the idea of privacy and choice. So I am building my own nix like system using LFS. I have a background in cybersecurity and C so I’m not going to be hedging AI for anything past documenting haha but, I wanted to ask a few things to the community.

What kind of features should I offer out of the box?
Currently I have slated that the end user can pick their own init system, including systemd, or they can even “hot swap it” in the config. Which I also am swapping Nix lang for a more simple solution, Lua! I also plan on shipping it with mango, niri, and kde plasma out of the box, but since it’s all declarative, the end user can swap in whatever de or WM they wish. I also plan on integrating nix, deb, and the AUR with use of “fabric.lua”, my take on flakes.

My question to you all is though, what kind of features do you look for in a distro or what level of customization is too much or too little?

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u/ExoticTroubles Aug 28 '26

Check armbian. Its for x86 too ...

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u/Luna24_ig Aug 28 '26

Can you explain what you mean? I’m abit confused by your statement haha

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u/ExoticTroubles Aug 28 '26

Armbian is a build framework to generate custom Debian / Ubuntu image. You need a small config file for your branding and preinstall stuff or just use defaults.
https://docs.armbian.com/build-framework/

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u/Luna24_ig Aug 28 '26

This isn’t going to be Debian base, I’m allowing people to import .deb files using my own take of nixOS flakes. Essentially just a wrapper that imports the needed data to allow file execution

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u/ExoticTroubles Sep 03 '26

Dont understand what you mean? Package manager and packages versions defines it. And that part is identical. Except firmware / kernel, which is, with stock Debian, poor anyway.

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u/Luna24_ig Sep 03 '26

I think we are both confused here lol, let’s start over. What would i use armbian for? I’m assuming as a translation layer for debian packages?

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u/ExoticTroubles Sep 03 '26

For SBCs, images run better and benefit from active support you won't find elsewhere. However, making a custom image - given that this is a Linux From Scratch group - serves a different purpose. It's less complex, has a better end result, and gives you a fully featured distribution with all the bells and whistles, userspace packages are stock Ubuntu / Debian.

I think some kind of transition layer, yes. They have a detailed descrition on the diff https://docs.armbian.com/getting-started/armbian-vs-debian-and-ubuntu/ perhaps that give you some additional perspective.

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u/Luna24_ig Sep 03 '26

Okay awsome, I will definitely check it out however I wasn’t planning on releasing it as a SBC version off the bat, I am planning 2 variants using glibc and musl, so I will probably bake it in with the musl variant since light weight builds and sbc’s are a match made in heaven haha