I’m excited to share a project I’ve been working on: ShaniOS. It’s an Arch-based Linux distribution that emphasizes system immutability and user-friendly application management.
Key Features:
Immutable Core with Blue-Green Deployment: Utilizes Btrfs subvolumes to maintain two separate system states (blue and green), allowing for atomic updates and seamless rollbacks in case of issues.
Flatpak-Centric Application Management: Emphasizes the use of Flatpak for application deployment, ensuring sandboxing and isolation from the base system.
Enhanced Security Measures: Incorporates AppArmor profiles, firewalld configurations, and supports full-disk encryption via LUKS.
Optimized for Performance: Features like dynamic swap file creation and NVIDIA GPU support are integrated for a smooth user experience.
While ShaniOS is a standalone project, many of its tools and configurations are adaptable and could complement other Arch-based setups. For instance, the blue-green deployment strategy might be of interest to those looking to experiment with system immutability.
I’m sharing this here to gather feedback, insights, or suggestions from fellow Linux enthusiasts. If you’re curious about the implementation details or have thoughts on integrating similar features into your setup, I’d love to discuss further.
Sounds interesting except for flatpack (of which I dispise), the immunity, and I dont care for the Btrfs file system. Good luck but I guess it is just not for me..
I think the likes of the Steamdeck make it less niche. It’s kind of like how Manjaro does it in a “snapshot” of a not snapshot thing? It is slightly more calculated than just never ending rolling. It doesn’t work with AUR. . . It should theoretically be better if there’s no AUR + Flatpak though. . .
It sounds interesting. I’ll surely give it a vm. I can’t see it swaying me from my daily driven stuff though.
I’ve heard more than one distro creator say it was the future. At least Fedora is hedging their bets with their (niche) immutable line.
I’m not comfortable with the backbone of a system’s apps being flatpaks. Many flatpaks in 2025 still ignore system theme and stand out like a sore thumb.
That’s my only hurdle but I, too, will move this to a Ventoy and check it out.
from RHEL springeth almost everything, I do know that. The ‘atomic’ line (immutable spins or are they official I forgot?) they keep separate from the curated, rolling normal versions of their feature, curated DEs. I don’t believe Fedora has forecast/proclaimed which of the two models was their “future” yet. If they did I haven’t done my reading.
I’m open-minded about the single-update concept (Atomic) etc, but the flatpak thing…maybe the ideal ‘immutable’ will have not the self-contained flatpak apps but some kind of user-maintained AUR-like thing…I’ve not though this out yet but I’m trying.
The immutability, reliance on Btrfs, maintenance of two simultaneous system filesystems, Flatpaks, full disk encryption, & dynamic swap file all turn me off. Otherwise, I might be tepidly interested. Seems like an over-assortment of buzzword concepts.
I can tell without using it that it’s not for me. It’s immutable, and I tried one of those once. It was a horrible experience and lasted about a week, but I like to tinker with my setup. I’m also not a fan of flatpaks.
I welcome these, I think immutable OSes are great for noobs, they can’t break it. For some reason Valve chose arch too, maybe the access to bleeding edge packages.
With a green/blue system you can kinda solve the regular arch problem: I have updated the system now it doesn’t work.
I hope you think about beginner users, when you work on this.
Some kind of AUR compatibility would be a cherry on top.
Key Features:
Website: shani.dev
Wiki: wiki.shani.dev
GitHub: github.com/shani8dev
