This is good stuff. But let me try to sketch out what my perspective of the Bluefin philosophy is. And yes, I realize that we are in the General - Universal Blue subforum, but my experience is very much informed by Bluefin so I have a hard time drawing a dividing line between Universal Blue and Bluefin. And yes, this is subjective, so I might get things wrong.
Bluefin philosophy
Reliability
Bluefin uses an atomic update model for the core system. In the unlikely event that an update breaks your system, you can always go back to a previous version and keep using your computer.
Consistency
Bluefin uses an image-based approach to define the core system. All users benefit from using the same image and receiving the same updates which makes it possible to have a predictable system where bugs can be easily reproduced and fixed.
Immutability and system administration
Bluefin takes the /usr merge to the next level by making the /usr
partition readonly. Not even root can change data under /usr
. This provides more reliable system upgrade guarantees but also makes switching between different universal blue distributions very easy, because it places /usr
under the governance of the distribution providers.
Local administration happens under /etc
which also enjoys rollback support, because every system update takes a snapshot of the files in /etc
.
Mutable data lives under /var
Users care about data. And data is rarely static. Therefore there is a dedicated /var
directory where mutable data from the system and its users is stored. Each user has their home directory under /var/home/username
where they are free to do whatever they like.
System-level customization
If there is some low-level technical design choice that a system administrator doesn’t like about the system, they can switch to and follow a different universal blue distribution or they can layer their own customizations on top of the curent system. They will also benefit from the update process that always reapplies the customizations after a system update. However, this method should be used sparingly, because it goes against the philosophy of Bluefin and it can also slow down some operations.
Personal customization
Bluefin comes with the Gnome desktop which allows individual users to customize their experience. Any changes to the configuration are stored in the user’s home directory.
Running software
Bluefin empowers ordinary users to install and run software. This can be done by using either 1) flatpacks, 2) distroboxes 3) the mac software installer whose name I have forgotten
Flatpacks
Bluefin provides support for installing Flatpacks direktly from Flathub out of the box, because this is the best software store with a good selection of graphical software.
Flatpacks show a lot of promise to become the de-facto package format for Linux in the future.
Distrobox
Bluefin comes with distrobox which makes it possible for users to install and run software from other Linux distributions. This gives users access to a wide range of great Linux software that can be run in the terminal or in a graphical environment. It also helps with cloud-native development that Bluefin wants to promote.
There’s also toolbox, but distrobox is simply more flexible.
The mac os package manager whose name I forgot
Never used it. But apparently it’s good
Developer experience
On of Bluefin’s target audiences is software developers. Bluefin comes with the right tools to do cloud-native development. The system can be further supercharged by using the -dx variant of Bluefin to get VS Code and other tools as part of the base system.
Bluefin Development
The creation of Bluefin has been enabled by the emergence of new cloud-native technologies that make it possible to automate the vast majority of the work that is required to maintain a Linux distribution. Thanks to automated building and testing, new updated images can be created without much human effort.
Bluefin is based on Fedora Silverblue and it benefits greatly from the development effort that flows into that distribution and the wider Fedora and Linux ecosystem.
The Ubuntu spirit on top of Fedora Silverblue
Bluefin aims to provide a nice desktop for end users that is easy to use? …