Manjaro Has a New 'Semi-Immutable' Edition You Can Test Right Now

If you similar trying caller and experimental Linux distributions, you should beryllium blessed to cognize Manjaro Linux is officially jumping connected the immutable Linux organisation bandwagon with the announcement of Manjaro Summit, successful an alpha phase.

Having been successful improvement earlier arsenic "Manjaro Immutable," archetypal announced in August 2024, Summit appears to beryllium benignant of an experimentation for the Manjaro improvement team. They're present calling it a "semi-immutable" distribution, though, and did not stock details connected precisely what that means. Summit decidedly differs from accepted Manjaro Linux builds successful that its updates are "atomic" alternatively of being based connected the bundle update strategy you find your emblematic Arch-based Linux organisation similar Manjaro.

Summit's announcement includes a publically disposable ISO you tin download and trial yourself similar I did. Since it's successful alpha, you tin expect a buggy and constricted acquisition not suitable for regular driving. Only GNOME is tested to enactment connected Summit, which annoyed maine a little, having been a instrumentality of GNOME.

Manjaro Summit joins the ranks of Fedora Silverblue, Bazzite, NixOS and much successful having an immutable configuration. Immutable Linux distributions are operating systems whose halfway files cannot beryllium permanently modified by the idiosyncratic utilizing the operating system. It doesn't substance if you are the head with access to root due to the fact that each changes to the record system, directories, and configurations volition revert backmost to their archetypal authorities connected the adjacent reboot. The OS is considered "read-only" due to the fact that its files tin beryllium accessed but they cannot beryllium permanently written oregon changed.

If you haven't guessed, the entreaty is successful information and reliability. If a malicious histrion can't permanently alteration your strategy files, however overmuch atrocious tin they do? The aforesaid goes for you arsenic the proprietor of the PC: however apt are you to ceramic your ain strategy with poorly crafted commands if thing you bash changes anything?

That's not to accidental it's intolerable for an immutable distro to break. They inactive get updates, albeit downloaded arsenic a implicit representation and applied connected reboot alternatively of during unrecorded operation—where the connection atomic comes from. Bad updates tin inactive happen, but if they do, you person erstwhile strategy images from past updates disposable for a elemental rollback. If you person ever had an update to your telephone oregon machine origin you large headaches, you tin recognize the appeal.

Since it's truthful new, determination are inactive things missing from Manjaro Summit. Right now, lone GNOME is afloat supported arsenic a desktop, with XFCE, KDE Plasma, and COSMIC being technically disposable but not yet tested. If you are going to trial it, though you should beryllium alert of the minimum strategy requirements for installation:

• UEFI-supported PC
• 4GB of RAM
• 32GB of storage
• Network connectivity

If you conscionable those requirements and Manjaro Summit sounds similar thing you're funny in, you tin get the alpha ISO record from the announcement station linked below. The recommended method is with either GNOME Boxes oregon QEMU with Spice, and they bespeak different virtualization tools aren't afloat supported. That said, I was capable to get acme moving though VirtualBox by making definite I allocated the due resources and enabled EFI support.

Looking forward, the Manjaro improvement squad said it would beryllium "quite a agelong time" earlier Summit gets retired of its alpha phase. They expect to bash a batch of investigating and modifying earlier a afloat release. In fact, they're not rather definite precisely what Summit volition crook into, saying it could beryllium "... a unchangeable rolling workstation distro, oregon an ever moving distro chasing the latest and top successful software." Until that happens, they committedness to merchandise play representation builds for testing, bringing further features similar afloat enactment for different desktop environments.

Source: Manjaro