ZilchOS Core

Try

Download an image from releases, qemu-system-x86_64 -cdrom ZilchOS-core-*.iso.

-nographic can be specified to pop up no windows and use a serial port instead, press Control-a followed by an x to quit.

What

An minimal viable Linux distribution based on Nix, musl, clang and busybox. (well, not yet, but give it a bit of time).

Bootstrapped from a single TinyCC binary.

Why

Ever wanted to see how to put Nix derivations together into something bootable? Or get rid of /bin/sh or /etc, or break up nixpkgs into a gazillion flakes, but found one of the largest Linux distros a bit too large for such experimenting?

Yeah, maybe not, but here's a toy Nix-based OS to play with anyway.

Goals

• offer just musl, clang, busybox, Nix and Linux
• target only one platform: x86_64 QEMU
• be lean enough to experiment on
• avoid GNU software where possible (build-time dependencies of the 5 key packages are allowed, but not as runtime dependencies; the current situation is particularly bad in the bootloader area)
• force t184256 to learn more Nix-lang and nixpkgs idioms
• give content-addressed Nix a spin
• have a decent bootstrap seed/path
• have fun

Non-goals (Core)

• competing with NixOS
• going beyond a Live CD
• systemd
• any software, basically
• flexibility (other than just being small)
• portability
• configurability
• stability
• usability
• practicality

Stretch goals

• become something like Nix pills, but for building an OS
• become a stepping stone to a tad richer distro (like, one with systemd or gasp git)