An update has been released for the Chimera Linux distribution builds, noted for using the Linux kernel in conjunction with utilities from FreeBSD, the system manager dinit, and the standard C library Musl. The build is carried out using the Clang compiler. Bootable Live images have been created for x86_64, ppc64le, aarch64, riscv64, and ppc64 architectures in versions with GNOME (1.5 GB), KDE (2.1 GB), and a minimal environment (806 MB).
The project aims to create a Linux distribution with alternative tools and is developed based on the experience of developing Void Linux (the author of Chimera was a former maintainer of Void, responsible for POWER and PowerPC architectures). Like Void Linux, the project is developed using a continuous version update cycle (rolling model). User components from FreeBSD have been chosen as less complex and more suitable for lightweight and compact systems than the standard GNU tools.
In addition to utilities from FreeBSD, supplied instead of packages like coreutils, findutils, diffutils, sed, and grep, the distribution involves GNU Make, util-linux, syslog-ng, udev, pam, dinit, clang, lld, libc++, and musl. Memory allocation functions in musl have been replaced with mimalloc. The ZFS file system is employed. The /var partition does not retain its state between reboots (stateless). PipeWire is used for managing multimedia streams. By default, the Wayland display server is utilized in graphical environments.
For installing additional programs, both binary packages and a custom build system from source code — cports, written in Python, are offered. Currently, it maintains over 4000 ports. The build environment runs in a separate unprivileged container created with the bubblewrap tool. The APK package manager (Alpine Package Keeper, apk-tools) is used for managing binary packages, while Flatpak can optionally be utilized.
In the new release:
- The apk-tools package management tool has been updated. The update allowed most system files to be moved to the /usr partition and implemented the ability to change mirrors without redefining repository settings.
- Repository settings have been migrated to use the new index naming style.
- The Linux kernel has been updated to version 6.13. The user environments GNOME and KDE have been updated to the latest versions.
- Improved performance in Live mode.
- Release builds for 32-bit PowerPC systems have been enabled. Work is underway to prepare builds for the LoongArch64 architecture.
Source: opennet.ru
