The developers of GNOME OS, a distribution aimed at developers and testers of GNOME, have introduced an initiative to create a toolkit that simplifies the testing of experimental software versions in distributions that are distributed as atomically updatable monolithic system images. The developing GNOME OS Developer Tool Suite will allow the collection, distribution, and testing of extensions for distributions provided in the form of system images. This toolkit will enable developers and testers to modify parts of the system and test the changes made without compromising the monolithic nature of the system image, without using system-isolated containers, and without disabling security mechanisms.
As part of the toolkit, a graphical interface called 'Test Center' is being developed to manage experimental changes made to the system. An online repository will also be created for the distribution of experimental changes. Examples of such changes include the use of experimental versions of software and system components in monolithic distributions.
It is noted that using packages in the Flatpak format addresses the issue of installing additional software in monolithic distributions, but it is not suitable for testing unstable versions of software in the system due to the excessive complexity of working with test versions for ordinary users and leaving installed components in the system until they are manually removed. The Test Center will allow the installation of experimental application versions via a link from the developer. Applications installed through the Test Center are specially marked in the system as experimental and are tied to the time of testing, after which they are automatically removed.
Experimental system changes are implemented in the Test Center using the systemd-sysext toolkit, designed for creating and installing images with system extensions attached as overlays on top of the system. Such overlays can be reverted at any time, allowing the system to return to its original state after testing the changes.
Simultaneously, work is being done with the Flatpak developers to facilitate the installation of additional console utilities that are not included in the basic system image. Currently, Flatpak is focused on installing graphical programs and is not very suitable for distributing console applications.
Source: opennet.ru
