test-linux-distro

This is repository of a minimalistic Linux distribution, as a proof-of-concept of a distribution framework (not any code, just a document of rules) I'm working on for Diploma thesis.

It tries to showcase that a linux distribution can be divided into system part and user space part (not to be confused with ring 3 on x86 CPUs), without having any additonal overhead or snadbox, like Flatpak or Snap have.

It does fullfill this requirement by dividing paths of system components and user installed apps.
System components go to standard FHS defined paths - /bin, /lib, /usr/*, ... and user installed apps go to /opt/<appname>, while keeping their non-system dependencies in their directory.

The system consists of apps/libs from these repositories:

Repository	Description
glibc	glibc, ld-linux.so, and their dependencies
sinit	Simple init system for minimalist Linux setups
libcap	POSIX capabilities library for fine-grained privileges
acl	Access Control List support for filesystems
readline	GNU readline library for command-line editing
zlib	Compression library used for data compression
ncurses	Terminal handling library for TUIs
attr	Utilities for extended file attributes
bzip2	Compression program and library that uses Burrows–Wheeler algorithm
zstd	Fast compression algorithm by Facebook
coreutils	GNU core command-line utilities (ls, cp, mv, etc.)
util-linux	Essential system utilities (mount, fdisk, etc.)
gcc	GNU Compiler Collection
bash	GNU Bourne Again Shell (default Linux shell)

It is not yet specified which of these components make the base system contract, and which do not, and are here only for reference purpose only, so the system boots, and can be demonstrated as is.

Note: the linker here is not modified yet, and this system acts like a bootstrap for next work.

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Usage

Core Build Targets

Target	Description
make build	Build the full system (kernel, userspace, and initfs)
make build-kernel	Build only the kernel
make build-userspace	Build userspace components, including glibc and programs
make build-initfs	Create initfs and install userspace into it

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Deployment Targets

Target	Description
make qemu-pair	Create a disk image and QEMU run script for system emulation
make docker-image	Build a Docker image containing the system
make iso	(Not implemented) Build a bootable ISO image

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Maintenance Targets

Target	Description
make clean	Remove all build artifacts
make check	Placeholder for future tests
make test	Alias for check
make install	Not supported — use qemu-pair, docker-image, or iso instead

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Examples

Build the full system

make build

Generate a disk image and run script for QEMU

make qemu-pair

Run distro in QEMU

build/qemu_pair/run_system.sh

Run distro in Docker

cd build/docker
docker-build -t test-linux-distro .
docker run -it [--rm] test-linux-distro /bin/bash

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Build Dependencies

Package(s)	Description
gcc	GNU Compiler Collection
make	Build automation tool
binutils	Collection of binary tools
bison	Parser generator
flex	Lexical analyzer generator
perl	Required for kernel builds
bash	Bourne Again SHell
pkg-config	Manage compile and link flags for libraries
gettext	Internationalization and localization
autoconf, automake, libtool	GNU build system tools
bc	Arbitrary precision calculator language (required for kernel builds)
pahole	DWARF debugging information analyzer (optional for kernel builds)
util-linux	Collection of essential utilities
coreutils	Basic file, shell, and text manipulation utilities
gnulib	GNU portability library (used by several GNU projects)
cargo	Rust's build system

Debian / Ubuntu / Mint

sudo apt update
sudo apt install -y \
  build-essential bison flex \
  perl bash pkg-config \
  gettext autoconf automake \
  libtool bc dwarves \
  util-linux coreutils gnulib rustup cargo

Arch Linux / Manjaro / Artix Linux

sudo pacman -Syu --needed \
  base-devel bison flex \
  perl bash pkgconf \
  gettext autoconf automake \
  libtool bc dwarves \
  util-linux coreutils gnulib rustup cargo

Fedora / RHEL / CentOS / Rocky / AlmaLinux

sudo dnf install -y \
  gcc gcc-c++ make \
  binutils bison flex \
  perl bash pkgconf \
  pkgconf-pkg-config gettext autoconf \
  automake libtool bc \
  dwarves util-linux coreutils \
  gnulib rustup cargo