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quietus [soylentnews.org] writes:

In an immutable operating system the root file system is locked down (read-only) so that apps and users cannot change or break them. Instead of updating individual system files one by one, updates are installed as a single, complete package all at once, meaning that if anything ever goes wrong, the system can instantly roll back to the last safe, working version.

These systems are mainly used with zero-touch installation installations (Internet-of-Things) or as container hosts; their rollback capabilities are appreciated when you're infected by malware, root kits and whatever exploitative flotsam-and-jetsam might hit you through the internet. The probably best known examples of immutable systems are Android and Chromebook, while an immutable Linux distro, bazzite [bazzite.gg], is making waves in the gaming world.

In its latest release, Leap 16.1 [opensuse.org], SuSE Linux lets you choose between a conventional installation, or the installation of its immutable version of the same operating system. Red Hat and Canonical [theregister.com] also offer immutable systems these days, but SuSE is the first to bundle both the normal and the immutable version in one install.

Immutable distros look to be the future of Linux for non-technical users, according to El Reg [theregister.com]. On standard Linux, a bad package update might modify some boot files with exhilarating consequences -- that wouldn't be possible when these same files are read-only. No more worries about updates either: if something goes wrong with an update, like a broken Wayland or X server, you simply reboot and select the last safe rollback.

Largely gone, though, are apt, dnf and their ilk: you'll mainly install software packages through an app store, using isolated sandbox images (Snaps, FlatPaks).

Anybody already using such an immutable operating system, apart from Android/Chromebook?

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