At the beginning of this week it arrived Vanilla OS 2, codenamed Orchid. It has introduced many changes, and perhaps for this reason they have decided to use 2 in the version, and not the Ubuntu base numbering – the previous one was 22.10 -; It no longer makes sense if they have changed to a Debian base. But what is really important here is that the project continues to advance, and it does so shoulder to shoulder with other immutable distributions that seem to interest more people every day.
The other somewhat more independent project with a immutable distro What is also interesting is BlendOS. At first one may think that they are options that will end up being forgotten, but they are still under active development. Immutability has its pros and cons, and it does not seem to be aimed at the most Linux-savvy audience. Still, there are more and more, and that Fedora even has a dedicated section makes it clear: immutability is interesting.
Vanilla OS 2 changed its base to Debian and now supports Android
Vanilla OS 2 is a significant leap. The change in base and support for Android are already drastic changes in themselves. But it also now supports the installation of DEB packages, which seems to go against what immutability is. But no: if it remains as read only, the system is immutable. Another thing is how you do things.
Since they are not traditional Linux distributions, there is not as much freedom when it comes to making changes and installing software. Therefore, it is the developers who have to figure out what is necessary and include it by default. The best example is the android app support.
But, according to rumors, Valve is doing the same as Vanilla OS and BlendOS, and it is likely that in the future it will integrate Default Waydroid. If we add to that that, at least BlendOS and SteamOS, have installed by default distro box, you could say that immutable distributions you can have the best of both worlds: you can do anything and not break the operating system...
…although that is not entirely the case.
Immutable distros can handle ALMOST everything
An immutable distribution with access to Flathub, compatible with Android and Distrobox apps, Is there anything I can't do? Well yes. Yes, you can, for example, install a 100% complete version of Visual Studio Code, but it cannot handle everything that complete distributions such as Kali Linux offer, for example.
If we decide to test if we can decrypt the key of our WiFi network, with Kali Linux we would have to launch the live session and get to work. In an immutable distro, this is not a possibility even via Distrobox. There are many other tools that work, but the one used to put the WiFi card in monitor mode is not one of them. This may not work on traditional Linux distributions either, but what interests us at this point is that immutable distributions cannot do everything. Depending on how they implement them, you may not be able to handle other software like LAMP.
Other shortcomings of immutable distributions like Vanilla OS or BlendOS
Immutable distributions like the recently released Vanilla OS 2 Orchid are also known as atomic. Part of this is that the operating system, when updated, practically changes the previous version for the new one, leaving the user's folder as it was. For an update to have enough to be worthwhile it has to take a lot of time, and that means that, sometimes the software is a little dated.
To give a few examples, the version before Vanilla OS 2 was Vanilla OS 22.10, from October 2022. The GNOME version remained at 43 until this week, and the same with the kernel. For its part, SteamOS, although it is Arch-based, continues with the Plasma 5.27 desktop from February 2023 - with point updates -, and will remain that way for a long time to come. If there is a security breach, developers may decide it's not important and let it pass for a while or upload an update, which is a complete image of the operating system.
The positive part of this is that they offer a stable experience. Vanilla OS 2 has arrived with GNOME 46, a version that came out in March, and already has three maintenance updates.
Canonical flirts with the concept
As if Fedora's bet were not enough, Canonical is also flirting with the concept. There is an image in development called Ubuntu Core Desktop, and it is an Ubuntu that works only with snaps. Personally, I'm not at all attracted to this proposal, but I am attracted to the idea that Ubuntu is looking askance at immutability.
Ubuntu Core Desktop does not allow using APT, and the last time I tried it you couldn't use Distrobox either. It does offer its own application to create images of other operating systems. Although I am not so seduced by the idea, it is how they have thought to give some freedom of movement.
Conclusion
Immutable distributions they have come to stay, and they are a good option especially for those who do not need to have access to the innards of an operating system. There are independent projects, but also complete sections like Fedora and systems like SteamOS. They are one more option, probably the one preferred by many in the coming years.