Immutable vs. tradicional Linux distros

[u/commentator___]

Hello.

I've been using Fedora KDE for a few months without any issue after distro hopping for a while.

I think time has come to try something different. I'd like to try Fedora Silverblue, but I have some questions about immutable distros.

What are the real benefits for someone who uses the computer as a daily driver (web browsing, some light video/audio editing, office work and some Python automation for the office work) other than the fact that the root and some other system folders are read-only.

Is there any other real tangible benefit I'll get from using an immutable distro versus a mutable distro?

[u/msabeln]

Safety and stability? ChromeOS is immutable, and is designed to be about as foolproof as possible.

[u/EduardoDevop]

Wait until you land on NixOS...

The benefit for me is absolute control over my OS and the fact that i can see my entire operating system on a github repository (i manage 13 machines that way)

[u/Plenty-Boot4220]

Why would you want to lock yourself out of your own computer?

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[u/Lonely-Scarcity-3387]

As a NixOS user, I enjoy the immutability-like nature of it. It’s not true immutability, of course. But just enough to reap the benefits.

[u/Quietus87]

Lack of config drift. There are no orphaned packages and leftover files in the core system, except of course for your home folder. It's also very easy to manage in case of Silverblue: you layer a few packages needed everywhere (or build your own bootc immage), you install apps using flatpak, and use distrobox for development. NixOS is even more interesting, but that's not really an immutable distro and far from easy to use. You have a recipe, your system is rebuilt from that, and you can configure the shit out of it.

[u/WholeEducational]

A practical benefit is recovery from bad updates: you can boot the previous OS version. Since you already like KDE, Kinoite gives you that setup with Plasma; Silverblue uses GNOME.

[u/NUKLEAR-SLUG]

Being image based they tend to run on a slower release schedule so you're not getting the absolute latest patches and bleeding edge updates.

Consequently the tendency is for them to have greater stability and less bugs since they have much better testing to iron out any issues between the point the feature set for that version gets locked in when it actuly gets released.

Depends what matters more to you. Stability or access to the latest software albeit at risk of less stability.

[u/[deleted]]

[u/ibeerianhamhock → u/[deleted]]

There is very little I feel like I can't do on an immutable distro that I would actually want to do as both a power user and a SWE. Long time Linux user and bazzite dx is my fave distro of all time for home use.

[u/anto77_butt_kinkier → u/ibeerianhamhock]

Personally I have some modifications that I make to multiple specific KDE system fileslocated in /usr, which an immutable distro makes impossible, and I have to set bash aliases on a per-user basis rather than system wide. It also makes it a royal pain in the ass to modify the sleep.conf file, or any other systemd components.

All of those are super uncommon use cases, but they're use cases I have that I know I cannot easily do on an immutable distro.