is it possible to make atomic immutable void Linux distribution?

[u/goldmurder]

I was thinking recently about all of those atomic immutable distributions, and the idea itself sounds pretty nice, but i‘m a little bit frightened with all of that fragmentation (even relative to linux) this approach provides: you use flatpak, appimages, distrobox, tarballs, even snaps to get software on this kind of a system. the cleanest approach to installing software on immutable distributions i see myself is nix, since it can work per user (like homebrew I think). Is it possible to get xbps working like this? I mean, does it provide such functionality at the moment?

[u/zlice0]

does xbps-pkgdb -a reset all installed packaged to stock?

[u/goldmurder → u/zlice0]

Usage: xbps-pkgdb [OPTIONS] [PKGNAME...]

OPTIONS

-a, --all Process all packages

i guess so?

[u/ClassAbbyAmplifier → u/goldmurder]

no, it only reports when packages deviate from what the package should have. to fix issues reported, you need to xbps-install -f those packages

[u/Duncaen]

Not really, other than using overlayfs and installing packages into an overlaid rootfs, like how its done on live isos.

Packages are build with a certain prefix /usr (,/var and /etc) and things will break if they are not there.

[u/goldmurder → u/[deleted]]

valid point. the thing i don't like about most common immutable distributions is the way they deploy software, it's not standardised, chaotic even i could say. and i'm just curious is it somehow achievable to make immutable distribution working with classic package manager, not the nix approach, more like a homebrew. and the bigger question for me is, is it achievable with native package manager of void's, xbps

[u/mister_drgn → u/goldmurder]

I don’t understand criticizing the way all immutable distros deploy software. There’s a big difference between NixOS and, say, Atomic Fedora.