From cd6644ea4ddc78597934ab0ef5ba50e3c3daa927 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Mitja Felicijan Date: Sat, 8 Jul 2023 23:25:41 +0200 Subject: Moved to a simpler SSG --- ...n-based-riced-up-distribution-for-developers.md | 275 --------------------- 1 file changed, 275 deletions(-) delete mode 100644 content/posts/2021-12-03-debian-based-riced-up-distribution-for-developers.md (limited to 'content/posts/2021-12-03-debian-based-riced-up-distribution-for-developers.md') diff --git a/content/posts/2021-12-03-debian-based-riced-up-distribution-for-developers.md b/content/posts/2021-12-03-debian-based-riced-up-distribution-for-developers.md deleted file mode 100644 index 0755282..0000000 --- a/content/posts/2021-12-03-debian-based-riced-up-distribution-for-developers.md +++ /dev/null @@ -1,275 +0,0 @@ ---- -title: Debian based riced up distribution for Developers and DevOps folks -url: debian-based-riced-up-distribution-for-developers-and-devops-folks.html -date: 2021-12-03T12:00:00+02:00 -draft: false ---- - -## Introduction - -I have been using [Ubuntu](https://ubuntu.com/) for quite a longtime now. I have -used [Debian](https://www.debian.org/) in the past and -[Manjaro](https://manjaro.org/). Also had [Arch](https://archlinux.org/) for -some time and even ran [Gentoo](https://www.gentoo.org/) way back. - -What I learned from all this is that I prefer running a bit older versions and -having them be stable than run bleeding edge rolling release. For that reason, I -stuck with Ubuntu for a couple of years now. I am also at a point in my life -where I just don't care what is cool or hip anymore. I just want a stable system -that doesn't get in my way. - -During all this, I noticed that these distributions were getting very bloated -and a lot of software got included that I usually uninstall on fresh -installation. Maybe this is my OCD speaking, but why do I have to give fresh -installation min 1 GB of ram out of the box just to have a blank screen in front -of me? I get it, there are many things included in the distro to make my life -easier. I understand. But at this point I have a feeling that modern Linux -distributions are becoming similar to [Node.js project with -node_modules](https://devhumor.com/content/uploads/images/August2017/node-modules.jpg). -Just a crazy number of packages serving very little or no purpose, just -supporting other software. - -I felt I needed a fresh start. To start over with something minimal and clean. -Something that would put a little more joy into using a computer again. - -For the first version, I wanted to target the following machines I have at home -that I want this thing to work on. - -```yaml -# My main stationary work machine -Resolution: 3840x1080 (Super Ultrawide Monitor 32:9) -CPU: Intel i7-8700 (12) @ 4.600GHz -GPU: AMD ATI Radeon RX 470/480/570/570X/580/580X/590 -Memory: 32020MiB -``` - -```yaml -# Thinkpad x220 for testing things and goofing around -Resolution: 1366x768 -CPU: Intel i5-2520M (4) @ 3.200GHz -GPU: Intel 2nd Generation Core Processor Family -Memory: 15891MiB -``` - -## How should I approach this? - -I knew I wanted to use [minimal Debian netinst -](https://www.debian.org/CD/netinst/) for the base to give myself a head -start. No reason to go through changing the installer and also testing all that -behemoth of a thing. So, some sort of ricing was the only logical option to get -this thing of the grounds somewhat quickly. - -> **What is ricing anyway?** -> The term “RICE” stands for Race Inspired Cosmetic Enhancement. A group of -> people (could be one, idk) decided to see if they could tweak their own -> distros like they/others did their cars. This gave rise to a community of -> Linux/Unix enthusiasts trying to make their distros look cooler and better -> than others... For more information, read this article -> [What in the world is ricing!?](https://pesos.github.io/2020/07/14/what-is-ricing.html). - -I didn't want this to just be a set of config files for theming purpose. I -wanted this to include a set of pre-installed tools and services that are being -used all the time by a modern developer. Theming is just a tiny part of it. -Fonts being applied across the distro and things like that. - -First, I choose terminal installer and left it to load additional components. -Avoid using graphical installer in this case. - -![](/assets/dfd-rice/install-00.png) - -After that I selected hostname and created a normal user and set password for -that user and root user and choose guided mode for disk partitioning. - -![](/assets/dfd-rice/install-01.png) - -I left it run to install all the things required for the base system and opted -out of scanning additional media for use by the package manager. Those will be -downloaded from the internet during installation. - -![](/assets/dfd-rice/install-02.png) - -I opted out of the popularity contest, and **now comes the important part**. -Uncheck all the boxes in Software selection and only leave 'standard system -utilities'. I also left an SSH server, so I was able to log in to the machine -from my main PC. - -![](/assets/dfd-rice/install-03.png) - -At this point, I installed GRUB bootloader on the disk where I installed the -system. - -![](/assets/dfd-rice/install-04.png) - -That concluded the installation of base Debian and after restarting the computer -I was prompted with the login screen. - -![](/assets/dfd-rice/install-05.png) - -Now that I had the base installation, it was time to choose what software do I -want to include in this so-called distribution. I wanted out of the box -developer experience, so I had plenty to choose. - -Let's not waste time and go through the list. - -## Desktop environments - -I have been using [Gnome](https://www.gnome.org/) for my whole Linux life. From -version 2 forward. It's been quite a ride. I hated version 3 when it came out -and replaced version 2. But I got used to it. And now with version 40+ they also -made couple of changes which I found both frustrating and presently surprised. - -The amount of vertical space you loose because of the beefy title bars on -windows is ridiculous. And then in case of -[Tilix](https://gnunn1.github.io/tilix-web/) you also have tabs, and you are -100px deep. Vertical space is one of the most important things for a -developer. The more real estate you have, the more code you can have in a -viewport. - -But on the other hand, I still love how Gnome feels and looks. I gotta give them -that. They really are trying to make Gnome feel unified and modern. - -Regardless of all the nice things Gnome has, I was looking at the tiling window -managers for some time, but never had the nerve to actually go with it. But now -was the ideal time to give it a go. No guts, no glory kind of a thing. - -One of the requirements for me was easy custom layouts because I use a really -strange monitor with aspect ratio of 32:9. So relying on included layouts most -of them have is a non-starter. - -What I was doing in Gnome was having windows in a layout like the diagram -below. This is my common practice. And if you look at it you can clearly see I -was replicating tiling window manager setup in Gnome. - -![](/assets/dfd-rice/layout.png) - -That made me look into a bunch of tiling window managers and then tested them -out. Candidates I was looking at were: - -- [i3](https://i3wm.org/) -- [bspwm](https://github.com/baskerville/bspwm) -- [awesome](https://awesomewm.org/index.html) -- [XMonad](https://xmonad.org/) -- [sway](https://swaywm.org/) -- [Qtile](http://www.qtile.org/) -- [dwm](https://dwm.suckless.org/) - -You can also check article [13 Best Tiling Window Managers for -Linux](https://www.tecmint.com/best-tiling-window-managers-for-linux/) I was -referencing while testing them out. - -While all of them provided what I needed, I liked i3 the most. What particular -caught my eye was the ease to use and tree based layouts which allows flexible -layouts. I know others can be set up also to have custom layouts other than -spiral, dwindle etc. I think i3 is a good entry-level window manager for -somebody like me. - -## Batteries included - -The source for the whole thing is located on Github -https://github.com/mitjafelicijan/dfd-rice. - -Currenly included: - -- `non-free` (enables non-free packages in apt) -- `sudo` (adds sudo and adds user to sudo group) -- `essentials` (gcc, htop, zip, curl, etc...) -- `wifi` (network manager nmtui) -- `desktop` (i3, dmenu, fonts, configurations) -- `pulseaudio` (pulseaudio with pavucontrol) -- `code-editors` (vim, micro, vscode) -- `ohmybash` (make bash pretty) -- `file-managers` (mc) -- `git-ui` (terminal git gui) -- `meld` (diff tool) -- `profiling` (kcachegrind, valgrind, strace, ltrace) -- `browsers` (brave, firefox, chromium) -- programming languages: - - `python` - - `golang` - - `nodejs` - - `rust` - - `nim` - - `php` - - `ruby` -- `docker` (with docker-compose) -- `ansible` - -Install script also allows you to install only specific packages (example for: -essentials ohmybash docker rust). - -```sh -su - root \ - bash -c "$(wget -q https://raw.github.com/mitjafelicijan/dfd-rice/master/tools/install.sh -O -)" -- \ - essentials ohmybash docker rust -``` - -Currently, most of these recipes use what Debian and this is totally fine with -me since I never use bleeding edge features of a package. But if something major -would come to light, I will replace it with a possible compilation script or -something similar. - -This is some of the output from the installation script. - -![](/assets/dfd-rice/script.png) - -Let's take a look at some examples in the installation script. - -### Docker recipe - -```sh -# docker -print_header "Installing Docker" -curl -fsSL https://download.docker.com/linux/debian/gpg | gpg --yes --dearmor -o /usr/share/keyrings/docker-archive-keyring.gpg -echo "deb [arch=$(dpkg --print-architecture) signed-by=/usr/share/keyrings/docker-archive-keyring.gpg] https://download.docker.com/linux/debian $(lsb_release -cs) stable" | tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/docker.list > /dev/null -apt update -apt -y install docker-ce docker-ce-cli containerd.io docker-compose - -systemctl start docker -systemctl enable docker -systemctl status docker --no-pager - -/sbin/usermod -aG docker $USERNAME -``` - -### Making bash pretty - -I really like [Oh My Zsh](https://ohmyz.sh/), but I don't like zsh shell. When -I used it, I constantly needed to be aware of it and running bash scripts was a -pain. So, I was really delighted when I found out that a version for bash -existed called [Oh My Bash](https://ohmybash.nntoan.com/). Let's take a look at -the recipe for installing it. - -```sh -# ohmybash -print_header "Enabling OhMyBash" -sudo -u $USERNAME sh -c "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.github.com/ohmybash/oh-my-bash/master/tools/install.sh)" & -T1=${!} -wait ${T1} -``` - -Because OhMyBash does `exec bash` at the end, this traps our script inside -another shell and our script cannot continue. For that reason, I executed this -in background. But that presents a new problem. Because this is executed in -background, we lose track of progress naturally. And that strange trick with -`T1=${!}` and `wait ${T1}` waits for the background process to finish before -continuing to another task in bash script. - -Check [Multi-Threaded Processing in Bash Scripts](https://www.cloudsavvyit.com/12277/how-to-use-multi-threaded-processing-in-bash-scripts/) -for more details. - -## Conclusion - -Take a look at -https://github.com/mitjafelicijan/dfd-rice/blob/develop/tools/install.sh script -to get familiar with it. This is just a first iteration and I will continue to -update it because I need this in my life. - -The current version boots in 4s to the login prompt, and after you log in, the -desktop environment loads in 2s. So, its fast, very fast. And on clean boot, I -measured ~230 MB of RAM usage. - -And this is how it looks with two terminals side by side. I really like the -simplicity and clean interface. I will polish the colors and stuff like that, -but I really do like the results. - -![](/assets/dfd-rice/desktop.png) -- cgit v1.2.3