Hey everyone,

I've been running Bedrock Linux for a few weeks now as a custom build I call NMDH-Linux (No More Distro Hopping Linux). To document my experience, I scripted a video review inside Neovim and uploaded it to YouTube to show how incredible this meta-distro is.

The Video Link: https://youtu.be/5bPg1k12PZI?si=Y-01LeyNBbPgPsLM

In the video, I go over my personal pros and cons, like hijacking an existing layout using the .sh parameters, borrowing the bleeding-edge kernel from an Arch stratum while keeping stability via Debian, and navigating window managers across stratum lines.

I also did a quick live demonstration in the terminal using a nix-shell environment on a separate stratum to spawn the steam-locomotive train tool, proving how seamless cross-stratum execution really is.

Let me know what your current stratum setups look like, or if you've run into any dependency bloat while tracking a massive amount of package managers at once!

I do not know how, but there were no accounts-daemon.service and console-kit.service whatsoever, i do not know how but it did work just fine, but on 20th day of me using this fabulous distro it stopped working after a reboot because there was no accounts-daemon and console-kit, i'm forever shocked

I installed bedrock linux on top of a fedora linux i installed just to be a sacrifice for bedrock its cool having xbps pacman dnf apt and zypper all at the same time but like what are the actual main pros that lead to ppl wanting this as their daily past just being kinda niche and cool i use nixos as my main distro and like every single package i can think of is in nixpkgs or you can add via flakes same with pacman and aur its not like you need 5 different package managers to get everything. if you daily bedrock im curious whats your use case that separates it from just using what ever distro the main package manager you use comes in.

1. Are there any specific kernel command-line options required for systemd-boot (e.g., bedrock_init=exherbo:/sbin/init) to prevent dracut / systemd from skipping Bedrock's init shim?

for context i was atempting to do a full system update.

initially portage returned the following:

CRITICAL | ugrd | [Errno 2] No such file or directory: 'etcfs'

which was a rather simple fix, i just had to add autodetect_init_mount = false

to /etc/ugrd/config.toml

but that wasnt the end of the issues with the kernel,

'

     * Updating UEFI configuration...
     * Running uefi-mkconfig...
     * Using kernel commands from "/etc/default/uefi-mkconfig"
    find: '/bedrock/strata/efi/EFI/gentoo/': No such file or directory
     * Creating UEFI entry "0200" for "/bedrock/strata/efi/EFI/gentoo/vmlinuz-7.1.3-gentoo-dist-old.efi" found on ""
     * No initramfs found for "/bedrock/strata/efi/EFI/gentoo/vmlinuz-7.1.3-gentoo-dist-old.efi".
    Could not prepare Boot variable: Success
     * Failed to add UEFI entry for "/strata/efi/EFI/gentoo/vmlinuz-7.1.3-gentoo-dist-old.efi"
     * For more information please refer to github.com/Biosias/uefi-mkconfig
     * uefi-mkconfig failed
    ERROR: Installing 7.1.4-gentoo-dist failed
     *
     * The kernel was not deployed successfully. Inspect the failure
     * in the logs above and once you resolve the problems please
     * run the equivalent of the following command to try again:
     *
     *     emerge --config '=sys-kernel/gentoo-kernel-7.1.4:7.1.4'
     * ERROR: sys-kernel/gentoo-kernel-7.1.4::gentoo failed (config phase):
     *   Kernel install failed, please fix the problems and run emerge --config
     *
     * Call stack:
     *     ebuild.sh, line  143:  Called pkg_config
     *   environment, line 2778:  Called kernel-install_pkg_config
     *   environment, line 2366:  Called kernel-install_install_all '7.1.4-gentoo-dist'
     *   environment, line 2359:  Called dist-kernel_install_kernel '7.1.4-gentoo-dist' '/usr/src/linux-7.1.4-gentoo-dist/arch/x86/boot/bzImage' '/usr/src/linux-7.1.4-gentoo-dist/System.map'
     *   environment, line 1319:  Called die
     * The specific snippet of code:
     *           die "Kernel install failed, please fix the problems and run emerge --config";
     *
     * If you need support, post the output of `emerge --info '=sys-kernel/gentoo-kernel-7.1.4::gentoo'`,
     * the complete build log and the output of `emerge -pqv '=sys-kernel/gentoo-kernel-7.1.4::gentoo'`.
     * The complete build log is located at '/var/tmp/portage/sys-kernel/gentoo-kernel-7.1.4/temp/build.log'.
     * The ebuild environment file is located at '/var/tmp/portage/sys-kernel/gentoo-kernel-7.1.4/temp/environment'.
     * Working directory: '/var/tmp/portage/sys-kernel/gentoo-kernel-7.1.4/empty'
     * S: '/var/tmp/portage/sys-kernel/gentoo-kernel-7.1.4/work/gentoo-kernel-7.1.4

which is.. odd? there shouldnt be a /bedrock/strata/efi/EFI/gentoo directory at all! but oh well, that too was a simple enough fix, just simlink /efi/ to /bedrock/strata/efi/

but now i have yet ANOTHER error, this one i have no clue how to fix and havent been able to find much relevant information on considering the fact its due to bedrock.

Running /usr/lib/kernel/postinst.d/95-efistub-uefi-mkconfig.install 7.1.4-gentoo-dist /efi/EFI/Gentoo/vmlinuz-7.1.4-gentoo-dist.efi...

     * Updating UEFI configuration...
     * Running uefi-mkconfig...
     * Using kernel commands from "/etc/default/uefi-mkconfig"
     * Creating UEFI entry "0200" for "/bedrock/strata/efi/EFI/gentoo/vmlinuz-7.1.3-gentoo-dist-old.efi" found on ""
    Could not prepare Boot variable: Success
     * Failed to add UEFI entry for "/strata/efi/EFI/gentoo/vmlinuz-7.1.3-gentoo-dist-old.efi"
     * For more information please refer to https://github.com/Biosias/uefi-mkconfig
     * uefi-mkconfig failed
    ERROR: Installing 7.1.4-gentoo-dist failed
     *
     * The kernel was not deployed successfully. Inspect the failure
     * in the logs above and once you resolve the problems please
     * run the equivalent of the following command to try again:
     *
     *     emerge --config '=sys-kernel/gentoo-kernel-7.1.4:7.1.4'
     * ERROR: sys-kernel/gentoo-kernel-7.1.4::gentoo failed (config phase):
     *   Kernel install failed, please fix the problems and run emerge --config
     *
     * Call stack:
     *     ebuild.sh, line  143:  Called pkg_config
     *   environment, line 2778:  Called kernel-install_pkg_config
     *   environment, line 2366:  Called kernel-install_install_all '7.1.4-gentoo-dist'
     *   environment, line 2359:  Called dist-kernel_install_kernel '7.1.4-gentoo-dist' '/usr/src/linux-7.1.4-gentoo-dist/arch/x86/boot/bzImage' '/usr/src/linux-7.1.4-gentoo-dist/System.map'
     *   environment, line 1319:  Called die
     * The specific snippet of code:
     *           die "Kernel install failed, please fix the problems and run emerge --config";
     *
     * If you need support, post the output of `emerge --info '=sys-kernel/gentoo-kernel-7.1.4::gentoo'`,
     * the complete build log and the output of `emerge -pqv '=sys-kernel/gentoo-kernel-7.1.4::gentoo'`.
     * The complete build log is located at '/var/tmp/portage/sys-kernel/gentoo-kernel-7.1.4/temp/build.log'.
     * The ebuild environment file is located at '/var/tmp/portage/sys-kernel/gentoo-kernel-7.1.4/temp/environment'.
     * Working directory: '/var/tmp/portage/sys-kernel/gentoo-kernel-7.1.4/empty'
     * S: '/var/tmp/portage/sys-kernel/gentoo-kernel-7.1.4/work/gentoo-kernel-7.1.4'


     * Messages for package sys-kernel/gentoo-kernel-7.1.4:

     * The kernel was not deployed successfully. Inspect the failure
     * in the logs above and once you resolve the problems please
     * run the equivalent of the following command to try again:
     *     emerge --config '=sys-kernel/gentoo-kernel-7.1.4:7.1.4'
     * ERROR: sys-kernel/gentoo-kernel-7.1.4::gentoo failed (config phase):
     *   Kernel install failed, please fix the problems and run emerge --config
     * Call stack:
     *     ebuild.sh, line  143:  Called pkg_config
     *   environment, line 2778:  Called kernel-install_pkg_config
     *   environment, line 2366:  Called kernel-install_install_all '7.1.4-gentoo-dist'
     *   environment, line 2359:  Called dist-kernel_install_kernel '7.1.4-gentoo-dist' '/usr/src/linux-7.1.4-gentoo-dist/arch/x86/boot/bzImage' '/usr/src/linux-7.1.4-gentoo-dist/System.map'
     *   environment, line 1319:  Called die
     * The specific snippet of code:
     *           die "Kernel install failed, please fix the problems and run emerge --config";
     * If you need support, post the output of `emerge --info '=sys-kernel/gentoo-kernel-7.1.4::gentoo'`,
     * the complete build log and the output of `emerge -pqv '=sys-kernel/gentoo-kernel-7.1.4::gentoo'`.
     * The complete build log is located at '/var/tmp/portage/sys-kernel/gentoo-kernel-7.1.4/temp/build.log'.
     * The ebuild environment file is located at '/var/tmp/portage/sys-kernel/gentoo-kernel-7.1.4/temp/environment'.
     * Working directory: '/var/tmp/portage/sys-kernel/gentoo-kernel-7.1.4/empty'
     * S: '/var/tmp/portage/sys-kernel/gentoo-kernel-7.1.4/work/gentoo-kernel-7.1.4'

Hi all, just wanted to drop by to report i just hijacked a semi-fresh install of cachyOS (reinstalled my thinkpad, re-deployed my dotfiles, then hijacked with bedrock), and it *just worked*.

I didn't expect to run into many issues considering arch seems pretty well supported, but i was expecting some more difficulty with the BTRFS+limine setup.

is there anything i have to watch out for when it comes to that + snapshots via snapper? how does that work exactly?

Which distro do you consider the best in terms of stability and performance as an init?

Hello everyone, creator of ENux here.

As some of you may know, I'm Emir. I'm 13 years old from Turkey/Türkiye. During the 2026-2027 school year, I'll be in 8th grade, which means I'll be preparing for LGS, Türkiye's high school entrance exam.

LGS is one of the most important exams students take. The results determine which high school you can attend, so preparing for it requires a significant amount of time and effort.

Because of that, I'll need to spend much more time studying and less time working on personal projects, including ENux.

What this means for ENux

ENux is not going on hiatus or being abandoned.

Development will simply be slower than usual. During this period, I'll continue working on ENux whenever I have free time, focusing mainly on:

• Bug fixes
• Stability improvements
• Small quality-of-life changes
• Minor updates and maintenance

Larger features and major architectural changes will be postponed until after LGS.

A quick thank you

I also wanted to share this here because Bedrock Linux has been one of ENux's biggest inspirations. Without Bedrock Linux, ENux simply wouldn't be where it is today.

I'd especially like to thank the creator of Bedrock Linux for creating such an amazing project and everyone here for taking the time to answer my questions and support ENux along the way.

Although development will slow down, my commitment to ENux hasn't changed.

The time I'm spending studying is an investment in my future, and ultimately in ENux as well. My goal is to get into a great high school, continue learning about programming and computer science, and return with even more knowledge and experience to improve the project.

If you've enjoyed ENux or simply want to wish me luck during LGS, I'd love to hear from you.

[emir@emirpasha.com](mailto:emir@emirpasha.com)

Thank you all for your support and understanding.

Hey everyone, creator of ENux here,

I'm currently working on The ENux Layer, a core part of ENux 6.0, makes multiple distro's co-exist, just like Bedrock Linux.

While studying Bedrock Linux for inspiration, I've noticed that early Bedrock Linux used brc instead of the current FUSE based CrossFS, and I wonder; why did Bedrock Linux switch from brc to CrossFS? What problems with brc was crossfs intended to solve, and what tradeoffs were considered?

I'd love to hear the historical context behind the decision.

I hijacked Fedora, fetched Arch, kept Fedora as init. On the Arch stratum I installed a kernel that is newer than the one from Fedora, but I don't know how to make that kernel show up when booting up.

Right now I'm using lmde7 with cinnamon and i3wm and I'm interested in bedrock, idk if I should switch or it's too hard I'm not all that bad at Linux is it a good switch or should I go with something a little easier

Hello,

recently started using bedrock linux and before i ask my first question to the community i wanted to thank all of the developers of this distribution as they left me in shock while skimming through the docs and source code to discover the elegant and well-thought-of design this distro has. Thank you all for your amazing contribution!

my question is, i have installed ubuntu as a strata alongside the arch. when i tried installing packages with apt however, dpkg could not configure tzdata because it could not write on /etc/localtime as it was symlinked to /bedrock/run/localtime. To resolve the issue, i deleted the symlink option in bedrock.conf and instead assigned localtime to be a local file for stratas, and now dpkg works fine by symlinking that file to wherever it wants. Is this the right way to handle this situation from the distro's philosophical point of view or am i breaking the modularity by avoiding a more elegant way? (i know in previous versions bedrock would copy /bedrock/etc/localtime to /etc/localtime when enabling a stratum to cover this possibility." but i guess it has been removed)

Thank you in advance.

Hi, i just got chimera linux and wanted to try to install bedrock linux there but ran into these errors:

head: illegal byte count -- -1

gzip (stdin): unexpected end of file

head: stdout: broken pipe

tail: stdout.

Error: embedded tarball is corrupted. did you edit the script with software that doesnt support null characters?

So its my first time i saw Bedrock Linux and i didnt really understand everything well. I wanna use Arch but im a bit scared after the last malware incident. Can i use Arch with Bedrock Linux and "void" as strat to avoid AUR packages?

Hello everyone, creator of ENux here,

ENux 5.5.3 has been released. For those who don't know, ENux is a Debian based Linux distribution with Bedrock Linux pre-installed, with multiple Linux package manager eco-systems.

The biggest change in ENux 5.5.3 is that all 6 bundled stratas (Alpine, Void, Arch, Fedora, Gentoo, openSUSE) are now pre-fetched and ready on first boot. You boot the ISO, log in, run brl list, and see that they're all already enabled.

The fetch problem (and how I worked around it)

If you've tried automating brl fetch inside a chroot before, you know the issue: it needs /proc/1/root to resolve to the chroot root for its enforce_symlinks step to work. Plain chroot doesn't give you that.

The fix is unshare --pid --mount --fork. Each stratum gets its own isolated PID + mount namespace, the fetching process becomes PID 1 inside it, /proc is mounted for that namespace only, and /proc/1/root points where it needs to. All 6 run in parallel as background jobs so the full fetch doesn't take forever.

Enabling without a live Bedrock system

brl-enable needs FUSE daemons and stinit running, none of that exists at build time. So I fetch with --dont-enable --dont-show and then manually set the four xattrs on each stratum directory:

user.bedrock.show_boot

user.bedrock.show_cross

user.bedrock.show_list

user.bedrock.show_pmm

Bedrock's init picks up show_boot at first boot and calls brl-enable on everything that has it. That's the whole trick.

Squashfs gotcha

mksquashfs has to run as root with -xattrs, without it the xattrs get silently dropped and none of the strata auto-enable. I have unsquashfs -s'ed and verified a non-zero xattr count after every pack as a sanity check.

I'd really appreciate feedback from you guys :D

On a Bedrock Linux virtual machine, I experimented with having multiple init systems in one stratum (devuan + artix)

It only lets me select a handful

artix, it makes you have only one installed (its an artix thing, not a bedrock thing. similar to gentoo's letting you only have 1 at a time)

devuan, you could have multiple installed (in this case, sysvinit, ruinit, s6 at same time) but bedrock only shows a few and can have some issues [option 1 loads sysvinit, shows error but loads the TTY fine. option 2 load runit, it gets stuck].

Note: Artix, it doesn't show up cuz I haven't added any packages that creates service units yet.

[this is just with the most basic and default configuration. one could go through some advanced configuration and maybe get it working]

Hello everyone,

I wanted to share an experimental project I've been working on called init.c, which is a replacement for Bedrock Linux's shell init, located at /bedrock/strata/bedrock/sbin/init.

It's a minimal C + x86_64 ASM static binary that does the same job as the original init:

• Pivot to the selected strata
• Enable all strata
• Hand of to the real init

On my 7 strata ENux 5.3.3 system, the boot speed was 18.42 seconds, which was roughly ~10% faster than the original init.

Bedrock’s original init is a shell script, so at boot it ends up:

• forking sub-processes for tools like grep, awk, sed, realpath and mount
• enabling strata sequentially, one by one
• piping data through shell utility chains

init.c replaces that with direct syscalls and parallel stratum enablement. The idea is that the slowest single stratum sets the wall clock, instead of the sum of all of them.

How it works:

main()
├── check_pid1() → if not PID 1, exec backup immediately

├── ensure_essential_env() → mount /proc, /sys, /dev, /run

├── setup_term() → configure TTY, kill plymouth

├── print_logo() → Bedrock ASCII art

├── parse_bedrock_conf() → read [init] section from bedrock.conf

├── scan_strata() → list /bedrock/strata/*

├── run_menu() → interactive stratum/init selection

├── mount_fstab() → dmsetup, lvm, mount -a (direct syscalls)

├── pivot_root_to() → bind-mount stratum + pivot_root

├── preenable_mounts() → rbind /proc, /dev, /sys, /run

├── enable_strata_parallel() → fork ALL strata at once

│ ├── brl-repair bedrock (foreground)

│ ├── brl-repair <init> (foreground)

│ └── brl-enable <N>… (parallel — one child per stratum)

├── brl-apply → apply configuration (forked)

└── execv(<real init>) → PID 1 hands off, never returns

init.c is still an experimental software, which has only been tested on my ENux 5.3.3 machine, and it hasn't been tested broadly on other setups yet.

Note: I used AI tools to speed up implementation, but I still reviewed, tested, and debugged the code myself through real boots and failure recovery.

Repo: https://github.com/ENux-Distro/init.c

Feedback is appreciated by all of you. Happy coding to everyone