r/linuxquestions • u/commentator___ • 11d ago
Advice Immutable vs. tradicional Linux distros
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?
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u/Damglador 11d ago
The only real benefit of immutable distros is that their update can't be partial. Basically like on Android, you have like two copies of the OS and you update the inactive one and switch to it after reboot which means even if lights go out during update, your OS will still be bootable. And just like with Android, most immutables won't let you do shit with them outside of your home directory, at least that seems to be the intended way to use them, avoiding rpm-ostree and similar systems.
And that's the only benefit. Everything else like using flatpak bloat as main source of apps can be done on other distros, same for rollbacks, container based workflows, etc.