In reply to <a href="https://pointieststick.com/2025/10/25/kde-linux-deep-dive-package-management-is-amazing-which-is-why-we-dont-include-it/comment-page-1/#comment-40615">tuxflo</a>. Yeah, I was mostly talking about the "traditional" distros that use package managers based on deb/RPM/pacman, etc. I don't have any experience with Nix, but from what I have seen so far, the technology is as impressive as the user interface to control it is intimidating! 
...
In reply to <a href="https://pointieststick.com/2025/10/25/kde-linux-deep-dive-package-management-is-amazing-which-is-why-we-dont-include-it/comment-page-1/#comment-40617">drew070</a>. About 5.2 GB. See https://files.kde.org/kde-linux/?C=M;O=D...
In reply to <a href="https://pointieststick.com/2025/10/25/kde-linux-deep-dive-package-management-is-amazing-which-is-why-we-dont-include-it/comment-page-1/#comment-40610">aqua</a>. <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>I'd agree that Kinoite could of been a solid base for KDE Linux</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:list --> <ul class="wp-block-list"><!-- wp:list-item --> <li>Immutable but file-system agnostic</li> <!-- /wp:list-item --> <!-- wp:list-item --> <li>Vast possibilities for branching (switching between Testing, Unstable, Stable is a matter of rpm-ostree rebase)</li> <!-- /wp:list-item --> <!-- wp:list-item --> <li>Allows user rebasing to some image from a long time</li> <!-- /wp:list-item --> <!-- wp:list-item --> <li>Allows usere to arbitrarily pin images (more than 3 if the /boot partition is large enough)</li> <!-- /wp:list-item --> <!-- wp:list-item --> <li>Allows users to overlay packages (so potentially less hassle with the proprietary stuff) as well as replace image packages</li> <!-- /wp:list-item --></ul> <!-- /wp:list --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Kinoite has some technical issues though:</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:list --> <ul class="wp-block-list"><!-- wp:list-item --> <li>Relience over RPMFusion for codecs and drivers (yes, even for the AMD hardware). Sometimes RPMFusion packages lag behind mainline, so other packages can't be updated due to conflitcts (which means that the new image can't be built as well)</li> <!-- /wp:list-item --> <!-- wp:list-item --> <li>Massive package overlaying (e.g., with installing virt-manager) makes system updates VERY slow</li> <!-- /wp:list-item --> <!-- wp:list-item --> <li>Some Fedora defaults need to be changed for KDE software (e.g., set HISTCONTROL=ignoreboth for the built-in Dolphin terminal)</li> <!-- /wp:list-item --> <!-- wp:list-item --> <li>Need to rebase each year</li> <!-- /wp:list-item --></ul> <!-- /wp:list --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>However, as we've seen with the Universal Blue projects, all these problems can be solved for the user.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph -->...
<!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>how big is one image if it includes so many things?</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph -->...
<!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Thanks, I found this both informative and entertaining to read!</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>I find interesting that you mentioned the Arch base and freeze of the packages. I have some trouble understanding it: would the update cadence be the same as Arch? I wonder this because, for example, the Linux kernel, because I tend to use somewhat older hardware and may not benefit much for the “regular” release. (compared to an LTS kernel, that it's packaged in the Arch repos, if I am not mistaken). But I totally understand the need to support/test newer hardware!</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Another reason I pointed out the cadence, was because of the network usage while downloading a new OS image, because in the wiki it mentions about delta updates not being implemented into KDE Linux update mechanism, at the moment. This is one of my main “concerns” with not using package-based distros. (Full disclosure, I use Linux Mint 
so the system updates seems "leaner" and the flatpak updates seems “heavier”, especially runtimes. I do wonder if flatpak/flathubs offer delta updates?)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>With that being said, I hope to do a test run of a image-based OS in “real” hardware in a few months.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph -->...
<!-- wp:quote --> <blockquote><!-- wp:paragraph --> No installation of a package-based operating system can be guaranteed to have the same set of system software and libraries as any other one. <!-- /wp:paragraph --></blockquote> <!-- /wp:quote --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> This isn't true. I don't want to be the "Nix/NixOS fanboy" again, but this is exactly the one reason why nix based package management is superior to all the other stuff. In nix: if it works on my machine, you can be sure that it works on other ones too. <!-- /wp:paragraph -->...
In reply to <a href="https://pointieststick.com/2025/10/25/kde-linux-deep-dive-package-management-is-amazing-which-is-why-we-dont-include-it/comment-page-1/#comment-40613">river</a>. I don't think KDE Linux is going to kill off Debian, Ubuntu, openSUSE, Fedora, Gentoo, etc. The idea is to provide a more vertically integrated product for those who want that. There's demand from OEMs and institutions who like what KDE is doing, and a need with KDE neon fading out...
Forgive me for asking the obvious question but what's the end goal here for KDE Linux? Be a general purpose Linux distribution of KDE/Plasma flavor in opposition to Gnome one? If these are the plans for both projects then what will happen to other distributions? Will we'll be slowly heading towards some bipolar homogenization of Linux world? For quite some time I'm having this weird feeling that Gnome tries to appeal to business world by hands of people within the project who willingly or not are pushing all this simplified approach to the interface. People in various places online are also pointing out that this community acts in a really hostile way towards ordinary users and feedback they're giving. So again, what's your plans? Be another flavor people could pick from or something bigger?...
<!-- wp:quote --> <blockquote class="wp-block-quote"><!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>I 100% recommend <a href="https://fedoraproject.org/kde/" rel="nofollow ugc">Fedora KDE</a> to anyone who wants a good experience with a GUI-focused package-based operating system.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --></blockquote> <!-- /wp:quote --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Fedora KDE is really great, but it's not without packaging issues. There has been the attempt to upgrade protobuf for now two years, but it got again postponed to F44. [1]</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Protobuf is a dependency for many other packages, that means, those packages are older than on Debian. For an incomplete list, please see the discussion link. Fortunately some apps can be replaced by Flatpaks, but not all. Let's cross our fingers, that this issue finally gets resolved in the next release.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[1] <a href="https://discussion.fedoraproject.org/t/f44-change-proposal-protobuf-5-x-6-x-system-wide/140620" rel="nofollow ugc">https://discussion.fedoraproject.org/t/f44-change-proposal-protobuf-5-x-6-x-system-wide/140620</a></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph -->...
<!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>On Plasma 6.5, I'm forced to install Flatpak, even though I don't use it. This is not amazing at all.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph -->...