The Linux Ship of Theseus

  1. pick any distro and install it.

  2. Then, without installing another distro over the top of it, slowly convert it into another distro by replacing package managers, installed packages, and configurations.

System must be usable and fully native to the new distro (all old packages replaced with new ones).

No flatpaks, avoid snaps where physically possible, native packages only.

EDIT: Some clarification on some of the clever tools brought up here:

chroot, dd, debootstrap, and partition editors that allow you to install the new system in an empty container or blanket-overwrite the old system go against the spirit of this challenge.

These are very useful and valid tools under a normal context and I strongly recommend learning them.

You can use them if you prefer, but The ship of Theseus was replaced one board at a time. We are trying to avoid dropping a new ship in the harbor and tugging the old one out.

It may however be a good idea to use them to test out the target system in a safe environment as you perform the migration back in the real root, so you have a reference to go by.

Easy: pick two similar distros, such as Ubuntu and Debian or Manjaro and Arch and go from the base to the derivative.

Medium: Same as easy but go from the derivative to the base.

Hard: Pick two disparate distros like Debian and Artix and go from one to the other.

Nightmare: Make a self-compiled distro your target.

    • merthyr1831@lemmy.mlEnglish
      2·
      3 months ago

      Not quite the same but you might like the Linux from Nothing series, building out a Linux install from first principles.

      Obviously lots of linux youtubers have done videos on linux from scratch too but the step by step nature is pretty enjoyable to watch.

    • sasquash@sopuli.xyz
      1·
      3 months ago

      Reminds me of MattKC, a guy on YouTube who does similar stuff. He ported the .Net framework to win95. very interesting videos, if think this challenge would be exactly his type.

  • 𝕽𝖚𝖆𝖎𝖉𝖍𝖗𝖎𝖌𝖍@midwest.social
    1·
    3 months ago

    I’ve done the Arch to Artix. It wasn’t hard, per se, but it took a while. I think that should be Medium, because Artix isn’t just an Arch derivative.

    In fact, might I suggest a different way of looking at the difficulties?

    • Replacing the package manager: Hard.
    • Replacing the package manager without a live USB: Extreme.
    • Going from a basic systemd-based distro (init, log, cron) to anything else: Hard
    • Going from a systemd distro that’s bought into the entire systemd stack, including home and boot: Extreme
    • Going from one init to another: Medium
    • Changing boot systems: grub to UEFI, for example: Easy.
    • Replacing all GNU tools with other things: Extreme (mainly because of script expectations).

    And so on. You get 1 point for Easy, 2 for Medium, 4 for Hard, and 8 for Extreme. Add 'em up, go for a high score.

    I don’t think rolling your own is that hard, TBH, unless you’re expected to also build a package manager. If maintaining it would be harder than building it.

  • Go-On-A-Steam-Train@lemmy.ml
    1·
    3 months ago

    I “broke” linux mint just by trying to pop KDE on, had to timeshift because it messed up my keyboard layout and a whole bunch of other things with my display.

    I don’t know how people do these crazy changes without pain, and have a feeling the answer is simply “there’s pain” 😂

  • Overspark@feddit.nl
    1·
    3 months ago

    I once switched from Debian i386 to amd64 in-place. That was MUCH harder than you would expect, I guess somewhere between medium and hard in your list. That server is still running that install btw, so in the end it all worked out.

  • BeardedGingerWonder@feddit.ukEnglish
    0·
    3 months ago

    Love the idea of the challenge, my issue would be lack of a validator tool to confirm I’d completed the challenge - any suggestions?

    • Madagaskar_sky@lemmy.world
      1·
      3 months ago

      You use the new franken system to do an update to the new version of that distro’s flavour without bricking the system.