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Release cycle You should choose a distribution which stays close to the stable upstream software releases, typically rolling release distributions. This is because frozen release cycle distributions often don’t update package versions and fall behind on security updates.
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Release cycle You should choose a distribution which stays close to the stable upstream software releases, typically rolling release distributions. This is because frozen release cycle distributions often don’t update package versions and fall behind on security updates.
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For frozen distributions, package maintainers are expected to backport patches to fix vulnerabilities (Debian is one such example) rather than bump the software to the “next version” released by the upstream developer."><meta property="og:type" content="article"><meta property="og:url" content="https://privsec.dev/os/choosing-your-desktop-linux-distribution/"><meta property="article:section" content="os"><meta name=twitter:card content="summary"><meta name=twitter:title content="Choosing Your Desktop Linux Distribution"><meta name=twitter:description content="Not all Linux distributions are created equal. When choosing a Linux distribution, there are several things you need to keep in mind.
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Release cycle You should choose a distribution which stays close to the stable upstream software releases, typically rolling release distributions. This is because frozen release cycle distributions often don’t update package versions and fall behind on security updates.
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For frozen distributions, package maintainers are expected to backport patches to fix vulnerabilities (Debian is one such example) rather than bump the software to the “next version” released by the upstream developer."><script type=application/ld+json>{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Operating Systems","item":"https://privsec.dev/os/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"Choosing Your Desktop Linux Distribution","item":"https://privsec.dev/os/choosing-your-desktop-linux-distribution/"}]}</script><script type=application/ld+json>{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BlogPosting","headline":"Choosing Your Desktop Linux Distribution","name":"Choosing Your Desktop Linux Distribution","description":"Not all Linux distributions are created equal. When choosing a Linux distribution, there are several things you need to keep in mind.\nRelease cycle You should choose a distribution which stays close to the stable upstream software releases, typically rolling release distributions. This is because frozen release cycle distributions often don’t update package versions and fall behind on security updates.\nFor frozen distributions, package maintainers are expected to backport patches to fix vulnerabilities (Debian is one such example) rather than bump the software to the “next version” released by the upstream developer.","keywords":["operating system","security","linux"],"articleBody":"Not all Linux distributions are created equal. When choosing a Linux distribution, there are several things you need to keep in mind.\nRelease cycle You should choose a distribution which stays close to the stable upstream software releases, typically rolling release distributions. This is because frozen release cycle distributions often don’t update package versions and fall behind on security updates.\nFor frozen distributions, package maintainers are expected to backport patches to fix vulnerabilities (Debian is one such example) rather than bump the software to the “next version” released by the upstream developer. Some security fixes do not receive a CVE (particularly less popular software) at all and therefore do not make it into the distribution with this patching model. As a result minor security fixes are sometimes held back until the next major release.\nHolding packages back and applying interim patches is generally not a good idea, as it diverges from the way the developer might have intended the software to work. Richard Brown has a presentation about this:\nTraditional and Atomic updates Traditionally, Linux distributions update by sequentially updating the desired packages. Traditional updates such as those used in Fedora, Arch Linux, and Debian based distributions can be less reliable if an error occurs while updating.\nAtomic updating distributions apply updates in full or not at all. Typically, transactional update systems are also atomic.\nA transactional update system creates a snapshot that is made before and after an update is applied. If an update fails at any time (perhaps due to a power failure), the update can be easily rolled back to a “last known good state.\"\nAdam Šamalík has a presentation with rpm-ostree in action:\nEven if you are worried about the stability of the system because of regularly updated packages (which you shouldn’t), it makes more sense to use a system which you can safely update and rollback instead of an outdated distribution partially made up of unreliable backport packages without an easy to actually roll back in case something goes wrong like Debian.\nArch-based distributions Acrh Linux has very up to date packages with minimal downstream patching. That being said, Arch based distributions are not recommended for those new to Linux, regardless of the distribution. Arch does not have an distribution update mechanism for the underlying software choices. As a result you have to stay aware with current trends and adopt technologies as they supersede older practices on your own.\nFor a secure system, you are also expected to have sufficient Linux knowledge to properly set up security for their system such as adopting a mandatory access control system, setting up kernel module blacklists, hardening boot parameters, manipulating sysctl parameters, and knowing what components they need such as Polkit.\nIf you are experienced with Linux and wish to use an Arch-based distribution, you should use Arch Linux proper, not any of its derivatives. Here are some examples of why that is the case:\nManjaro: This distribution holds packages back for 2 weeks to make sure that their own changes do not break, not to make sure that upstream is stable. When AUR packages are used, they are often built against the latest libraries from Arch’s repositories. Garuda: They use Chaotic-AUR which automatically and blindly compiles packages from the AUR. There is no verification process to make sure that the AUR packages don’t suffer from supply chain attacks. Kicksecure While you should not use an outdated distributions like Debian, if you decide to use it, it would be a good idea to convert it into Kicksecure. Kicksecure, in oversimplified terms, is a set of scripts, configurations, and packages that substantially reduce the attack surface of Debian. It covers a lot of privacy and hardening recommendations by default.\n“Security-focused” distributions There is often some confusion about “security-focused” distributions and “pentesting” distributions. A quick search for “the most secure Linux distribution” will often give results like Kali Linux, Black Arch and Parrot OS. These distributions are offensive penetration testing distributions that bundle tools for testing other systems. They don’t include any “extra security” or defensive mitigations intended for regular use.\nLinux-libre kernel and “Libre” distributions Do not the Linux-libre kernel, since it removes security mitigations and suppresses kernel warnings about vulnerable microcode for ideological reasons.\nIf you want to use one of these distributions for reasons other than ideology, you should make sure that they there is a way to easily obtain, install and update a proper kernel and missing firmware. For example, if you are looking to use GUIX, you should absolutely use something like the Nonguix repository and get all of the fixes as mentioned above.\nWayland You should a desktop environment that supports the Wayland display protocol as it developed with security in mind. Its predecessor, X11, does not support GUI isolation, allowing all windows to record screen, log and inject inputs in other windows, making any attempt at sandboxing futile. While there are options to do nested X11 such as Xpra or Xephyr, they often come with negative performance consequences and are not convenient to set up and are not preferable over Wayland.\nFortunately, common environments such as GNOME, KDE, and the window manager Sway have support for Wayland. Some distributions like Fedora and Tumbleweed use it by default, and some others may do so in the future as X11 is in hard maintenance mode. If you’re using one of those environments it is as easy as selecting the “Wayland” session at the desktop display manager (GDM, SDDM).\nTry not to use desktop environments or window managers that do not have Wayland support such as Cinnamon (default on Linux Mint), Pantheon (default on Elementary OS), MATE, Xfce, and i3.\nGenerally good distributions Here is a quick non authoritative list of distributions that are generally better than others:\nFedora Workstation Fedora Workstation is a great general purpose Linux distribution, especially for those who are new to Linux. It is a semi-rolling release distribution. While some packages like GNOME are frozen until the next Fedora release, most packages (including the kernel) are updated frequently throughout the lifespan of the release. Each Fedora release is supported for one year, with a new version released every 6 months.\nWIth that, Fedora generally adopts newer technologies before other distributions e.g., Wayland, PipeWire, and soon, FS-Verity. These new technologies often come with improvements in security, privacy, and usability in general.\nWhile lacking transactional or atomic updates, Fedora’s package manager, dnf, has a great rollback and undo feature that is generally missing from other package managers. You can read more about it on Red Hat’s documentation.\nFedora Silverblue \u0026 Kinoite Fedora Silverblue and Fedora Kinoite are immutable variants of Fedora with a strong focus on container workflows. Silverblue comes with the GNOME desktop environment while Kinoite comes with KDE. Silverblue and Kinoite follow the same release schedule as Fedora Workstation, benefiting from the same fast updates and staying very close to upstream.\nYou can refer to the video by Adam Šamalík linked above on how these distributions work.\nopenSUSE Tumbleweed and MicroOS Fedora Workstation and Silverblue’s European counterpart. These are rolling release, fast updating distributions with transactional update using Btrfs and Snapper.\nMicroOS has a much smaller base system than Tumbleweed and mounts the running BTRFS subvomumes as read-only (hence its name and why it is considered an immutable distribution). Currently, it is still in Beta so bugs are to be expected. Nevertheless, it is an awesome project.\nWhonix Whonix is a distribution focused on anonimity based on Kicksecure. It is meant to run as two virtual machines: a “Workstation” and a Tor “Gateway.” All communications from the Workstation must go through the Tor gateway. This means that even if the Workstation is compromised by malware of some kind, the true IP address remains hidden.\nSome of its features include Tor Stream Isolation, keystroke anonymization, encrypted swap, and a hardened memory allocator.\nFuture versions of Whonix will likely include full system AppArmor policies and a sandbox app launcher to fully confine all processes on the system.\nAlthough Whonix is best used in conjunction with Qubes, Qubes-Whonix has various disadvantages when compared to other hypervisors.\nTails Tails is a live operating system based on Debian focusing on anonimity and amnesia.\nWhile it is great for counter forensics as nothing is written to the disk; it is not a hardened distribution like Whonix. It lacks many anonymity and security features that Whonix has and gets updated much less often (only once every six weeks). A Tails system that is compromised by malware may potentially bypass the transparent proxy allowing for the user to be deanonymized.\n","wordCount":"1431","inLanguage":"en","datePublished":"0001-01-01T00:00:00Z","dateModified":"0001-01-01T00:00:00Z","author":{"@type":"Person","name":"Tommy"},"mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://privsec.dev/os/choosing-your-desktop-linux-distribution/"},"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"PrivSec.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://privsec.dev/%3Clink%20/%20abs%20url%3E"}}}</script></head><body class=dark id=top><script>localStorage.getItem("pref-theme")==="light"&&document.body.classList.remove("dark")</script><header class=header><nav class=nav><div class=logo><a href=https://privsec.dev accesskey=h title="PrivSec.dev (Alt + H)">PrivSec.dev</a><div class=logo-switches><button id=theme-toggle accesskey=t title="(Alt + T)"><svg id="moon" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="24" height="18" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" stroke="currentcolor" stroke-width="2" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round"><path d="M21 12.79A9 9 0 1111.21 3 7 7 0 0021 12.79z"/></svg><svg id="sun" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="24" height="18" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" stroke="currentcolor" stroke-width="2" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round"><circle cx="12" cy="12" r="5"/><line x1="12" y1="1" x2="12" y2="3"/><line x1="12" y1="21" x2="12" y2="23"/><line x1="4.22" y1="4.22" x2="5.64" y2="5.64"/><line x1="18.36" y1="18.36" x2="19.78" y2="19.78"/><line x1="1" y1="12" x2="3" y2="12"/><line x1="21" y1="12" x2="23" y2="12"/><line x1="4.22" y1="19.78" x2="5.64" y2="18.36"/><line x1="18.36" y1="5.64" x2="19.78" y2="4.22"/></svg></button></div></div><ul id=menu><li><a href=https://privsec.dev/knowledge/ title="Knowledge Base"><span>Knowledge Base</span></a></li><li><a href=https://privsec.dev/os/ title="Operating Systems"><span>Operating Systems</span></a></li><li><a href=https://privsec.dev/apps/ title=Applications><span>Applications</span></a></li><li><a href=https://privsec.dev/providers/ title=Providers><span>Providers</span></a></li></ul></nav></header><main class=main><article class=post-single><header class=post-header><div class=breadcrumbs><a href=https://privsec.dev>Home</a> » <a href=https://privsec.dev/os/>Operating Systems</a></div><h1 class=post-title>Choosing Your Desktop Linux Distribution</h1><div class=post-meta>7 min · 1431 words · Tommy | <a href=https://github.com/PrivSec-dev/privsec.dev/blob/main/content/os/Choosing%20Your%20Desktop%20Linux%20Distribution.md rel="noopener noreferrer" target=_blank>Suggest Changes</a></div></header><div class=toc><details><summary accesskey=c title="(Alt + C)"><span class=details>Table of Contents</span></summary><div class=inner><ul><li><a href=#release-cycle aria-label="Release cycle">Release cycle</a></li><li><a href=#traditional-and-atomic-updates aria-label="Traditional and Atomic updates">Traditional and Atomic updates</a></li><li><a href=#arch-based-distributions aria-label="Arch-based distributions">Arch-based distributions</a></li><li><a href=#kicksecure aria-label=Kicksecure>Kicksecure</a></li><li><a href=#security-focused-distributions aria-label="“Security-focused” distributions">“Security-focused” distributions</a></li><li><a href=#linux-libre-kernel-and-libre-distributions aria-label="Linux-libre kernel and “Libre” distributions">Linux-libre kernel and “Libre” distributions</a></li><li><a href=#wayland aria-label=Wayland>Wayland</a></li><li><a href=#generally-good-distributions aria-label="Generally good distributions">Generally good distributions</a><ul><li><a href=#fedora-workstation aria-label="Fedora Workstation">Fedora Workstation</a></li><li><a href=#fedora-silverblue--kinoite aria-label="Fedora Silverblue &amp; Kinoite">Fedora Silverblue & Kinoite</a></li><li><a href=#opensuse-tumbleweed-and-microos aria-label="openSUSE Tumbleweed and MicroOS">openSUSE Tumbleweed and MicroOS</a></li><li><a href=#whonix aria-label=Whonix>Whonix</a></li><li><a href=#tails aria-label=Tails>Tails</a></li></ul></li></ul></div></details></div><div class=post-content><p>Not all Linux distributions are created equal. When choosing a Linux distribution, there are several things you need to keep in mind.</p><h2 id=release-cycle>Release cycle<a hidden class=anchor aria-hidden=true href=#release-cycle>#</a></h2><p>You should choose a distribution which stays close to the stable upstream software releases, typically rolling release distributions. This is because frozen release cycle distributions often don’t update package versions and fall behind on security updates.</p><p>For frozen distributions, package maintainers are expected to backport patches to fix vulnerabilities (Debian is one such <a href=https://www.debian.org/security/faq#handling>example</a>) rather than bump the software to the “next version” released by the upstream developer. Some security fixes <a href=https://arxiv.org/abs/2105.14565>do not</a> receive a <a href=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Common_Vulnerabilities_and_Exposures>CVE</a> (particularly less popular software) at all and therefore do not make it into the distribution with this patching model. As a result minor security fixes are sometimes held back until the next major release.</p><p>Holding packages back and applying interim patches is generally not a good idea, as it diverges from the way the developer might have intended the software to work. <a href=https://rootco.de/aboutme/>Richard Brown</a> has a presentation about this:</p><div style=position:relative;padding-bottom:56.25%;height:0;overflow:hidden><iframe src=https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/i8c0mg_mS7U style=position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;border:0 allowfullscreen title="YouTube Video"></iframe></div><h2 id=traditional-and-atomic-updates>Traditional and Atomic updates<a hidden class=anchor aria-hidden=true href=#traditional-and-atomic-updates>#</a></h2><p>Traditionally, Linux distributions update by sequentially updating the desired packages. Traditional updates such as those used in Fedora, Arch Linux, and Debian based distributions can be less reliable if an error occurs while updating.</p><p>Atomic updating distributions apply updates in full or not at all. Typically, transactional update systems are also atomic.</p><p>A transactional update system creates a snapshot that is made before and after an update is applied. If an update fails at any time (perhaps due to a power failure), the update can be easily rolled back to a “last known good state."</p><p><a href=https://twitter.com/adsamalik>Adam Šamalík</a> has a presentation with <code>rpm-ostree</code> in action:</p><div style=position:relative;padding-bottom:56.25%;height:0;overflow:hidden><iframe src=https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/-hpV5l-gJnQ style=position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;border:0 allowfullscreen title="YouTube Video"></iframe></div><p>Even if you are worried about the stability of the system because of regularly updated packages (which you shouldn’t), it makes more sense to use a system which you can safely update and rollback instead of an outdated distribution partially made up of unreliable backport packages without an easy to actually roll back in case something goes wrong like Debian.</p><h2 id=arch-based-distributions>Arch-based distributions<a hidden class=anchor aria-hidden=true href=#arch-based-distributions>#</a></h2><p>Acrh Linux has very up to date packages with minimal downstream patching. That being said, Arch based distributions are not recommended for those new to Linux, regardless of the distribution. Arch does not have an distribution update mechanism for the underlying software choices. As a result you have to stay aware with current trends and adopt technologies as they supersede older practices on your own.</p><p>For a secure system, you are also expected to have sufficient Linux knowledge to properly set up security for their system such as adopting a <a href=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mandatory_access_control>mandatory access control</a> system, setting up <a href=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loadable_kernel_module#Security>kernel module</a> blacklists, hardening boot parameters, manipulating <a href=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sysctl>sysctl</a> parameters, and knowing what components they need such as <a href=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polkit>Polkit</a>.</p><p>If you are experienced with Linux and wish to use an Arch-based distribution, you should use Arch Linux proper, not any of its derivatives. Here are some examples of why that is the case:</p><ul><li><strong>Manjaro</strong>: This distribution holds packages back for 2 weeks to make sure that their own changes do not break, not to make sure that upstream is stable. When AUR packages are used, they are often built against the latest <a href=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Library_(computing)>libraries</a> from Arch’s repositories.</li><li><strong>Garuda</strong>: They use <a href=https://aur.chaotic.cx/>Chaotic-AUR</a> which automatically and blindly compiles packages from the AUR. There is no verification process to make sure that the AUR packages don’t suffer from supply chain attacks.</li></ul><h2 id=kicksecure>Kicksecure<a hidden class=anchor aria-hidden=true href=#kicksecure>#</a></h2><p>While you should not use an outdated distributions like Debian, if you decide to use it, it would be a good idea to <a href=https://www.kicksecure.com/wiki/Debian>convert</a> it into <a href=https://www.kicksecure.com/>Kicksecure</a>. Kicksecure, in oversimplified terms, is a set of scripts, configurations, and packages that substantially reduce the attack surface of Debian. It covers a lot of privacy and hardening recommendations by default.</p><h2 id=security-focused-distributions>“Security-focused” distributions<a hidden class=anchor aria-hidden=true href=#security-focused-distributions>#</a></h2><p>There is often some confusion about “security-focused” distributions and “pentesting” distributions. A quick search for “the most secure Linux distribution” will often give results like Kali Linux, Black Arch and Parrot OS. These distributions are offensive penetration testing distributions that bundle tools for testing other systems. They don’t include any “extra security” or defensive mitigations intended for regular use.</p><h2 id=linux-libre-kernel-and-libre-distributions>Linux-libre kernel and “Libre” distributions<a hidden class=anchor aria-hidden=true href=#linux-libre-kernel-and-libre-distributions>#</a></h2><p><strong>Do not</strong> the Linux-libre kernel, since it <a href="https://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=GNU-Linux-Libre-5.7-Released">removes security mitigations</a> and <a href="https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29674846">suppresses kernel warnings</a> about vulnerable microcode for ideological reasons.</p><p>If you want to use one of these distributions for reasons other than ideology, you should make sure that they there is a way to easily obtain, install and update a proper kernel and missing firmware. For example, if you are looking to use <a href=https://guix.gnu.org/en/download/>GUIX</a>, you should absolutely use something like the <a href=https://gitlab.com/nonguix/nonguix>Nonguix</a> repository and get all of the fixes as mentioned above.</p><h2 id=wayland>Wayland<a hidden class=anchor aria-hidden=true href=#wayland>#</a></h2><p>You should a desktop environment that supports the <a href=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wayland_(display_server_protocol)>Wayland</a> display protocol as it developed with security <a href=https://lwn.net/Articles/589147/>in mind</a>. Its predecessor, <a href=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/X_Window_System>X11</a>, does not support GUI isolation, allowing all windows to <a href=https://blog.invisiblethings.org/2011/04/23/linux-security-circus-on-gui-isolation.html>record screen, log and inject inputs in other windows</a>, making any attempt at sandboxing futile. While there are options to do nested X11 such as <a href=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xpra>Xpra</a> or <a href=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xephyr>Xephyr</a>, they often come with negative performance consequences and are not convenient to set up and are not preferable over Wayland.</p><p>Fortunately, common environments such as <a href=https://www.gnome.org>GNOME</a>, <a href=https://kde.org>KDE</a>, and the window manager <a href=https://swaywm.org>Sway</a> have support for Wayland. Some distributions like Fedora and Tumbleweed use it by default, and some others may do so in the future as X11 is in <a href="https://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=X.Org-Maintenance-Mode-Quickly">hard maintenance mode</a>. If you’re using one of those environments it is as easy as selecting the “Wayland” session at the desktop display manager (<a href=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GNOME_Display_Manager>GDM</a>, <a href=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simple_Desktop_Display_Manager>SDDM</a>).</p><p>Try <strong>not</strong> to use desktop environments or window managers that do not have Wayland support such as Cinnamon (default on Linux Mint), Pantheon (default on Elementary OS), MATE, Xfce, and i3.</p><h2 id=generally-good-distributions>Generally good distributions<a hidden class=anchor aria-hidden=true href=#generally-good-distributions>#</a></h2><p>Here is a quick non authoritative list of distributions that are generally better than others:</p><h3 id=fedora-workstation>Fedora Workstation<a hidden class=anchor aria-hidden=true href=#fedora-workstation>#</a></h3><p><img loading=lazy src=/fedora-screenshot.png alt=Fedora></p><p>Fedora Workstation is a great general purpose Linux distribution, especially for those who are new to Linux. It is a semi-rolling release distribution. While some packages like GNOME are frozen until the next Fedora release, most packages (including the kernel) are updated frequently throughout the lifespan of the release. Each Fedora release is supported for one year, with a new version released every 6 months.</p><p>WIth that, Fedora generally adopts newer technologies before other distributions e.g., <a href=https://wayland.freedesktop.org/>Wayland</a>, <a href=https://pipewire.org/>PipeWire</a>, and soon, <a href=https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Changes/FsVerityRPM>FS-Verity</a>. These new technologies often come with improvements in security, privacy, and usability in general.</p><p>While lacking transactional or atomic updates, Fedora’s package manager, <code>dnf</code>, has a great rollback and undo feature that is generally missing from other package managers. You can read more about it on <a href=https://access.redhat.com/documentation/en-us/red_hat_enterprise_linux/9/html/managing_software_with_the_dnf_tool/assembly_handling-package-management-history_managing-software-with-the-dnf-tool>Red Hat’s documentation</a>.</p><h3 id=fedora-silverblue--kinoite>Fedora Silverblue & Kinoite<a hidden class=anchor aria-hidden=true href=#fedora-silverblue--kinoite>#</a></h3><p>Fedora Silverblue and Fedora Kinoite are immutable variants of Fedora with a strong focus on container workflows. Silverblue comes with the <a href=https://www.gnome.org/>GNOME</a> desktop environment while Kinoite comes with <a href=https://kde.org/>KDE</a>. Silverblue and Kinoite follow the same release schedule as Fedora Workstation, benefiting from the same fast updates and staying very close to upstream.</p><p>You can refer to the video by <a href=https://twitter.com/adsamalik>Adam Šamalík</a> linked <a href=#traditional-and-atomic-updates>above</a> on how these distributions work.</p><h3 id=opensuse-tumbleweed-and-microos>openSUSE Tumbleweed and MicroOS<a hidden class=anchor aria-hidden=true href=#opensuse-tumbleweed-and-microos>#</a></h3><p>Fedora Workstation and Silverblue’s European counterpart. These are rolling release, fast updating distributions with <a href=https://kubic.opensuse.org/blog/2018-04-04-transactionalupdates/>transactional update</a> using <a href=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Btrfs>Btrfs</a> and <a href=https://en.opensuse.org/openSUSE:Snapper_Tutorial>Snapper</a>.</p><p>MicroOS has a much smaller base system than Tumbleweed and mounts the running BTRFS subvomumes as read-only (hence its name and why it is considered an immutable distribution). Currently, it is still in Beta so bugs are to be expected. Nevertheless, it is an awesome project.</p><div style=position:relative;padding-bottom:56.25%;height:0;overflow:hidden><iframe src=https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/jcl_4Vh6qP4 style=position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;border:0 allowfullscreen title="YouTube Video"></iframe></div><h3 id=whonix>Whonix<a hidden class=anchor aria-hidden=true href=#whonix>#</a></h3><p>Whonix is a distribution focused on anonimity based on <a href=https://www.whonix.org/wiki/Kicksecure>Kicksecure</a>. It is meant to run as two virtual machines: a “Workstation” and a Tor “Gateway.” All communications from the Workstation must go through the Tor gateway. This means that even if the Workstation is compromised by malware of some kind, the true IP address remains hidden.</p><p>Some of its features include Tor Stream Isolation, <a href=https://www.whonix.org/wiki/Keystroke_Deanonymization#Kloak>keystroke anonymization</a>, <a href=https://github.com/Whonix/swap-file-creator>encrypted swap</a>, and a hardened memory allocator.</p><p>Future versions of Whonix will likely include <a href=https://github.com/Whonix/apparmor-profile-everything>full system AppArmor policies</a> and a <a href=https://www.whonix.org/wiki/Sandbox-app-launcher>sandbox app launcher</a> to fully confine all processes on the system.</p><p>Although Whonix is best used <a href=https://www.whonix.org/wiki/Qubes/Why_use_Qubes_over_other_Virtualizers>in conjunction with Qubes</a>, Qubes-Whonix has <a href=https://forums.whonix.org/t/qubes-whonix-security-disadvantages-help-wanted/8581>various disadvantages</a> when compared to other hypervisors.</p><h3 id=tails>Tails<a hidden class=anchor aria-hidden=true href=#tails>#</a></h3><p>Tails is a live operating system based on Debian focusing on anonimity and amnesia.</p><p>While it is great for counter forensics as nothing is written to the disk; it is not a hardened distribution like Whonix. It lacks many anonymity and security features that Whonix has and gets updated much less often (only once every six weeks). A Tails system that is compromised by malware may potentially bypass the transparent proxy allowing for the user to be deanonymized.</p></div><footer class=post-footer><ul class=post-tags><li><a href=https://privsec.dev/tags/operating-system/>operating system</a></li><li><a href=https://privsec.dev/tags/security/>security</a></li><li><a href=https://privsec.dev/tags/linux/>linux</a></li></ul><nav class=paginav><a class=next href=https://privsec.dev/os/docker-and-oci-hardening/><span class=title>Next »</span><br><span>Docker and OCI Hardening</span></a></nav></footer></article></main><footer class=footer><span>© 2022 <a href=https://privsec.dev>PrivSec.dev</a></span>
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