Hacker News new | past | comments | ask | show | jobs | submit login

Sounds like not a bad idea for the tool, but very niche.

Theoretically, something similar can be achieved with a read-only partition, or a read-only installation (e.g. Fedora Silverblue). I won’t argue that may include more competency than just throwing some ISOs at the partition. But for me, that feels like a more comfortable way of having a rescue system at hand. I have an Arch installation USB for the same reasons, to save my Arch installation if anything happens. I had been thinking of creating a separate USB with Arch installed, but I’m not sure it’s needed. As in reality all of my maintenances were to boot, chroot and update or downgrade some things. In case I need a GUI, I use a Fedora installation. I assume your scenario is more like that.




> In case I need a GUI, I use a Fedora installation. I assume your scenario is more like that.

Yes, it's just faster to boot to an installation or liveCD iso, as it's rarely needed and updating it only requires a new ISO.

Having a full installation on a separate partition is riskier (what if something writes to the partition) and more brittle (too many moving parts)




Consider applying for YC's Summer 2025 batch! Applications are open till May 13

Guidelines | FAQ | Lists | API | Security | Legal | Apply to YC | Contact

Search: