Odyssey Linux — a Void-based distro trying to make no-systemd approachable (with a verifiable supply chain)

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Hi everyone,

Hayden invited me to showcase this here, so : hi.

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I’ve spent the last 14 months building Odyssey Linux, an independent, Void-based, systemd-free rolling distribution. The elevator pitch: Void with runit, made approachable. A polished Calamares installer, multiple desktops and window managers (KDE, XFCE, Niri, Hyprland, Labwc, Mango), and a graphical Control Center for AppArmor, firewall and services — so you don’t have to touch a terminal for the things that traditionally require one.

The part I’m proudest of is on the security side. After the AUR compromise, I felt the independent-distro world owed its users a better trust model. Every Odyssey ISO and package is dual-signed (RSA 4096 + ECDSA cosign), logged to Sigstore’s Rekor public transparency log, and independently verifiable with a tool called odyssey-challenge — Guix-style. Full details, keys and commands here: Security — Odyssey Linux

Other things worth mentioning: a CachyOS-patched kernel packaged natively for xbps, browser-in-RAM with hardened defaults, a gaming mode (not CachyOS, but it works), and — because I care about it — a design language that tries to look like a project, not a wallpaper swap.

Where things stand: Beta 4 is out. Final 1.0 release is planned for July 27. The whole project (17 of my own packages, 64+ repos total: sources, recipes, build tooling) is public on our self-hosted Forgejo: https://code.odysseylinux.org

Site: https://odysseylinux.org — Download: Download — Odyssey Linux — Known bugs (public tracker): Odyssey Linux · bug tracker

I’d genuinely value your feedback — but with one honest request: please install and use it before judging. This isn’t a project you can size up from the website in three seconds; the choices behind it take a bit of time to feel. And a small ask from me, because it matches one of the values we built Odyssey on (yes, we have a page for that): be kind. Critical is welcome: even harsh, if the criticism is real. But kindness first. My project tries to be, and I’d like the conversation around it to be, too.

Bugs especially: the more eyes on it before 1.0, the better 1.0 will be.

Thanks Hayden for the invitation, and thanks to everyone who takes a look.

NOBODY
Odyssey Linux

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@n0bod1 Thanks for sharing! A much more insightful post than if I were to share myself. Bumped into this project about 30 mins ago will be following!

Also see this forum post:

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Thank you: really! You have no idea what it means that you came here on purpose.

I’d convinced myself that showing people you built a Linux distro required a sandwich board and setting yourself on fire in the middle of Times Square, preferably while the tourists film it in portrait mode.

So: thank you for the chance.

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The pleasure is all mine. :handshake: I recognized the passion within minutes of visiting odysseylinux.org.

It is great to see someone take an already strong foundation and focus on making it more approachable, still niche, without losing what made it unique. Can feel the community outreach around it as well.

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Welcome to the community @n0bod1 ! :+1:

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the Donate link points to about.html# I would like to donate via paypal. Made a VM in proxmox, install is simple. Will play with it, thanks @n0bod1

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Hi, @n0bod1 ! Thank you for mentioning your project. I never installed Void Linux, because it’s complicated. I’ll take a look onto your website and maybe I’ll give Odyssey Linux a chance. :+1:

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I like the name Odyssey. Void seems a bit of a strange name for a Linux OS.

void
adjective
Containing no matter; empty.

I wish you success for all your hard work.

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Well you are not wrong. lol :skull:

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Perfect linux distribution @n0bod1 nice work,
I’ve been working on scrin os a void based private linux distro for power users only,
similar to yours (alien like) but tiny & much faster.

you must declare the system requirements for your distribution , as you shows it has v3 kernel , also boot idle ram usage ?,
not to mention you use python for xbps-gui,odyssey-controlcenter, and other core component
I was about to try it but that holds me ,
alienodI like the theme logo & brand name,after all I think it’s very niche project.alienod

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Thanks. The site is a work in progress, I’m adding pieces one by one. If you go to the features page I’ve just added a specifications section where a script reads the Void and Odyssey repos directly and shows the numbers in real time. For a rolling distribution I think that’s a small nicety.

On Python: I used mainly KDE and I found it the best fit for system integration, plus the contributor base is much wider. And there’s another point. One of Odyssey’s stated values is GPL first, so the practical alternatives for a graphical layer would have been C or C++. Python + Qt made maintainability by future contributors easier without breaking the license priority.

On speed, I’d have my doubts :slight_smile: and a missile with two wheels on top is certainly faster than a Ferrari, no question about it, but I think my distro is a whole vision. It may or may not appeal to you, but it can’t be judged only on whether it uses a hundred megabytes of RAM more or less (which, between us, in the labwc session is under 1 GB).

In Italy we have a saying, “ogni scarrafone è bello a mamma sua”, every cockroach is beautiful to its own mother. But leaving affection aside, I honestly don’t think there are other projects like Odyssey in the no-systemd space. Browser in RAM, AppArmor and firewall active and graphically configurable, an attempt at a serious supply chain even at small scale, a design language of its own. Do I need to keep going? What does your distro offer users? :slight_smile:

Sorry, a small aside. When I posted a beta-tester request on the Void forum I was immediately told the forum maintainer had his own distro, and being a guest there I didn’t open my mouth. Here we’re on neutral ground, and since you enter a conversation about my distro by citing yours, I allow myself, politely, to reply :slight_smile:

Install it, download it, run it. You can’t judge a distribution only from its specs or from how its programs are written. Sorry, I find that a superficial observation. I take the rest of your points on board.

To everyone else, thank you. I didn’t imagine there was a community this healthy, and I hadn’t heard of you before. From now on I’ll leave a link here and there in the forum, because places like this, unfortunately, the Linux community has very few. Thank you for the care.

And to the friend pavlos pavlos kairis who wanted to donate, don’t worry, the thought counts. Right now I can’t accept PayPal, but I will in the future.

NOBODY

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@n0bod1

I am a relative ‘newbie’ to Linux. Certainly not anything like the technically astute folk in this forum. However, your post and the brief look at the forum and site for your Odyssey project both pique and intrigue. I will probably wait for the October launch and install on an older machine to test…of a VM of some sort. @hydn Thanks for inviting and linking Odyssey

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