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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