## Das OS ### _A light, friendly Void Linuxโ€“based desktop with Xfce and a Ukrainian touch, plus a console server edition_ [![Void Linux](https://img.shields.io/badge/Void_Linux-x86__64_glibc-green)](https://voidlinux.org) [![Xfce](https://img.shields.io/badge/Xfce-4.20-orange)](https://xfce.org) [![runit](https://img.shields.io/badge/init-runit-blue)](https://docs.voidlinux.org/config/services/) [![Go](https://img.shields.io/badge/Go-1.24+-blue)](https://go.dev) [![Docker](https://img.shields.io/badge/Docker-29-blue)](https://www.docker.com) [![Version](https://img.shields.io/badge/version-0.7.0-lightgrey)](#) ๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ฆ [ะฃะบั€ะฐั—ะฝััŒะบะฐ ะฒะตั€ัั–ั](README_ua.md) ### ๐Ÿ’ก Purpose Void Linux is fast, simple and independent: runit instead of systemd, and its own xbps package manager. Out of the box, though, it is a bare system, and getting it ready for daily use takes hours of setup. Das OS builds a live ISO that boots straight into a configured Xfce desktop and installs it with a graphical installer. It has its own look, a Ukrainian interface and keyboard layout, the usual desktop apps and Btrfs snapshots that let a broken update be undone. Everything Das OS adds comes from its own xbps packages, so the setup can be reproduced and updated like any other package. A second, console-only ISO installs a server with SSH, a firewall, fail2ban and Docker set up, on the same Btrfs layout with snapshots. ### ๐Ÿ“ƒ Features - [Live ISO](#LiveISO) that boots on UEFI and BIOS straight into the desktop - [Graphical installer](#Installer) (Calamares) set up for Void and runit - [Snapshots and rollback](#Snapshots): hourly Btrfs snapshots, bootable from the GRUB menu - [System update](#Update) with a snapshot taken before it: a window, a tray icon and a terminal mode - [Welcome window](#Welcome) at the first login: language, home folders, updates, the developer profile and help - [Server image](#Server): a console live ISO with a text installer, SSH, firewall, fail2ban and Docker - [Command-line helpers](#Helpers) for everyday admin tasks: services (`dsv`), users (`duser`), firewall (`dfw`) and system settings (`dsys`) - [Developer profile](#DevProfile) in one command: Go, Python, Node.js, Docker, rootless Podman, VS Code and IDEs from Flathub - [Das OS look](#Look): light and dark themes, generated window frames, wallpapers and logo - [Desktop defaults](#Defaults) for Xfce that don't overwrite stock files - [Own package repository](#Repository) built by xbps-src from in-tree templates - [Containerised build](#Build) that runs on any Linux host with Docker, and QEMU scripts for testing - [CI build](#CI) of the packages and both ISOs on every push, on a self-hosted Gitea Actions runner ### โญ Advantages - **Void underneath** โ€“ a fast runit boot, the xbps package manager and fresh software, with none of the manual setup. - **Safe updates** โ€“ `das-update` takes a snapshot before every update, the system can return to any snapshot, and personal files in `/home` are never part of a rollback. - **Light** โ€“ no systemd, plus Xfce, LightDM and PipeWire, so it runs well on older laptops too. - **Nothing hidden** โ€“ all customisations ship as ordinary xbps packages, so `xbps-query -f das-settings` shows exactly what changed. - **Users keep control** โ€“ defaults live in `/etc/xdg/das`, so a user's own settings always take precedence and upgrades never reset them. - **One base for desktop and server** โ€“ both images share the packages, the disk layout, snapshots and `das-update`, so a server is updated and rolled back the same way as a laptop. - **Builds anywhere** โ€“ the build runs in a Void container, so the host can be Mint, Ubuntu or Fedora. ### ๐Ÿ“ฑ Screenshots
Live desktop Terminal and window frames Boot menu (UEFI)
Live desktop Terminal and window frames Boot menu (UEFI)
Light wallpaper Dark wallpaper Window frames
Light wallpaper Dark wallpaper Window frames: light and dark, active and inactive
Installer Disk setup with Btrfs Snapshots in the boot menu
Installer Disk setup with Btrfs Snapshots in the boot menu
Welcome window System update Server installer
Welcome window System update Server installer
### ๐Ÿ“Œ Using #### Live ISO **_The live system logs in to the desktop on its own, with no installation needed._** - Boots on UEFI (GRUB) and on legacy BIOS (isolinux), both with a Das OS splash screen. - The *graphics disabled* entry boots with `nomodeset` for machines whose screen stays black, and the *RAM* entry copies the whole system to memory. - User `live`, password `live`, with `sudo` that needs no password. The user is created at boot and exists only in the live session. - Ukrainian interface (`uk_UA.UTF-8`) and the Kyiv time zone by default. Keyboard layouts are `us,ua`, switched with Alt+Shift. - Includes NetworkManager, Bluetooth, PipeWire sound and Firefox with the Ukrainian language pack. Services run under runit: `dbus`, `elogind`, `polkitd`, `NetworkManager`, `bluetoothd`, `lightdm`. - Includes guest tools for QEMU/SPICE and VirtualBox. - The *Install Das OS* icon on the desktop and in the menu starts the installer. #### Graphical installer **_Calamares installs Das OS in a few steps: language and time zone, keyboard, disk, user._** - The interface is in Ukrainian by default, with the Kyiv time zone and Das OS branding and slides. - The disk can be erased automatically or partitioned by hand. Btrfs is the default, ext4 and XFS are also available. On UEFI machines it creates a 512 MiB EFI partition. - It copies the clean live image (`/dev/mapper/live-base`), without the live user and its boot-time settings. - After copying, it builds locales for the chosen language, keeps only the guest tools of the hypervisor it runs in (none on real hardware), sets up snapshots, builds the initramfs and installs GRUB. - When it finishes, it removes itself and the packages that only it needed. - Disk encryption is not offered yet. #### Snapshots and rollback **_Btrfs snapshots keep the system recoverable after a bad update._** - The installer creates the subvolumes `@` (root), `@home`, `@snapshots`, `@var_log` and `@var_cache_xbps`. Root snapshots don't include personal files, logs or the package cache. - snapper makes a *Fresh install* snapshot right after installation and an hourly snapshot (cron). It keeps the last 5 hourly, 7 daily and 2 weekly ones. - grub-btrfs adds every snapshot to the *Das OS snapshots* submenu in GRUB and updates it as snapshots appear. - A snapshot is read-only. When it boots, the `das-snapshot-overlay` dracut module puts a writable overlay in RAM on top, so the full desktop works. Changes made there are lost at shutdown. - `sudo snapper-rollback ` makes the snapshot the new root (the old one is kept as `@`). The change takes effect after a reboot. It works both from the running system and from a booted snapshot. - Members of `wheel` can list snapshots without sudo: `snapper list`. #### System update **_`das-update` installs updates between a pair of snapshots, so a bad update can be undone from the boot menu._** - Before updating, it creates a snapper *pre* snapshot, then runs `xbps-install -Su` (updating xbps itself first when needed), then creates the paired *post* snapshot, also when the update failed. - If the *pre* snapshot cannot be created, nothing is installed. Without Btrfs (ext4, XFS) it updates without a snapshot and says so. - When it finishes, it shows the snapshot number and how to roll back to it, and asks for a reboot when the kernel, glibc, runit or other core packages were updated. - The *System update* window lists the packages with the installed and new versions and shows the xbps output. The privileged part runs through pkexec (polkit action `ua.org.das.update`). - In the background it checks for updates 2 minutes after login and then every 6 hours, without root. The tray icon and a notification appear only when updates are available. A click opens the window, and a right click opens a menu with *Check now*. The check is off in the live session. - `das-update --cli` does the same in a terminal (servers, ssh). It asks before installing (`-y` skips the question) and runs itself again through sudo. Without a display it works in the terminal even without `--cli`. - The command itself is the `das-update` package without GTK, the window and the tray icon are `/usr/libexec/das/das-update-gui` from `das-tools`. #### Welcome window **_`das-welcome` opens at the first login and gathers the first steps in one place._** - In the live session it offers to install Das OS. - The interface language can be chosen when the system has more than one locale built. It is stored in AccountsService and `~/.dmrc` and takes effect at the next login. - If the home folders still have English names (`Documents`, `Downloads`โ€ฆ), it offers to rename them to the system language, together with `user-dirs.dirs` and the file manager bookmarks. Folders the user moved, and those whose new name is already taken, are left alone. - It installs the [developer profile](#DevProfile) in a terminal window, where the IDEs and the password are asked for, and once the profile is installed, adds IDEs from Flathub. - It links to the system update, Xfce settings and help. - It opens by itself only once. The *Show at login* check box keeps it opening at every login. #### Server image **_A console-only live ISO that installs a Das OS server with SSH, a firewall and Docker ready to use._** - `dasos-server--x86_64.iso` boots on UEFI and BIOS with a login on the screen and on the serial console (`ttyS0`, 115200), so it also works through IPMI, VPS consoles and `qemu -nographic`. Log in as `live` with the password `live`, then run `sudo das-server-install`. - The installer asks in Ukrainian or English: the disk, server name, administrator and password, an SSH key (and whether password logins stay allowed), time zone, console layout, language and network (dhcpcd or NetworkManager). `das-server-install --config FILE` installs without questions, see `/usr/share/examples/das-server-installer/install.conf`. - It uses the same GPT and Btrfs layout as the desktop installer, so snapshots, the *Das OS snapshots* boot menu and `snapper-rollback` work the same way. GRUB is installed for UEFI (also at the fallback path) or BIOS, on the serial console too when the installer was started there. - The administrator gets sudo through `wheel` and is in the `docker` and `socklog` groups. root has no password. - The installed system runs `sshd`, `chronyd`, `nftables`, `fail2ban`, `docker`, `socklog` and the chosen network service. - nftables lets in only SSH, ICMP and DHCPv6 (`/etc/nftables.conf`), more ports are opened with `dfw`. The rules live in their own table `inet das`, so reloading them keeps the Docker and fail2ban rules. Ports that containers publish pass through Docker's own rules. - fail2ban bans addresses that keep failing SSH logins, reading the socklog log. sshd doesn't accept root password logins. - Tools: Docker with Compose, lazydocker, lazygit, Midnight Commander, tmux, htop, Python 3, curl, `das-update --cli`, the [helpers](#Helpers) and xtools (`xi`, `xq`, `xrs`). There are no graphical libraries, and no firmware for NVIDIA graphics or sound cards (`/etc/xbps.d/das-server.conf` keeps updates from bringing it back). #### Command-line helpers **_Short commands for tasks that systemd distributions handle with systemctl, hostnamectl and the like, and that Void leaves to manual editing._** - They answer in Ukrainian or English, run themselves again through sudo when they need root and have bash completion. In a terminal they ask for whatever is missing, and with all arguments given they work in scripts. - `dsv` manages runit services: `list` (enabled or not, state, PID, uptime), `enable` and `disable` (at boot and right now), `start`, `stop`, `restart`, `status` and `logs [-f]` (the service's own svlogd log or its lines in socklog). - `dsv new` creates a service for your own program: the command, user, working directory and environment variables go to `/etc/sv/NAME`, with a log in `/var/log/NAME`. It then starts the service and checks that it stays up. `dsv rm` deletes such a service and refuses to touch services from packages. - `duser` manages accounts: `add` with the same groups as the desktop installer (`--admin` adds `wheel`, `docker` and `socklog`), a password and an SSH key; `passwd`, `lock` and `unlock` (a locked account can't log in with a key either), `key add|list|rm` for `authorized_keys`, `groups NAME +GROUP -GROUP` and `del`. It won't delete or lock out the current user, and it won't delete the only administrator. - `dfw` opens ports in the server firewall: `dfw allow 80/tcp`, `dfw allow https 8000-8010/tcp`, `dfw deny 80/tcp`. The ports are kept in `/etc/nftables.d/dfw.nft` and checked with `nft -c` before loading, and only the `inet das` table is reloaded. `dfw status` also lists the ports Docker containers publish and the addresses fail2ban has banned. SSH always stays open. - `dsys` replaces hostnamectl, timedatectl and localectl: `info` (time sync, language, console, addresses), `hostname`, `timezone` (part of the name will do: `dsys timezone Kyiv`), `locale` (builds the glibc locale if needed) and `keymap` (with a Cyrillic console font for Cyrillic layouts). - They come in the `das-helpers` package and are on the desktop too. Both images also include `xtools-minimal` from Void for package work: `xi` installs, `xrs` searches, `xq` shows package details and `xcheckrestart` finds programs to restart after an update. #### Developer profile **_`dprofile install dev` turns a desktop or a server into a development machine, with a snapshot taken before it._** - Packages from the Void repository: `base-devel`, gdb, strace, Git with LFS, GitHub CLI, lazygit, Go with gopls, delve and golangci-lint, Python with pip, virtualenv and uv, Node.js, Docker with Compose and Buildx, lazydocker, Podman with podman-compose, jq, ripgrep, fd, fzf, direnv, shellcheck and SQLite. - On a desktop also VS Code (Void's open-source build `code-oss`, extensions come from Open VSX), Meld, Flatpak with the Flathub remote and the desktop portals. - It enables Docker and adds the user who runs it to the `docker` group, gives them subordinate IDs for rootless Podman and makes `/` a shared mount at every boot (`/etc/runit/core-services/60-das-shared-root.sh`), which rootless containers need. - Before installing, it asks which IDEs to add from Flathub: Android Studio, IntelliJ IDEA Open and Ultimate, PyCharm, GoLand, WebStorm or Microsoft's Visual Studio Code. Later they are added with `dprofile app add GoLand` and removed with `dprofile app rm`, which also removes the Flatpak runtimes nothing else uses. - The packages are installed between a snapper pre/post snapshot pair, like with `das-update`, and the command prints how to roll back. `dprofile list` and `dprofile show dev` show what is installed already; `--yes` and `--apps ID,...|all|none` make it work without questions. - The profile is a plain list in `/usr/share/das/profiles/dev.conf`. The desktop installer doesn't offer it because the installation copies the live image without a network, and the profile downloads about 550 MB of packages (an IDE from Flathub takes 1โ€“4 GB more with its runtimes). #### Das OS look **_A modern minimal style with a blue and yellow eight-petal star from Ukrainian embroidery._** - The GTK themes `DasOS` and `DasOS-Dark` build on adw-gtk3 and add the Das OS accent colours. They also style the Xfce panel, which adw-gtk3 leaves black. - The xfwm4 window frames (rounded corners, round buttons, a red close button on hover) are generated as PNG files by `xfwm4gen` (Go) from a single palette. - Light and dark wallpapers show the star over a rushnyk-style embroidered ribbon. The same star is the Das OS logo and the menu button. - Fonts are Inter for the interface and JetBrains Mono in the terminal. Icons are Papirus and the cursor theme is Adwaita. #### Desktop defaults **_The das-settings package configures Xfce without touching files owned by other packages._** - `/etc/profile.d/das-xdg.sh` puts `/etc/xdg/das` before `/etc/xdg`, and xfconf reads the Das OS defaults from there. - One bottom panel holds the Whisker menu, window buttons, tray, keyboard layout, volume, notifications, clock and a show-desktop button. - At the first login, `das-session-init` sets the wallpaper on every connected monitor, because Xfce stores wallpapers per monitor name. - LightDM uses the GTK greeter with the Das OS theme and wallpaper. - Home folders get names in the session language. xdg-user-dirs 0.20 looks for its translations only in the first `XDG_DATA_DIRS` entry that has a `locale` directory, the empty `/usr/local/share/locale`, so it created English folders. `/etc/X11/xinit/xinitrc.d/50-das-user-dirs` creates them before the Xfce session with a lookup path that finds the translations. #### Own package repository **_Every Das OS file is installed and updated by xbps._** - `srcpkgs/das-theme` contains the themes, xfwm4 frames, wallpapers and logo. - `srcpkgs/das-settings` contains the Xfce, LightDM and session defaults. - `srcpkgs/das-tools` contains `das-welcome` and the update window and tray icon (Go, GTK 3 through gotk3) with their menu and autostart entries. Its subpackage `das-update` is the update command and polkit action, without GTK. - `srcpkgs/das-snapshots` contains the snapper configuration, `das-snapper-setup` and the dracut module for booting snapshots. - `srcpkgs/das-installer` contains the Calamares settings and branding, `srcpkgs/das-server-installer` the console installer. The steps both share (`mount-source`, `postinstall`) are in `srcpkgs/das-install-common`. They exist only on the live ISOs. - `srcpkgs/das-server` is the server metapackage with the nftables, fail2ban, sshd and Docker defaults. `srcpkgs/das-helpers` contains `dsv`, `duser`, `dfw`, `dsys`, `dprofile` and the profiles. - `srcpkgs/calamares`, `srcpkgs/adw-gtk3` and `srcpkgs/font-jetbrains-mono` package upstream releases that Void does not have. - `make packages` lays the templates over a shallow clone of void-packages and builds them with `xbps-src` into `out/hostdir/binpkgs`. The ISO build installs them from there. #### Containerised build **_The whole build runs in a Docker container, so only Docker and QEMU are needed on the host._** 1. `make packages` builds the local xbps repository. 2. `make iso` builds the packages and then the ISO with `void-mklive`, using the profile in `live/` (package list, services, root file system overlay). `make iso-server` does the same for the server profile in `server/`. 3. `make qemu` boots the newest ISO with UEFI. `make qemu-bios` uses legacy BIOS, and `make qemu-disk` also attaches a 20 GB virtual disk to install on. `make qemu-server` boots the server ISO with the disk on a serial console in the terminal (Ctrl-A X quits). #### CI build **_Every push to `main` or `dev` and every `v*` tag builds the packages and both ISOs on git.das.org.ua._** - The workflow `.gitea/workflows/build.yml` runs `make iso iso-server` on a self-hosted runner with the `dasci` label. - The runner is a WSL2 distro on a Windows machine: Ubuntu 24.04 with Docker Engine and `gitea-runner` as a systemd service. A scheduled task starts it when Windows boots, no login needed. - `ci/runner/setup.sh` installs Docker, the runner and its `config.yaml`; `setup.sh register ` registers it, `autostart.ps1` creates the scheduled task. - `DASOS_OUT` moves `out/` out of the checkout, so void-packages, the bootstrapped masterdir and the download cache survive between builds. - The ISOs stay on the CI host in `/var/lib/dasos-ci/out/iso` and are not published yet. ### ๐Ÿš€ Building the application Requirements: Linux with Docker (the user must be in the `docker` group), QEMU and OVMF for testing, and Go 1.24+ with the GTK 3 development files for `make test`. About 10 GB of free disk space. ```shell make iso # build packages and the live ISO (the first run downloads ~2 GB) make qemu # boot it in QEMU with UEFI make iso-server # build packages and the server ISO make qemu-server # boot it on a serial console with a disk to install on make test # run Go tests make clean # remove build output, keep the download cache ``` The ISOs appear in `out/iso/dasos--x86_64.iso` and `out/iso/dasos-server--x86_64.iso`. Write them to a USB stick with `dd` or Ventoy. **Note:** Das OS is an early version (0.7.0). Packages and ISOs are built in CI; signed repository hosting is planned for an upcoming stage. Until the repository is hosted, an installed system gets updates from Void only. Das OS is based on Void Linux but is not affiliated with it. ###### _Made by -=:dAs:=-_