Hello. I wrote a draft.

I also added a featured image: if you think it is appropriate (format, license) I can push the svg to the fedoramagazine-images repository.

Thank you.

LGTM. There might be some quibbles about calling the OS "immutable" (cf. https://blog.verbum.org/2020/08/22/immutable-%E2%86%92-reprovisionable-anti-hysteresis/). It doesn't really matter to me, but you might want to head off some of those comments with an explanatory paragraph in your article (or not, it's up to you).

@glb I agree that "immutable OS" is incorrect and sometimes misleading. I would like to use another term, but I don't know. Besides also in the Silverblue documentatin the system is described as "immutable".

I'm just trying to warn you that you are going to take heat in the comments for the following statement in particular:

Immutability means that the root filesystem is read-only and the system files cannot be modified (at least not in the usual ways).

If you are OK with that, we can run the article. Let me know if you think it is ready for publication.

I was thinking to rephrase this paragraph.

Usually, immutability is referred to the fact that the root filesystem is read-only and the system files cannot be modified (at least not in the usual ways, see below). But this term has been criticized by several parties: in fact if you can update the system and install things, the system is actually mutable, so another term should be coined for this kind of operating systems where there is a definite distinction between the system, the applications and the changes made by the user.

Do you think that it is correct?

Usually, immutability is referred to the fact that the root filesystem is read-only

Silverblue does not make the root filesystem (/) read-only. Only files below /usr are read-only. If you take out any reference to the root filesystem being read-only, I think you will be fine.

Silverblue does not make the root filesystem (/) read-only. Only files below /usr are read-only. If you take out any reference to the root filesystem being read-only, I think you will be fine.

Yes. I didn't intend "/", I was meaning "system", "core", but yes, "root" in the context of filesystem is surely misleading.

(I took inspiration from https://fedoramagazine.org/what-is-silverblue/ BTW :-) "What are the benefits of an immutable OS? Having the root filesystem mounted read-only by default increases resilience").

For the records

It is true that "/" is formally rw

/dev/mapper/luks-32fb6e3a-2701-4672-8168-9889342909ff on / type btrfs (rw,relatime,seclabel,compress=zstd:1,ssd,space_cache,subvolid=257,subvol=/root)

but

$ sudo touch /test
touch: cannot touch '/test': Operation not permitted

Btw I'm not an expert in this field

Yeah, that was posted in the earlier days of Silverblue and they probably didn't get as many complaints because not as many people knew how it actually worked. People are more familiar with what Silverblue is now and it is more likely that people will notice and point out that error.

$ sudo touch /test
touch: cannot touch '/test': Operation not permitted

That is interesting. Maybe I'm wrong then. My understanding was that only /usr was mounted read-only (and the output from your previous commands seems to indicate as much). They might be using ACLs or SELinux or some other means to lock down the root directory. I'd still argue that saying the root filesystem is read-only is wrong though. I know you can write to places like /etc and /var. If you want to state that the root directory is read-only, I guess you have shown that at least that is true.

However I understand your point.
Let's avoid "root" filesystem. :thumbsup:

OK. Let me know when you have it ready to go out and I'll give it a quick once-over for any obvious spelling or grammar mistakes and schedule it.

I rephrased the paragraph:

Usually, immutability is referred to the fact that part of the filesystem is read-only and the system files cannot be modified (at least not in the usual ways, read below). The term has been criticized by several parties: in fact, if you can update the system and install things, the system is actually mutable, so another term should be coined for this kind of operating systems where there is a a clearly defined distinction between the system, the applications and the changes made by the user. However this is not the topic of this article.

Feel free to remove the last phrase if it sounds too aggressive.

In addition I added a picture of a 10″ touch display.

Thanks!

I've edited this and scheduled it to go out at 08:00 UTC on Monday, January 16th. The preview link is below. Just let us know if you want anything revised. We are happy to accommodate even minor tweaks.

https://fedoramagazine.org/build-a-kiosk-with-fedora-silverblue/