Awesome GitHub RepositoriesCustom Linux Distributions

Rocky is an open-source enterprise operating system designed for server and cloud infrastructure. It is a community-maintained Linux server distribution that provides a platform focused on stability and security. The project is fundamentally a Red Hat Enterprise Linux compatible operating system, maintaining bug-for-bug binary compatibility to ensure identical software behavior. This allows it to serve as an enterprise-grade platform without proprietary licensing. The distribution covers a broad range of system administration capabilities, including package management via modular repository

Anbox is an Android container environment and runtime designed to execute Android applications on Linux desktops. It utilizes a container-based system to run the Android operating system without the overhead associated with traditional hardware virtualization. The system features a hardware abstraction layer that routes hardware access and sensor data through a host daemon to provide accelerated rendering. It integrates with the Linux desktop by mapping individual Android application layers to separate windows, allowing apps to function as distinct desktop applications. The project supports

OrbStack is a native macOS application that replaces Docker Desktop, providing an all-in-one environment for running Docker containers, full Linux virtual machines, and local Kubernetes clusters. It runs Linux VMs directly on the macOS hypervisor framework for near-native performance, uses VirtioFS for fast bidirectional file sharing between macOS and Linux, and leverages Rosetta for near-native x86 emulation on Apple Silicon. The system assigns predictable local domain names to containers and VMs with automatic HTTPS certificate generation, forwards ports via event-driven updates, and stores

This is a practical, step-by-step guide to Linux system administration, command-line usage, and development environment setup, written from the perspective of a Java developer. The tutorial is structured as a sequence of terminal commands with explanations, teaching system administration through direct modification of plain-text configuration files. It provides separate workflows for CentOS, Ubuntu, and Kali Linux, covering both yum and apt package managers with equivalent commands for each operation. The guide emphasizes a security-first workflow, walking through firewall configuration, SSH

Containerization is a Swift-based framework that runs Linux containers in lightweight virtual machines on Apple Silicon Macs. It provides a native container runtime for macOS, enabling developers to execute Linux containers directly on their Apple Silicon hardware without requiring a separate Linux environment or Docker Desktop. The framework supports custom Linux kernel injection, allowing users to provide their own kernel images and select per-container kernel versions and configurations. It includes an ext4 filesystem image builder for creating root filesystems from scratch, and an OCI ima

Boot2Docker is a minimal Linux distribution that boots entirely from RAM to turn any machine into a Docker host. It is delivered as a bootable ISO image that can be written to SD cards, USB sticks, or hard disks, starting Docker containers in about five seconds without requiring a full operating system installation. The system is preconfigured for use as a VirtualBox virtual machine, with persistent disk mounting that automatically stores Docker images, containers, volumes, and SSH keys across restarts. It supports host-to-container file sharing through VirtualBox Guest Additions integration,

MotionEyeOS is a dedicated operating system designed to transform a single board computer into a video surveillance station. It provides a centralized environment for monitoring and recording multiple video feeds. The system enables remote camera management through a unified web interface, allowing for the control and configuration of networked security cameras. It supports automated video recording based on motion detection to monitor specific areas without requiring constant manual recording. The software incorporates a Debian-based root filesystem and a Python-based backend to orchestrate

Bazzite is an immutable, atomic-image-based operating system designed for gaming performance and handheld hardware. It utilizes a read-only root filesystem and versioned images to provide atomic updates and instant system rollbacks, ensuring a stable core environment. The system is distinguished by its deep optimization for portable gaming devices, featuring dedicated handheld hardware management for CPU undervolting, fan control, and display refresh rate overclocking. It includes a specialized gaming mode that boots directly into a console-like interface with integrated input mapping and a t

LinuxMirrors is a collection of shell-based automation tools designed for managing Linux package mirrors, automating Docker engine deployment, and performing non-interactive system updates. It provides a package mirror configurator to update system repositories to regional mirrors across multiple distributions and an installation automator for the Docker engine and its associated software sources. The project distinguishes itself through a dual-mode execution model, offering both interactive menu-driven interfaces for manual setup and non-interactive flag-based execution for integration into

This project is a Buildroot-based Linux distribution and embedded home server operating system designed to host containerized home automation services. It serves as a dedicated platform that manages the hardware and software requirements of a local smart home hub. The system is built as an immutable operating system, utilizing a read-only root filesystem and image-based updates to ensure consistent versioning and prevent accidental changes. It employs container-based process isolation to decouple applications from the core operating system. The platform provides a supervised container manage

Rancher OS is a cloud-native, container-optimized Linux distribution designed to host and manage containerized workloads with a small host footprint. It functions as a Docker-based operating system that runs core system services and user applications as containers. The system implements an immutable infrastructure workflow by deploying the entire operating system as a set of read-only images. To prevent configuration drift and ensure a consistent boot state, the primary system partition is mounted as read-only, while persistent settings and user data are stored on a separate writable configur

Build Linux is a toolset for assembling a custom Linux distribution entirely from source code, automating the process described by Linux From Scratch. It compiles every system component from upstream source, giving the builder full control over included packages and configuration. The build process relies on a Makefile-driven orchestration that coordinates the entire sequence, using script-defined package recipes for each component. It employs chroot isolation to keep build artifacts separate from the host, and follows a stage-wise bootstrapping approach that first builds a minimal set of tem

Holoiso ist ein Tool zum Erstellen benutzerdefinierter, bootfähiger Betriebssystem-Images auf Basis von SteamOS 3 für die Installation auf Hardware, die kein Steam Deck ist. Es verwendet eine Linux-Archiso-Basis, um installierbare Disk-Images zu generieren, die ein Handheld-Gaming-Erlebnis auf Standardgeräten replizieren. Das Projekt ermöglicht die Erstellung einer gaming-orientierten Distribution mit einer Gamepad-gesteuerten Oberfläche und der Möglichkeit, zwischen einer Standard-Desktop-Umgebung und einer Gaming-Sitzung zu wechseln. Es enthält leistungsstarke Shader für systemweites Image-Upscaling, um visuelle Qualität und Bildraten innerhalb der Gaming-Oberfläche auszubalancieren. Das System deckt die automatisierte Image-Bereitstellung durch Installations-Skripte ab und verwaltet Software über konfigurierte Paket-Repositories und offizielle Mirrors. Es übernimmt zudem grundlegende Systemarchitektur-Aufgaben wie Dateisystemkomprimierung und die Konfiguration von Bootstrap-Paketen.

Azure Linux ist ein universelles Linux-Betriebssystem, das für virtuelle Maschinen und Container in der Azure-Cloud-Umgebung optimiert ist. Es dient als gehärtetes Cloud-Betriebssystem, das die Angriffsfläche für Bereitstellungen in virtualisierten Cloud-Umgebungen und auf Bare-Metal-Plattformen minimiert. Das Projekt nutzt ein deklaratives Linux-Build-System, das Konfigurations-Overlays verwendet, um Distributionspakete anzupassen. Dieser Ansatz ermöglicht die Modifikation von Systemkomponenten und die Erstellung von Paketspezifikationen, ohne den Upstream-Quellcode forken zu müssen. Die Distribution deckt die Härtung der Cloud-Infrastruktur und das Management von Paketspezifikationen ab. Sie lässt sich über eine Upstream-kompatible Pipeline in Standard-Linux-Build-Tools integrieren, um angepasste Distributionspakete und gehärtete Cloud-Images zu erstellen.

Dieses Projekt ist eine Konfiguration für einen dynamischen Tiling-Window-Manager und ein automatisierter Desktop-Installer für Linux. Es bietet ein System zur Organisation von Anwendungsfenstern, um den verfügbaren Platz auf dem Bildschirm und die Produktivität zu maximieren, speziell zentriert um eine Hyprland-Desktop-Konfiguration. Die Umgebung verfügt über ein adaptives visuelles Theme, das dominante Farbtöne aus Hintergrundbildern extrahiert, um die globalen Farben des User-Interfaces automatisch zu aktualisieren. Es enthält zudem spezialisierte Optimierungen für virtuelle Maschinen, um Systemstabilität und Performance sicherzustellen. Das Projekt deckt die automatisierte Desktop-Bereitstellung durch Shell-Skripte und Live-Disk-Images ab, was die Installation einer vorkonfigurierten Desktop-Umgebung über mehrere Linux-Distributionen hinweg ermöglicht. Der Deployment-Prozess integriert ein subvolume-basiertes Dateilayout, um Systemwiederherstellung und Zustands-Snapshots zu unterstützen.

Incus is a unified orchestration platform for managing system containers, OCI application containers, and virtual machines through a single control plane. It brings together cluster infrastructure management, secure multi-tenancy, software-defined networking, and pluggable storage backend orchestration into one cohesive system exposed via a full REST API and command-line interface. What distinguishes Incus is its ability to run multiple instance types side by side—full Linux system containers, OCI application containers, and QEMU virtual machines—all managed with consistent tooling. Networkin

This project provides a collection of official base images for building and running .NET applications across various operating systems and hardware architectures. It includes standardized runtime environments, containerized development kits, and specialized images designed for isolated application execution. The collection is distinguished by its focus on image optimization and security hardening. It offers distroless images that remove shells and package managers to reduce the attack surface, as well as composite layering and ahead-of-time compilation to improve startup performance and lower

Asterinas is a memory-safe operating system kernel designed to prevent data races and memory corruption. It functions as a Linux-ABI compatible kernel, enabling the execution of existing Linux binaries and container workloads while providing a declarative operating system distribution model. The project distinguishes itself by acting as a virtual machine container host and a confidential computing guest OS, allowing it to run within hardware-isolated Trusted Execution Environments such as Intel TDX. It implements a minimal trusted computing base by isolating unsafe low-level operations and se

OSV is a unikernel operating system and cloud-native execution environment designed to run as a secure microVM on hypervisors such as KVM, Firecracker, Xen, and VMware. It functions as a Linux binary compatible runtime, allowing unmodified Linux binaries to be executed as secure microVMs without requiring recompilation. The project distinguishes itself through its ability to package applications into minimal bootable images and its provide of a virtual machine management API. This REST interface enables remote monitoring of system health, management of execution traces, and control over guest

crun ist eine Low-Level-Container-Runtime, die die Open Container Initiative-Spezifikation zur Verwaltung des Lebenszyklus isolierter Prozesse implementiert. Sie bietet die Kernmechanismen für die Erstellung, Ausführung und Löschung von Containern und stellt die Kompatibilität über Plattformen hinweg durch standardisiertes Lebenszyklusmanagement sicher. Das Projekt zeichnet sich dadurch aus, dass es eine gemeinsame C-Bibliothek anbietet, die es ermöglicht, Container-Runtime-Operationen direkt in andere kompilierte Anwendungen einzubetten. Es erweitert die Ausführungsfähigkeiten zudem durch spezialisierte Handler, die die Bereitstellung von Containern innerhalb isolierter MicroVMs oder die Ausführung von WebAssembly-Workloads ermöglichen. Die Runtime deckt eine breite Palette von Low-Level-Isolations- und Ressourcenmanagement-Funktionen ab. Dies umfasst die Verwendung von Namespaces und seccomp-Filtern für Sicherheit, cgroups für die Durchsetzung von CPU- und Speicherlimits sowie Werkzeuge zum Speichern und Wiederaufnehmen von Container-Ausführungszuständen mittels Checkpoint und Restore. Sie bietet zudem Schnittstellen für dynamische Ressourcenaktualisierungen, Mount-Management und Automatisierung über eine eingebettete Lua-Schnittstelle.