Selfcontaining OS - source of everything included in the install

[biala]

I wanted an OS that I could truly own. Most modern systems have become server-controlled clients, bloated with dependencies (Gtk3/Qt) and centralized source control on GitHub. If you cannot audit the dependency tree and Big Corp controls the source, it is no longer real open source.

I built OneManBSD to address this. It is an OpenBSD-based system built on a single 2012 ThinkPad L430.

Project Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2wHaoQhXOYY
Project Page: https://bialamusic.com/onemanBSD/




What it is:
   Self-Containing: The installer image includes the full source code for the kernel, base, Xenocara, and required ports.

   Offline Rebuildable: You can rebuild the entire world from local source on the same machine without an internet connection.

   Minimalist: No big Gtk, no Qt. It uses JWM as a window manager and prefers clean C/C++-based apps.

   Diversification: I’ve intentionally avoided centralized version control and source binary separation. I believe "the more versions, the better" is the path to digital freedom.

[ThunderPerfectWitchcraft]

How cool - I love that you did it, even though there is basically no chance for your project to ever reach but a small, enthusiastic niche. Dillo has a similar philosophy at work, iirc. Is it compatible to the normal BSD repos?

[biala]

Yes it is compatible as it is openBSD with tweaks.
There are 6 people who downloaded the OS image + build intructions PDF for the first 3 days so I assume some people are actually using it. As long as someone has it on a machine it is already successful as it can not be lost or killed - it has all the source inside it.

[cyanidesunrise]

if you are interested specifically in going to the extremes of bootstrap capacity, take a look at collapseOS. this one strips down the definition of an OS to the barest essentials and uses a borderline-esolang as its system language to minimize code size and distance to self-hosting.

[biala]

Thank you. I'll have a look.
However my idea is not to go after minimal OS. The idea is to have modern and functional OS that every user can edit and rebuild from source making it his own.
Source is not centralized - it comes with the OS. No one can enforce any functionality or updates.
There may be hundreds of different versions and yet they will be compatible with each other.

[biala]

  New update! I fixed few issues and added Full Offline Documentation in the OS.
Also screenshots are now working with "Print Screen Button".
Installation now runs on all USB ports (it was using the first one before) and require less steps.

[cyanidesunrise]

Thank you. I'll have a look.
However my idea is not to go after minimal OS. The idea is to have modern and functional OS that every user can edit and rebuild from source making it his own.
Source is not centralized - it comes with the OS. No one can enforce any functionality or updates.
There may be hundreds of different versions and yet they will be compatible with each other.

i'll install QEMU and toss it in to play around if I don't forget.

being (unfortunately) a nixOS user, i fully understand the sentiment. i need an internet connection by default to change firewall settings. technically you can pass an option to nixos-rebuild to disable derivation substituters and that makes it possible to rebuild offline as long as you have all sources cached; needless to say, counterintuitive. my rebuild will take twelve hours if i don't use a binary cache as well. i want to get off mr bones' wild ride

[IndigoGolem]

I tried to install this and maybe bricked my test laptop. Everything went fine until the end when it prompted me to reboot the computer. Now it just freezes on this screen whenever i turn it on. Trying to turn it off with the power button would make it reboot until i unplugged it (bad battery) to force it off. Now i can turn it on and get it to say it's going to open the boot menu or BIOS but it never actually gets that far. Is this a known issue?

I'm using the installer from when you made this topic, not the more recent one from earlier this month. The computer is a Dell Latitude E6440.

[fsr]

As far as I can tell, that model hates everything you do to it:

https://www.reddit.com/r/Dell/comments/13h62sf/e6440_suspect_corrupted_bios/

I would suggest removing the hard drive, and that thread has several detailed suggestions on resetting it at various levels that may help, but I've used enough dell machines (one of the first machines I installed OpenBSD on was a finicky Dell that hated both FreeBSD and NetBSD) without issue (not with the version of OpenBSD on this forum thread of course) to say that I will never touch an e6440 if I can avoid it. I hope the suggestions on the Reddit thread fix it.

I also don't know if removing the drive on that model is trivial, but my suggestion depends on it being something like unscrew a panel and then another screw- not taking the whole thing apart.

This may not be the most opportune time, but one of the reasons I haven't posted (only a few) more times than I have is that the forum says my posts are too short, and I really didn't have more to say so I just assumed the forum didn't WANT it even though I could tell it to post anyway. So I'll add, whether it's the best time or not, That I love the heck out of this idea and I use OpenBSD already.