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.

[biala]

According to your laptops specification: To reset the BIOS"press F2 key repeatedly as soon as the Dell logo appears". All BSD systems require legacy boot to be ON to boot the system.
The OS itself does not change anything to the BIOS so even if there is a problem (with drivers support or what ever ...) it should not be bricked. You can also try to remove your drive  and boot to BIOS.
Maybe you have changes in Boot settings before you boot from installer image. You can try to insert the installer image and then reboot to mimic the last successful boot.

[IndigoGolem]

I reset something (it was a while ago now) and that fixed it. Unfortunately that computer's networking stuff is broken, so i haven't been able to install any normal OS. I should try this one again tho.

[biala]

I lost more than 60 days but I made a huge update
All OnemanBSD OS is now 64 bits. I also removed all bloat like Rust, Wayland and Qt dependencies from all app ports used in the system. (mpv was changed to gnome-mplayer because of that).
New apps included (+ fixed source code of everything):
- audacity (audio editor)
- godot (game editor)
- deadbeef (mp3 player)
- ted (word processor)

Also some bug fixes.

Here is the link again:
http://bialamusic.com/onemanBSD/

Here are my thoughts:
I feel that we as humans are loosing control over technology that was created by humans.
This is rising some serious and strange questions. I think we now need tools to power the individual so we can fight back. Not corporations. Not governments. Not organizations.
Consider this my bullet in this battle.

It is now in your hands so you can be active developers not just passive users.

[clownvomitz]

This is so cool, genuinely. Once I have the chance I definitely want to give this a spin on a testing machine. Huge props!

[lm8]

Was very excited to read about this.  I have been wanting to do a project like this for a very long time now.  I was having trouble finding a suitable base.  I'd considered Linux with musl and more recently, NetBSD, which builds for a variety of targets.  Still not sure best base system to use.

I would love to compare notes with you and find out more about how you accomplished this.  Would be very interested in learning which programs you chose for your system.  I am always on the look out for alternatives to larger GUI frameworks like GTK and Qt.  I have a growing list of alternative software that doesn't require those GUIs.

It's nice that you chose jwm.  I also like that window manager.  I was thinking of trying this fork: https://github.com/scaramacai/ggwm  I have build scripts for an older version of X11 that I've been working with.  I try to make the applications I build location independent so I can build and run them from a HOME directory without needing root access to install.  That way the programs I build can coexist with other libraries and applications on the operating system.  I have build scripts to be able to build programs and libraries from source in a repeatable manner.  I use a template based build system so that it's easier to update everything on the system should a common element change.

Since you're into music, what music programs do you have on the system?  I regularly work with ABC notation to create music and using abc2midi, abcm2ps and TiMidity++.  I have some command line based wave editing programs.  I like MilkyTracker and gramofile.  I've also been trying to revive FLTK based apcstudio and make it useful again.

Would love to hear more about your distro and your future plans for it.  Very interested in projects that allow one user to build and maintain their own system.  It would be great to find ways people interested in this goal could collaborate and share work.

[biala]

So here are some specifics of what I did till this moment.
- First rebuilt all OpenBSD from source and reinstalled it on my machine to have a clean start
- prepare and change the installer script for the new tgz files that I want in (os source, xenocara source, ports tree, ports sources, settings .. so on)
- prepare installer binaries to change the default partition sizes so the machine to have space for the new packages and enough space so to rebuild itself.
- change defaults of the installer so it includes everything needed and fixed some errors in the original installers script if any (there was installer USB select error) in my case
- test and rebuild
- select apps to be included: all apps sources are fetched, rebuild locally and included sources and binary in the packages. This is the hard part. It includes:
               - check the app for bloat dependencies and remove unwanted bloat from scripts (this include making patches) if possible. If not drop the app or consider alternative.
               - patch and fix bugs in the app if any to make it fully functional. In my case for example there was thread lock preventing DeadBeef Mp3 player from running. So fix the c code if possible.
- Write and edit settings for the apps to make them integrated into one functional system and include these settings in the packages
- add some scripts and binaries as volume bar indicator and screenshot taker
- Rebuild everything to have OS installer images(this was made several times so issues to be cleaned till the process is smooth and without errors)

So here is the list of the main apps included in OnemanBSD. I consider gtk+4, wayland, rust, qt  and all big useless libs as bloat. I decided to include gtk+2 and gtk+3 (cleared from bloat) as they were needed for some useful apps. Here is the list:

- JWM as window manager
- XFE as file browser and text editor
- Nedit as code editor
- Netsurf as web browser (built with limited JS)
- Xpdf
- Ted as word processor
- DeadBeaf  mp3 player
- Gnome Mplayer as video player
- Audacity - audio editor
- app to support wallpaper
- Godot
- some simple games
- some useful terminal apps

I may forget something 
For example if you take my work and continue modifying it in your direction according your needs then we will end with 2 different independent OS but yet they will be compatible with each other. That is what I like most about the idea!