this post was submitted on 22 Apr 2026
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Linux is a family of open source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991 by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged in a Linux distribution (or distro for short).
Distributions include the Linux kernel and supporting system software and libraries, many of which are provided by the GNU Project. Many Linux distributions use the word "Linux" in their name, but the Free Software Foundation uses the name GNU/Linux to emphasize the importance of GNU software, causing some controversy.
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Just to be very clear: the name "immutable distro" is unfortunately a misnomer. In practice, the restrictions found on so-called ~~"immutable"~~ atomic distros are very tame.
For example, on Fedora Atomic^[The atomic distro I'm most familiar with.], it's mostly a paradigm shift. That is, you can achieve (almost) everything that you can on a traditional distro, the only difference being how.
So, if we would take OP's query as an example, they are not able to do
sudo dnf install vim btop. Instead^[Knowing that they're on Bluefin, a derivative.], they have to dobrew install vim btop. Additionally, these changes persist, as you'd expect. Please note that this is just one of the ways/methods you can achieve this on Bluefin (and other Fedora Atomic derivatives). Other methods include:As you'd expect, each one of these comes with its own set of tradeoffs.