NORD Scratch Linux

NORD is a minimalist computer operating system, JeOS (Just Enough OS), suitable as a base for server, desktop*, or embedded systems. It starts fast and runs light. It uses the Linux kernel and related packages. 

NORD Features

NORD is a from-scratch computer operating system using the Linux kernel, many of the GNU utilities (particularly GLIBC), designed for utility and efficiency. It is especially well suited for use as a server, for development, and for rescue or embedded work. NORD is designed with virtualization in mind.

NORD design points:

●	reduced packaging, goes directly to the package authors/maintainers
●	shortened trust chain (going directly to source code publishers)
●	enforced source trust (for signed packages)
●	reduced cross-dependency (packages built for NORD can run on other distros)
●	minimal preload and default startup (only runs what you tell it to run)
●	designed for appliance readiness, embedded or virtual 

NORD Linux features: 

●	reduced dependency on shared libraries 
(packages built on NORD easily used on other systems)
●	32-bit system for simplicity and for speed (64-bit builds are under development)
●	more than fifty packages built directly from original "tarball" sources
●	/lib/modules is sym-linked to /boot/modules, 
so that kernel modules go with kernel (under /boot)
●	reads a profile from CMS, if available (useful on z/VM hosts)
●	REXX is standard (two flavors supplied)
●	THE for an XEDIT workalike, plus other popular editors
●	BASH, of course, and five other popular command shells
●	fully self-hosting (you can rebuild it yourself) on S390 and I386 and PPC
●	avoids partitioning when it's not meaningful

Fastest booting Linux apart from NSS (and yet supports NSS, which makes it even faster). 
Minimal start-up: YOU decide what you want to run.

NORD Rationale

With so many operating systems, and so many variants of Linux, why use NORD?
Some motivations for NORD are … 

●	demonstrate replaceable core operating system
●	showcase the standard recipe
●	showcase CSCRATCH generic build scheme
●	showcase Chicory flexible packaging scheme
●	a build platform for Chicory packages
●	a build platform for experiment and QA
●	a build platform with reduced dependency hell
●	a source based system
●	simplified core system
●	layered/modular system*
●	showcase shared disk and shared filesystems

NORD uses CSCRATCH for direct-from-maintainer source code and tighter source trust. 

NORD uses Chicory for flexible supplemental packages. 

NORD tries hard to not be yet another distro. 
("We don't need another distro" to the tune of "What the World Needs Now") 
It works well on ice. (Good for frozen configurations, that is CD, DVD, or other R/O media.) 

*Does not ship a GUI, but can run most GUI environments on top of the text mode core. 

Supported Scripting Languages

●	Regina REXX 
●	Open Object REXX
●	Perl
●	Tcl
●	Python
●	Ruby

Scripting languages are supplied in a separate filesystem which holds builds for any platform (i386, s390, PPC).  As supplied, these scripting languages can theoretically be run on any Linux distribution (eg: SuSE, RedHat, Debian, Slackware, ...).

Other languages can be added.

What it lacks:

●	X ... or any graphics (but you can leverage X from another distro; this has been proven)
●	an installer; simply boot it and run it; use 'rsync' or 'tar' to install it on other media
●	a package manager; expected to include RPM and 'dpkg' eventually, but does not require them

NORD uses SysVInit rather than the popular SystemD replacement, to keep things simple.

NORD uses the “shadow” package rather than “pwdutils”. This is probably just historical.

Some packages included with NORD are back-leveled in the core, notably “tar” and “make”. This is because of difficulties with their newer releases in certain environments where NORD is deployed. Newer releases can always be added to NORD via Chicory (/usr/opt) or via CSCRATCH. 

What Works

NORD presently runs on … 

●	Linux-s390, complete, self-hosting, demonstrable
●	Linux-i386, complete, self-hosting, demonstrable
●	Linux-ppc, self-hosting
●	Linux-arm
●	Linux-sparc

All of the above provide a cleaner build environment than otherwise available. (i.e., reduced dependency on shared libraries, more current development chain) 

Mascot

Jon E Bird suggested that NORD should have a mascot. So it seemed that a friendly black and white animal with a fondness for colder climates would do:

In this case, those colder climates are 
northern. This ain't no penguin; she's got teeth!

-- R; <><

this page “NORD Linux” last updated 2016-Dec-28 (Wedesday) by RMT