I love virtualization in Linux and I would like to have operating system which will work only as minimal, air-gapped as much is possible host for my guest operating systems. Qubes OS project really interested me but it’s based on Xen hypervisor so it might cause troubles with GPU Passthrough which is really important for me also I’m more interested in KVM. In my case it’s not only about security and privacy but also about fun and learning. What can you recommend? I think that good choice might be Gentoo Linux because it allows for minimal installation and remove unnecessary software like CUPS, Bluetooth entirely with flags which will be great option for host only OS. But I had experience with Gentoo and it’s not easiest way 😅 Debian might be easier option but I will have less control over my system. Maybe you have other interesting options?
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If all you want is KVM, than any Linux distro +
virt-managerwill work perfect. My general recommendations for Linux distros are Fedora and openSUSE, because they are usually pretty up-to-date. Arch is also a good option, though not as stable. Choose KDE Plasma or GNOME when using GPU passthrough (because most guides will be made for either of these DEs).That’s what I’m thinking about but I think that OpenSUSE or Fedora might be too much bloated. Someone recommended AlmaLinux and I think that might be a great solution.
Alma is an LTS enterprise distro so gets pretty out of date after some time, and I don’t think it is significantly more bloated than Fedora because AlmaLinux is downstream of Fedora. Just uninstall the apps you don’t want on install. Even better is openSUSE Tumbleweed because the YaST installer allows for you to pick and choose every package (or group of packages) that makes it onto your final system.
Opensuse MicroOS is not only minimal, but also inmutable. Or their variations Aeon (Gnome) or Kalpa (Plasma) if you are looking for a desktop env.
On top of that, if you enable Cockpit it would enable your VM and containers management.
Well. Gentoo will let you have a direct say in every single aspect of the final system.
Not helping here, but I heard a guy with Guix did that. Guix just builds a profile with the extra desktop parts, run it in a local container if you want and add that profile to the local software stack. Not a vm but maybe you don’t need it ? Both the system, home and the desktop profile are declarative, so very mobile. I think he had his DE user profile remote also, so extremely minimal/air-gapped and stable solution with almost zero local data: system, home, desktop-profile, remote user profile (ldap etc).
In declarative operating systems, you describe what you want, and the system builds it for you. Your whole system configuration is a few files of std code (learning experience ;). Personally, I’m done with the usual monolithic distros. They are too error prone for my taste, and not really moving with the dev flow of operating systems imho.
Anyway, just a loose rumor/idea, I have no links and don’t actually know how to do it, sorry.
NixOS is also a good candidate for that matter
Unpopular take but TrueNAS has some pretty good virtualization options out-of-the-box.
