Preface
What is this?
HitchHiker Linux is a general purpose Linux distribution that has been carefully assembled to give a more traditional, Unix-like experience. HitchHiker provides, out of the box, all development tools and libraries to rebuild itself from source code as well as being a solid base from which to create whatever system is desired.
Introduction
#!/don't/panic
man 42
HitchHiker Linux is a very Unix-like distribution of Linux with a focus on simplicity, elegance and providing a solid base that the end user can turn into whatever they see fit.
Core Principles:
- The default installation should include the bare minimum required software to provide a solid base.
- Complexity should be discouraged in favor of code elegance, security and maintainability.
- End users should not be discouraged from tinkering with their system.
- The distribution should make as few assumptions as possible regarding end use.
- While newer releases of software often eliminate bugs and vulnerabilities, newer software packages are not by default more secure than stable, mature packages (newer is not always better).
- Any changes to the core system functionality, especially those which change expected functionality, must be well justified and well vetted before deployment.
- The base installation should include everything required to rebuild itself from source.
- The distribution should make as few changes to the upstream software as possible, delivering it as intended by the original author.
- Patching of sources should only be done to fix bugs or vulnerabilities.
HHL was born of a desire to harness the greater hardware support of Linux while paying respect to the Unix systems from which Linux was born. The author was a long time user of FreeBSD who migrated to Arch for several years, but has become increasingly frustrated with Systemd, Gnome, RedHat and Ubuntu dominance. It is believed that there is a need for a distribution that does not pander to ease of use for casual users at the expense of putting up roadblocks for experienced Unix veterans.
Architectures
HHL is running on the following processor architectures:
- x86 (minimum i486)
- x86_64
- armv7l
- aarch64
- riscv64
Target Audience
My first computer was a Tandy TRS-80 handed down from an uncle. The interface consisted of a blinking cursor on a monochrome screen, and it had no storage beyond RAM and ROM. Whatever you could type into memory before shutting it off and run with the included Basic interpretor was the extent of the software that ran on that computer. As limited as it was, it was fascinating to me.
In this day and age an interface consisting of a blinking cursor without wallaper, icons, notifications and voice input is bewildering to the average human. Nevertheless, that is the interface that a fresh installation of HItchHiker will always present to the user. Therefore, it can be reasoned that the target audience will consist of individuals who either are comfortable with using a command line interface or are eager to learn. Some proficiency using Linux or Unix is helpful, but not 100% necessary given an ability and willingness to read the documentation and get used to being "close to the machine".
Indeed, HitchHiker will not do any kind of hand holding while you are installing and using your new system. You will be expected to learn the hows and whys of what makes a computer work. Most operating systems, including the majority of Linux distributions, will gladly install, configure, and run 100s of programs without your ever being aware that they are doing it. By the time you have achived proficiency with HitchHiker, you will know what every running process is for and why it is needed.
What's Included
- A full C and C++ development environment including compiler, headers and libraries.
- Up to date versions of kernel, base libraries and toolchain components.
- Where possible, BSD and historical Unix utilities have been incorporated.
- Full documentation is included for all included software.
- The HitchHiker build system is capable of bootstrapping itself from another Linux distro or from HitchHiker itself, and is available for x86, Arm and RiscV architectures.
What's Missing
- Systemd - HitchHiker uses the S6 supervision suite and a minimal init.
- No installer - HitchHiker is installed using Unix command line tools present on any Linux distribution.
- No apt, rpm, dnf, pacman, etc. HitchHiker uses NetBSD Pkgsrc for installing extra software.
- No daemons beyond what is required to provide a functional command prompt are started by default.
- No extra configuration is done to provide a "consistent look and feel" or any such crap. The Linux world is full of choices. Unfortunately, among the hundreds of installable offerings the vast majority are "vanity distros" which are just a remix of another distribution, with a different set of installed packages and a few cool wallpapers.
HitchHiker on the other hand is not based on any other distribution of Linux. It is a fully independent offering which tracks the most recent releases of the Linux kernel, Glibc, GCC etc. It's smaller userland utilities have been mostly ported from BSD or implemented from scratch. It's source tree can compile the entire operating system with a single command using Makefiles. We strive for an active and independent presence and want to push open source into new and exciting frontiers, such as RiscV, while paying homage to classic Unix. While there are other offerings that cover some of the same territory (Arch, Gentoo) we felt that there was space for something different.
Installation
Binary
downloading
x86
The x86 platform includes all 32-bit Intel and Intel compatible processors ranging from i386 to i786 processors. For the purposes of installation, the x86_64 architecture, including all AMD64 and Intel 64-bit processors, is identical in function and included in this page.
NOTE:
Please note that the minimum supported processor is i486. This is not a limitation specific to HitchHiker, but a limitation of the Linux Kernel itself and Glibc. Should you have a computer of this vintage, and wish to get it running, you have the choice of installing an older and likely unsupported distribution, or installing an operating system descended from 4.4BSD (FreeBSD, NetBSD, and OpenBSD).