|//andyl-os

AOS

AOS is an early-preview, immutable Linux distribution for headless servers and edge systems. Its bootstrap toolchain, userspace, packages, images, and tests are built from source without nixpkgs package outputs.

Product
AOS
Type
Linux distribution
Status
Early preview
Architecture
x86_64 + aarch64
Build
Hermetic / Nix
Target
Server / Edge
CAPABILITIESDOC-AOS-001

Built from source

CAP-001

AOS builds its bootstrap toolchain, userspace, packages, system images, and test tools through its own package set instead of consuming nixpkgs package outputs.

Toolchain
Bootstrapped
Packages
Hermetic builds
Tests
Source-built tools

Immutable image, runtime policy

CAP-002

The release image owns boot-critical capabilities while authenticated host.nix input can activate hostname, networking, users, services, access policy, and desired packages as an atomic configuration generation.

Root
Read-only EROFS
Configuration
Runtime host.nix
Activation
Atomic generations

Guarded upgrades and recovery

CAP-003

AOS implements independent configuration and A/B image generations, boot counting, rollback, dm-verity, and Secure Boot and measured-boot test variants. Production deployments must supply and qualify their own trust material.

Images
A/B generations
Integrity
dm-verity
Trust keys
Deployment-owned
HOST CONFIGURATIONDOC-AOS-002

Change host policy without rebuilding the image.

AOS evaluates machine-owned host.nix against the running image's ABI-pinned module library. Operators can preview the resulting files, service actions, and package fetches before activation.

The switch becomes a numbered configuration generation and is independent of the machine's A/B image generation. A failed pre-switch transaction leaves the active configuration unchanged.

docs/users/aos/host-nix.md
{
aos.networking.hostName = "web-01";
aos.services.ssh.port = 2222;
aos.apm.desiredPackages = ["nginx"];
}
# Preview the configuration transaction
apm switch --from ./host.nix --dry-run
USE CASESDOC-AOS-003
UC-001

Headless servers

Qualify immutable server images whose machine-specific services and policy are activated from authenticated deployment input.

UC-002

Edge systems

Use the edge runtime role and declarative networking on systems that benefit from a small, policy-neutral base image.

UC-003

Reproducible OS development

Inspect, build, boot, and test the operating system and its package set from a single public source tree.

Explore the current AOS preview.

Review the source, user guides, and support matrix before evaluating AOS on your hardware.

Contact us