While this is an especially great development for the Fedora Atomic aficionados among us, I wouldn’t be surprised if we’ll be hearing a lot more from sysexts as (yet another) avenue for installing software, particularly on other atomic/immutable distros. The concept itself isn’t new - Flatcar has been utilizing this approach for some time (and has been a significant influence on this Fedora initiative).

The gist would be that it basically allows installing software natively without the traditional rpm-ostree layering method. This approach eliminates both the lengthy installation times and reboot requirements typically associated with that process. Though, it doesn’t seem to completely replace the conventional method as it comes with certain limitations (as per the developer):

They can not be used to:

• install another kernel
• install kernel modules
• make changes to the initrd
• make changes to /etc
• add udev rules

For those wondering what is actually envisioned to be installed using this method, the software that’s already available may shed some light 😉.

In any case, note that this is FAR from its final form. The (relative) complexity currently involved in installing and updating software reflects this clearly; don’t expect shiny wrappers that will make all of us blissfully ignorant of the underlying complexity right away 😜.