Oasis is a small statically-linked Linux system that prioritizes simplicity, reproducibility, and minimal dependencies over feature completeness.
The project addresses the complexity and fragility of conventional Linux distributions by building a complete system where all software is statically linked, eliminating library upgrade problems and producing self-contained binaries. It uses Lua-generated build manifests processed by samurai to achieve fast, reproducible builds with minimal bootstrap requirements. The system can be bootstrapped from any POSIX system with basic tools and an x86_64-linux-musl cross compiler, making cross-compilation trivial even from non-Linux systems. Rather than a traditional package manager, oasis uses specifications to define which files from which packages to include, writing the resulting filesystem into a git repository that can be merged into the root directory or pulled from another machine. The system replaces widely-adopted TLS libraries with BearSSL throughout, supplemented by libtls-bearssl for compatibility, and keeps the `/etc` directory simple enough for administrators to understand and customize completely.
Oasis suits developers and system administrators who value transparency, reproducibility, and control over breadth of available software. It is closer in philosophy to BSD systems than conventional Linux distributions. The project acknowledges that it is quite different from familiar Linux-based operating systems and does not attempt to compete with general-purpose distributions. Instead of maintaining a large package repository, oasis integrates well with OS-agnostic package systems like pkgsrc and nix, allowing users to extend the base system with additional software while keeping the core focused and minimal. A major ongoing goal is to build successfully with cproc, a much stricter and smaller C compiler than gcc or clang, though this effort remains in progress.
Development activity shows consistent engagement with the core mission. The project maintains careful attention to patch organization and quality, requiring patches to be well-described and apply cleanly. Work continues on expanding cproc compatibility across the system, with all core packages and most others already building successfully. The maintainers actively integrate improvements to upstream projects like libcurl's native BearSSL support into the system design.
