I’m looking to finally wipe my final Windows machine and install Linux. I would like the root filesystem to be ZFS so I am looking for distros that include ZFS as an option during installation of the OS.
I know Ubuntu had this in the installer at some point, but took it out. Same with PopOS (I think?). I have gone through the process of installing ZFS Boot Menu and got it working, but I do not feel like I understand well enough how it works to use it for my semi-daily driver.
Coming from TrueNAS/Proxmox on my servers where ZFS is either the default or a common choice, it feels like there aren’t many “desktop” distros with really good ZFS support.
Am I missing anything obvious?
The installer option is still there in Ubuntu, you just have to look for it. I don’t really recommend Ubuntu with a ZFS root unless you’re doing zfsbootmenu, though.
If you want a ZFS root on a Linux desktop, it’s a bit weird but I’ve seen quite a few people report successfully using Proxmox this way. If you go through the Proxmox installer, you end up with essentially Debian on a ZFS root, and you can essentially just ignore the web-based VM administration stuff and install a desktop.
A final option, if you’re considering a walk on the slightly wild side, is GhostBSD. GhostBSD is a FreeBSD child distro, not a Linux distro, but it’s a pretty nice way to get a quick and easy ready-to-go desktop on a ZFS root.
Keep an eye on Ultramarine Linux (basically Fedora with better defaults and additional repo). People behind it mentioned a possibility of including first-class ZFS support and they do already have their own installer. Unfortunately, I don’t expect such release anytime soon, but I hope it will happen eventually.
Proxmox on the desktop is a really interesting idea. I’ll have to make a quick list of requirements and do a bake-off between Proxmox and GhostBSD.
Take a look to the nixos. Installation is tricky (still fighting to install on my laptop). But everything on the box.
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