Documentation
Documentation
Runink River is an optimized developer workstation on s6. It is a KDE Plasma desktop for data, analytics and AI development on hardware you own, built on:
- s6 init (s6, s6-rc, s6-linux-init). Never systemd.
linux-runink, one kernel: the zen kernel 7.2.x stable series, built from signature-verified sources.- An encrypted ZFS root (aes-256-gcm on every dataset) with boot environments.
- A default-deny firewall and
river-sandboxfor code you do not trust. - A graphical, zero-knowledge installer that measures the machine, plans the disks and shows you the recovery key once.
The name is always written in full, “Runink River”. A bare “River” is the name of an
unrelated Wayland compositor. Package, path and binary names (runink-*, river-*,
/etc/runink) are identifiers and keep their spelling.
Status: early. The system boots and installs, and there is no signed public release
yet: the release-signing key is published, but no release has been cut with it. The ISO is still assembled with a
fork of Artix Linux’s ISO tooling while Runink River moves to its own from-source base.
See the roadmap.
Where to start
Download and verify the ISO, write a USB stick, install, first boot.
s6, the kernel, ZFS and encryption, the firewall, the sandbox, the installer.
Boot environments and rollback, s6 services, updates, keyboard and language, networking.
Error messages, what they mean, and a rescue from the live medium.
Minimums, which disks are used, graphics and firmware.
The image’s layers, the boot chain and the s6 service graph.
Build and test the ISO yourself.
Run linux-runink on an existing Arch Linux system.
Report a vulnerability, verify a release, Secure Boot plans.
DCO sign-off, the invariants, governance.
Why s6, why not systemd, is it Arch, and more.
What is done, what is planned, what is out of scope.
Scope of the project
Runink River ships the operating system, its packaging and its installer. Applications and platforms are not part of it: a downstream distribution can build on Runink River, and does so outside this repository. The source, including every document these pages summarise, is at github.com/org-runink/river.