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Linux is a family of open source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991 by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged in a Linux distribution (or distro for short).

Distributions include the Linux kernel and supporting system software and libraries, many of which are provided by the GNU Project. Many Linux distributions use the word "Linux" in their name, but the Free Software Foundation uses the name GNU/Linux to emphasize the importance of GNU software, causing some controversy.

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Am I overthinking it? (reddthat.com)

submitted 3 days ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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I'm working on my transition plan away from Windows and testing out various things in VMs as I do so, and one big hurdle is making sure the VPN client my work requires can connect. Bazzite is my target distro (primarily gaming, work less frequently), though other more traditionally structured ones like Pop!_OS and Garuda are possibilities.

I'm currently trying and failing to get the VPN client working in a distrobox (throws an error during connection saying PPP isn't installed or supported by the kernel). However, I can successfully get the VPN connected if I overlay the client and its dependencies via rpm-ostree install, but I read somewhere that Bazzite's philosophy is to use rpm-ostree as sparingly as possible for installing software to preserve as much containerization as possible.

Since I can get it working outside of a container, am I overthinking it? Should I just accept that this might be one of the "sparing" cases? Is Bazzite perhaps a poor fit for my use case? I've been trying to make sense of this guide, but I'm having trouble understanding how to apply it to my situation, since I'm not that familiar with Docker or Podman.

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[–] [email protected] 10 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago) (3 children)

A VPN is definitely an example of software you should use rpm-ostree to install.

To add some detail, anything you install in a distrobox (or other sandbox/container) can't add kernel modules, which I think is the error you're getting.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 3 days ago (2 children)

A VPN is definitely an example of software you should use rpm-ostree to install.

I think it's fine if you use rpm-ostree for it, but it's not necessarily required. I recently found out that the Mozilla VPN developers are experimenting (!) with building a Flatpak, and having tried it myself, it works very well.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 3 days ago (1 children)

It's definitely not required. ProtonVPN has a flatpak client, so it's not like the client can't exist in other layers, in theory.

I may have to follow up with IT, because they have OVPN for connecting to a different domain on the network, but not this one (probably low priority to change). Perhaps they can offer a way to connect that isn't this specific client.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 3 days ago

Oh! Note that in Settings under Network, there's also a VPN setting that allows you to manually configure a VPN. It has an "Import from file..." option, so presumably, there's a way to obtain a config file that should make it work. If not, knowing which options to set might work as well.