NexBox

First Boot Complete

NexBox is the primary distribution — a Linux-musl based system for desktops, cloud servers, and Kubernetes deployments.

Base Stack

Component	Implementation	Size
Kernel	Linux 6.18.2 (LLVM-compiled)	5.3MB
Userland	ToyBox 0.8.11 (static, 86 applets)	~200KB
Init	Dinit 0.17.1 (static)	~100KB
Package Manager	nip (cross-compiled)	~2MB
C Library	musl (static)	Linked into binaries
Network	udhcpc (from ToyBox)	Included

Boot Image

The build produces a 256MB ext4 image:

cd nexus-forge/core/nexus && ./nexus forge --target=nexbox --arch=x86_64

Output: build/nexbox/dist/nexbox.img + vmlinuz

Build time: ~36 seconds (kernel cached). All 4 components build clean.

Filesystem Layout

NexBox uses the Sovereign FSH with POSIX compatibility symlinks:

/Cas/current/bin/    # 90 binaries (toybox applets + dinit + dinitctl + nip + udhcpc)
/Nexus/              # Kernel, boot config
/Cell/               # Per-process state
/Bus/                # Communication endpoints
/Data/               # Persistent data

# Compatibility symlinks
/bin → /Cas/current/bin
/lib → /Cas/current/lib
/tmp → ephemeral

Boot Sequence

1. QEMU/hardware loads vmlinuz
2. Linux kernel initializes, mounts root filesystem
3. Dinit starts as PID 1
4. Services are started per Dinit service definitions
5. NexBox banner displayed, shell prompt available

Boot command:

./boot_nexbox.sh

Desktop Variants

Default Desktop (Planned)

• KDE Plasma 6 on Wayland
• systemd (replaces Dinit for desktop)
• Immutable root filesystem
• nip + NipCells for application management

Pro Desktop (Planned)

• Hyprland or Niri window manager
• Dinit init
• nip only (no Flatpak/Snap)
• Minimal footprint

Cloud/Server

• containerd / podman pre-installed
• Kubernetes-ready (kubeadm, kubectl)
• Pledge/unveil enforcement on containers
• UTCP for inter-node communication

Known Issues

• mkdir: write: Bad file descriptor during init (cosmetic, non-blocking)
• nimkdl parseKdlFile not implemented — use readFile + parseKdl workaround