2019-05-01_Linux_Format

MMMay 2019A91a2Devu1Dvn-bsd May 2019 LXF249 21

Linux distribution Reviews

Refractaisa

regular desktop

distro that has

a bunch of

customised

tools to help

you install and

customise the

distro, and

eventually roll

your own Live

ISO that you

can carry on

a bootable

USB stick.

in brief

VerDiCT

utilityalsohasseveraltweakableparametersfor

advancedusers.First-timerscanstickwiththedefaults

togenerateacustomISOtomirrortheirmodified

installation.Thescriptworksflawlessly,andspitsout

theISOaspromised.

ThethirdcustomscriptisRefracta2usb,whichhelps

makeabootableUSBdrive.Unlikeothersimilarutilities,

thisscriptcandoalotmorethanjusttransferanISO

imagetoadisk.ItcanalsocreateabootableUSBdirectly

fromarunningRefractainstance!Therunninginstance

hastobeeitherfromaLiveCDoraLiveUSBandnot

fromaninstalledinstanceofRefracta.Again,thisoption

willalsorollallthechangesyou’vemadetotherunning

instanceintothebootableUSB.Thescriptalsogivesyou

optionstocreateapersistencepartitionthatcanbe

optionallyencryptedforaddedsecurity.

Asadesktop,Refractadoesn’toffermuchtowrite

homeabout:it’saprettystandardXfcedistrowithsome

esotericappchoices.Whatmadeustakenoticeareits

customscripts.Theyareveryusefulandworkas

advertisedtohelpyoupackageyourcustomisations.

herearen’tmanydesktop

distrosbasedonDebian’s

systemd-freeDevuanfork.

ButwhatmakesRefractainteresting

areitscustomscriptsandpackaging

policy.It’sbasedonthelatest

Devuan2.0ASCIIrelease,it’s

availableforboth32-bitand64-bit

machinesanditsselectionofpre-

installedappsmakeitanideal

lightweightdistrofordailyuse.

RefractausestheXfcedesktop,

theCLI-basedMuttasthedefault

emailclient,andAbiwordforword

processing.Oneofthehighlights

ofthedistroisthatitsdesktopis

installedasindividualpackages

ratherthanametapackage.This

makesiteasiertocustomisetheir

installationbyremovingindividualpartswithoutaffecting

otherpartsofthedesktop.Soforinstance,youcan

removeXfce’sThunarfilemanagerwithoutzappingthe

entiredesktopenvironment,andreplaceitwithanother

onelikePCManFM.

Besidesthese,it’safairlystandardcollectionofapps

that’llsatisfyallkindsofusers.Userswillappreciatethe

factthattheFirefoxESRreleaseisequippedwiththe

HTTPSEverywhereandNoScriptadd-ons.One

interestingappthatweparticularlylikeisFireMenu,a

graphicalapplicationmenuforFirejail.Theapp,placed

prominentlyinthetoppanel,presentsalistofappsthat

whenselectedarelaunchedinaFirejailsandbox.

FireMenuisfairlyeasytooperateandyoucaneasily

customiseitslistofapps.Whilewehadnoissuesrunning

appslikeFirefox,GIMPandAudaciousinthesandbox,the

entryforMPVgotusnowhere.

Themaindrawofthedistroareitscustomscripts.

FirstupisRefractaInstaller,foranchoringthedistroto

yourharddisk.It’sagraphicalinstallerthat’sunlikeany

we’veencountered,withlotsoftickboxesandpop-ups.

Itsdexteritywillappealtoadvancedusers,thoughit

comeswithenoughadequatedefaultstobeusablein

thehandsoffirst-timersaswell.Thereisn’tadedicated

partitioningtool,though,andthiscrucialtaskisinstead

deferredtoGparted.

Theinstallerisconstantlyevolvingandtakingonnew

features.Thelatestversionthatcomeswiththisrelease

supportsGPTdisksandfull-diskencryption.Another

uniqueandinterestingaspectoftheinstalleristhat

insteadofanchoringthestockenvironment,ittransfers

theLiveenvironmentalongwithanymodifications,

includingchangestotheconfigurationandtheapp

selection.Onceyou’veinstalledamodifiedRefractayou

caneasilyconvertitintoaninstallableISOimagewiththe

Refracta Snapshot script. Like the installer, the snapshot

refracta 9.0

A Devuan-based distro doesn’t particularly excite Mayank Sharma, but

this one comes with a bunch of interesting tweaks and custom scripts.

T

ThestockRefractaisn’treallyimpressive,butitsscriptsmake

thedistroworthcheckingout.

feaTures 9/10

PerformanCe 9/10

easeofuse 8/10

DoCumenTaTion 8/10

Rating 8/10

DevelopeR:fsmithred

Web:https://refracta.org

licence: DFSG-compatible licences

Refracta’s scripts would be nicely complemented by a stripped-down flavour of the distro that

users could flesh out as needed.