Tux

Open Small Linux

Version 0.8  |  BuildRoot  |  opkg  |  x86-64
Home | About | Features | Handbook | Foundry | Repository | Roadmap | Download

Menu

News

NEW! Version 0.8 released — the first public one.

NEW! The image now ships the osl-install installer and the osl-tools utility set. See the Handbook.

Quick facts

Base: BuildRoot
Platform: PC (x86-64)
Packages: opkg
Installer: osl-install (CLI)

About the project

Open Small Linux is a Linux distribution for PCs. It is assembled with BuildRoot, which keeps it free of anything unnecessary: only what the system needs to run, plus what you install yourself.

The main principle: prefer permissively licensed software — programs under licenses such as MIT and BSD.

To be honest: the system still contains BusyBox, which is GPL. So far no suitable replacement has been found.

The system ships with opkg, a CLI installer osl-install and a small set of native tools (osl-sysinfo, osl-power, osl-net).

Boot loading is handled by GRUB 2 and installed manually — the image has no grub-install, the installer writes the boot code itself. How it works is described in the Handbook.

The project is supported by:

Foundry Technologies

Project sponsor: Foundry Technologies

© 2026 Open Small Linux. Linux is a trademark of Linus Torvalds.
Tux the penguin: Larry Ewing, vector version by Garrett LeSage.