Split Linux - Just give me the light!

6 min read Original article ↗

Split Linux is a general operating system optimized for safely navigating hostile environments like the Internet and physical check points.

"musl, privacy, security, encryption, and unbeatable network setup. A++"
-- sysdfree Blog

Split Linux builds on tools that follow the UNIX philosophy and is based on the fast and independent Void Linux.

Read The Split Way to learn about its benefits and philosophy.

Hard disk interaction

Blockdevice Layout

When booting the Split Linux live CD/ISO:

  1. If present, the user is prompted ot unlock a crypto_LUKS-type partition.
  2. If a volume group named "split" is found, it is activated.
  3. If a logical volume named "horde" is found, it is mounted on /var/lib/lxc.
  4. When the user logs in with a name matching one of the available containers, they directly end up in a session within that container.
    • This will typically be an Xorg application like a window manager or desktop environment
  5. The user may launch additional containers in any other TTY and switch between them using Ctrl-Alt-Fx.

Containers can be any Linux distribution of your choice while VM's can be a wide range of operating systems, including Linux.

The decoy OS could be your current operating system resized to make space for the encrypted part, simply something small and innocent-looking or be left out altogether.

Networking in Split Linux Containers

Networking in Split Linux Containers

Split Linux launches a dockerized Tor router at boot. Containers connect through this router to the Internet in one of two fashions:

Isolated

In the recommended isolated configuration a container does not have a default gateway configured. Each application has to be told to use the Tor router as proxy. This way, the connections of various applications cannot be related to one another. Measures are in place to make sure that each application uses a completely separate Tor circuit.

Isolated should be the default as it provides the highest level of anonymity.

Transparent

The transparent setup is not recommended. The Tor router is defined as default gateway in the container and any application can access the Internet without additional configuration. The Tor circuits still differ from those of other containers, avoiding them to be related to each other, but the activity of one application may be correlated to that of another. It is still possible to configure applications to use separate circuits though.

Transparent might be used in the beginning until you know how to connect your applications.

Other modes

The user may opt to circumvent the use of Tor altogether, ditching anonymity for containers where Internet connection speed is more important than stealth. As a middle ground, traffic may still be routed through a VPN.

Download and Install

Download split-live-x86_64-musl-current.iso.

Then verify checksum and flash:

sha256sum split-live-x86_64-musl-current.iso |
  grep c2b382bcc5821def440e0ebb4338808f2c11d940e8c01053dd39163ed4cf2d35 &&
    dd status=progress oflag=direct bs=2M \
       if=split-live-x86_64-musl-current.iso \
       of=/dev/disk/by-id/<DEVICE>

Replace <DEVICE> with the path to your pendrive. For added certainty cross-check the SHA256-sum shown here with the one published on Reddit.

Release history

Expect releases once to twice a year. You'll be working from containers which you can update according to your needs.

  • 6.12.34 - split-live-x86_64-musl-20250624.iso
    • c2b382bcc5821def440e0ebb4338808f2c11d940e8c01053dd39163ed4cf2d35
    • terminals tty7 to tty10 are enabled by default and reachable through Ctrl-Alt-Fx
      • Add an empty down override to disable undesired ones at boot. Example: touch /HOST/overrides/etc/sv/agetty-tty10/down.
    • new -L switch to mkiso.sh allows adding linux-lts to the ISO as secondary kernel
      • Doing so grows the ISO-size by roughly 300 MB, from 1.3 GB to 1.6 GB.
      • GRUB hotkeys x and l respectively boot the current or the LTS-kernel
    • Tor router updated to version 0.4.8.16
  • 6.6.11 - split-live-x86_64-musl-20240128.iso
    • 1e4be74189b98570f471de21fc9c46bece6b3ca9dc298fdf502acbde95dcf624
    • new command splt establishes an extensible interface to frequently used actions
      • The sub-commands create, info, start, attach, route, vethup and restart are available.
      • splt create void <arguments> creates a new Void Linux container.
      • splt route permanently switches containers between the established Split Linux networking styles "isolated", "leaky" and "exposed".
      • splt vethup enables the virtual networking interfaces of active containers.
    • distributions based on BusyBox may now be logged into directly
      • The shell configured for the container-user must be installed for GUI-launch to succeed.
    • virtual network interfaces for new containers are now easily identified by their name being veth-<CONTAINER_NAME>
      • Interface-names of existing containers can be set by adding a line like lxc.net.0.veth.pair = veth-<CONTAINER_NAME> to their config file.
    • new soft-link /HOST allows quick access to contents of /var/lib/lxc/_host/
    • Tor router updated to version 0.4.8.10
  • 6.3.13 - split-live-x86_64-musl-20230823.iso
    • 3152791b9f0f055390bb24ca7dced624edc31b0f8040dfb3ab10ac70ead1a257
    • connections to Tor services may now utilize Client Authorization
      • Keys formatted <something>.auth_private and owned by group 9001 have to be placed into /_host/override/tor_client_auth/.
      • The splitlinux-tor-router service has to be restarted for changes to take effect.
    • torified DNS queries are now possible for containers of type "exposed"
      • Requests are handled on IP 172.17.0.2 through UDP port 53.
    • files added by Split Linux itself can now be replaced through overrides
    • Tor router updated to version 0.4.7.13
  • 6.1.4 - split-live-x86_64-musl-20230114.iso
    • 26bd661e10921fd2b9d17a7a8da1571067948424f985c08922e53559c5609566
    • swap volumes named "split-swap" are now automatically used as such
    • support for 1 GB huge pages is activated
      • Configuration is done by overriding sysctl.conf, rc.local and limits.conf as required.
    • Tor router updated to version 0.4.7.10
  • 5.15.30 - split-live-x86_64-musl-20220326.iso
    • 7161f6ac83e2796b79e6d4369b749ce414aec5f4a25ba09d02e645a229ec623a
    • encrypted RAID-devices are included in the selection of split-devices
    • devices labelled "split*" are preferred for decryption at boot
    • command format_for_splitlinux labels newly created devices accordingly
      • Existing devices can be named by issuing cryptsetup config --label split <DEVICE>.
    • container-restart from create_voidlinux_container should now be faster
  • split-live-x86_64-musl-20220215.iso
    • a6cadc3677bcf704639a90a35aa694d5ff47b2ad4eabcd56d88aa25b3933c2f8
    • immediate login after system boot is no longer hindered by slow Docker service startup
    • networks may now route through a total of five SOCKS ports each
      • 172.17.0.2:9050..9054 for identities in "exposed"
      • 172.18.0.2:9050..9054 for identities in "isolated"
      • 172.20.0.2:9050..9054 for identities in "leaky"
    • closing graphical session in the background no longer pulls the focus to its tty (upstream improvement)
    • Tor router updated to version 0.4.6.9
  • split-live-x86_64-musl-20220213.iso
    • 5b8992d429d3c0d866b2b98ea2e4c5d565294f0a4a9fc6b6d1da727342ca2d86
    • retracted - see next release instead
  • split-live-x86_64-musl-20210506.iso
    • 7088fd01b00eaf962c85ba11ed4f1fc934566049461d89144d3d492adf8255d6
    • output of splitlinux-tor-router service no longer spams the console
      • The section "Logging" in the Void Linux Handbook explains how to access the information.
    • new command format_for_splitlinux automates hard disk preparation
    • root now uses bash as shell; if no container partition is mounted, format_for_splitlinux is mentioned upon login
    • Tor router updated to version 0.4.4.8
  • split-live-x86_64-musl-20210112.iso
    • 1ee709b2ab9c547105f73d3c47d417b9e2c2b6328717f598cdfc3539c762b231
    • network link is explicitly activated on container start
    • crypt device selection now handles non-numeric input graciously
  • split-live-x86_64-musl-20201128.iso
  • split-live-x86_64-musl-20201108.iso
    • aafc067e3e3f3b2e2567a1b2a1f52b9c269b9dc4959ed2b22549331cf9e73fcf
    • user is presented with Split Linux specifc hints at login
    • passwords for root and anon are overridden if a "shadow-formatted" password is present in /_host/password on the horde volume
    • host system's /etc files will be overridden by files from /_host/override/etc/ of the horde volume; ideas:
      • Configure a wpa_supplicant/wpa_supplicant-<interface>.conf to automatically connect wireless on boot.
      • Configure a udev/rules.d/99-sound-for-containers.rules to allow sound from containers.
      • Configure a X11/xorg.d/70-synaptics.conf to customize touchpad behaviour.
  • split-live-x86_64-musl-20201104.iso
    • ca3c88467520907f05f3e571f176a71f2ead0056e2f3fb68ed4bcc43aa54d17f
    • "leaky" network configuration now working
    • Tor router updated to version 0.4.3.5
  • split-live-x86_64-musl-20200701.iso
    • a6e925d3e0c5c1b91cba0a6d96924191664f8b9483b390396708f899e31a7cae
    • clearnet routing corrected
    • package cache no longer shared with host
    • container .xinitrc no longer needs to be made executable
  • split-live-x86_64-musl-20200531.iso
    • d6530d730f0fd11eb0230dded60b4f874213c3f4359ff27f9a5f445c9ce207b8
    • initial release

Documentation

The Split Handbook (HTML, PDF)

Notes

Debugging: Customization Notes - Live CD

Link collection: Enter Crypto Currencies

Link collection: Live on Crypto

The Beast Desktop Environment - Changelog

The Beast Desktop Environment

The Split Way

What Users Say

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