A good security-focused Linux distro

[Mattymatt]

I am in a situation where I need to run Linux because one of the applications that I need to run just refuses to run on my go-to operating system, OpenBSD. I need a Linux distro that focuses on security with the kind of obsession that OpenBSD does and I read that Arch Linux might be a good one to look into. What do my fellow tech experts think?

 

[Isadoorian]

Arch Linux can be a pain in the donkey to install

I know Kali's used for Exploit Testing and the likes


Maybe have a look-see through this? The best Linux distro for privacy and security in 2018 | TechRadar

 

[Bikutoso]

I have never used a Linux distribution that is as security-oriented as OpenBSD.

Some I have tried are:
Alpine Linux: security-oriented, lightweight. (Problem with applications requiring glibc)
Gentoo: As secure as you wish to spend time on, also requires a lot of maintenance.
Devuan: Not security-oriented. But a good option for when you have spent 6 month trying to setup a server with no luck.

 

[Mattymatt]

Thank you for your input guys! Some food for thought. I might try and do a work around and find a different application to achieve the same goal. I've been using OpenBSD since 1998 and I'm comfortable with it. I don't like change so I've stuck with it fora while because it's something I know and love.

 

[Graphin]

I'd say there is currently no usable security focused distros out there that are made for installed long term use.

The mistake many people make is thinking that an OS that only provides anonymity or is made for testing security is made to be secure.

Alpine by many means is not made for desktop use, doesn't mean it's not possible.

I've tried Subgraph, it's a really good show of how things could be done, but there are a range of bugs, missing features and security issues (it's alpha)

Dapper linux seems to be better but I didn't try yet, it seems to be very unknown which is a huge issue in terms of security.

Parrot seems to be doing something but I couldn't find out what really.

So far afaik only Subgraph is trying to mitigate the problem of X11 sending all keystrokes to everything, which also seems to be an OpenBSD issue.
A huge setback was that grsecurity/ pax kernel patches aren't much availible for almost 2 years.

 

[Graphin]

Here is a thing though, why do subgraph and dapper not only design their system around only gnome shell, but also have to make their software dependent on it making it difficult to switch.
It may be a thing of taste, but I think it's not too controversial to say that gnome is the main limiting factor of those distros to run on weaker computers, restrictive and in some cases lacking basic configuration options.