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Singularity OS Singularity OS

Atom Loops

Atom Loops is the update model planned for Singularity OS, and a project in its own right: an open-source system for atomic and reproducible deployment of the operating system on Linux devices, from small boards to desktops and servers.

The idea

Section titled “The idea”

An update should be one simple, logical transaction: download, verify, switch. Atom Loops ships the system as whole, bootable images rather than as sets of packages applied on top of each other. What you run is exactly what was built and signed, not the end result of changes layered onto whatever was there before. The system is immutable by design: the root carries no editable state and is replaced whole on each update, while your data and local state live separately, so an update never has to merge system files.

The principles

Section titled “The principles”

Atom Loops is built on a few rules it will not bend:

  • Atomic. An update is either fully applied or not at all. There are no half-updated, in-between states.
  • Verifiable. Every image is signed and checked end to end before it is trusted.
  • Reversible. If a new image fails to boot, the system rolls back to the last good one on its own.
  • Portable. The same model runs from a Raspberry Pi to x86_64 machines and on to RISC-V, degrading gracefully where hardware is limited.

How it compares

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Atom Loops is deliberately narrow: it does atomic deployment of the OS, and not much else. That sets it apart from the common approaches.

  • It is not a package manager. It does not install or customize packages on the device; it ships the image as built, unlike systems where you layer packages on top of a base.
  • It is not tied to a content-addressed store. Object-store systems like OSTree add a checkout step and a tight link to their distribution tooling; Atom Loops works on plain images instead.
  • It does not depend on container images. It consumes a finished update image, not OCI layers, so it needs no Docker-style machinery.
  • It barely touches your partitions. Where A/B schemes keep two full copies of the OS in fixed partitions, Atom Loops asks for very little beyond a small boot partition.

It is also indifferent to how the image was built: whoever produces the update can use whatever tools they like, and Atom Loops only consumes the final, signed artifact.

Status

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This describes where the OS is going, not shipping software you can run today. The OS is coming soon; Atom Loops is the foundation it is being built on. Follow the news for what lands as it lands.