Building Your Own Linux from Scratch (And Testing It in a Container)

If you’ve been administering Linux servers for a while, you’ve probably developed a love-hate relationship with it. You know how to configure services, debug networking issues, and keep systems running. But somewhere deep down, you’ve wondered: what actually holds this thing together? I don’t mean “how does systemd work” (nobody truly knows). I mean: what happens between hitting the power button and seeing a login prompt? Today, we’re going to build our own minimal Linux system from scratch. And because I’m not a sadist, we’ll test it using Docker containers - spin it up in seconds, tear it down just as fast. ...

March 28, 2026 · 6 min · Pragmatic Sysadmin

Kubernetes Without Jargon: Pods = Processes, Services = Stable Names

If you’ve ever tried to Google “What is Kubernetes?” you’ve probably seen a wall of buzzwords: orchestration, scalability, microservices, YAML manifests. Somewhere in there, someone will tell you it’s like “a shipping port for containers,” and you’ll want to slam your laptop shut. ...

August 16, 2025 · 4 min · Pragmatic Sysadmin