Pkgsrc lets you build a separate userland in your home directory
Pkgsrc Is Cool (2022)
Pkgsrc is NetBSD's package manager that works on Linux, Mac, and Solaris. It builds packages from source, installs them into an isolated tree like /usr/pkg, and supports unprivileged mode so you can create a personal userland in ~/pkg. The author explains how this keeps the base system clean and enables offline builds from a local distfile mirror.
I realize this is a weird almost 'prepper' doomsday mentality, but I really wanted to be able to install software locally on my own network.
- Tractor8626
> I don't know how to make debs and rpms
There is tool called nfpm for easy package creation.
- throw0101a
In a similar vein, Spack and Easybuild are similar (more recent) build systems which are often used in the HPC space.
- bionsystem
It is. Probably an even greater gift to earth from the NetBSD community than NetBSD itself. The ability to run recent packages on most arch without them forcing you to use NetBSD, but allowing you to keep the original OS in many cases if you want, is mind-blowing.