I have a belief that root should be RO, and by
root I basically mean /usr. I'll talk more about that another time,
but I belive that the OS should be a
seperate layer.
One of the first issues that occours with a RO
root is that you can no longer install packages, package managers are typically
designed to place files into /usr. There is however another option.
I beleve packages should be installed into $HOME,
[freedesktop.org]https://www.freedesktop.org/) seems to have already thought
about this, there specifications
typically allow for $HOME overrides. So compatable
DEs already have support for local
packages.
Binary files should belong in $HOME/.local/bin
(systemd-path user-binaries) this directory should also be in your
$PATH, desktop entries should be in
${XDG_DATA_HOME:=$HOME/.local/share}/applications and icons in
${XDG_DATA_HOME:=$HOME/.local/share}/icons. There is even a place
for systemd unit files in
${XDG_DATA_HOME:=$HOME/.local/share}/systemd/user/.