---
title: "Life pro tip: Oracle Linux is the best local VM for MacBooks"
desc: "No, seriously. It sips battery life. I don't get it either."
date: 2025-01-23
---

Part of working on Anubis means that I need a local Linux environment on my MacBook. Ideally, I want Kubernetes so that I have a somewhat cromulent setup.
Most of my experience using a local Kubernetes cluster on a MacBook is with [Docker Desktop](https://www.docker.com/products/docker-desktop/). I have a love/hate relationship with Docker Desktop. Historically it's been a battery hog and caused some really weird issues.

I tried to use Docker Desktop on my MacBook again and not only was it a battery hog like I remembered; whenever the Kubernetes cluster is running the machine fails to go to sleep when I close it. I haven't been able to diagnose this despite help from mac expert friends in an infosec shitposting slack. I've resigned myself to just shutting down the Docker Desktop app when I don't immediately need Docker.

I have found a solution thanks to a very unlikely Linux distribution: [Oracle Linux](https://www.oracle.com/linux/). Oracle Linux is downstream of Red Hat Enterprise Linux, and more importantly they ship a "no thinking required" template for [UTM](https://mac.getutm.app). Just download the aarch64 UTM image from their [cloud images page](https://yum.oracle.com/oracle-linux-templates.html), extract it somewhere, rename the `.utm` file to the name of your VM, double click, copy the password, log in, change your password on first login, and bam. You get a Linux environment.

It is glorious.

Additionally, [k3s](https://k3s.io) works seamlessly on it. Just run the curl2bash, copy `/etc/rancher/k3s/k3s.yaml` to your `~/.kube/config` (or change the IP address in the file and install it to your MacBook via a bridged network), and you have a fully working Kubernetes cluster with [Traefik](https://traefik.io/) preinstalled.

They also have a [`HelmChart` custom resource](https://docs.k3s.io/helm#using-the-helm-controller) that lets you install Helm releases declaratively. Here's how my VM gets `cert-manager`:

```yaml
apiVersion: helm.cattle.io/v1
kind: HelmChart
metadata:
  name: cert-manager
  namespace: kube-system
spec:
  repo: https://charts.jetstack.io
  chart: cert-manager
  targetNamespace: cert-manager
  createNamespace: true
  set:
    installCRDs: "true"
    "prometheus.enabled": "false"
```

I love it.

The best part is that this setup is more complicated than the Docker Desktop VM, yet it _sips_ battery life. Opening the Docker Desktop app can cause my MacBook's fans to spin up and stay on at a dull roar. Oracle Linux in UTM leaves the fans silent and doesn't show up in the top energy users list.

This is frankly nuts and I'm going to be taking advantage of this as much as I can for local development.

I need to figure out a good way to run a Docker registry in the k3s node or something so I can do builds and test runs on an airplane, but this is a solveable issue with enough time and effort.

I'm still just flabbergasted at how well put together Oracle Linux is though, it's very minimal, but very well documented [on Oracle's site](https://docs.oracle.com/en/operating-systems/oracle-linux/9/). I don't know if I'd feel comfortable using it in prod yet, but I'm very happy with it.