The forge · Stage of the build
Arch Linux
The original forge. A working userspace in which to compile, held on homer and keeper, never a parent distribution. Here the iron was laid on the anvil first.
The workshop, not the bloodline
The first Saphira bootstrap ran on Arch Linux. Arch provided a working userspace in which to compile: working package tools, a known compiler, and a shell to drive the build scripts. Nothing more was taken from it.
What was built there replaced the foundations. musl libc instead of glibc. APK for packages instead of pacman. OpenRC for init. Its own compiler triple, historically x86_64-akadata-linux-musl, with all released Saphira Linux flavours now using x86_64-saphira-linux-musl. That is why Saphira is not Arch with musl swapped in. Nothing is inherited silently.
When the dragon finally flew, it no longer needed this workshop. Every stage after this one reduces what the host is trusted with, until the final image boots without it.
Continue the chain
Next: the SDK, back to the forge overview, or onward to Saphira v0.1.