I could imagine bootstrapping via Bell Labs Unix from the 90’s would be more authentic, yet demanding LFS experience. I wonder how far back computer historians could bootstrap up to a modern compiler for integrity and verification purposes?

https://www.owlfolio.org/research/bootstrapping-trust-in-compilers/

https://www.theregister.com/2025/11/07/unix_fourth_edition_tape_rediscovered/

I’ve observed some notable improvements when benchmarking with the CachyOS kernel on NixOS via Chaotic’s Nyx using moderately old hardware:

https://programming.dev/post/38304031

Haven’t yet tried replicating the same comparison on newer hardware, but would be interested to see what others have tested. Any observations?