Debian GNU/Hurd 2023 Released

[EphemeralEft]

It's hilarious that GNU is still trying to make linux-less GNU, when we're so close to a GNU-less linux. Maybe the two can go their separate ways and we can forget about one of them. XD

These days with uutils the only GNU component that's irreplaceable is make. Alpine (the basis of postmarketOS and a lot of containers/servers) is pretty much GNU-free, and they're not the only ones.

Well until the Linux kernel and other projects stop using the GNU C extensions, they’ll never really be “free” of GNU.

[Developer12]

Well until the Linux kernel and other projects stop using the GNU C extensions, they’ll never really be “free” of GNU.

Already are, through LLVM and musl. Did you think no other project implemented them?

uutils has some work to do in that area but is rapidly catching up.

[cynic]

It's hilarious that GNU is still trying to make linux-less GNU, when we're so close to a GNU-less linux. Maybe the two can go their separate ways and we can forget about one of them. XD

These days with uutils the only GNU component that's irreplaceable is make. Alpine (the basis of postmarketOS and a lot of containers/servers) is pretty much GNU-free, and they're not the only ones.

they're just trying to achieve what they believe in.

you might not share the same beliefs, but you should however appreciate their willfulness (I'm not 100% sure this is the correct English term, but I hope you get the idea)

[kpedersen]

Already are, through LLVM and musl. Did you think no other project implemented them?

It is pretty tricky to compile the Linux kernel without i.e -std=gnu99

Luckily LLVM provides "linuxisms" which are really GNUisms. That said, I don't believe it would be impossible to fix the Linux codebase to use completely standard C. It just isn't a "sexy" task so no company will do it. And individual developers don't really care about GNUisms.

[andyprough]

Alpine (the basis of postmarketOS and a lot of containers/servers) is pretty much GNU-free, and they're not the only ones.

Except to run a lot of software, Alpine users either use gcompat (library which provides glibc-compatible APIs), Flatpak (with its GNU libraries), or they chroot into another GNU/Linux distro (they recommend Gentoo, Arch, or Debian). According to Alpine's own documentation. Not truly GNU-free if you are going to do much of anything with it in a Desktop(ish) sense.

[jbranso]

Yay, I'm happy for the 3 users of Hurd!

(Couldn't resist to honor the tradition. )

I happen to be one of those 3 users. I'm using it on a really old T43. Using Emacs in the console...

[andyprough]

thousands of people playing windows games on proton with xbox controllers

Thousands gaming on GNU/Linux? Maybe. On Proton? Possibly. With Xbox controllers? I don't believe you.

[Ironmask]

Said it before, but the most confusing thing about HURD to me isn't that people develop for an obscure useless hobby OS, it's that they develop specifically for HURD.
SerenityOS, ReactOS, Redox, Haiku, even TempleOS, they all make sense in some way or another, have some purpose. HURD is probably the dictionary definition of a useless OS. It's not fulfilling any purpose, not usable anywhere, doesn't even really have a community. I think most people deranged enough to work on it have just moved on to Linux-libre.

[Nth_man]

I'm sure the thousands of people playing windows games on proton with xbox controllers don't see these features as nonsensical.

Note: 1,940,400 estimated "monthly active users" for Linux+Steam.
To be clear, that is not the total, that is monthly active.
-- https://www.gamingonlinux.com/steam-tracker/

[Gusar]

With Xbox controllers? I don't believe you.

Why not? Plenty of games play better with a controller. Or are equally good with keyboard/mouse but one might prefer a controller anyway. And pretty much all PC games assume an Xbox controller. Which was really fun for me when I was playing Scarlet Nexus with a Switch Pro controller. And yes, I did that in Linux.