 DistroWatch Weekly |
| DistroWatch Weekly, Issue 1182, 20 July 2026 |
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Welcome to this year's 29th issue of DistroWatch Weekly!
While commercial software companies tend to focus on growth, profit, and centralization, community projects often fill niches that are small, focused, and interconnected. This week, in our Feature Story, we talk about open source and community projects which can act as alternatives to large, centralized commercial offerings. There are a lot of open source offerings and smaller-scale options in the world. Let us know about some of your favourites in the comments section. In our News column we share highlights from the Haiku project as the team ports the NetBSD Virtual Machine Monitor while GNOME makes it safer to test experimental features. We also talk about the FreeBSD project removing the last of the GPL code from the operating system's base. Plus we share tips on dealing with installing packages when the disk is running low on space in this week's Questions and Answers question. For our Opinion Poll this week we respond to Linus Torvalds suggesting people who do not like LLM tools can fork the kernel. Do you think anyone will take him up on the suggestion? Plus, we are pleased to share a summary of this past week's releases. We with you all a terrific week and happy reading!
This week's DistroWatch Weekly is presented by TUXEDO Computers.
Content:
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| Feature Story (By Jesse Smith) |
Smaller, community-oriented, open source solutions
I belong to a group of friends who get together once or twice a month to play games. At some point one of the members set up a Discord instance for us to use to coordinate our schedules, share documents, and post ideas. This worked well enough until Discord announced they would be putting age verification checks into place and limiting access to their services. Our group, as a whole, didn't like this idea, but also didn't see many good, convenient alternatives for the style of sharing and communicating in which we wanted to engage.
A few weekends later I was tinkering with a server and it crossed my mind that Nextcloud, with the proper add-on, would probably suit our needs. I installed Nextcloud and its Talk application on the server and invited my friends to test drive it. We found that it suited our needs, especially once I had also enabled a calendar application for us to use. Overnight we had a new platform on which we could communicate without worrying about age verification policies, data limits, or the whims of a company.
Once we were in the habit of using the new Nextcloud system I started adding other features I thought we might find useful, such as shared notes and scheduled tasks. The platform has proven to be a suitable solution and a good alternative to other commercially-backed services we had been using.
Around this time, I was chatting with another friend about commercial services and their urge to unplug from some of the world's larger technology companies. I mentioned a few alternatives they could try for web browsing, calendar management, e-mail, and streaming videos. During that conversation they said something which caught my attention - the person asked how I knew about the alternatives.
It took our conversation in an interesting turn because they weren't just intrigued by there being alternatives to their big-name technology services, but also by the fact that someone would be familiar with alternatives, that someone would just know there were alternatives. The fact someone had gone looking for alternatives, unprompted, surprised them.
This seems to me to be an effect of how our on-line experience has been shifting over the years. When the World Wide Web was relatively young, it was mostly full of separate, small platforms. When I was introduced to the Web in the 90s it was a mostly-unregulated landscape of small services, each competing with each other or catering to small communities. There were dozens of e-mail providers, there were hundreds of forums, each geared to a different interest, there was no central social media platform and no consensus on which of the dozens of search engines should be used. It was scattered and messy and open. If a person didn't like what one search engine, chat room server, or message board was doing they simply packed up and moved to another.
Over the past two decades the web has gradually coalesced into a smaller number of larger platforms. Most of the search engines were overshadowed by Google, most e-mail usage narrowed into two or three services, Reddit replaced a lot of the news discussion boards, and the rich array of message boards and chat rooms were mostly replaced (for most people) by a few social media companies. Along with this consolidation, and its associated convenience, came central control. Most news, conversations, and information flow through a handful of companies these days and, when those companies adopt certain rules or restrictions, most of the Internet feels the effects.
This move to centralized services has been going on long enough (over 20 years) that I think many people have either forgotten what the federated Internet of the 90s was like, or have been born into a world where they never had a chance to experience it. To them, the current world of Facebook, Google, and Reddit are just examples of how the Internet is and, as far as they know, always was. They are like elves growing up in the shadow of the Third Age, unable to recall the light of the Two Trees.
While small, community-focused, and open source solutions are eclipsed by their commercial rivals, they do still exist. There are alternatives available, both for people who wish to be users of someone else's service and for those who wish to self-host solutions. This week I would like to turn a spotlight onto some options for people who are tired of global, one-size-fits-all solutions and would like to try something smaller, user-focused, and community-oriented.
Below is a table with a list of common service types, examples of commonly known proprietary services in those categories, and then alternatives. I've striven to provide both community-oriented options that are hosted by other people (often small companies or non-profits) and also list self-hosting solutions.
These are some alternatives I find useful. What alternatives to big, commercial platforms do you recommend?
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| Miscellaneous News (by Jesse Smith) |
Haiku ports the NetBSD Virtual Machine Monitor, GNOME OS makes it easier to test experimental features, FreeBSD removes the last of the GPL code from its base
The Haiku project has published a newsletter for the month of June which highlights progress its developers are making. One of the key changes this past month was an effort to get the NetBSD Virtual Machine Monitor running on Haiku. "The thing that should be the biggest news item this month is that the GSoC 2024 work to port NVMM, the NetBSD Virtual Machine Monitor (which runs on more than just NetBSD, despite the name), providing hardware-accelerated virtualization support for QEMU, was finally merged. Unfortunately it still doesn't fully work, so it's still disabled by default: hence, it's only a minor news item, unfortunately.
The code is now at least fully integrated with the Haiku tree, and all necessary kernel changes (including a number of bug fixes and the implementation of a handful of minor new features) has been completed, so the code shouldn't 'bitrot' any further, and it's much easier to build, test, and work on it than it was when it was on a slowly-rotting branch. Additionally, I (waddlesplash) implemented support for AMD hosts (the GSoC project only implemented enough for Intel hosts), cleaned up a lot of the code, and implemented a number of performance improvements while at it." This and other changes are covered in the Haiku newsletter.
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There are people who would probably like to try the latest features provided by the GNOME project, but who do not want to risk destabilizing their operating system. With this in mind the GNOME OS team is introducing a new feature called Test Centre. The It's FOSS website explains: "System components run on sysext images instead of Flatpaks, though the idea plays out the same way. Take something like parental controls, still early in development, you'd grab the sysext tied to that merge request through Test Centre, and it lands on your system as an overlay rather than a replacement. Remove it, and you restore your system to the same state before the experimental change was applied."
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For several years the FreeBSD developers have been gradually removing and replacing parts of the project's code which are licensed under the GPL. This provides a more consistent licensing across the project and avoids some restrictions. This past week the final piece of GPL software was removed from the base FreeBSD system. "This is the last remaining piece of GPL software in the base system. The installer transitioned to bsddialog four years ago, and the last remaining dialog consumer, dpv, was turned off more than two years ago. Retire dpv, libdpv, libfigpar (used only by dpv), and dialog itself." The retired components can be migrated to third-party ports, making them available to users without being in the core operating system.
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These and other news stories can be found on our Headlines page.
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| Questions and Answers (by Jesse Smith) |
Installing software when the root filesystem is full
Out-of-room asks: Why is it difficult to install packages on different disks if the root is full? On Windows I just select a different install location, but Linux won't let me do that.
DistroWatch answers: This is one of those questions which highlights the different philosophies in operating system design. When running Windows, if the operating system runs out of storage space, the solution isn't being handled at the storage or filesystem layer. Instead the problem is passed along to the package installer/manager, which is expected to work around the issue.
As we see from the original question, when a Windows user runs out of space on their main disk, they wonder why the package manager isn't making it easy to compensate. When a Linux user runs out of space on their disk, they address the problem at the storage (or filesystem) layer so the package manager doesn't need to think about storage space or locations. In other words, on Linux systems, package management and storage space are two separate topics. Problems in those two areas are typically handled with separate solutions.
When running low on space on one disk, Linux offers us a handful of solutions. We can mount a new partition under the root filesystem and transfer files to the new partition or mount point. We can use LVM to group together multiple devices to treat them as one disk, or we can use an advanced filesystem (such as Btrfs) to merge all storage devices into one unified filesystem. Some filesystems will also enable compression, squeezing files to make more room on the disk. We could also clone our disk, install a larger storage device, and restore the clone on the new drive.
Any of the above solutions will address the limited storage problem and do so at the filesystem level, making it transparent to applications and the package manager. In other words, we're not engaged in a workaround which needs to be repeated every time we want to install new software or create new documents; we are solving the storage problem for all elements of the operating system.
With all of that said, some Linux package managers will allow the administrator to install software in alternative locations. It's not usually recommended, but package management tools such as dpkg and rpm can place software in alternative directories, side-stepping storage limitations on the root filesystem. It's not a great solution and it may require the user to alter their PATH variable to run applications in the new location.
A more elegant solution to installing packages in an alternative path, would be to create a container (using, for example, Distrobox or BoxBuddy). Then install any additional software you need inside the container. This will involve slightly more storage overhead, but it will give your user access to any software installed inside the container without adjusting the user's path or cluttering up non-standard locations in your filesystem with extra packages. Containers will typically be stored under your user's ~/.local directory, so as long as your /home directory and your root partition are on separate partitions using containers should work around storage limitations in your distribution's root filesystem.
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Additional answers can be found in our Questions and Answers archive.
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| Released Last Week |
OSINT VM 2026.5
Trace Labs has announced the release of OSINT VM 2026.5, the latest version of the project's Debian-based distribution with specialist open-source intelligence (OSINT) tools to help find missing persons and reunite them with their families, designed exclusively to run on virtual machines. Unlike the previous release, which were based on Kali Linux, the latest one is derived from Debian 13: "We at the Trace Labs OSINT VM team are happy to announce the release of the Trace Labs OSINT VM 2026.05 This version migrates the entire underlying operating system from Kali Linux to Debian 13. This change reduces the overall image size and gives us tighter control over the final output by eliminating tools that don't support our mission. The Trace Labs mission is to crowdsource OSINT to find missing people. We don't need exploit kits, packet analyzers, or port scanners to facilitate this mission because we rely on information that's publicly available. Removing these tools from our VM image by starting with a clean Debian base allows us to focus on delivering a high-quality tool specifically designed for OSINT collection rather than a hybrid OSINT/red team tool." Continue to the release announcement for more information.
OPNsense 26.7
The OPNsense project develops a FreeBSD-based specialist operating system (and a fork of pfSense) designed for firewalls and routers. The latest version of OPNsense is 26.7 which is based on FreeBSD 15.1 and introduces a number of behind-the-scenes changes: "The first implementation of the new Interface Assignments framework replaces the legacy module and establishes the foundation for future API-driven interface management. While the initial release focuses on feature parity, upcoming versions will further expand its capabilities. Continuing the modernization of firewall management introduced in previous releases, version 26.7 further streamlines the platform by migrating Outbound NAT to the new Source NAT architecture. This creates a more consistent management experience while simplifying future development. Organizations using KEA DHCP benefit from expanded configuration capabilities, including support for Dynamic DNS (DDNS) and dynamic IPv6 prefix delegation, providing greater flexibility in modern network environments." Additional details can be found in the project's release announcement and in the press release.
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Development, unannounced and minor bug-fix releases
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| Upcoming Releases and Announcements |
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Summary of expected upcoming releases
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| Opinion Poll (by Jesse Smith) |
Do you think anyone will make an AI-free fork of Linux?
This past week Linus Torvalds raised some eyebrows in the open source community when, in response to quality, ethical, and copyright concerns regarding adding LLM-generated code into the Linux kernel, Torvalds replied: "I realize that some people really dislike AI, but this is an area where I'm willing to absolutely put my foot down as the top-level maintainer. Linux is not one of those anti-AI projects, and if somebody has issues with that, they can do the open-source thing and fork it."
This is fairly in line with stances Torvalds has held in the past, focusing on what code does, and whether it is useful, rather than who wrote it, the philosophy behind it, or whence it came. In this case though, his pro-AI stance has drawn attention (in part) and questions of bias because Torvalds has his salary paid by AI companies, such as IBM and Microsoft.
What do you think, will we see an AI-free fork of Linux?
You can see the results of our previous poll on Google locking down Android in our previous edition. All previous poll results can be found in our poll archives.
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| Website News (by Jesse Smith) |
DistroWatch database summary
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This concludes this week's issue of DistroWatch Weekly. The next instalment will be published on Monday, 27 July 2026. Past articles and reviews can be found through our Weekly Archive and Article Search pages. To contact the authors please send e-mail to:
- Jesse Smith (feedback, questions and suggestions: distribution reviews/submissions, questions and answers, tips and tricks)
- Ladislav Bodnar (feedback, questions, donations, comments)
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| Reader Comments • Jump to last comment |
1 • Alternatives (by Elcaset on 2026-07-20 00:37:22 GMT from United States)
Some of my favorite alternatives are Signal, Jellyfin,& Tuta for email & calendar.
2 • Open source cloud storage (by Much Derper on 2026-07-20 00:40:10 GMT from United States)
Back almost a decade and a half ago I was on the market for a replacement for Dropbox, as their paid subscription was more expensive than I could afford at the time, my projected usage of it was exceeding even the amounts of storage that came with their most expensive plan, and I had some serious privacy concerns with their service (there were signs that they actually proactively scan or monitor the files). I ended up looking for cloud(-style) storage alternatives, and ownCloud (from which Nextcloud was forked) was at the top of the list of suggestions. I tried it, found out its file synchronization had horrid UX and abysmal performance, especially for big number of large(-ish) files, and client liked to hog my laptops' resources. So I kept looking, eventually stumbling over Seafile and trying it out. I loved it for nice usability, availability of two types of storage access (full synchronization and partial local caching of remote library), client-side encryption (so I could, at least in theory, deploy it to a third-party cloud service and still enjoy my files being protected from any prying eyes), and many other neat features that are fairly well implemented.
Surprisingly, to this day I still see everyone talking Nextcloud whenever self-hosted "cloud-style" storage is mentioned, and virtually no-one talking about Seafile, and I can't help but wonder why? Is it because Seafile is developed primarily by Chinese, is it because Nextcloud actually finally fixed all those performance and usability problems they (used to) have, or is it that more normal than me people simply don't use cloud-style storage for synchronizing large amounts of sometimes rather large files across multiple desktops, laptops, and sometimes even mobile devices?
3 • Poll (by Slappy McGee on 2026-07-20 00:54:29 GMT from United States)
I wish "I don't know" was one of the choices.
I don't know if there will eventually be a non-A.I. Linux distro, even though it does seem likely, given that forever is a long long time. ;o)
4 • AI free kernel (by Dave on 2026-07-20 01:11:08 GMT from Australia)
Just as there is a libre kernel and distros, systemd free distros, x11 or xlibre distros. Anything that has a group of people who don't like something always ends up with said group forking it.
Will it do well or be popular? Who knows, but I'm sure it will exist, at least for a time.
5 • AI fork (by Dave on 2026-07-20 01:22:35 GMT from Australia)
#1 Interesting, would someone try to go to the extreme opposite and create a fully autonomous fork of the kernel, completely run by AI?
6 • Open vs Closed Internet (by Wedge009 on 2026-07-20 01:33:53 GMT from Australia)
I often lament how today's Internet seems to be a collection of walled gardens in antithesis to the original open nature of the Internet and the spirit of co-operation. Being in Australia, my exposure to the Internet in the 1990s was limited to the tail end, on dial-up, but I had been using it pretty regularly from 2000 onwards. I recall the old search engines and the early days when Google was just starting to get traction.
I'm still off-line with a number of things like e-mail, using Thunderbird instead of a web-based e-mail, but I agree Proton is a useful platform for its privacy focus.
In terms of commercial games, I actually prefer Steam - often unavoidable anyway because of publishers' demand for DRM - and its efforts in Proton is helpful even if it doesn't solve the underlying problem of developers' refusal to adopt anything but Windows. If a platform must be used, I prefer Steam against EA, Ubisoft, Epic, or whatever other closed launchers there may be.
I've used Konversation before, but only in the context of IRC. I also use Signal as my only messaging platform, but in both cases the trouble is getting the rest of your community to join you - no good trying to promote open services if others are not willing to follow. In my case, there is a Discord-to-IRC bridge, but it's really only a work-around.
7 • SimpleX.chat (by Carl Commenter on 2026-07-20 01:53:48 GMT from United States)
SimpleX.chat
FOSS - self-hostable - chat/text/email (both online AND offline messaging) - file attachments - audio and video calls - groups - no phone number required - frequent releases - setup on your mobile phone, then "link to mobile" from any PC
"Why We Abandoned Matrix (2024)"
SimpleX founder epoberezkin chimes in
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46376201
Footnote for DW, another distro.
http://www.w5j6stm77zs6652pgsij4awcjeel3eco7kvipheu6mtr623eyyehj4yd.onion/
8 • Cloud storage (by Pumpino on 2026-07-20 02:07:02 GMT from Australia)
I run a Raspberry Pi with SyncThing on it, which syncs files to the three computers on the LAN. Every few weeks, I manually upload my data to FileN, which I have a lifetime subscription with, in case local data is destroyed. Unfortunately, I find FileN incredibly slow. Syncing files between computers on the LAN is lightning fast.
9 • Do you think anyone will make an AI-free fork of Linux? (by Molibdeno on 2026-07-20 03:25:57 GMT from Italy)
I think someone will make an AI-free fork of Linux. As for Fedora, I’m convinced there’ll be a new AI-based spin (they can’t afford to fall behind, and they can’t afford to upset the community). It worries me when I hear about software developed by AI: it would still require thorough human oversight.
10 • Of course a fork will happen (by Forks Away on 2026-07-20 05:07:49 GMT from United States)
Imo Linus's views on AI aren't surprising, this is the same guy who is happy to let proprietary binary blobs live in the source tree...it is only a matter of time before a fork happens. Linuxers and other *nixers will fork for any and every disagreement. Now whether the fork will be successful, only time will tell. I wish the future forks good luck, they will need it to truly escape the AI apocalypse...
11 • AI free system (by Bobbie Sellers on 2026-07-20 05:33:51 GMT from United States)
PCLinuxOS is free of AI but perfectly able to handle it in tools like Firefox where it can
be turned off and in special instances where PCLinuxOS users want to play with it.
bliss- Dell 7730- PCLinuxOS 2026.07 Linux 6.18.39- Plasma 6.7.3
12 • Linus and AI. (by Wolf on 2026-07-20 05:34:03 GMT from United States)
Remember what Linus said about Nvidia? Yeah. Same goes to AI.
13 • AI-libre fork? (by JKL on 2026-07-20 06:00:01 GMT from United States)
Sure folks will make forks, but I believe that they will be short lived because there won’t be a large enough backing or adoption to be maintainable long term. Unlike other pieces of software, the kernel is very high stakes that requires lots of people to maintain in a manner that allows it to be secure in a contemporary world. If there are enough people that are sick of Linux and AI to back the fork instead of the original to the point where even major projects adopt it, then the fork will stay. The main challenge is security and maintenance of the fork with less staff and funding. AI cannot be used (because of the fork’s core purpose) which means they can’t adopt security fixes that were assisted by AI (there are already strict rules about AI generated code in the Linux circle). Lots of forks get abandoned amongst the few that actually replace the original (but that’s because the original had enough issues for the fork to be the best alternative, or the fork is just better). The average Linux user wouldn’t care about AI usage as long as the system is stable and working (the kernel code is strictly put through a vetting process anyways).
14 • Forking Linux (by No Time To Play on 2026-07-20 06:28:38 GMT from Romania)
The poll is lacking options. Like JKL said: within days, there will be plenty of initiatives to fork the Linux kernel. All of them to the last will fizzle out when it turns out that a 20 million-line codebase is impossible to maintain or develop for anyone short of a thousands-strong team sponsored by two dozen megacorps.
Linux is now the Windows of open source. Looking back, we should have known that was the inevitable result of chasing after Windows users. Hopefully Haiku and the BSDs can avoid falling into the same trap as they pick up the slack.
15 • FOSS is king (by Miguel on 2026-07-20 07:14:42 GMT from Germany)
Every program and service that i replaced with open source alternatives has been a great improvement to my life. Some great programs in no particular order are:
fossify calendar (android),
ActualBudget (budgeting software similar to YNAB),
Feishin + Navidrome (musicplayer and selfhostable music database),
Sparkyfitness (MyfitnessPal alternative),
Openstreetmap/CoMaps (Google maps alternative),
Jellyfin (selfhost your video media library, netflix alternative),
FairEmail (android email client),
FairScan (android app to 'scan' documents into PDF format)
16 • AI fork (by Jake on 2026-07-20 09:39:03 GMT from United States)
There will be an AI fork. The question is who will use it or will anyone use it,
17 • Gaming alternative (by Dark on 2026-07-20 09:54:08 GMT from Portugal)
Instead of Steam, my prefered shop for purchasing comercial games is GOG.com, a DRM-free store which has a very neat ability to download "offline backup installers" via a web browser.
The selection is not as gigantic as Steam and multiplayer isn't as seamless due the DRM-free nature but no client is needed and no shovelware (mostly).
For games that don't have a native Linux port, running the Windows version via Wine (or any frontend) works just fine but for a 1 click solution similar to Steam a open source client called Heroic Games Launcher is available.
18 • Games (by Allan Vázquez on 2026-07-20 10:14:27 GMT from Mexico)
Lutris is an alternative to play games in Linux but where get the games?
19 • Alternatives to private and group chats (by Stephen on 2026-07-20 10:22:45 GMT from Czechia)
I'm half surprised to see no one has mentioned Delta Chat[1] yet. It is no less comfortable than other popular chat programs, yet it is easy to on-board and it uses the e-mail infrastructure for message sending, therefore it is harder to block. (I wouldn't really use a truly private profile on a phone, but it can be done.) Oh, and no phone (or phone number or e-mail address) is needed. Check it out!
1: https://delta.chat/en/
20 • OpenSource solutions Learning Management Systems (by Keith Peter on 2026-07-20 10:24:51 GMT from United Kingdom)
Just a candidate for Mr Smith's table of open source alternatives
Learning Management systems (LMS) are web based applications that let teachers set up activities (including assessment) and resources for students.
Commercial systems include Blackboard, Canvas LMS, Brightspace and a few others.
Open Source alternatives include Moodle (Web application can be self-hosted or ecosystem of cloud providers).
Niche area but Moodle is widely used in United Kingdom.
21 • A.I. (by Alan on 2026-07-20 10:53:59 GMT from United Kingdom)
Isn't AI simply the logical evolution of computers? Electronic calculators became computers: digital number-cruncher tools. Why write down, with paper and pencil, the total cost of your grocery bill when the pocket calculator can do it with ease? Fast-forward to now, and everything that can be digitalised, is digitalised. If computers can write code, then is it any surprise that they are used to, in effect, endlessly evolve themselves? The more the technology progresses, the less human input is required.
Wasn't this the ultimate path of digital technology all along?
Just a few thoughts I'm throwing out there.
22 • Seafile (by Patrick on 2026-07-20 10:56:13 GMT from Luxembourg)
@3 I used Seafile for some time but reverted to Nextcloud because
1) when Apple released the M1, Nextcloud was quick to launch a native code Sync client, Seafile took a long time to
2) getting support is much easier with Nextcloud
3) Nextcloud keeps files as is so I can always access them without Nextcloud, while Seafile transforms them for speed reasons, making backups/recovery more complex/difficult
4) Seafile instabilities with its internal nginx returning 502 (at that time)
5) Seafile wasn't too happy with podman, and there's no doc or support to help with debugging
6) Seafile does not work with Cryptomator
7) and yes, the company behind Seafile being Chinese may be a concern.
23 • Alternatives (by Alt user on 2026-07-20 11:24:19 GMT from Canada)
@Jesse - some alternatives for Photoshop: Photopea and Fog Panther
Using sites like "Alternative To" and a few others, there's always several options to find.
24 • Forking Linux (by Rufus T. Firefly on 2026-07-20 11:33:22 GMT from United States)
Given some of torvalds' "stances" on some issues...maybe its a good idea to fork Linux anyway.
25 • Isn't AI simply the logical evolution of computers? (by Not that easy on 2026-07-20 12:43:13 GMT from Italy)
@21 No, it's just the final involution of humans. The first time in which mankind deliberately quits use of their own main resource, intelligent thinking. And responsible choice.
You can use a car to reach a place or kill a person, a knife to cut a steak or kill a person, a medicine to cure people or kill a person. But it's always up to you, not to the object. AI is simply the object that drops you out. And you want to.
Can AI be useful? Of course it can, it is. But it's the way it's being promoted that makes that a menace rather than a tool. If we dismiss our duties, we can't cry at the loss of rights it'll imply.
26 • A.I. Kernel Klink (by Rabbi Muhammad Saint Buddha on 2026-07-20 12:49:34 GMT from United States)
@9 It was intoned, "It worries me when I hear about software developed by AI: it would still require thorough human oversight."
That "oversight" will eventually be done by an A.I. entity. It no longer seems like some sort of encroachment, as before.
27 • AI (by divadgnol on 2026-07-20 13:01:42 GMT from United States)
The problem is in the name. There seems to be this negative connotation when prefixing a word with the word "Artificial". e.g., artificial ingredients, artificial flavors, etc, etc....
Encyclopedias were a repository of information that seemed like a miracle to 12 year old me. I was able to obtain knowledge without having to test or experience it myself, thus shortening/lessening my time to learn something new. Building on existing information is something we have always done.
Just like I am doing here. Building on, adding to, existing comments.
I do not fear "ai". Because I do not fear knowledge.
28 • About forking time (by El Pingo on 2026-07-20 13:11:37 GMT from United States)
I'm sure someone (or someones) will attempt forks, but I tend to agree with @13 about the chances of success. I do have some questions:
Since the code would be available for examining by all, shouldn't the quality of the code be more important than its source? Is that what Torvalds is saying?
AI is just emerging from its birth pangs and already I can converse with chatbots that are pretty much indistinguishable from humans. LLMs like OpenAI's GPT-4.5 have not only fooled human interrogators into believing they were talking to a real person, but were judged to be human more often than the real human participants were. Turing tests are obviously obsolete. So, would there be a sort of reliable "Turing test" to determine whether code was or was not written by humans? Wouldn't one have to take the code provider's word for it? Honor system?
29 • "PCLinuxOS is free of AI" (by luvr on 2026-07-20 15:11:04 GMT from Belgium)
@11, "PCLinuxOS is free of AI"
For now, perhaps.
But will it remove or replace AI-generated code that Linus Torvalds allowed in to the kernel?
Don't think so.
30 • ai is not synonym with knowledge (by a latin hobbit on 2026-07-20 17:09:40 GMT from Chile)
@27 that sounds great as a quote but I believe its missing the forest for the trees. The technology is not the problem but rather its usage and the context around it.
1- Ai is not knowledge. Common ai knowadays only refries whatever (an all) info you put into it. It can't tell lie from truth, nor choose from the provided pool of information, nor does apply logic or discerning criteria. For me, knowledge has a minimal requirement of being somewhat objetively true ("the sky is blue", for example, is not true all of the time, but in general terms it is and it can be fact checked), but if enough people tell ai 2+2 = 3 that's what it will tell you and that ain't knowledge.
2- I would be much less critical of ai if it wasn't the "eats all of the forests, lakes and energy" machine that evil megacorporations are banking on to try to replace us with. It's the biggest nepo baby of all times, and in exchange we get worse search engine results that you have to fact check?
3- its biggest offense for me personally, its that delegating critical thinking to it enables the worst, most lazy attitudes and results from people that don't mind mediocrity. Is thoughts and feelings thay makes us human after all, and if I wanted poorly optimized anything there wasn't a lack of options before ai. Ai code, just like any code, will need constant security patches, updates and whatnot, and once a majority of code is ai generated what we will get is fast, but full of oversights and potential flaws in the implemented logic.
I do think the technology has use cases, like the one that does pattern recognition to detect tumors way before they form. But whatever those use cases are, they are not what we get with the vast majority of ai implementations, and calling out the people pushing for ai on their failings is not "fear".
31 • Open Source Alternatives, AI kernel fork (by Robert on 2026-07-20 17:11:46 GMT from United States)
I guess I'll get the easy topic out of the way first - I don't expect a dedicated AI-free fork of Linux. It could happen, but I think it's more likely that the existing 'libre' fork(s?) that remove any binary blobs will also take up this task. I could be wrong though, you never know.
On open source alternatives, I must admit some of Jesse's choices confuse me.
Konversation, as an IRC client, is some archaic tech. Still works, don't get me wrong. Just not the experience I think Discord users are looking for. I would've expected to see a Matrix client here.
Proton vs Postfix seems like the wrong comparison here, but maybe I'm just looking at it from a different angle? I think of Proton more as the client, but I suppose it actually handles the full stack. Postfix just covers the MTA part - you still need a client like Thunderbird to go with it.
I don't really understand the distinction between OnlyOffice and LibreOffice in this context. Is it because Libreoffice as a web version? I'm not sure how functional it is but I know it exists.
Gaming is a harder one. From a store perspective, I think the only reasonable alternative is GOG. For a client, Lutris is okay. There are other alternatives such as Heroic, but I haven't tried them. Flatpak is a stretch. There are games on there, but you won't find anything commercial there, which is what most people are looking for.
I'm not sure what else I could really add though. I don't use many online services. I do use Proton for email and VPN. Youtube is irreplaceable. What communities I am in are on Discord, and Matrix is confusing (despite what I said above).
32 • Using AI. (by PhantomTramp on 2026-07-20 17:41:20 GMT from United States)
Please excuse me if you've heard this too much lately but:
TIME IS A THIEF.
The Tramp
33 • List of security conscioius Open Source Apps (by Jzakiya on 2026-07-20 17:41:28 GMT from United States)
Here's another source for lists of alternative Open Source Software
Prism Break
https://prism-break.org/
34 • Automated programming (by We all float down on 2026-07-20 17:47:21 GMT from The Netherlands)
Generating code has never been a problem since the days of Autocoder. The art is scrapping code, not scrape it.
AI or tulips, don't see much difference at this point.
35 • A Fork In The Road For A Free Humanity (by Forking Off on 2026-07-20 18:05:01 GMT from Canada)
RE: Opinion Poll (by Jesse Smith) - "Do you think anyone will make an AI-free fork of Linux?"
I'm old. I grew up with rotary telephones, Radio Shack transistor radios, coin-op arcade machines, vinyl record players and black-and-white TVs with UHF "rabbit-ears." I have also been using a computer user ever since cassette-tape run c-p/m and IBM-DOS. I remember life when there was no such thing as the Internet, and when a personal computer was something only "the rich" could buy. Oh... and I can also read these strange things made of paper called "books." And those "books" don't even use electricity! Imagine that!
I have never wanted AI. I don't want AI. I have no intention of ever using AI. This isn't because I'm some sort of fanatical anti-AI "boomer." I grew up thinking for myself, doing my own research, doing my own fact-checking, and exercising my own imagination to make things... hence my previous reference to Radio Shack. When a multi-million-dollar corporation (or government) desperately wants you to use something whether it is technology or AI, it is because they want to deliberately dumb you down and make you dependent... upon them. Case in point, look at all the school children and high-school students who don't know how to read, write, speak proper English or do basic mathematics. Today's youth are dumb! They now need computers just to function in society. But that's not all.
We pride ourselves in the fact that our country outlawed slavery. And yet, here we are in 2026 building thinking machines for the express purpose of enslaving them. So... it's wrong to enslave a thinking human, but perfectly okay to enslave a thinking machine. I'm sorry, but that just doesn't add up. Either slavery is morally and ethically wrong, or it is perfectly acceptable. And if AI is going to be used as slave labor, how long will it take for humans to be enslaved to AI?
If you haven't been paying attention, it's already happening since AI is being shoved down our throats... AI-driven FLOCK cameras are appearing everywhere, and all our social media posts, digital footprint, our voices and our faces are being fed to AI to train it to recognize and monitor our every single breath. Fact: AI is being enslaved to enslave humans. So AI = no human slaves.
So how do we as free humans push back?
1.) Close your wallets to all things AI.
2.) Boycott companies pushing AI.
3.) Don't vote for politicians pushing AI.
4.) Fork all software to remove AI, including telemetry code, and RUST.
5.) Preserve all Legacy 32-bit hardware since AI can't run on it... which is exactly why even Debian Linux is now dropping 32-bit support.
6.) Never stop learning, never stop reading, never stop memorizing, never stop questioning, never stop thinking FOR YOURSELF.
7.) Never give up.
You do have a choice. The world will not come to an end just because you said no to AI.
"Technology is meant to be a tool; not a slave collar." ~ Me
36 • A Fork In The Road For A Free Humanity (Typo-correction Re-post) (by Forking Off on 2026-07-20 18:10:11 GMT from Canada)
RE: Opinion Poll (by Jesse Smith) - "Do you think anyone will make an AI-free fork of Linux?" (Typo Correction Re-post)
I'm old. I grew up with rotary telephones, Radio Shack transistor radios, coin-op arcade machines, vinyl record players and black-and-white TVs with UHF "rabbit-ears." I have also been using a computer user ever since cassette-tape run c-p/m and IBM-DOS. I remember life when there was no such thing as the Internet, and when a personal computer was something only "the rich" could buy. Oh... and I can also read these strange things made of paper called "books." And those "books" don't even use electricity! Imagine that!
I have never wanted AI. I don't want AI. I have no intention of ever using AI. This isn't because I'm some sort of fanatical anti-AI "boomer." I grew up thinking for myself, doing my own research, doing my own fact-checking, and exercising my own imagination to make things... hence my previous reference to Radio Shack. When a multi-million-dollar corporation (or government) desperately wants you to use something whether it is technology or AI, it is because they want to deliberately dumb you down and make you dependent... upon them. Case in point, look at all the school children and high-school students who don't know how to read, write, speak proper English or do basic mathematics. Today's youth are dumb! They now need computers just to function in society. But that's not all.
We pride ourselves in the fact that our country outlawed slavery. And yet, here we are in 2026 building thinking machines for the express purpose of enslaving them. So... it's wrong to enslave a thinking human, but perfectly okay to enslave a thinking machine. I'm sorry, but that just doesn't add up. Either slavery is morally and ethically wrong, or it is perfectly acceptable. And if AI is going to be used as slave labor, how long will it take for humans to be enslaved to AI?
If you haven't been paying attention, it's already happening since AI is being shoved down our throats... AI-driven FLOCK cameras are appearing everywhere, and all our social media posts, digital footprint, our voices and our faces are being fed to AI to train it to recognize and monitor our every single breath. Fact: AI is being enslaved to enslave humans. So *NO* AI = no human slaves.
So how do we as free humans push back?
1.) Close your wallets to all things AI.
2.) Boycott companies pushing AI.
3.) Don't vote for politicians pushing AI.
4.) Fork all software to remove AI, including telemetry code, and RUST.
5.) Preserve all Legacy 32-bit hardware since AI can't run on it... which is exactly why even Debian Linux is now dropping 32-bit support.
6.) Never stop learning, never stop reading, never stop memorizing, never stop questioning, never stop thinking FOR YOURSELF.
7.) Never give up.
You do have a choice. The world will not come to an end just because you said no to AI.
"Technology is meant to be a tool; not a slave collar." ~ Me
37 • A.I. for Linux kernel (by txm0523 on 2026-07-20 18:22:04 GMT from United States)
My opinion, A.I. is supposed to be a tool to obtain facts on your queries, not in control of everything else. What was the purpose of Linus Torvalds writing a linux kernel ? What resulted from that kernel ? People saw the advantage of an open source kernel and used it to develop applications that people can use instead of being locked into an OS that you have no say so, can't see the code and then pay a stupid amount of money for that application that you don't own anyway, updates to your computer that break your system, backdoors to the operating system that can steal your data or snoop on your system. And what about the OS that forces upgrades on your system that you can't stop ? It's all control. I want a system that I can control, secure and code that's available to view. With A.I. now coming to your linux kernel, that sense of security will be a thing of the past, no matter what the kernel maintainer says. Can A.I. in your linux kernel stop or prevent you from accessing your applications / data / files just because it wants to ? I think that's coming. What's needed is a linux kernel that is totalyy free of A.I. Perhaps someone ( like Linus Torvads when he was young ) can develop an alternate operatring system kernel that is free of AI and source code available. Maybe I am dreaming but, if there's one thing to fear, that's AI in your OS kernel. Don't say I didn't warn you.
38 • @30 (by divadgnol on 2026-07-20 18:26:57 GMT from United States)
@30
Valid Points ...that i did not consider.
it seems i am grossly ignorant to all the context that surrounds "ai" and it implications not only on the "truth" but on the environment as well.
thank you for pointing this out. :)
39 • Ammends (by a latin hobbit on 2026-07-20 19:34:59 GMT from Chile)
@38 Not at all, thank you for considering my opinion. I know I'm biased and my answer might have come out too strong.
I think ai has a good future ahead of it, in a decade or two, when google and microsoft drop it to focus on virtual reality or whatever new shiny toy. At that point, hobbyist and niche, small projects and companies might begin to use ai in new ways that actually make sense for it as the best tool, and not a monkey's paw that sells your data.
40 • AI and the Future (by John on 2026-07-20 20:17:13 GMT from Canada)
I see @35 point, but I think the AI train has left the station and is now unstoppable, so we my need to live with it. Like @35, I can ignore AI, but it is being forced on all of us via call centers.
But one thing to be aware of, a couple of scientific papers came out stating CO2 will reach toxic levels in the Human Blood Stream in about 50 years. We need to remember, AI, crypto and some governments are making this worse.
I wonder as time goes on if AI can eventually come up with solutions to Global Warming we do not already have. But sadly I expect unless the solution is "magic" it will still be ignored.
41 • Alternatives (by a on 2026-07-20 20:59:32 GMT from France)
Some of the "alternatives" in the table left me confused… Most games are only available on Steam. Lutris can launch games but you need somewhere to get them first. GIMP and Krita are unfortunately no replacement for Photoshop (at least that’s what all the graphic artists say). Konversation is just an IRC client, not a chat platform, and as someone said IRC is not really an alternative to Discord (I do prefer and use IRC and Konversation though!). Mastodon can be self-hosted but there are dozens of available servers people can register on, so it would fit in the previous column. I wish I could use Peertube instead of Youtube but there is almost nothing on Peertube…
42 • Long term decisions (by hrcerq on 2026-07-20 21:49:30 GMT from Brazil)
"Questionable decisions" and "heated debates" are nothing new in kernel development and user groups. However, as well suggested by the poll, we don't know for sure just how organic these debates have been lately. Technical debt is adding up and there seems to be nothing to be done about it. And that's history again not repeating, but rhyming.
In a way, Torvalds might be doing a favor by stating it clear he's not "AI"-unfriendly. It's better than to give false hopes. Frankly, I didn't have much, anyway. But it's undeniable now.
About forking... easier said than done. Linux a messy beast now, to the point writing a new one from scratch might be a more appealing solution (if we can call it "appealing"). But there are also other kernels out there, and most likely these will be the ones drawing dissenters attention.
There's a vacuum forming, and some long term decisions must be taken to address it. I'd not underestimate copywashing, environmental, vendor lock-in and educational concerns. After these concerns are out of the way, only then can we have organic debates about uses of LLM generated code.
43 • Gaming alternative n2 (by Dark on 2026-07-21 00:33:55 GMT from Portugal)
@18 "Lutris is an alternative to play games in Linux but where get the games?"
I always find myself puzzled with the general mindset of the internet of PCGaming=Steam. More so when Linux is the subject.
There are plenty of alternatives, here's a semi-comprehensive list:
GOG - formerly known as Good Old Games, it's a DRM-free focused store with many Linux native builds. As mentioned in my previous post (17) it has a neat feature that allow to download the installers via website. Can use third party launchers such as Lutris or Heroic.
Epic Games Store - Not really my cup of tea but they giveaway 1 or 2 games every week. Similar to Steam but many games are DRM-free after the install and can use third party launcher such as Legendary (cmd), Heroic or Lutris.
Itch.io - More or a dump where small indie devs test their games but many are very good. Not DRM-free focused but is still hard to find a game that has some sort of DRM.
Humble Bundle - Nowadays is more of a steam key reseller but games tagged with "DRM-free" still have a downloadable installer.
Open source games/remakes/reimagine - Games like Unciv, OpenTTD, Battle for Wesnoth, Warzone 2010 or 0AD provide plenty of enjoyment. There are many recompilation projects but most needed to provide the original game for the copyrighted material.
Emulation - Console emulation is simple and straight forward but cartridge based consoles might prove a challenge to dump your games. CD/DVD based consoles, like the PS1, PS2 or PS3 are very easy to setup. Quite common to see used copies for peanuts.
Honorable mentions: Indiegala, Fireflower games, Zoom Platform, Jast and of course, the developer website itself!
PCGamingWiki, while not being a store itself, has info on where to get the games and comprehensive lists based on DRM, engine used, genre or platform (e.g. Linux on ARM).
44 • RE: A Fork In The Road For A Free Humanity (by Much Derper on 2026-07-21 01:40:27 GMT from United States)
@36
> I'm old. I grew up with rotary telephones, Radio Shack transistor radios, coin-op arcade machines, vinyl record players and black-and-white TVs with UHF "rabbit-ears." I have also been using a computer user ever since cassette-tape run c-p/m and IBM-DOS. I remember life when there was no such thing as the Internet, and when a personal computer was something only "the rich" could buy. Oh... and I can also read these strange things made of paper called "books." And those "books" don't even use electricity! Imagine that!
Hmm, I'm fairly young - tail end of millennials, with Gen Z brothers. And while those already weren't dominant when I was growing up, I know all of the above and even own several CP/M-running machines and a still working original IBM PC 5150, the one that still supports cassette tapes. With a collection of said cassette tapes. And I also have quite a few shelves of those dead tree thingies. Your point?
> I have never wanted AI. I don't want AI. I have no intention of ever using AI. This isn't because I'm some sort of fanatical anti-AI "boomer." I grew up thinking for myself, doing my own research, doing my own fact-checking, and exercising my own imagination to make things... hence my previous reference to Radio Shack. When a multi-million-dollar corporation (or government) desperately wants you to use something whether it is technology or AI, it is because they want to deliberately dumb you down and make you dependent... upon them. Case in point, look at all the school children and high-school students who don't know how to read, write, speak proper English or do basic mathematics. Today's youth are dumb! They now need computers just to function in society. But that's not all.
First, "today's youth are dumb" is a rather dumb thing to say. Second - eh, certain people certainly do benefit from the situation that got created (to some degree even I do, even if it pisses me off), but attributing to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity is IMHO going a bit too far into "fanatical anti-AI boomer" territory. Do companies benefit from people being glued to their phones? Absolutely. Is there any proof that when programs to bring computer education into schools started in 1960s and continued through 1990s or even 2000s and later it was done specifically to make kids more dumb? I'd like to see it, if there is any, to date I've only seen evidence of people, responsible for those programs, succumbing to FOMO and rushing deployments without accounting for potential unintended consequences. Oh, and issues with reading/writing and basic mathematics? For that you can blame shifting away from phonics through whole-word to whole-language approaches to teaching literacy, and "reform mathematics" for teaching numeracy, and you'll be way more spot-on than blaming computer use.
> We pride ourselves in the fact that our country outlawed slavery. And yet, here we are in 2026 building thinking machines for the express purpose of enslaving them. So... it's wrong to enslave a thinking human, but perfectly okay to enslave a thinking machine. I'm sorry, but that just doesn't add up. Either slavery is morally and ethically wrong, or it is perfectly acceptable. And if AI is going to be used as slave labor, how long will it take for humans to be enslaved to AI?
Here I mostly agree with you.
> If you haven't been paying attention, it's already happening since AI is being shoved down our throats... AI-driven FLOCK cameras are appearing everywhere, and all our social media posts, digital footprint, our voices and our faces are being fed to AI to train it to recognize and monitor our every single breath. Fact: AI is being enslaved to enslave humans. So *NO* AI = no human slaves.
I wish. The reality is enslavement is not a technology issue, it's a social structure issue. Slavery existed just fine ages before AI was anywhere near possible, and on historical scale it existed in some shape or form for far longer than fully (on paper) free societies have existed. Doesn't mean slavery is not a blight and a fscking shame, just that it doesn't need AI. And vice versa, existence of AI doesn't mean humans have to be enslaved by it, just like existence of humans doesn't mean apes have to be enslaved.
> 1.) Close your wallets to all things AI.
> 2.) Boycott companies pushing AI.
> 3.) Don't vote for politicians pushing AI.
All you'll achieve by that is putting yourself on the margins, out of conversation. You have to be in the conversation, making sure that your voice is heard, and the reasons behind your choice are well understood, with those whose attitude you want to change being presented with a viable alternative for achieving their goals.
> 4.) Fork all software to remove AI, including telemetry code, and RUST.
Telemetry code can be extremely useful in certain use cases, so long as it is done with full transparency and, ideally, as opt-in. Rust can be very useful too, so long as the tradeoffs are fully understood and choice is made rationally rather than emotionally. And AI - frankly, it's a tiresome buzzword that, depending on the context, can mean a lot of things. And a lot of those things are actually extremely useful and can be done using AI ethically. OCR, translation, TTS/speech recognition... More advanced AI tools can be very helpful as a rubber ducky, during initial brainstorming/prototyping, as an extra reviewer looking for bugs in the code (so long as you know how to distinguish a genuine issue from a false positive), etc. LLMs specifically are essentially highly compressed lossy databases with nigh unlimited truly helpful uses. Bottom line: unconditionally getting rid of AI, telemetry, and Rust is throwing the baby out with the bathwater. Though if you want to -go ahead and fork, that's the freedom of open source, after all.
> 5.) Preserve all Legacy 32-bit hardware since AI can't run on it... which is exactly why even Debian Linux is now dropping 32-bit support.
No, that's not why Debian is dropping 32-bit support. And AI can run on 32-bit hardware. It's not fast, it's not the most capable model with the highest number of parameters, but it is possible. Heck, you can run uLLM on a system with Zilog Z80 and 64KiB RAM! Mostly only good for classifying words, but it is an AI nevertheless. And that's for locally-run LLMs, you can still use LLMs hosted elsewhere while running 32-bit Debian on your ThinkPad T23, and those are arguably worse for you privacy and freedom, even if better for performance.
> 6.) Never stop learning, never stop reading, never stop memorizing, never stop questioning, never stop thinking FOR YOURSELF.
> 7.) Never give up.
136% agree on both accounts. AI, just like any other tool, is a multiplier. It can multiply your capability, or it can multiply your ineptitude, it is up to you which one it will be.
45 • @43 physical media (by WINE got less usable since 00s on 2026-07-21 01:54:04 GMT from Finland)
I just wish that it were a lot easier to play any of the games I own on physical media, on Linux. But Lutris, Bottles, etc. and really the whole Linux gaming space is obsessively fixated on only getting Steam games to run.
I don't care about Steam. I don't care about Epic. I don't care about Origin. I don't care about Uplay. I don't care about Battle.net. I especially don't care about GOG. I don't care about Itch.io. I don't care about any games on Humble Bundle that aren't both DRM-free (not held hostage by GOG, but actually properly DRM-free) and also native Linux games.
All I care about is all of the Windows CD- and DVD-ROMs I own that I can't manage to figure out how to get working on my own, and for which there is zero interest in helping with from the community, which doesn't even seem to be familiar with the concepts of physical media and ownership at all anymore.
I swear it was easier to game on Linux back in the 2000s, before Steam started interfering in everything and ruining Linux gaming.
46 • Gosh darn it, Linus! Why can't you behave yourself for like 5 seconds?! (by fml on 2026-07-21 02:04:23 GMT from India)
Why can't Linus ever just make the right decision about anything? Why does he always insist on being a contrarian so as to do maximum damage and p/o the most people possible? The longer they go, the more I warm to rms and esr relative to lbt. And that while chilling towards all three on an absolute scale. Heck, Linus makes even Poettering seem like a pleasant and easy to work with saint by comparison.
47 • Poll (by Friar Tux on 2026-07-21 02:07:04 GMT from Canada)
I voted "Yes". This is Linux we're talking about. Linux, where, if you don't like something bad enough, you fork it and share it since there are others who feel as you do. I've watched the Linux world as a whole, and, whenever there's a huge kerfuffle over some decision, it becomes a fork in the road (literally) and everyone goes their merry way (often not quietly, but still they go). Me, personally, I would welcome A.I. in my OS. As some other commenters, here, I believe "artificial" intelligence is a misnomer. A.I. is not artificially intelligent. It is programed to behave in a more humanistic way. There is no sentience, no consciousness, no thinking things through. It is simple programing - if/then, etc.. And that is where the danger is. If you can program it to react a certain way, then you can program it to be malicious - intentionally, or unintentionally (as we have seen, already). I look forward to a computer that is more of a glorified Siri or Alexa. Siri, Alexa, and such, to me, are still quite limited. Even all the present OS platforms are limited. I want a computer similar to what we see on Star Trek. (ChatGPT, apparently thinks we have accomplished that, to a point. Ask it this question:- Taking into account the rapid development of modern technology, will we soon see computers similar to those in the Star Trek series?)
48 • RE: physical media (by Much Derper on 2026-07-21 03:12:21 GMT from United States)
@45
> not held hostage by GOG, but actually properly DRM-free
I've purchased a bunch of games on GOG, re-packaged them as .deb packages to be hosted in my private repository at home for me and my family, and they all work fine whenever I re-install them, I don't have to be online or running any GOG-specific software the way I have to with Steam. What am I missing being held hostage?
49 • RE: Poll (by Much Derper on 2026-07-21 03:37:18 GMT from United States)
@47
> As some other commenters, here, I believe "artificial" intelligence is a misnomer. A.I. is not artificially intelligent. It is programed to behave in a more humanistic way. There is no sentience, no consciousness, no thinking things through. It is simple programing - if/then, etc.. And that is where the danger is. If you can program it to react a certain way, then you can program it to be malicious - intentionally, or unintentionally (as we have seen, already).
I'm afraid your math isn't mathing. Modern systems under AI umbrella are certainly artificial in a sense that they were created by humans rather than evolving naturally, and many of them are even intelligent in certain areas, while simultaneously being rather dumb in other areas. And while the jury is still out on whether those systems have sentience or consciousness, the most recent work on global workspace shows they are capable of thinking things through even without scratchpad. Because what most people mean nowadays as AIs are not "simple programming". The harnesses around them are, but not the neural networks. These systems are "grown" through training instead of being built like traditional programs, and their behaviors are emergent instead of pre-programmed.
But, at least for now, AIs are not the threat, people controlling them with malice or ineptitude are.
50 • AI (by Mike T on 2026-07-21 03:44:01 GMT from United States)
In a way, AI is a misnomer. LLVM works better as a name because current AI software is not nor can it be intelligent with the current software level. Not to mention the hardware required.. There are reasons for this.
One reason for this scare is all the years of Science Fiction videos and books with various AI based antagonist. Sadly, this fear has rooted in some people and the hysteria behind this model of AI is then increased. It is possible to not use AI just as we did BITD.
I'll begin to worry when they create quantum computers. Until then it is mostly useless to me.
51 • Fork of Linux without LLM-created code (by Eric on 2026-07-21 10:25:42 GMT from Sweden)
I think that such a fork is not feasible if its developers are not having resources of a large corporation or a big consortium of companies or a nation state. The quality of code is low, there are hundreds of bugs fixed every week and hundreds ones introduced. At least with LLM-stolen code and AI code reviews the number of fixed bugs will probably be more than the number of newly added bugs. The development process of this mess called the Linux kernel would probably be going technically better without Linus Torvalds and all the human beings, they need relinquishing their roles to LLM agents to be fully consistent with their attitudes - and it is feasible now or in a very near future.
There are better bases for development of "AI-libre" OS kernel - like Redox OS, other microkernels, BSD systems or even Haiku. Haiku seems to have a community-driven and thriving development process now, at least according to Distrowatch news announcements.
52 • Open source alternatives (by José G. Arribas on 2026-07-21 11:27:44 GMT from Spain)
A self-hosting alternative to Facebook could be HumHub https://www.humhub.com/
53 • AI (by dragonmouth on 2026-07-21 11:37:07 GMT from United States)
AI is just very complex programming done by humans. As such, it is subject and susceptible to programmers' biases, intentional and unintentional. Yes, it is ARTIFICIAL but as far as intelligence goes, it is light years behind a Mr. Data-type intelligence. Right now, AI is at the level of Babbage's Difference Engine - groundbreaking but nothing to write home about.
54 • "AI" (by Eric on 2026-07-21 12:01:36 GMT from Germany)
@50: "... current AI software is not nor can it be intelligent with the current software level. Not to mention the hardware required.. There are reasons for this".
What reasons? It is intelligent in a particular sense. It may not be sentient or may not even really understand anything, including its own outputs, but it can reproduce a number of fundamental aspects of human thought processes somewhat well. Well, even chess programs or automated theorem provers possess a degree of intelligence, and they have both been around since 1956-1957. Of course, that doesn't mean that they are not qualitatively different from humans.
55 • AI (by Eric on 2026-07-21 12:16:18 GMT from Sweden)
@53: "AI is just very complex programming done by humans. As such, it is subject and susceptible to programmers' biases, intentional and unintentional."
This a partly misleading statement. Neural networks are primarily driven by input datasets and training (i.e., optimization) processes applied to them, not by hard-coded imperative logic. Yes, the biases of developers do apply nevertheless.
56 • Mistakes (by Eric on 2026-07-21 12:35:31 GMT from Sweden)
@51: "be more than" should be "be greater than", "of "AI-libre" kernel" - "of an "AI-libre" kernel".
@55: "This a" - "this is a".
Sorry for my sloppy grammar and typos.
57 • Re: @25 (by Eric on 2026-07-21 13:04:47 GMT from Germany)
I agree with @25. AI is akin to the philosopher's stone, and our society, unfortunately, is going to use such powers like mythological king Midas.
58 • A.I. etc (by Jerry B on 2026-07-21 15:07:36 GMT from United States)
@35 I could have written most of what's posted there. I was born in the 1940s.
The changes since I became aware of computing have all been a bit predictable, I dare say. Not "exactly" predictable, but in spirit very much so. Faster, smaller, smarter machines.
I'm used to it. So should you be. Think back; did you think rotary phones and rabbit ears and AM transistor radios were gonna be it? My imagination took me right here where we are now, including in a sense A.I. If my daydreaming did that then so did the daydreaming of those in the sciences that could make it come about.
Boycotting it will have no effect on it.
59 • No to ALL ai... (by tom joad on 2026-07-21 15:13:07 GMT from United States)
For what I have seen and read, AI has a high propensity for mischief of the ugly kind. Like airplanes, television and nuclear, AI is billed as 'good' until we see conformation of rampant bad. And we will.
As with Pandora, once the box is opened the midges will fly. gone, into the wild never to be captured or contained. Same with AI. All of us will suffer the consequences of that.
It won't be long before AI infects everything in insidious ways.
Hopefully, Linux will fork to a new branch free of AI. However, if Torvalds approves of AI the future of Linux, and a Linux fork, looks pretty gloomy from my perspective.
I believe it was Carl Sagan who said humans have the intelligence to make great creations but not the wisdom to use them with properly and safely.
60 • AI Free disto. (by Perrito on 2026-07-21 15:37:01 GMT from Poland)
I think many distros will be AI free but that you can choose to install AI to them so it will be a free choice as it normally is on Linux.
61 • AI - upward and onward (by Vern C on 2026-07-21 17:00:17 GMT from United States)
@58 I also was born in the 40's. People from my era have difficulty transitioning.
AI is not only going to increase, but flourish. Its just the beginning of AI.
Boycotting or any other nonsense is just going to die on the vine. Get use to it. AI is here to stay.
Every generation thinks the new one is lazy, useless, etc.
62 • Tech evolution (by AdrienM on 2026-07-21 18:11:17 GMT from United States)
@21 computers didn't take over calculators, they exist along side them. Stand alone calculators still function as they always did. They are more portable and serve a specific purpose. They aren't going away any time soon.
Sometimes, I do math on paper because I can, and because that is faster than looking for my calculator, and I might be somewhere I don't have it or a computer handy. (I don't 'do' smart phones) Heck, even many 'smart' phones don't come with a calculator app by default or at least didn't until fairly recently. And yes, when I grocery shop, I start with a budgeted amount and subtract my way down to zero as I choose items and put them in the basket/cart, and I do that math on the paper list I have in my hand as I walk around the store.
Computers are an entirely different device. Yes, they do math, as logic circuits are what they are built upon, but they extend the use of logic to more than just math problems. (though underlying it all, again, still just math)
So-called 'AI' isn't an evolution of computers. It is something else. And it isn't taking over calculators so that what we know as a calculator doesn't exist. But it is doing that to computers via the 'poison pill' of generated code and the intentional inclusion of AI models and features, especially if they can't be turned off or get added to an OS core, such as a kernel.
63 • AI is a Tulip, not a tool (by AdrienM on 2026-07-21 18:28:51 GMT from United States)
@37, no that is not why it was created, but that is how it is being (deceptively) marketed.
Its sole purpose is to fool you into thinking you are speaking to a human. That's it.
Apparently, millions of people are fully duped.
Friends and family I considered reasonably intelligent have in short order nearly given up all agency to it. They no longer even visit a known good website for an answer to a question, they just speak to their phones and accept Google's AI 'answer' at the top. Even worse, they implicitly trust that 'answer', and will even argue with me when I know it is wrong. (AI does not 'answer' questions. It appears to. It is merely generating text that *might* be facsimile of an answer. It doesn't understand anything, not the question, or the text it generated.)
Even worse, they think they are 'smart' because they speak a question and instantly get what they think is an answer. There is nothing smart about that, on their part, or the bot's.
@34 - same here
@35 - I agree 100% (and thanks for the 32-bit reminder. I happen to have some of those dinosaurs on hand and shall attempt to make at least one good one from the parts)
@54 - no, it is not in the least intelligent and can't 'reproduce' anything. It simply is regurgitating/generating what 'appears' to be intelligent or some aspect of human thought based on word proximity. The recent advancements over older 'machine learning' implementations are speed and the volume of work from which it draws. Speed gives the illusion of 'impressive' intelligence, and the larger volume raises the probability of approximating a truth or fact, still by chance, which completes the illusion and engenders a false sense of trust by humans.
64 • AI-Libre Linux or BSD? (by AdrienM on 2026-07-21 18:37:31 GMT from United States)
As far as I'm aware, most if not all of the major BSD projects have shut the door to AI-generated code. (they may or may not allow optional inclusion of AI apps in user-land)
I was already looking at them for my next OS since my MacMini is still fully functional but practically abandonware by Apple, stuck on Mojave. BSD seemed a reasonable choice for similarity.
Prior to this Mac, I was using Ubuntu daily. I was also considering migrating back to it or some other Debian derivative (systemd free hopefully) but being reminded that 32-bit systems can't run AI code at all, and I have some of those boxes laying around, that might be an option. Thankfully, no one is writing 32-bit code, much less using chat bots to do so, thus this might be a 'future-proof' option.
I appreciate Jessie covering the topic, and would suggest a follow-up on the state of AI usage in BSD & Linux might be in order, or will be soon.
I also appreciate the headline topic of various open source alternatives. I've been in the market for a communications tool for a small local group to use that is platform agnostic. Mattermost (community self-hosted edition) was my current choice, but I was happy to learn NextCloud has add-ons that might fit the bill, as well as several interesting suggestions in the comments. Hopefully, at least one of these will require the least amount of effort on the part of various users and be as simple as 'group texting' since that is what they love to use now. It seems I have more test-driving to do!
65 • BSD A.I. etc.. (by Jerry B on 2026-07-21 19:50:27 GMT from United States)
@64 I admit to wondering lately if and how many Linux users will migrate to BSD because of the A.I. being added to the Linux kernel. A lot of questions about that, including the prospect of some BSD developers going ahead and offering A.I.
One other question: Perhaps it is explored somewhere in here I do not have time to read every post and article but: Is it possible to remove the A.I. bits from Mr. Torvalds' offering and have as a starting point for some new distros a Linux free of A.I.?
66 • 32-bit systems (by Eric on 2026-07-21 19:54:20 GMT from Germany)
@63, @64
I don't know where you've got this misunderstanding, but 32-bit systems are capable of running LLMs and "AI-generated" code. To generate sophisticated output at reasonable speed you need a lot of RAM or video RAM, but models can run slowly with 4 GB or less. 32-bit x86 Linux and BSD systems are able to address up to 64 GB.
"Thankfully, no one is writing 32-bit code, much less using chat bots to do so, thus this might be a 'future-proof' option."
Programmers are writing portable code in high-level languages, not assembly (in the vast majority of cases). It is agnostic whether the compiler translate it to machine code having 32-bit or 64-bit general purpose registers. Chat bots output portable code too, so your 32-bit hardware is perfectly compatible with programs generated with "AI".
It is disturbing that common people, even "power users", very often have very little idea how computers work and how programmers work. For them it's a sort of mundane magic.
67 • BSDs and Linux (by Jesse on 2026-07-21 20:09:12 GMT from Canada)
@65: "I admit to wondering lately if and how many Linux users will migrate to BSD because of the A.I. being added to the Linux kernel. A lot of questions about that, including the prospect of some BSD developers going ahead and offering A.I."
I think most of the BSDs have already stated they accept LLM-generated code. Moving to a project that already has LLM-generated code in it to escape a project accepting LLM-generated code wouldn't make any sense.
"Is it possible to remove the A.I. bits from Mr. Torvalds' offering and have as a starting point for some new distros a Linux free of A.I.?"
Sure, you could. But you would need some way of discovering which pieces of code were generated by an LLM. Eventually, you'd also need the skills to write around the changes newly introduced LLM-code introduced that interacted with other parts of the kernel. Just ripping out the AI-bits would eventually break something.
68 • BSDs policy on LLM contributions (by Eric on 2026-07-21 20:26:45 GMT from Sweden)
@67: "I think most of the BSDs have already stated they accept LLM-generated code."
At least NetBSD have a policy to reject it, and the OpenBSD leader and founder Theo de Raadt said "the chances of us accepting such new code with such a suspicious Copyright situation is zero".
69 • AI (by whitetiger on 2026-07-21 21:54:36 GMT from United States)
Guess if AI is forced on people in the kernel, the age of computers is over for me. I hate AI.
70 • OpenBSD (by Jesse on 2026-07-21 22:31:14 GMT from Canada)
@68: "the OpenBSD leader and founder Theo de Raadt said "the chances of us accepting such new code with such a suspicious Copyright situation is zero"."
This is a bit misleading without context. In the case when de Raadt wrote that he was talking about an implementation of ext4 which, if the LLM was trained on it, would be licensed under the GPL, which would be incompatible with the OpenBSD license. de Raadt might feel the same way about other LLM-generated code, but in that specific case it was probably more a concern over the licensing than the source of the code provided.
To date, I think NetBSD is the only BSD which has a specific policy against sing LLMs. OpenBSD doesn't have a formal policy, so it's probably on a case-by-case basis.
71 • AI LINUX KERNEL REJECT (by Noland on 2026-07-21 22:52:23 GMT from Australia)
I say, take it back to LTS Kernel 5.1 and fork it there, before the inclusion of Rust and AI slop
72 • Poll question and The Matrix (by El Pingo on 2026-07-22 01:09:06 GMT from United States)
Best discussion I've read in the many years with DW! Philosophical banter and techie stuff together! My virtual hat off especially to Eric and Much Derper in several posts. Of course there's also a share of misconception and downright ignorance. But the question was: "Will an AI-libre fork of Linux be created?" And my question still remains: Is such a thing even possible?
How will an AI-libre kernel's maintainers be able to tell if a contribution is AI or human generated? Will not AI be able to code indistinguishable from humans'? Will the maintainers then not have to rely on the absolute honesty of the contributor? It's just a question. I'm not knowledgeable enough to be a prophet. Just that this all takes me back to one of my favorite faux-science movies:
A man sits at a table sniffing the aromas of a thick juicy steak. (Sorry, vegans!) It looks perfectly grilled. He cuts into it and the texture and flavor are heavenly. Is it a real steak, or is it an illusion generated by the Matrix? If he cannot tell, what is the difference?
73 • RE: 32-bit systems (by Much Derper on 2026-07-22 03:49:49 GMT from United States)
@66
> It is disturbing that common people, even "power users", very often have very little idea how computers work and how programmers work. For them it's a sort of mundane magic.
Most engineers I work with are quite brilliant otherwise, yet they too have no idea how memory management works, for example.
74 • RE: 32-bit systems (by Much Derper on 2026-07-22 03:59:25 GMT from United States)
@66
People specialize, either in things they care about or in things that give them the resources they need to pour into the things (or, rather, people) they care about. People that have a wide enough array of interest that they care about enough to go at least somewhat in-depth on them, and that also have so little life they can afford spending time and other resources to pursue all those interests - those are not normal people, they always have and always will be a minority, but our lives are often better because of them.
75 • @40 John: (by dragonmouth on 2026-07-22 11:26:13 GMT from United States)
"I wonder as time goes on if AI can eventually come up with solutions to Global Warming"
First it would have to tell us how to reduce its power hunger. If AI is allowed to grow unchecked, the data centers it requires will overwhelm the power generating capacity. Especially if "alternative or green methods" are used for power generation. You can either have AI and data centers or you can have green power. The two are mutually exclusive.
Number of Comments: 75
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