Linux

55782 readers

809 users here now

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Linux is a family of open source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991 by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged in a Linux distribution (or distro for short).

Distributions include the Linux kernel and supporting system software and libraries, many of which are provided by the GNU Project. Many Linux distributions use the word "Linux" in their name, but the Free Software Foundation uses the name GNU/Linux to emphasize the importance of GNU software, causing some controversy.

Rules

Posts must be relevant to operating systems running the Linux kernel. GNU/Linux or otherwise.
No misinformation
No NSFW content
No hate speech, bigotry, etc

Related Communities

Community icon by Alpár-Etele Méder, licensed under CC BY 3.0

founded 6 years ago

MODERATORS

AgreeableLandscape@lemmy.ml

nooter692@lemmy.ml

MarcellusDrum@lemmy.ml

cypherpunks@lemmy.ml

cyclohexane@lemmy.ml

d3Xt3r@lemmy.nz

Open source FTW (self.linux)

submitted 4 weeks ago by hapablap to c/linux@lemmy.ml

12 comments fedilink hide all child comments

I've been a Linux user for almost 30 years but never had to tinker with any software to solve a problem. Cue a Fedora upgrade to somewhere around 38. I've been using the multiseat feature for years. It's alway seemed very fragile. With this upgrade it was seriously broken. I managed to find a patch someone made that for some reason wasn't accepted into the gnome-shell package. I was able to grab the patch, rebuild the RPM package and install the update to my system and restore multiseat. It was actually pretty effortless. The hardest part by far was finding the fix. Now updating to Fedora 41 I had to do the same process again. Apparently the problem still exists. This time I had to create a new patch as the original one wouldn't apply anymore but that wasn't very hard. It was very satisfying to be able to fix that problem and it was only possible due to the OSS community.

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments

[–] GideonBear@lemmy.ml 3 points 4 weeks ago (1 children)

I love the feeling of just forking something to add your wild tiny feature. I forked LeechBlockNG to notify my friend when I pressed "Override" :)

Or finding a tiny bug in some software, then spending multiple hours learning their codebase so you can fix it. And then building and using your fork because they're too slow with merging it...

Using open source software + having enough experience and confidence to figure out most things (given enough time, of course) software-related is so empowering.

[–] hapablap 1 points 3 weeks ago

The open source community feels like the ultimate right to repair environment. You're right, it feels very empowering and fulfilling. Totally opposite of the frustration of dealing with often intentionally unrepairable products.