this post was submitted on 20 Jun 2025
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Linux

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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.

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[–] sirico@feddit.uk 148 points 3 days ago (2 children)

It's just me distro hopping sorry guys

[–] tarknassus@lemmy.world 21 points 3 days ago (1 children)
[–] Telorand@reddthat.com 8 points 3 days ago

A normal Tuesday for a Linux user.

[–] ifmu@lemmy.world 2 points 3 days ago (1 children)

Next time, use a VPN so it doesn’t all show in the US.

[–] ferric_carcinization@lemmy.ml 4 points 3 days ago

They're on the feddit.uk instance, so it's more likely that they're British. Either their VPN prefers USA servers for some reason, or they've only done about 138 million downloads at most.

[–] carotte@lemmy.blahaj.zone 21 points 3 days ago

honestly surprised more than half of the apps on Flathub are verified! I expected it to be less

back before the redesign, it felt like most apps had "note: this wrapper is not made by, or affiliated with the original developers" somewhere

[–] alexdeathway@programming.dev 21 points 3 days ago (3 children)

surprisingly russia is at 5th.

[–] cygnus@lemmy.ca 59 points 3 days ago (2 children)

Linux has always had a strong showing over there. If I had the misfortune of living there I'd certainly want all the privacy and autonomy I could get...

[–] XXIC3CXSTL3Z@lemmy.ml 1 points 1 day ago

makes sense. So much sketchy people I know from there that also use like 10 distros for whatever reason and have extremely cracked setups

[–] PushButton@lemmy.world 4 points 3 days ago (1 children)

And probably some security bars for your windows and balcony, so that you don't accidentally fall to your death...

[–] GardenData61371@lemmy.world 0 points 3 days ago

And have a taste tester for food

[–] herseycokguzelolacak@lemmy.ml 2 points 2 days ago

Graphs like this will always be population graphs. Russia is the 9th most populated country with 140 million people.

[–] mr_MADAFAKA@lemmy.ml 20 points 3 days ago (2 children)

Speaking of countries, I'm surprised that China isn't in the top 10, especially considering their efforts to reduce reliance on US tech.

[–] JustVik@lemmy.ml 14 points 3 days ago (1 children)

Maybe it's somehow related with the Great Firewall and they are not included in the statistics correctly.

[–] mr_MADAFAKA@lemmy.ml 22 points 3 days ago (1 children)
[–] JustVik@lemmy.ml 8 points 3 days ago

I'm sorry I didn't notice. Then it's a little unexpected.

[–] Kidplayer_666@lemm.ee 0 points 3 days ago (2 children)

They likely have their own homegrown alternatives, you think Xi the Poo would allow such corruption of his people by giving them access to corrupting capitalist software such as non approved encrypted messaging services?

[–] iopq@lemmy.world 2 points 3 days ago

There aren't really home-grown alternatives

[–] JustVik@lemmy.ml 1 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago) (1 children)

And it's not like it didn't have a reason. A lot of closed "capitalist" software has been seen in not very good and honest actions. And the penalties for this were very light. Yes open source mostly is a different story.

[–] Vendetta9076@sh.itjust.works 1 points 2 days ago

I'm sure the authoritarian dictator is being benevolent and looking out for the good of his people when building the firewall and locking down the internet.

Don't be a fool. Just because you can point to closed sourced bad actors doesn't mean it was done for anything less than control.

[–] elucubra@sopuli.xyz 1 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)

Oh, FLAT hub!

[–] Fizz@lemmy.nz 12 points 3 days ago (1 children)

How does flatpak make money? I feel like I should be paying for the bandwidth im using since it can't be cheap.

[–] qaz@lemmy.world 22 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago)

They don't. They have a CDN sponsor.

Flathub wouldn't be possible without the generous support of the following organizations and individuals. Organizations & Infrastructure

  • Codethink
  • Cloud Native Computing Foundation
  • Fastly
  • Mythic Beasts
  • Prerender.io
  • Scaleway
[–] JasonDJ@lemmy.zip 14 points 3 days ago

I'm doing my part.

[–] asudox@lemmy.asudox.dev 13 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago) (5 children)

I don't like Flatpaks, but I guess this is better than nothing.

I'm surprised China doesn't have a lot. Are they not using Flathub, or perhaps Flatpaks?

[–] ComradeRachel@lemmy.blahaj.zone 11 points 3 days ago

If I remember correctly deepin which is the popular distro uses their own store of appimage files. That may have something to do with it

[–] skilltheamps@feddit.org 15 points 3 days ago (1 children)

Take a look from this perspective: with distro packages, a separate person (the package maintainer) has to build a piece of software against the versions of dependencies the distro offers, which are not the ones the developer of the software uses and tests against. Then you have users that encounter bugs with this build of the software, and the developer of the software receiving bug reports against all kinds of dependency matrices, whose combinatorial complexity is overwhelming. With the different paces of distros in terms of package versions this is inevitable. On top you have overworked package maintainers which leads to sparingly updated distro packages or even orphaned ones.

For no party in the linux ecosystem this is a great experience.

Either it is this, or giving packages the opportunity to not share dependency versions, which can cost a bit of disk space. With the low price of storage, I think it becomes quite clear why flatpaks are so popular. Also in the end, users do not shape the linux landscape like they would with commercial products, as distros do not rely on sales to users. Developers and maintainers shape the landscape, and so what floats their boat is largely what happens.

For linux as a whole, flatpak is one of the greatest things that ever happened. For the first time, one can treat it as an actual platform, and that makes it a strong ecosystem.

[–] superglue@lemmy.dbzer0.com 5 points 3 days ago

I wouldn't be a Linux user if it weren't for flatpaks. Finally I can install the apps I need and they just work.

[–] semperverus@lemmy.world 11 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago)

I don't like flatpaks or snaps or anything like it either, but I think they help a lot in situations like the Steam Deck or PinePhone where you want the base to be able to move slowly and be stable, while letting the apps on top move quickly.

The problems with flatpaks and similar is that it allows and even encourages developers to stick with horrendously outdated libraries, and your system is only as safe as the container's isolation defenses.

They also make it more difficult to go in and directly modify or tweak the program as the user.

And many developers are no longer offering bare-metal options.

[–] tfm@europe.pub 5 points 3 days ago (1 children)

I'd expect them having their own state controlled version

[–] Xiisadaddy@lemmygrad.ml 10 points 3 days ago (1 children)

Chinese people use the same distros we do generally. But Linux is seen as much more of a professional thing there, and i think the people using it probably just compile things themselves, and have less of a need for flatpak. Huawei actually had a Linux laptop they were offering for sale for awhile, and a lot of the people buying it were having the store clerk put a cracked version of windows on it for them lol.

[–] XXIC3CXSTL3Z@lemmy.ml 1 points 1 day ago (1 children)

and a lot of the people buying it were having the store clerk put a cracked version of windows on it for them lol.

that's hilarious asf is windows seen as a holy beacon or something over there?

[–] Xiisadaddy@lemmygrad.ml 2 points 1 day ago

I think its because they just see it as the "OS non-techies should use" but as Huawei's Harmony OS becomes more popular i expect that to take over a good bit of that market.

[–] mio@lemmy.mio19.uk 3 points 3 days ago (1 children)

They are probably having internet connection problems in China

[–] iopq@lemmy.world 1 points 3 days ago

Flathub is not blocked

[–] Xiisadaddy@lemmygrad.ml 10 points 3 days ago

Wow that must be atleast like 7 linux users overall taking into account all the distro hopping and redownloading lol.

Looks like Java finally has company in the exclusive 3 billion club

[–] paequ2@lemmy.today 5 points 3 days ago

Cool! It's the main way I install GUI apps now.