From 0561211a0a847d1a59169cd3d8846c6a9053c029 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Mitja Felicijan Date: Sun, 10 Mar 2024 21:45:01 +0100 Subject: Added post --- ...-the-abysmal-state-of-linux-in-the-year-2024.md | 80 ++++++++++++++++++++++ 1 file changed, 80 insertions(+) create mode 100644 content/2024-03-10-the-abysmal-state-of-linux-in-the-year-2024.md (limited to 'content') diff --git a/content/2024-03-10-the-abysmal-state-of-linux-in-the-year-2024.md b/content/2024-03-10-the-abysmal-state-of-linux-in-the-year-2024.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..ec69955 --- /dev/null +++ b/content/2024-03-10-the-abysmal-state-of-linux-in-the-year-2024.md @@ -0,0 +1,80 @@ +--- +title: "The abysmal state of Linux in the year 2024" +url: the-abysmal-state-of-linux-in-the-year-2024.html +date: 2024-03-10T21:41:52+01:00 +type: post +draft: false +--- + +This is in part difficult to write, but then I think it is necessary. How +come Linux is worse than it was 10 years ago. This may very well be +a subjective opinion, or maybe I am looking at the situation with +rose-tinted glasses. + +Sure, we now have PipeWire and Wayland. We enjoy many modern advances +and yet, the practical use for me is worse than it was 10 years ago. Now +all of a sudden, I can't rely on the system to be stable like it was. I +don't remember the system bricking after an update, or the system becoming +laggy after 10 days uptime. This may be the issue with Fedora, though. + +Over the years, I have daily driven many distributions. From Gentoo, +Arch, Fedora to Ubuntu. My best memories were always with Debian. Just +pure Debian always proved to be the most stable system. I never had +issue or system breaking after an update. I can't say the same for Fedora. + +From the get-go, I had issues. I have an Nvidia card and even booting +presented issues sometime. This never happened on other distributions, +though they had their problems. Updating the system was basically an +exercise in gambling. How come an operating system that boasts with +the stability is so instable? And this was not isolated to my main +machine. This also happened on my X220 ThinkPad with Fedora on. + +Shared dependencies were a mistake! I understand that disk space was +limited back then. But this has given me more grief than any other +thing. I am all in for AppImages or something like that. I don't care +if these images are 10x bigger. Disk space now is plenty, and they +solve the issue with "libFlac.8.so is missing" and I have version 12 +installed. Which comes with unnecessary symlinking, downloading of older +versions and hoping that this will resolve the issue. + +Now, the biggest apologist of Linux will never admit this and even saying +something is wrong with this is considered a mortal sin. I, however, am +not concerned with cultist behaviors. This is bullshit! Things should be +better than 10 years ago, not worse. And I don't care how much lipstick +you put on this pig. After more than 20 years of using Linux as my main +system, I think I have earned a badge that gives me the right to say +the truth. + +Regardless of all this, I am still a massive fan. I still think Linux +is probably the most unobtrusive operating system, bar none. But the +complexity has gotten the best of it. It's bloated and too complicated +at this point. Understandably, you can't have a modern operating system +that competes with alternatives without sacrificing simplicity. But I +still think that there is another way. + +One of the best aspects of Linux must be outstanding package manager +support. Nevertheless, they are essentially solving a problem that should +have been solved and done with years ago. The number of gymnastics +that happen in the background for you to install a software is just +mind-boggling. The dependency graphs are insane. And Snaps and Flatpaks +tried to solve some of these things, but until a distribution comes out +that is completely devoid of shared dependencies, we will still live in +this purgatory. + +It would be an interesting exercise to make a prototype distribution +that does not rely on shared objects, but has everything packed in +AppImages. Probably a foolish endeavor, but maybe worth looking into. I +sense this kind of distribution would be highly unusable. Interesting +how far we have gotten. + +The year of the Linux desktop? I have strong doubts. We are in a worse +state than we were. This is very similar to The Paradox of Choice. The +more options we have, the worse it gets. Wayland competing with X. So +many window managers, you just get lost. So many choices. I have no idea +if this is even salvageable, or something new must be invented. + +Some interesting talks and videos + +- [Jonathan Blow on how an operating system should work](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k0uE_chSnV8) +- [The Thirty Million Line Problem by Casey Muratori](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kZRE7HIO3vk) +- [Avoiding a Shared Library Nightmare by John Biron](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xPAGVT4Ctt4) -- cgit v1.2.3