Linux is the name of a computer operating system kernel and a group of systems built on it, like Ubuntu or Mint. Linux is the basic infrastructure of the Internet. It’s important. A report ju…
this is like that mozilla dick hammering post except it’s the entire linux community acting in response to windows 11
the kernel itself is becoming vibe-coded because linus decided to become a tech bro who apparently never cared about social issues, important tools like rsync no longer work because they’re also vibe-coded now, GTK4 and QML apps use more system resources than electron apps now and that’s all anyone seems to want to develop with for some godforsaken reason, etc. etc. etc.
i used to actually like desktop linux but now i just use it apathetically because there aren’t any viable alternatives
important tools like rsync no longer work because they’re also vibe-coded now
The causal relationship between these two things are not so clear. rsync is mainly maintained by a single main volunteer and regressions in software releases are common enough that LTS and rolling release are two separate categories for a while now. I think it’s more accurate to say that tools like rsync are so chronically underfunded that the gap is being filled with corporate products rather than real labor. I generally don’t think that framing “AI” as harmful by appealing to a sense of software quality is often not the real issue and gets debate-bro’d to hell and back by boosters anyway.
GTK4 and QML apps use more system resources than electron apps
In my anecdotal experience this isn’t true at all, every electron app regularly pages more than a gigabyte of memory on startup and I’ve never experienced this with with GNOME or KDE applications. This is genuinely the first time I’m hearing about this.
some examples from my own testing: GNOME’s calculator uses almost 300 MB (a calculator!), and gajim’s GTK4 rewrite uses well over half a gigabyte (quite a lot heavier than element for example, which is electron trash). pinta also got ported to GTK4 and has the same problem.
i’m not alone in noticing this: a hello world window uses over 100 MB if you don’t use a flag that isn’t default (using this flag didn’t help me with the aforementioned programs either).
meanwhile over on KDE they keep replacing actually good qtwidgets programs like filelight and ksysguard with shitty, uncustomizable memory hog kirigami apps that do less. and to what end? a bunch of ugly-ass, difficult to use programs that can’t be customized in any way, shape, or form and use three times the amount of resources in spite of losing features.
perhaps i’m oversimplifying and misunderstanding the technical details behind all of this but regardless my experience with linux has gone considerably downhill in the past few years. i try to avoid it by using TDE and sticking to more traditional software but i’m running out of options because the above is what’s been normalized on desktop linux.
Stand-by RAM usage is not the only metric for judging how resource efficient a program is, though I don’t know enough about your particular situation but generally if the desktop isn’t lagging regularly and apps aren’t getting killed by the OS for out of memory issues then the system’s memory use is fine. If you have lower end hardware (<4GB RAM or a CPU from more than a decade ago) then your experience might be worse.
that’s all anyone seems to want to develop with for some godforsaken reason, etc. etc. etc
Theyre the big names, integrate into an ecosystem, and most of all, writing raw x11 code (or raw Wayland protocols? I’m not sure how things work over there, I’m still in X land, running motif-ass lookin software, and loving it) is a gigantic horrifying minefield of footguns.
The frameworks are fairly frustrating, but tbh I understand not wanting to write raw x11 very very well.
this is like that mozilla dick hammering post except it’s the entire linux community acting in response to windows 11
the kernel itself is becoming vibe-coded because linus decided to become a tech bro who apparently never cared about social issues, important tools like rsync no longer work because they’re also vibe-coded now, GTK4 and QML apps use more system resources than electron apps now and that’s all anyone seems to want to develop with for some godforsaken reason, etc. etc. etc.
i used to actually like desktop linux but now i just use it apathetically because there aren’t any viable alternatives
The causal relationship between these two things are not so clear. rsync is mainly maintained by a single main volunteer and regressions in software releases are common enough that LTS and rolling release are two separate categories for a while now. I think it’s more accurate to say that tools like rsync are so chronically underfunded that the gap is being filled with corporate products rather than real labor. I generally don’t think that framing “AI” as harmful by appealing to a sense of software quality is often not the real issue and gets debate-bro’d to hell and back by boosters anyway.
In my anecdotal experience this isn’t true at all, every electron app regularly pages more than a gigabyte of memory on startup and I’ve never experienced this with with GNOME or KDE applications. This is genuinely the first time I’m hearing about this.
some examples from my own testing: GNOME’s calculator uses almost 300 MB (a calculator!), and gajim’s GTK4 rewrite uses well over half a gigabyte (quite a lot heavier than element for example, which is electron trash). pinta also got ported to GTK4 and has the same problem. i’m not alone in noticing this: a hello world window uses over 100 MB if you don’t use a flag that isn’t default (using this flag didn’t help me with the aforementioned programs either).
meanwhile over on KDE they keep replacing actually good qtwidgets programs like filelight and ksysguard with shitty, uncustomizable memory hog kirigami apps that do less. and to what end? a bunch of ugly-ass, difficult to use programs that can’t be customized in any way, shape, or form and use three times the amount of resources in spite of losing features.
perhaps i’m oversimplifying and misunderstanding the technical details behind all of this but regardless my experience with linux has gone considerably downhill in the past few years. i try to avoid it by using TDE and sticking to more traditional software but i’m running out of options because the above is what’s been normalized on desktop linux.
Stand-by RAM usage is not the only metric for judging how resource efficient a program is, though I don’t know enough about your particular situation but generally if the desktop isn’t lagging regularly and apps aren’t getting killed by the OS for out of memory issues then the system’s memory use is fine. If you have lower end hardware (<4GB RAM or a CPU from more than a decade ago) then your experience might be worse.
I think, at least part of, the kirigami stuff is for cross-platform, so the program can run on android, linux phone, even TVs.
Edit: System Monitor uses about as much memory as MPV playing a 4k/30fps file (per SM)… I kinda get what you’re saying
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Theyre the big names, integrate into an ecosystem, and most of all, writing raw x11 code (or raw Wayland protocols? I’m not sure how things work over there, I’m still in X land, running motif-ass lookin software, and loving it) is a gigantic horrifying minefield of footguns.
The frameworks are fairly frustrating, but tbh I understand not wanting to write raw x11 very very well.
GTK3 wasn’t nearly as bloated as GTK4, and qtwidgets is still fine, but i have yet to use a QML/kirigami app that isn’t horrendously large.