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The Wildest Linux Stories of 2023
(the stuff you only read about on The Lunduke Journal)
December 29, 2023
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2023 has been an absolutely insane year for Linux.  And The Lunduke Journal has been there to cover every crazy moment.

Below you'll find -- in no particular order -- some of the craziest news stories to hit the world of Linux this year (or any year for that matter). 

Note: Some of the stories linked to below contain political topics.  While Lunduke.Locals.com strives to stay non-political, these few items simply were too wild to not mention.  For those who would like to avoid reading the political stories I have placed a "[Warning: Political]" note next to those links.

Red Hat & IBM - One disaster after another

Red Hat was purchased by IBM back in 2019 -- and things have been getting progressively crazier and crazier since then.  This year really took it to the max.

In 2023, Red Hat kicked the year off with a significant round of layoffs (including project leadership for Fedora, their community distribution), then Red Hat stopped work on Libre Office... then Red Hat restricts access to the GPL'd source code of Red Hat Linux.

Not a good year for the Linux giant.  But those little mini-disasters were just a warm up for what came at the end of the year.

In December of 2023, a massive series of leaks (many of which were exclusive to The Lunduke Journal) [Warning: Political], revealed racist and discriminatory programs within both Red Hat and (parent company) IBM -- including racist hiring policies and racist training programs.

What will the resulting legal action and public backlash mean for Red Hat in 2024?  How will all of this impact Linux (considering Red Hat's massive support of Linux) going forward?  We shall soon find out...

The Implosion of SUSE & openSUSE

The longest-running Linux company in the world, SUSE, has had one heck of a hard year.  First, their CEO gets axed back in March (unexpectedly, with no replacement ready to take over) -- then we find out that the CEO had greenlit a number of "risky deals" for the company leading up to her termination.

Then, a few months later, the company announces their de-listing from the German Stock Exchange.

Bad business news, to be sure.  But it gets worse.  The community focused portion of SUSE -- the openSUSE project and Linux distribution -- made two of the strangest moves imaginable.

First, openSUSE went on the warpath against half of their users and contributors by declaring people with certain politics to be "Rotten Flesh" that needs to be "Cut out" [Warning: Political].

Then, openSUSE decided they wanted to ditch one of their best assets: their long-standing, beloved, and recognizable mascot.

It's difficult to imagine how a year could be much worse than 2023 was for SUSE & openSUSE.  We'll have to see what 2024 has in store.

Ubuntu to go 100% Snappy and Immutable in 2024

In 2023 we learned that the future of Ubuntu will be moving entirely to Snappy packaging... and to become an immutable Linux distribution.  A massive (and controversial) technical change.

Ubuntu (and parent company, Canonical) remain a major force within the Linux world.  So this shift is a noteworthy one.  What impact will this have on the Ubuntu userbase?  How will the rollout of this new "immutable Ubuntu" be received?  That all remains to be seen.

GNOME now run by a "Professional Shaman"

This story is, quite simply, too weird to be true.  And, yet, it is.

In October of 2023, the GNOME Foundation hired a new Executive Director -- a self-proclaimed "Professional Shaman" who performs, as her career, "group shamanic energy clearing", "shaman water", and sells a "How to become a professional shaman" course.

Even weirder?  Both GNOME and their new Director began actively censoring anyone who mentioned the word "Shaman" -- effectively "Shaman-shaming" their new "Shaman" Director.  Since then, the GNOME Foundation's new Executive Shaman has gone into publicity lock-down... with no available public appearances or prossence of any kind.

Just... wild.

GitHub to become... an A.I. platform?

An absolutely huge number of Linux-related projects utilize GitHub -- from applications to full distributions.  And, according to Microsoft (who owns GitHub), the plan is to turn the source control platform into an A.I. system.

Seriously.

While the overall impact, of this change, on the Linux and Open Source world may be small (as many projects may simply move to another source control platform)... it's still weird enough that it's worth mentioning.

The De-Linux-ing of The Linux Foundation

In the 2022 Linux Foundation Annual Report, we learned that the foundation behind Linux had reduced their spending on Linux to just 3.2%.  Then, at the end of 2023, we learned that spending on Linux had reduced even further... down to just 2% of their revenue.

And we began to see the results of that lack of Linux-focus with the dropping of Long Term Support Linux kernel versions.

Woof!  That's a pretty wild drop in spending for the core project that their entire foundation is named after.

2023 was a weird one!

Massive technical changes!  Corporate disasters!  Significant drops in Linux and open source investments!  Shamans!

I mean... shoot.  The chaos and disasters at the two biggest Linux companies -- Red Hat & SUSE -- were absolutely wild.

Holy smokes.  What a year!

I'd like to say that next year is going to be a whole lot more relaxed and sane.  But I've got a sneaking suspicion... that 2024 is going to crank the crazy up to 11.

Worth noting: The craziest Linux stories of 2023 were all broken by The Lunduke Journal.  Exclusive whistleblowers.  Deep research.  Topics that other Tech publications are afraid to even touch.  Stay tuned.  Because The Lunduke Journal is just getting warmed up.


Want more truly independent Tech Journalism?  Be sure to grab at least a free membership to Lunduke.Locals.com.

Want to support this important work (and get some exclusive books, videos, and other goodies in the process)?  Grab a paid subscription.

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All articles and audio podcasts remain 100% free for everyone.

The Article:
https://lunduke.substack.com/p/lunduke-journal-videos-now-subscriber

00:09:55
Open Source Orgs Pledge Fealty to United Nations

Linux Foundation, GNOME Foundation, others pledge to "support the needs of the United Nations", promote DEl discrimination & RISE.

The article:
https://lunduke.substack.com/p/open-source-orgs-pledge-fealty-to

00:30:10
Counter-Strike 2 Switched to Wayland (for One Day)

After a number of significant issues when running under Wayland, Valve's CS2 is now back to X11 as default. Wayland advocates blame everything but Wayland.

00:13:19
November 22, 2023
The futility of Ad-Blockers

Ads are filling the entirety of the Web -- websites, podcasts, YouTube videos, etc. -- at an increasing rate. Prices for those ad placements are plummeting. Consumers are desperate to use ad-blockers to make the web palatable. Google (and others) are desperate to break and block ad-blockers. All of which results in... more ads and lower pay for creators.

It's a fascinatingly annoying cycle. And there's only one viable way out of it.

Looking for the Podcast RSS feed or other links? Check here:
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Give the gift of The Lunduke Journal:
https://lunduke.locals.com/post/4898317/give-the-gift-of-the-lunduke-journal

The futility of Ad-Blockers
November 21, 2023
openSUSE says "No Lunduke allowed!"

Those in power with openSUSE make it clear they will not allow me anywhere near anything related to the openSUSE project. Ever. For any reason.

Well, that settles that, then! Guess I won't be contributing to openSUSE! 🤣

Looking for the Podcast RSS feed or other links?
https://lunduke.locals.com/post/4619051/lunduke-journal-link-central-tm

Give the gift of The Lunduke Journal:
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openSUSE says "No Lunduke allowed!"
September 13, 2023
"Andreas Kling creator of Serenity OS & Ladybird Web Browser" - Lunduke’s Big Tech Show - September 13th, 2023 - Ep 044

This episode is free for all to enjoy and share.

Be sure to subscribe here at Lunduke.Locals.com to get all shows & articles (including interviews with other amazing nerds).

"Andreas Kling creator of Serenity OS & Ladybird Web Browser" - Lunduke’s Big Tech Show - September 13th, 2023 - Ep 044

Coming back after taking an extended break celebrating pride month for the 8th time this year and supporting Hamas, the GNOME Foundation has decided to place a donation button in the GNOME 49, alpha 1, settings. Unlike the KDE Plasma donation button, this one doesn't seem able to be removed.

Personally, I have nothing against asking for support, but I remember the outrage caused previously when gnome extensions put in donate buttons. So, it will be interesting to see if this causes any backlash among the unemployed socialists that make up the bulk of GNOME users (excluding all the ones working for Red Hat, Canonical and other mega capitalist corporations).

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GPT-5 is legit

It’s REALLY hard to know how good today’s LLMs are. There are benchmarks galore - but they are are a sideshow. IMHO.

I don’t have any tasks that need or uncover a models “phd intelligence”. Can they code? Can they write? Are they good thinking partners? And they all are so good that I can get my work done with any of them in better quality, quicker than by myself.

Gpt-5 was released halfway through a coding hackathon so I just happen to be in a position to see its improvement. I’m using Cursor for the agentic coding tool and Claude models the first week. It’s been wonderful. There’s a good chance I’ll actually subscribe when my free trial is up.

Then GPT- 5 was released. I had it redo the look and feel of the app and it did a much better job. It’s faster. It’s cheaper. And the coding appears to be on par. That was never my experience before with OpenAI models vs Claude.

Some say it’s better. Your really have to work hard to definitively answer that -...

Well, my website is finally back online after I figured out what broke. It took me a couple years to finally get around to it though XD

https://althacker.xyz

Quick Lunduke Journal reminders: 50% off through Sunday, where to find links

Hello all of you amazing nerds!

With The Lunduke Journal videos now being subscriber exclusives, I wanted to take a moment for a few quick reminders:

  • All articles — as well as all audio podcast episodes — remain free for everyone. See Lunduke.com for all of the links for where you can grab them.

  • If you have a Lifetime Subscription (via either Locals or Substack) and have any issues or questions — feel free to reach out via email: [email protected].

  • The 50% off discounts for new subscriptions runs through end of the day Sunday (the 10th).

Seriously. Feel free to take advantage of that discount. Save some serious buckazoids and support The Lunduke Journal in the process. It’s a win-win.

-Lunduke

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Number of Orphaned Linux Kernel Modules Doubles in 2 Years
Intel layoffs & Russian bans have contributed to a growing number of abandoned Linux Kernel Modules -- which now make up over 8% of all Linux modules.

Over the last few days, a number of Linux Kernel modules have officially become “Orphaned” — meaning they no longer have a maintainer to look after them in any way.

Image
 

This most recent surge in “Orphan” Linux Kernel modules is due to a round of fairly massive layoffs happening at Intel, with the company reducing total staff by tens of thousands before the end of this year.

And, of course, among those being laid off are multiple programmers who were paid maintainers of Linux Kernel modules. Things like the Intel CPU temperature drivers, Slim Bootloader, and the Time of Day clock. All are now “Orphan” modules, with more expected over the coming months.

This isn’t the first event which has caused a surge in Orphan modules.

In October of 2024, a wave of Russian programmers (and programmers suspected of working with Russian companies) were banned from contributing to the Linux kernel. This was in response to President Biden’s Executive Order 14071, which forbade Russians from working with or using GPL'd software made in the USA.

Which, naturally, included the Linux Kernel.

How Many Orphans Are There?

All of which begs the question… exactly how many Linux Kernel Modules now have no maintainer at all?

Figuring that out is a pretty trivial task. Linux Kernel Modules with maintainers (or which had maintainers) are listed in the Linux “MAINTAINERS” file.

And, as of August 8th, 2025, there were 138 Kernel Modules specifically listed as having a Status of “Orphan”.

But that only tells us part of the story. What we really need to know is how fast the number of Orphan Modules is growing… and what percentage, of all modules, are not maintained.

Turns out, both numbers are… not great.

 

Over the last 2 years — between August of 2023 and August of 2025 — the number of “Orphan” modules in the Linux kernel grew from 75 to 138.

They nearly doubled.

Now let’s look at the percentage of Orphaned Modules.

Since we know that there are roughly 2,496 Modules which have an active maintainer (give or take, based on a quick look at the MAINTAINERS file) that means that a little over 5% of all Linux Kernel modules… are orphans.

 

Though that doesn’t tell the whole story.

There is also another category of Kernel Module where the status is listed as “Odd Fixes”. Meaning “It has a maintainer but they don’t have time to do much.”

If we consider those modules as also “Not Maintained” (along with the “Orphan” Modules), the total percentage of un-maintained Kernel Modules grows to 8.6%.

 

The Future of Linux is Unmaintained

Considering the upcoming layoffs at Intel — whose employees are the current maintainers of well over 200 different modules — the possibility of “Not Maintained” Linux Kernel Modules hitting over 10% isn’t a far fetched idea.

And we’re not talking about seldom used hardware drivers here. We’re talking about things like “temperature sensors” and “time of day” (and all manner of critical hardware support like ACPI and Ethernet drivers).

While it’s reasonable to assume that some of the most critical Kernel Modules will get new (often volunteer) maintainers — thus saving them from becoming true “Orphans” — many will fall into an abandoned state. As has been the case over the last few years.

What result that will have on the Linux kernel — and the broader Linux ecosystem — remains to be seen. But we’ll find out soon enough.

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Lunduke's Non-Woke Software List (for August, 2025)
From Operating Systems to Web Browsers. There's lots of Woke Software out there. Let's take a look at some decidedly NON-Woke options.
There’s a heck of a lot of Woke Software out there. Especially in the Open Source world.

What, exactly, is “Woke Software”? Glad you asked. Because I’ve defined it.

 

Simple, right?

I’m sure we can all think of some examples. Mozilla Firefox, NixOS, Godot, and a whole mountain of others.

But what about… Non-Woke Software? You know… software which doesn’t hate you for being a normal person?

Luckily there is a growing number of decidedly Non-Woke options. And, even better, some of them are truly outstanding. Below I have collected my personal favorites as of August of 2025.

Operating Systems

Multiple Non-Woke Linux Distributions (and even a few BSD options) are available.

  • OpenMandriva - A classic Linux distribution.

  • GhostBSD - A FreeBSD based distro focused on usability.

  • Omarchy - An Arch + Hyprland configuration.

  • Devuan - A fork of Debian without SystemD.

I can personally vouch for the quality of all of those options. They are all unique and worth taking for a test-drive.

My personal favorite? OpenMandriva.

Web Browsers

As of right now, there are two web browsers I can recommend.

  • Brave - A Chromium based browser focused on privacy and ad blocking.

  • Ladybird - A from-scratch browser (not yet usable for a daily driver).

Though, honestly, only Brave is truly usable, right now, as a daily driver. But Ladybird is making such rapid progress that it seems worth including in this list to keep an eye on.

E-Mail Clients

If you’re looking for a desktop Email client, there’s really only one noteworthy option at the moment.

While Betterbird has not made a point of being Non-Woke, they are a fork of Mozilla Thunderbird. And Mozilla is the king of Open Source Wokeness.

Other Software

Here’s a few Non-Woke pieces of software which just don’t fit in the other categories. Hopefully, as the quantity of decidedly Non-Woke, quality software grows, we’ll have enough to add a few additional categories.

  • Redot - A fork of the Godot game engine.

  • XLibre - A fork of the Xorg X11 Server.

  • Hyprland - A Wayland window manager / Desktop Environment.

  • SQLite - A small, fast SQL database engine.

Once again, all quality, recommended software.

While this list may not be a mile long, it’s growing — and many of these projects are seeing significant success. Which is pretty fantastic.

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