The NixOS project -- a Linux distribution and packaging system which has achieved significant success -- has descended into chaos as political activists seek to implement extreme, discriminatory policies... and ban those who raise objections to the discrimination.

As the political activists within NixOS put it: They are committing a "purge" of people they call "Nazis".

First, a little background to set the stage for this wild tale...

Not actively pro-Trans?  You're a Nazi!

There is a significant, easily observable pattern of extreme bullying emerging within the Linux & Open Source world: One where people are forced to declare allegiance to "Trans Issues", or face severe consequences.

The typical pattern, within any given software project or company, goes something like this:

1. Trans Activists bully people into giving a disproportionately large amount of power (and praise) to people who identify as "Trans" -- often discriminating against "non-Trans" people in the process.
2. If someone raises concerns regarding that discrimination: That person is called a "Nazi", "White Supremacist", and "Transphobe".
3. That person is then banned from the project, community, or company (likewise, anyone who defends or agrees with that person is also banned).

Note: It is not necessary for a person to say anything even remotely negative about "Trans" people or issues in order to be banned and attacked by the Trans Activists.  The simple act of objecting to discrimination of non-Trans people is enough to provoke attacks and bullying.

A few recent examples of this bullying within major Linux and Open Source projects:

• openSUSE declared that anyone who does not fully support "Trans" activities -- and wave the "Pride Flags" -- is "Rotten Flesh" who should be banned from the entire Linux world.
• Asahi & elementary Linux both made a policy of not allowing any users or contributors who do not actively support "Trans" activities.
• The Hyprland creator was banned, by a Red Hat employee, from the Free Desktop project after a perceived lack of reverence for "Trans" activities and "pronouns".

Now, it appears, we can add NixOS to that prestigious list.

The NixOS "Trans Only" Committee Seat

This story begins, as most wild tales do, in an incredibly dull way.

Back in April, 2024, leadership within NixOS saught to create a new committee (focused on approving monetary sponsors of Nix).

I know.  A committee talking about sponsorships.  Boring, right?  Trust me, this gets crazy.

A small group of individuals -- who are best described as "Political Activists" -- demanded that this small committee must include dedicated seats for people identified as "Gender Minority".  (Aka: "Trans" People.)

Some NixOS project contributors raised concerns about having dedicated voting seats for one specific "minority group" (but not for others).

The core of these concerns seemed to be that this was, effectively, discriminating against some groups in order to provide a disproportionate advantage for one specific group (Trans).

So far, this is a pretty simple story.

• One group wants a dedicated "Trans only" seat on a voting committee.
• Another group is concerned that this would be discriminatory.
• The two disagree... and discuss.

Straight forward -- and boring -- right?

Unfortunately, things get dark.  Really dark.  In a hurry.

The NixOS "Purge"

Instead of the two sides discussing their differences -- and coming to some sort of agreement -- the political activists (the "Trans Only Seat" group) decided to take a more... intense approach.

They began, what they called, a "purge".

"What is needed is a purge," stated one of the NixOS leaders who advocated for the "Trans Only Seat", referring to people who disagreed with his stance.

"I don't disagree," stated another.

The desire to conduct a "purge" continued... with the libelous attacks ramping up.

This same NixOS leader referred to the NixOS project as a "Nazi bar" (referring to many of the people raising objections to the "Trans Only Seat")... reiterated the need for a "purge"... and finished it off with an image of the Antifa flag.

Context of using the Antifa Flag: Within the United States, many local governments and organizations consider Antifa to be a violent, terrorist organization.  Antifa has claimed responsibility for several terrorist attacks (including riots, attempts to burn down Federal government buildings, and violent assaults on journalists).  "Antifa" has a track record of labeling any who oppose them as "Nazis".  That this symbol would be used, by NixOS Foundation Leadership, while calling for a "purge" of the "Nazis" they disagree with, is significant and worth noting.

On April 21st, 2024, the "Purge" begins.

Over the days that followed, several contributors to NixOS were suspended from the project -- including forums and other communication systems (with some individuals, eventually, completely banned).

After an exhaustive search, The Lunduke Journal was unable to find a single instance where the banned and suspended individuals made any derogatory statements against "Trans" individuals or any other groups.

These "purged" people were labeled as "Nazis" by some NixOS leaders... in many cases because they were not sufficiently supportive of the concept of a "Trans Only Seat" on a voting committee (among other political topics).

It didn't stop with the rank-and-file contributors to NixOS, either.  It went all the way to the top, with accusations being posted regarding the founder of Nix, Eelco Dolstra.  Prompting a response from the Nix founder.

"I must express my deep disappointment and disbelief at the accusation of excluding people from minority or marginalized backgrounds," stated the Nix founder in a blog post on April 26th.

The following day, the Nix Foundation Board denounced the words of the Nix founder.

Then -- and this seriously happened -- the Nix Foundation Board began drafting an abdication letter on behalf of the NixOS founder.

This is real.  Eelco Dolstra, the founder of Nix, had an abdication letter written for him and was pressured into signing it.  One of the drafters made a note to the Nix Founder that he must add himself as a signatory of the letter "for it to appear amicable".

The abdication letter was posted, with the Nix Founder as a signatory, on April 30th.

The NixOS Saga is Not Finished

This, truly, is a crazy tale.

Political extremists taking over a successful Open Source project -- from the inside -- and imposing wild, discriminatory, political policies.  Followed by the vilification -- and mass "purge" -- of any who opposed their extremist politics... culminating in the (seemingly forced) abdication of the founder of the project itself.

And, perhaps even more wild, is the fact that this is only a small fraction of the NixOS story.

A story with a huge number of players, and hundreds of pages of documents.  In-fighting.  Abuse.  Politics.  And more than a few swear words.

What's more... the saga continues to unfold, with NixOS itself currently in a state of chaos at the hands of a small number of political activists.

But the rest of this story... is for another day.

This article was originally published -- on a different site -- on May 24, 2023.  It is being republished now, on The Lunduke Journal, for historical preservation and reference.  Note: This content is highly political and many will find the topics and quotes, from Linux project founders and leaders, to be extremely disturbing and devisive.  Reader discression is advised.

Yesterday, elementary OS announced that it would be leaving Twitter.  The reason?  Because, according to the announcement, Twitter "promotes far-right authoritarian politics".

The founder of elementary OS, Dan Fore, then took to his Mastodon account to expand upon his reasoning -- stating that the deciding factor was that Twitter was allowing Florida Governor DeSantis to announce his Presidential candidacy on Twitter.

"With the latest news of Elon promoting Ron DeSantis' presidential run, I'm done," stated the elementary founder.  "It's become a far-right social network no diferent from Parlor or Truth Social and I won't be a part of it."

He then continued by saying: "An attack on trans rights is an attack on desktop Linux."

Mr Fore has also posted, reshared, liked and amplified a wide array of statements that appear to be designed to incite hatred, fear, and violence against any people who do not fully support the Trans fetish.

Such as the following:

"Media should stop asking "how will DeSantis fare in the 2024 election?" and start asking "who will die if DeSantis is elected in 2024? Who will be purged from their job? Have their children taken away?""

And:

"t's a genocide. Don't call it a "culture war." Or an "ideological difference."

The goal of eradication isn't even whispered anymore. It is regularly stated, loudly and proudly, by powerful mainstream conservatives."

It's a lot of hate.  A lot of fear-mongering.  And, importantly, it's a lot of false statements (there is no "Trans Genocide" happening) with the purpose of vilifying and demonizing others.

It's not just one Linux Distribution...

If elementary OS was the only example of this type of vile bigotry, we could write it off as an anomally.

Unfortunately there appears to be a number of examples of exactly this sort of messaging occuring throughout the computer industry -- and the Linux and Open Source worlds in particular.

Alyssa Rosenzweig, most well known as a developer who has (rather impressively) helped get Linux running on modern Macs (M1 and M2 Apple Silicon based), has recently issued the following declaration in a blog post:

"I’m on the board overseeing Linux graphics. Half of us are trans. If all you care about is Linux, resist the attacks on trans people.

 

If you have any decency, fight back."

"Half of us are trans," he says.  Accompanied by a call to "fight back" against an imagined "genocide", assumedly perpetrated by those who do not fully buy into his particular sexual fetish.

Likewise, the lead of Asahi Linux, Hector Martin, has removed Asahi Linux from Twitter... and has issued the following declaration:

Of course nobody is trying to kill Hector's colleagues.

And the vast majority of major corporations -- not to mention the President of the country -- are continually coming out in support of the Trans fetish.  So declaring that there is a genocide occuring is beyond ridiculous.

Just the same, Asahi Linux has declared that people who do not actively support a specific sexual kink cannot be allowed in their project.

The Future

Do Asahi and Elementary truly not want any users, customers, or contributors who are "Right Wing" (or even Centrist)?  It appears as such.

There are multiple Software and Computer organizations which have declared their support for the Trans fetish over the last few years... my guess is some of them will take things even further, by making similar statements to those we've seen from elementary OS and Asahi Linux.  By spreading hate, fear, and bigotry... all in the name of supporting a sexual fetish.

The following article was originally published on May 28, 2023 in a different publication.  While the topics covered are extremely political and polarizing -- these events and statements, by significant organizations within the computer industry, are important to record.   As such, this article is being re-published here, on The Lunduke Journal.

Both openSUSE and SUSE have a long history of discrimination against those with Conservative-leaning values.

The recently departed CEO of SUSE famously equated "Conservative" and "Right Wing"... with "Biggoted".  And openSUSE (which is funded and controlled by SUSE) seems to be continuing in that tradition.

I'm documenting it here as one example -- of oh-so-many -- of the types of discrimination happening throughout the open source and Linux world right now.

NOTE: I spent several years working at SUSE -- and was elected to the openSUSE Board.  I left both multiple years ago, and no longer have any affiliation with either SUSE or openSUSE.

In a recent post to one of the openSUSE mailing lists, someone raised their concern about usage of the "LGBTQ" flag colors used with the openSUSE Subreddit:

This reads to me to be a fairly level headed raising of an issue.  And, as stated, the goal of the email was to modify imagery in order to "make the [openSUSE] subreddit more welcoming to everyone, regardless of their background or beliefs."

What does the LGBTQ image in question currently look like?  It looks like this:

The notion that this imagery should be changed appeared to be supported by a number of people.  With some pointing out that openSUSE has a tendency to only celebrate one "group"... at the exclusion of all others:

"It seems that you have forgotten to celebrate programmer's day, volunteer's day, mother's day, father's day, worker's day, women's day, families' day, ... :-((

 

Celebrating one day and not others is not very inclusive :-( Celebrating many days would mean creating more images, thus more work. Another option would be not celebrating any day, except for openSUSE's birthday :-)"

Again.  You'll note the message is level-headed, kind, and in no way attacking of any specific group.

So.

How did openSUSE and SUSE leadership respond to these issues being raised?

Not.  Well.

Here, Lars Marowsky-Bree, a high level employee at SUSE, stated that he is "quite happy to not be welcoming to those who feel offended by rainbow colors."

Atilla Pinter (openSUSE Board Member), chimed in with the following:

"the rainbow logo proved to be a great way of filtering out toxic individuals with a non-inclusive, disrespectful behavior early on, this is not a secret"

 

"And here's another misunderstanding, we will absolutely __NOT__ tolerate you."

Whew!  Intense!  

A clear statement, from openSUSE leadership, that they will "not tolerate" people who raise concerns about the rainbow flag usage.

Interestingly, that same openSUSE Board Member (Pinter) went on to declare the following:

"last I checked for example Christianity wasn't facing much oppression in the world, and didn't require much (if any) support"

According to reports from 2022, 360 million Christians faced extreme levels of persecution, world-wide -- with close to 6,000 killed specifically for their faith.

Do several other groups experience persecution?  Heck yes, they do.  (I'm Jewish, I've seen a lot of that first hand.)  But to claim that Christians do not face "much oppression" and don't need "any support" is ridiculous and shows a clearly biggoted, biased view of the world.

Doesn't stop there.

Yet another openSUSE Board Member (Gertjan "Knurpht" Lettink) wrote this gem:

"Wanna be a bigot, a homophobe, then this community is not for you. If that means loss of users, so be it. Cutting out the rotten flesh is healthy. And needs to be done rather yesterday than tomorrow. Their membership needs to be revoked, they need to be banned, not moderated. The colors are about including people, with full respect for their being who they are. If you can't bring yourself to that, [CENSORED] off, find yourself some excluding "community"."

Holy smokes.

Rotten flesh!

In other words: If you don't pledge total loyalty to the LGBT flag, you are "rotten flesh" and you need to be banned from the openSUSE community entirely.  Accompanied by some intense swearing.

And, you'll note, this was in response to emails that were simply expressing a desire to not actively fly the "Pride Flag".

And this is from the openSUSE leadership.  The people with total control over moderation and project membership.

One of those openSUSE community members who politely raised concerns about the LGBT flag usage responded -- again, rather reasonably -- with this:

"Rotten flesh. So I am rotten flesh that needs to be cut out to you. That's quite the insult. Are insults permitted under your precious code of conduct? Or are some insults just more equal than others? Either way, this does not feel very inclusive to me."

At which point, Richard Brown -- SUSE employee, and past openSUSE Board Chairman -- got into the mix:

"yes, rotten flesh is a perfectly apt description"

Yowza.  Both openSUSE and (parent company) SUSE are doubling down on the whole "if you don't actively praise the LGBT flag, you are rotten flesh" stance.

He continued:

"I really don't care where they go, as long as it's not anywhere with openSUSE in the name.

 

Ideally, I would hope they find that every other Linux, open source, and free software community is equally unwelcoming to them"

Once again... Are you Conservative?  Don't pledge your allegiance to the LGBT flag?  You are not welcome with openSUSE... and SUSE leadership hopes that you will not be welcome anywhere in the Linux or open source world.

SUSE and openSUSE leadership says that openly, proudly, and repeatedly.

Then one of the very highest ranking individuals within SUSE -- the CTO himself, Gerald Pfeifer... who also serves as the self-appointed openSUSE Chairman of the Board -- chimed in:

Which messages will be moderated?

What actions will be taken by the openSUSE Board?

Based on what we've seen from both SUSE employees and the openSUSE Board (who, again, view most conservatives as "Rotten Flesh")... my guess is that no action is going to be taken against the cruel, biggoted, profane attacks by his own team against the conservatives within the openSUSE community.

At which point, as the number of messages raising concerns about these aggressive, mean-spirited, biggoted attacks -- almost entirely from SUSE employees and openSUSE leadership, targetting the conservative community members -- began to increase...

The mailing list was locked down.

And then, just in case people might complain about that sort of discrimination against conservatives in other places, the other primary openSUSE mailing list was locked down as well:

If you are Conservative... remember that SUSE and openSUSE considers you to be "Rotten Flesh"... and that you must be silenced and banned.

Their words.  Repeated and confirmed by their leadership.

Is this the only example of such attacks on those with "Conservative values" in the Tech world?

Oh, heck no.  Unfortunately, this sort of thing happens with regularity.

Update

In the days the followed the original publishing of this article, many Conservatives were banned from participating within the openSUSE project -- including mass bannings in the openSUSE mailing lists, sub-Reddit, and other systems.

The Lunduke Journal received numerous emails from long-time openSUSE members who were banned -- in many cases without warning -- after making a statement that was not sufficiently, enthusiastically positive regarding the "Pride Flag".

This wave of banning included yours truly.

Which is fascinating, considering my history with SUSE.

A former elected Board Member of openSUSE.  One of the highest profile employees in SUSE history.  In fact... for several years, my name was so intimately tied to the SUSE and openSUSE brand that SUSE corporate issued a press release on the day I left the company.

But I, like so many others, did not actively waive the Pride Flag.  This was an unforgivable offense.  Punishable by banning, and a formal declaration of being "Rotten Flesh" who should not be welcome in any other "Linux, open source, and free software community". 

To date, neither SUSE nor openSUSE has changed their "Rotten Flesh" policy... and none of the banned conservative contributors -- none of which, to my knowledge, made any discriminatory statements -- have been allowed to rejoin the project.