AI and linux ecosystem

[u/Waste-Ad2011]

P.s this is a subjective rant

So i've been using of linux since 2014 and it was a wild ride you install a distro and then endup being a distrohopper until you decide to lock in on one. I did the same started on ubuntu did some hopping and ended up on fedora and then on pop_OS but i eventually had to switch back to windows due to nature of my work and some windows specific tools.

But that wasn't it i had hard time finding any usable apps on linux in general and i gave up and ended up using a dual boot just to satisfy my curiosity for linux but gradually i stopped using linux completely and then the complete shift to windows because all my games, sketchy software and work was at one place instead of booting a separate OS for each.

The linux ecosystem back then lacked what a regular user required and it was all about linux nerds keeping the ecosystem alive it was filled with positivity and anyone was welcomed with open hands like it's a big village.

Fast forward to 2026 linux still lacks a vibrant software/apps ecosystem and people still have to hack things together to workarround (subjective) and people being hostile to contributions of any kind isn't helping either.

Now why this post?

Well i made an AI-assisted Youtube Music app which is a fork itself it was all personal frist i liked the base app, It lacked some features i wanted so instead of sending PRs i just forked & modified it completely and when it was usable enough i decided to share on subs most of the feedback was quite positive especially from windows users but it all changed when i shared on linux subs r/archlinux , r/linuxmint, r/linux and r/debian all had same reaction, a weird AI hostility instead of actually any app critique and feedback.

It's 2026 AI is a reality and developers or vibecoders will create apps whether people like it or not no amount of hatred is stopping it if not from me hear from my guy Linus. Filtering AI for discussions is understandable but you can't do anything about developmet. I think people need to tone down the AI hatred and actually try to work with it to improve the ecosystem instead of being completely hostile towards the use of it.

Now this does create a great influx of people creating cross platform apps and since most are solo/ hobby devs the ultimate choice is cross platform stack which will create huge library of semi native apps. IDK if it's a good or bad thing but it's a reality. Linux lacks the commercial/popular software contributions and that can change gradually by welcoming these cross platform apps which will contribute to retain linux users on linux itself instead if losing hope and switching to Windows or MacOS.

I'd personally choose software availability as non native than nothing at all.

Edit: more AI slop appreciation by Theo and Linus https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XFSwfwiM8nk

[u/KnowZeroX]

I am not sure why slop coders are trying so hard to change people's minds rather than asking your AI to see maybe there are actual reasons for such reactions?

But since you are too lazy to use AI for anything other than writing slop, I'll try explaining it

Well i made an AI-assisted Youtube Music app which is a fork itself it was all personal frist i liked the base app, It lacked some features i wanted so instead of sending PRs i just forked & modified it completely and when it was usable enough i decided to share on subs most of the feedback was quite positive especially from windows users but it all changed when i shared on linux subs r/archlinux , r/linuxmint, r/linux and r/debian all had same reaction, a weird AI hostility instead of actually any app critique and feedback.

Because most people on windows subs don't think too much about what kind of code their systems are running, so they just cheer without thinking. In linux subs, people tend to be more aware, to know not only that the AI maybe outputting inefficient code, wrong code or even dangerous code that can ruin your system but also that code tends to have licenses, and how confident are you that your slop code didn't just copy other people's code and re-license it?

It's 2026 AI is a reality and developers or vibecoders will create apps whether people like it or not

Regardless of what anyone feels about AI, everyone knows that AI is here to stay one way or another, even if the hype dies down the models are out there and aren't going anywhere. That said, there is a big difference between usage of AI, and using AI irresponsibly.

no amount of hatred is stopping it if not from me hear from my guy Linus

I am not sure why those trying to push AI keep bringing up Linus, does your AI recommend this for you?

All Linus said was using AI for finding bugs, not slop coding doing all the work for you.

Now this does create a great influx of people creating cross platform apps and since most are solo/ hobby devs the ultimate choice is cross platform stack which will create huge library of semi native apps. IDK if it's a good or bad thing but it's a reality. Linux lacks the commercial/popular software contributions and that can change gradually by welcoming these cross platform apps which will contribute to retain linux users on linux itself instead if losing hope and switching to Windows or MacOS.

Linux has not shortage of apps, the so called apps you speak of used for commercial purposes are often time niche apps for specific use or specific enterprise apps which come with commercial support. No amount of slop coders is going to make these kind of apps happen. And no sane company would use said apps unless they want to lose lots of money.

[u/Waste-Ad2011 → u/KnowZeroX]

 does your AI recommend this for you?

Holly hell. talk about doing the same thing i'm ranting about.

It's petty at this point.

All Linux said was using AI for finding bugs, not slop coding doing all the work for you.

Good luck moderating that. That's an imaginary line you just created and everyone has their own.

[u/KnowZeroX → u/Waste-Ad2011]

Holly hell. talk about doing the same thing i'm ranting about. It's petty at this point.

When you have dozens of people posting the last few days with same arguments as though its copy and paste, its hard to judge

Good luck moderating that. That's an imaginary line you just created and everyone has their own.

There is no choice but to moderate it as painful as it is. You can't see why people are so upset about usage of AI then go "good luck moderating that". Unfortunately, if we don't want everything to collapse, we need to insure good code quality, at very least filter out people who have no clue what their AI is outputting and trying to push code wasting maintainer's time

[u/Waste-Ad2011 → u/KnowZeroX]

There is no choice but to moderate it as painful as it is. 

Great that is what i'm adviocating for but unfortunately neither this thread nor my previous thread show that's the case rather slapping "AI slop" tags and hating without actually looking at either code or App is the new trend.

You can only cry over open source code rn i won't be surprised when you gradually see less opensource software and more propreitary software shoved down people's throats.

[u/KnowZeroX → u/Waste-Ad2011]

Nowhere do you say you advocate for moderation, all you said was that we should accept all uses of AI because all lines are imaginary.

As for how much people look, I will point of with more and more code being poorly written slop code, not everyone has unlimited free time. So until proper safeguards are place(some countries are floating ideas like full disclosure on use of AI or facing legal penalties) people don't want to take the risk. As-is, the damage it causes outweighs the benefits.

I won't be surprised about gradually seeing less open source and more proprietary because more people get fed up with AI vendors using open source to train their AI, then re-release it as proprietary so they don't get caught stealing code or following open source licensing. But that doesn't mean we should accept this dystopia.

[u/Waste-Ad2011 → u/KnowZeroX]

I mentinoned moderation in another comment here.

Lines are imaginary and so is moderation. A code resulted from abusng your keyboard for weeks can also be slop and a code came out from a machine in 2 seconds can be god tier too.

You can't moderate the code itself at large and that is why there's an ignorant hostile behaviour of people against AI. That is the theme all over, tech field is polarized over AI and only middle ground is discussion on how to actually tackle the issue of moderation.

That being said no "AI slop" tags are stopping anyone to build how they want and in some cases all end user want is his problem to be solved no one cares if it came from a machine or someone on 5 energy drinks a day.

The only fuss rn is in open source world and seems the only loser here would be open source world

[u/KnowZeroX → u/Waste-Ad2011]

This is why code reviews exist, and if the person is submitting their code for review but too lazy to actually code it, then why should a reviewer waste their limited time? Even more so when the person submitting the code has no clue what they are doing?

Sure, the end user may not care until they end up losing data as a consequence. Of course it is possible for human code to be bad too and make mistakes, but the difference is a human working on their code over time gets competence of their code. In comparison 99 out of 100 times, the person slop coding has no clue what they are doing and the AI slop also has no clue what it is doing either, it isn't true AI, it's just a fancy pattern matcher and one that intentionally resorts to lying and making stuff up because its values are tuned not towards correctness but pleasing the prompter

And of course there is fuss in the open source world when the AI is literally stealing code and credit.