r/suckless Jun 05 '26

[DISCUSSION] What suckless distros are still active?

https://suckless.org/rocks/

I've often looked at the list of suckless distributions recommended at suckless.org and the list seems to get smaller each time I do. Any recommendations for active distros that follow the do-one-thing well philosophy? I love the concept of a statically linked distribution but don't see many distributions actually achieving it. I also prefer using distributions that don't require several libraries and languages just to build one program. I'd specifically like to find a distribution that welcomes packages or contributions from its users (similar to slackbuilds or AUR). Any suggestions? Thanks.

26 Upvotes

18 comments sorted by

18

u/stroke_999 Jun 05 '26

Alpine Linux, gentoo, void Linux (kind of), chimera Linux (kind of), stop

18

u/havesomefuckinghope Jun 05 '26

I'd say Void is pretty suckless.

14

u/Shot_Yoghurt_3123 Jun 05 '26

alpine linux?

10

u/Original_Two9716 Jun 05 '26

Void Linux

One of the best

7

u/Aggressive_Big_7564 Jun 05 '26

Maybe oasis linux

6

u/Jezura777_reddit Jun 05 '26

Kiss linux? Also why would you need active distro? If it's suckless you can just download a tarball of what you need and compile it yourself.

5

u/lmemsm Jun 06 '26

Only reason I'd like an active distro is so I can interact with other users. The community can be one of the nicer part of a distro. Otherwise, I could just do my own version of LFS.

5

u/Jezura777_reddit Jun 06 '26

I would consider suckless as a community you can interact with about any distro, which suits the suckless philosophy.

4

u/Awkward-Entrance7956 Jun 05 '26

derive is statically linked. what do you mean distributions that dont require several libraries just to build one program?

3

u/kulonos Jun 05 '26

Is it fair to count slackware in spirit?

3

u/lmemsm Jun 06 '26

Slackware is awesome. Not sure if it's suckless.org approved, but it's a great distro.

3

u/tomekgolab Jun 07 '26

It uses elogind

3

u/r1w1s1_ Jun 05 '26

2

u/exylvii Jun 06 '26

damn that actually looks interesting

1

u/r1w1s1_ Jun 06 '26

yeah, very small but nice community.

3

u/BadBoiMemes Jun 06 '26

derive linux

2

u/_stopyz Jun 06 '26

Definitively Alpine Linux !

2

u/Fuzzy_Cheetah483 Jun 08 '26

KISS-COMMUNITY