About r/linux
In its own words:
Welcome to /r/Linux! This is a community for sharing news about Linux, interesting developments and press. If you're looking for tech support, /r/Linux4Noobs and /r/linuxquestions are friendly communities that can help you. Please also check out: https://lemmy.ml/c/linux and Kbin.social/m/Linux Please refrain from posting help requests here, cheers.
Community guide
r/linux (#572, about 1.9 million subscribers) — This is a community for sharing news about Linux, interesting developments and press. If you're looking for tech support, /r/Linux4Noobs and /r/linuxquestions are friendly communities that can… A recent sample averaged 50 posts a day (~36% text, ~32% link, ~31% image). Its public rules include: r/linux is not a support forum; No spamblog submissions; No memes, image macros, rage comics, overdone jokes; Reddiquette, Trolling, *-isms, Poor Discussion or User Conduct; Relevance to r/linux community / Promoting closed source applications over FOSS. It is listed under “Technology”.
What belongs here
Stay inside the room’s stated scope rather than adjacent fandoms or general off-topic dumps. Self-promotion and advertising are tightly limited—read those rules before linking your own channel, shop, or site. This is not positioned as a tech-support desk; troubleshooting belongs in dedicated help communities. Low-effort memes or empty shitposts are commonly removed—add context that fits the room’s purpose.
How it differs from lookalikes
If you need install/fix help, prefer a support-oriented sub; keep this room for news, opinion, and on-topic discussion flagged by its rules. The length of the public rule list is itself a signal: skim all of them once before assuming defaults from similar communities.
Practical pointers
Read the current sidebar/rules on Reddit before posting; rules can change. Common flairs include: Software Release, Discussion, Development, Kernel.
The community was created on Jan 25, 2008, which makes it 18 years old. Since Nov 2, 2026, it has gained 2,023 subscribers (+0.11%). Among the 19 communities on our technology list it is number 6 by size. Among the 10 communities on our linux list it is the largest. It sits just behind r/ThatsInsane (#570) and ahead of r/worldbuilding (#572) in our ranking.
What sets r/linux apart
It is also one of the faster-growing big communities: its 0.91% gain since Sep 19, 2026 beats 88% of the Top 100. Its rhythm is strongly tied to time zones: the busiest hour (11:00 UTC) sees about 3.3× as many posts as the quietest (07:00 UTC).
Subscriber growth
Between Sep 19, 2026 and Nov 9, 2026, r/linux grew from 1,917,992 to 1,935,518 subscribers (+17.5K, +0.91%). That is about 344 new members per day. The chart shows 10 weekly subscriber counts.
Top posts on r/linux this week
What the community upvoted most over the last seven days, as ranked by Reddit (collected Nov 9, 2026).
- Synaptics Appears To Use Legal Threats To Block Open-Source DisplayLink Driveru/n3rdopolis · Nov 4 · link
- The Linux Kernel Preparing To Remove The Last Of Its MMX Optimized Codeu/anh0516 · Nov 4 · link
- OpenAI finds 948 local privilege escalation bugs in the Linux kernelu/Fcking_Chuck · Nov 6 · link
- The beloved penguin-version of Affinity has been confirmed to be in development!u/ad-on-is · Nov 2 · image
- The petition against the UK scanning everything on phones has 3 months left. Please sign, share with as many people as possible and tell them to share too. The petitions against digital ID and the VP…u/BlackBerryCollector · Nov 5 · link
- SSH critical vulnerability (when built and run with PAM support disabled)u/gainan · Nov 5 · link
- Firefox turns 22 today!u/LinuxMonarch · Nov 9 · image
- systemd loves Rustu/MatchingTurret · Nov 4 · link
- Petition: Recognize open-source contributions as volunteer work (Germany – signatures needed until Nov 23, 2026)u/C-GRU · Nov 3 · link
- Asahi Linux Progress Report: Linux 7.3u/anh0516 · Nov 7 · link
All-time top posts
The highest-ranked posts in the history of r/linux, from 2016 to 2026, ranked by Reddit.
- VLC has now reached 3 billions downloads and still no toolbar, adware, or other crapware bundled.u/StraightFlush777 · Jan 11, 2019 · 18,354 points · 679 comments · link
- Happy Birthday, Linus Torvaldsu/speedycord2 · Dec 27, 2025 · image
- Today....33 years ago!u/marathi_manus · Aug 25, 2024 · image
- I traced $2 billion in nonprofit grants and 45 states of lobbying records to figure out who's behind the age verification bills. The answer involves a company that profits from your data writing laws…u/Ok_Lingonberry3296 · Mar 13, 2026 · text post
- This is Jean-Baptiste Kempf, the creator of the VLC media player, he refused tens of millions of euros in order to keep VLC ads-free. Merci, Jean!u/schulte4e · Dec 5, 2017 · 13,512 points · 373 comments · image
- Goodbye With Loveu/cooperstevenson · Oct 13, 2019 · 13,063 points · 508 comments · text post
- Should we go dark on the 12th?u/purpleidea · Jun 5, 2023 · 14,219 points · 964 comments · text post
- If you search for Linux on Duckduckgo the icon changes to a penguinu/Meteorstar101 · Aug 3, 2025 · image
- Happy Birthday Linus Torvalds..!u/Winter-Ad-3826 · Dec 28, 2024 · image
- Pres Elect Trump has setup a website asking how we can make America Great again. Now is your time to write why we should implement a more open-source computer infrastructure.u/Linux_Learning · Nov 11, 2016 · 11,808 points · 518 comments · link
What r/linux talks about
Across 273 recent posts (Oct 31–Nov 7), the words that come up most are “built”, “app”, “released”, “distro” and “shell”. Other frequent themes are desktop, kernel, kde, fedora, ubuntu and rust. Recurring phrases include “open source”, “kde plasma”, “live dux” and “dux modular”. By format, 37% are text posts, 31% are images and 30% are links.
Popular post flairs: Software Release (81), Discussion (45), Development (31), Kernel (23), Popular Application (15), Distro News (12).
Activity and best time to post
r/linux gets about 49 new posts a day. The public archive holds 302,140 posts and 5,488,967 comments in total, about 18.2 comments per post. Last week the busiest day was Saturday (58 posts) and the quietest was Tuesday (27). Posting peaks around 11:00 UTC and is lowest around 07:00 UTC.
Rules of r/linux
The moderators of r/linux list 9 rules. In short:
- r/linux is not a support forum
- No spamblog submissions
- No memes, image macros, rage comics, overdone jokes
- Reddiquette, Trolling, *-isms, Poor Discussion or User Conduct
- Relevance to r/linux community / Promoting closed source applications over FOSS
- Spamming self-promotion, surveys, crowdfunding
- No misdirected links, login website, url shortener, and certain social media
- NSFW Image, links
- Non-useful Image Upload
How to join
Open reddit.com/r/linux and press “Join”. Read the community rules in the sidebar before you post: every subreddit is run by its own volunteer moderators.
Frequently asked questions
How many members does r/linux have?
r/linux has 1,935,518 subscribers (Nov 9, 2026), which makes it the #571 safe-for-work subreddit in the SubMouse ranking. It added 17,526 members between Sep 19, 2026 and Nov 9, 2026.
When was r/linux created?
r/linux was created on Jan 25, 2008, so it has been around for 18 years.
Is r/linux still active?
Yes. r/linux gets about 49 new posts a day (average of the last four weeks). Over its lifetime the archive counts 302,140 posts and 5,488,967 comments. In a sample of 273 recent posts we counted 236 different authors.
What is the best time to post in r/linux?
Based on post counts from Oct 31, 2026 to Nov 6, 2026, the busiest day was Saturday and the quietest Tuesday, and most posts arrive around 11:00 UTC, with the fewest around 07:00 UTC. More posts also means more competition, so a quieter hour can help a post get noticed.
What kind of posts are on r/linux?
The community describes itself as: “Welcome to /r/Linux! This is a community for sharing news about Linux, interesting developments and press. If you're looking for tech support, /r/Linux4Noobs and /r/linuxquestions are friendly communities that can help …” Recent post titles often mention built, app, released, distro and shell. Most posts are text posts (37%).
Is r/linux SFW?
Yes. Reddit does not mark r/linux as an 18+ (NSFW) community, and its own rules forbid NSFW content. SubMouse lists safe-for-work subreddits only.
What are the rules of r/linux?
Join the community on Reddit first, then use “Create post”. r/linux accepts both text and link posts, with images enabled. It has 9 posted rules, starting with: “r/linux is not a support forum”; “No spamblog submissions”; “No memes, image macros, rage comics, overdone jokes”. Moderators remove posts that break the rules, so read them in the sidebar before posting.
What subreddits are similar to r/linux?
Communities with similar topics include r/technews (1.1M), r/help (1.4M), r/Futurology (21.7M), r/technology (20.6M) and r/pcmasterrace (16.4M).
Stats from public data (data updated Nov 9, 2026; activity, rules and archive totals via the Arctic Shift archive, Nov 9, 2026; top posts from Reddit’s public feeds). Point and comment counts are archive snapshots and can be lower than on Reddit today. SubMouse is an independent directory and is not affiliated with Reddit or the moderators of r/linux.