this post was submitted on 04 Jan 2026
47 points (89.8% liked)

Linux

11002 readers
447 users here now

A community for everything relating to the GNU/Linux operating system (except the memes!)

Also, check out:

Original icon base courtesy of lewing@isc.tamu.edu and The GIMP

founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
Ategon@programming.dev
anzo@programming.dev
dwraf_of_ignorance@programming.dev
47
Two Linux Distributions I'm Watching Closely in 2026 (linuxiac.com)
submitted 1 week ago by cm0002@ttrpg.network to c/linux@programming.dev
16 comments fedilink hide all child comments
 

There’s no doubt that 2026 will bring plenty of new Linux releases, with Ubuntu 26.04 LTS likely being the most anticipated, set to arrive at the end of April. But this article isn’t about the usual names that tend to dominate the conversation year after year.

Instead, I want to focus on two relatively new projects that left a strong impression on me in 2025. What sets them apart is their originality: they aren’t built on top of existing distributions, and they take genuinely fresh approaches to how a Linux system can be designed and function.

And no, this isn’t about the wave of immutability that defined much of 2025, nor about distributions overloaded with tools in an attempt to be everything to everyone.

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] F04118F@feddit.nl 1 points 6 days ago* (last edited 6 days ago) (1 children)

Thank you! Do you think Chimera will replace Alpine as the favorite for container base images? Mimalloc sounds great!

[–] LeFantome@programming.dev 2 points 6 days ago

As the comment above stated, Chimera is not trying explicitly to be “lightweight” as a goal. Chimera Linux containers are pretty small but much bigger than Alpine.

Alpine and Chimera Linux do not really compete with each other.

As I said in another comment, Chimera Linux is more an alternative to Void Linux than it is to Alpine. Arch fans might like it too.