Chimera Linux
Hacker ApprovedShares rank 37 of 63 Linux distributions by recommenders
Recommended for a fast package manager, quick boots and a good desktop experience; the main caveat is that some software is not musl compatible.
Recommended for a fast package manager, quick boots and a good desktop experience; the main caveat is that some software is not musl compatible.
14 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 11
- criticize it
- 3
- approval share
- 79%
Recommended in 6 of 13 months
- November 2025: recommended
- December 2025: not recommended
- January 2026: not recommended
- February 2026: not recommended
- March 2026: recommended
- April 2026: recommended
- May 2026: recommended
- June 2026: recommended
- July 2026: not recommended
- August 2026: recommended
- September 2026: not recommended
- October 2026: not recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it carries the badge
- 11 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, met.
- 3.7 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, met.
- Recommended in 6 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Good desktop experience
“So far so good and I was surprised at how well Opus had been handling Gtk and pkexec.”
Comment from 12 Apr 2026 in “Ask HN: What Are You Working On? (April 2026)” “It's much nicer for desktop use.”
Comment from 14 Apr 2026 in “Just Enough Chimera Linux” Fast package manager and boot
“I dare say its got the fastest package manager of all operating systems with a package manager.”
Comment from 29 May 2026 in “Why Gentoo?” “Chimera tends to boot significantly faster on the same hardware”
Comment from 14 Apr 2026 in “Just Enough Chimera Linux”
Other Linux distributions people recommend
The four most recommended other Linux distributions, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
| Product | Recommend | Criticize | Approval | Months | Owned | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ubuntu | 560 | 493 | 53% | 12 | 10 yrs116 owners | — |
| Debian | 552 | 191 | 74% | 13 | 10 yrs62 owners | Approved |
| NixOS | 454 | 112 | 80% | 13 | 2 yrs69 owners | Approved |
| Fedora Linux | 437 | 131 | 77% | 12 | 2 yrs72 owners | Approved |
| Chimera LinuxThis page | 11 | 3 | 79% | 6 | — | Approved |
What people said
All 15 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“a little too arcane for my tastes”
“we use quite a few of their llvm patches and are very thankful for their work”
“I was just reminiscing on the Camino/Chimera browser earlier today”
“It's ok the main issue is that some sw is musl compatible”
“It runs Chimera Linux now, with packages from an Arch Linux container.”
“I dare say its got the fastest package manager of all operating systems with a package manager.”
“Chimera tends to boot significantly faster on the same hardware”
“It's much nicer for desktop use.”
“I don't need politics on my desktop”
“Alpine and Chimera however both are not reproducible or full source bootstrapped or signed and do not enforce code review”
“Very cool and interesting”
“Is it cool that someone can? Absolutely!”
“So far so good and I was surprised at how well Opus had been handling Gtk and pkexec.”
“Chimera and Void don’t use systemd.”
“Have a look at Chimera Linux if you want to give it a try”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.