# Devuan

32 Hacker News commenters recommended Devuan and 5 criticized it, November 2025 to November 2026. It was recommended in 10 of 13 months; owners who said how long report a median of 2 years (3 owners). It meets the Hacker Approved badge rule.

**Verdict:** Debian without systemd, with a choice of init systems; people run it daily with few problems. Critics say its init-freedom claim just means not systemd.

## Why people recommend it

- Long-term daily use without trouble (6 comments): "Since 5 years I really happy to have installed Devuan on my laptops." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48616757)) "I've switched almost all my linux boxes to it, and it's great." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47519436)) "I ran Devuan for a couple years with only minor issues" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47458175))
- Debian base without systemd (4 comments): "Devuan is Debian minus systemd, so essentially everything works out of the box." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47226528)) "You might be interested in Devuan (Debian but with OpenRC init)" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45807476)) "Devuan is my go to if I need a mainline distro without systemd" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46795254))
- Easy install that just works (3 comments): "it took less time for me to install Devuan (not even one of the “easier” distros)" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48130304)) "Devuan is Debian minus systemd, so essentially everything works out of the box." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47226528)) "install it on devuan and you'll be fine" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47513657))
- Choice of init system (2 comments): "Devuan lets you choose an init system so you do not have to use sys V init" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46794514)) "You might be interested in Devuan (Debian but with OpenRC init)" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45807476))

## Alternatives hackers recommend

- [Ubuntu](https://hackerapproved.com/p/ubuntu.md): 560 recommend
- [Debian](https://hackerapproved.com/p/debian.md): 552 recommend
- [Fedora Linux](https://hackerapproved.com/p/fedora.md): 437 recommend
- [Arch Linux](https://hackerapproved.com/p/arch-linux.md): 362 recommend
- [Linux Mint](https://hackerapproved.com/p/linux-mint.md): 277 recommend

## Cite as

Hacker Approved, "Devuan", https://hackerapproved.com/p/devuan/ (counts from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026).