Devuan
Hacker ApprovedRanked 22 of 63 Linux distributions by recommenders
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.
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.
37 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 32
- criticize it
- 5
- approval share
- 86%
Recommended in 10 of 13 months
- November 2025: recommended
- December 2025: recommended
- January 2026: recommended
- February 2026: not recommended
- March 2026: recommended
- April 2026: recommended
- May 2026: recommended
- June 2026: recommended
- July 2026: recommended
- August 2026: recommended
- September 2026: recommended
- October 2026: not recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Owned for 2 years
Median of the 3 owners who said how long they have had it.
Each square is one year.
Why it carries the badge
- 32 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, met.
- 6.4 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, met.
- Recommended in 10 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
Long-term daily use without trouble
“Since 5 years I really happy to have installed Devuan on my laptops.”
Comment from 21 Jun 2026 in “Systemd v261 Released” “I've switched almost all my linux boxes to it, and it's great.”
Comment from 25 Mar 2026 in “Ubuntu wants to strip some of GRUB features in 26.10 for security purposes” “I ran Devuan for a couple years with only minor issues”
Comment from 20 Mar 2026 in “Systemd Introduces Birth Date Support for Upcoming Linux Desktop Age Controls” - Comment from 13 Aug 2026 in “Single log line is 49KB+ (ext4) / 110KB+ (btrfs) of systemd-journald disk writes”
- Comment from 3 Apr 2026 in “Systemd BirthDate Merge: Conflicts of Interest”
- Comment from 19 Mar 2026 in “CVE-2026-3888: Important Snap Flaw Enables Local Privilege Escalation to Root”
Debian base without systemd
“Devuan is Debian minus systemd, so essentially everything works out of the box.”
Comment from 3 Mar 2026 in “Welcome (back) to Macintosh” “You might be interested in Devuan (Debian but with OpenRC init)”
Comment from 4 Nov 2025 in “X.org Security Advisory: multiple security issues X.Org X server and Xwayland” “Devuan is my go to if I need a mainline distro without systemd”
Comment from 28 Jan 2026 in “Devuan – Debian Without Systemd” - Comment from 20 Mar 2026 in “Store birth date in systemd for age verification”
Easy install that just works
“it took less time for me to install Devuan (not even one of the “easier” distros)”
Comment from 14 May 2026 in “Linux gaming is faster because Windows APIs are becoming Linux kernel features” “Devuan is Debian minus systemd, so essentially everything works out of the box.”
Comment from 3 Mar 2026 in “Welcome (back) to Macintosh” “install it on devuan and you'll be fine”
Comment from 25 Mar 2026 in “VitruvianOS – Desktop Linux Inspired by the BeOS” Choice of init system
“Devuan lets you choose an init system so you do not have to use sys V init”
Comment from 28 Jan 2026 in “Devuan – Debian Without Systemd” “You might be interested in Devuan (Debian but with OpenRC init)”
Comment from 4 Nov 2025 in “X.org Security Advisory: multiple security issues X.Org X server and Xwayland”
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 |
| DevuanThis page | 32 | 5 | 86% | 10 | 2 yrs3 owners | Approved |
What people said
40 of the 50 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“you can choose many OSes for your VMs, including Devuan”
“Debian/Devuan, Fedora/RHEL/Alma/Rocky, Arch/Artix, FreeBSD/OpenBS/NetBSD are all anyone will ever need.”
“Slackware, Devuan, Omarchy, and such likely won't”
“I have zero issues despite not having to deal with wayland, systemd, snap, etc.”
“I’ve been using devuan more or less since day one.”
“My next step towards peace of mind is”
“people who don't like it use devuan, gentoo, or one of the others”
“since I dont have to compile everything”
“Linux has this too, it's called Devuan.”
“I wonder if you tried this with devuan you may have better luck”
“I've had zero problems with that switch, which happened years ago.”
“Devuan solved it via forking.”
“Since 5 years I really happy to have installed Devuan on my laptops.”
“I currently have one systemd infected machine, two devuan machines and two freebsd.”
“Devuan Linux is not bad either, and is still a cohesive system.”
“it took less time for me to install Devuan (not even one of the “easier” distros)”
“I am glad I switched to Devuan earlier this year.”
“Getting services to work is a hassle but really easy after using the same template for start/stops.”
“I've switched almost all my linux boxes to it, and it's great.”
“install it on devuan and you'll be fine”
“pave it + put Devuan or similar on it”
“I love Devuan for this reason.”
“I ran Devuan for a couple years with only minor issues”
“look at systemd-free linux distributions like devuan”
“I've been extremely happy with Devuan.”
“like Devuan (I already used Devuan, but not as an hypervisor)”
“Devuan is Debian minus systemd, so essentially everything works out of the box.”
“If you grab a copy of devuan and slap steam on top of it, then it'll be able to run far more commercial and open source games than MacOS.”
“other niches like my laptops and desktops that I'm writing to you from.”
“Devuan is my go to if I need a mainline distro without systemd”
“Devuan lets you choose an init system so you do not have to use sys V init”
“it matches the Linux I learned”
“all such distros have benefited from work that Devuan has done to keep the option on the table”
“Fixed my son's computer by shredding all evidence of Microsoft off his computer and installing Linux Devuan OS”
“Gentoo, duvian and all the bsds will keep x11 around until the heat death of the universe.”
“even devuan which is barely mainstream”
“I don't think of it much as fighting, but rather as just using devuan.”
“Devuan is good enough to keep me from switching to a BSD”
“I've had okay luck with Debian and then Devuan on that machine's replacement”
“You might be interested in Devuan (Debian but with OpenRC init)”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.