# Mageia Linux

5 Hacker News commenters recommended Mageia Linux and 0 criticized it, November 2025 to November 2026. It was recommended in 5 of 13 months.

**Verdict:** Stable free Linux distribution that people switch to from Windows, praised as a solid European alternative to Arch-based distros. Caveat: package versions can be old.

## Why people recommend it

- Well-regarded alternative to Arch distros (2 comments): "I'd much sooner go with Mageia or OpenSUSE than an Arch derivative." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46576952)) "Mageia's also a fine European distro." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48494840))

## What people warn about

- Package versions can be old (1 comments): "the package versions in Mageia 9 were quite old" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46634597))
- Infrequent releases; last one 2023 (1 comments): "but last released in 2023?!" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48677736))

## 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, "Mageia Linux", https://hackerapproved.com/p/mageia/ (counts from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026).