Distrohopping

Distrohopping

Distrohopping is the pattern of behavior whereby an individual may feel the desire to constantly seek for a new Linux distribution. This may be done for many reasons, including:

• Productivity
• Performance
• Software Freedom (eg. FSF approved distribution)
• Ecosystem or Tooling (eg. libc, package manager, coreutils, init system)
• Experimentation
• Customization

... and many more.

This behavior is increasingly common in Linux communities, notably seen in new-to-linux users who are motivated by curiosity, making ambitious decisions with little regard for the implications.

This behavior can also be considered counter-intuitive for some, whereby a user is suffering reduced productivity and increased technological issues due to:

• Discontinuity between Linux distributions (eg. Debianisms, package managers, init systems)
• Opinionated design philosophies (eg. Nix, Guix, Fedora Atomic)
• Additional configuration needs (eg. minimalist distributions like Arch, Void, Crux and Gentoo)

... and many many more.

Not all distrohopping is considered harmful however. There is a mountain of evidence to suggest that trying out new things can help engage and excite individuals, not to mention the educational and experiential growth it is capable of providing. It is not okay to insult, belittle or demean others based on their tendencies to "hop" between Linux distributions.

If one so wishes to do so, avoiding distrohopping is complex and multifaceted in nature, it will be different from person-to-person. Some may require self-disciplinary techniques in order to reduce motivation to distrohop, these may include:

• "Distro Challenges", i.e. dedicating a given period to a singular distribution
• Contributing to Linux distributions upstream
• Familiarizing yourself with a distributions community (eg. through IRC, Matrix, Discord, Mailing lists, Zulip)
• Making personal commitments to a Linux distribution financially (eg. Liberapay, Github sponsors, FSF donations, Patreon)

These techniques may help to enforce and individual's attachment to a particular distribution, allowing them to find distro to call home.