this post was submitted on 19 Mar 2025
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EU OS: A Fedora-based distro 'for the public sector' (eu-os.gitlab.io)
submitted 6 hours ago by SpiceDealer@lemmy.dbzer0.com to c/linux@lemmy.ml
39 comments fedilink hide all child comments
 

It's only a proof of concept at the moment and I don't know if it will see mass adoption but it's a step in the right direction to ending reliance on US-based Big Tech.

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[–] BananaTrifleViolin@lemmy.world 3 points 23 minutes ago

If the EU were concerned about the US jurisdiction of Linux projects it could pick:

  • OpenSuSE (org based in Germany)
  • Mint (org based in Ireland)
  • Manjaro (org based in France/Germany, and based of Arch)
  • Ubuntu (org based in UK)

However if they didn't care, then they could just use Fedora or other US based distros.

I think it would be a good idea for the EU to adopt linux officially, and maybe even have it's own distro, but I'm not sure this Fedora base makes sense. Ironically this may also be breaching EU trademarks as it's masquerading as an official project by calling itself EU OS.

[–] wewbull@feddit.uk 5 points 40 minutes ago

Scammers never let a good global crisis get in their way.

  1. Rebadge a distro and say it's fromm the EU
  2. .....????
  3. Profit!
[–] gomp@lemmy.ml 4 points 1 hour ago (1 children)

Based on a US distro whose versions are supported for 1 year, and "built to the requirements for the EU public sector" (because the EU public sector has one coherent set of requirements and the dev knows them, even if he doesn't list them out).

This is most probably good-intentioned and it is admirable how the dev sprung into action, but it's naive at best.

[–] corsicanguppy@lemmy.ca 0 points 59 minutes ago

I thought it was naive as well, but because they based it on a mayfly distro that has really great validation and reliability but it's gone in a fortnight.

Wither Almalinix or Cloudlinux or PCLinuxOS or Mandriva? Three of them have really solid support structures and at least one of them has amazing compatibility options with libraries for services.

There are options. A few of them could be better than fedora while fedora is still owned by redhat as redhat dies from suffocation -- hell, its all just fucking ancillary bull (Ansible) they sell now, as its metastatic cancer (Systemd) eats it alive.

[–] Geodad@lemm.ee 19 points 3 hours ago (2 children)

Why Fedora? They're basically Red Hat in a trench coat. I'd go with a EU based distro like Suse.

[–] corsicanguppy@lemmy.ca 1 points 1 hour ago

Having seen SuSE destroy collaborators like OL, CNC and probably Turbo, I'm okay never even working with them as a customer. I intend to avoid them until death.

[–] mostlikelyaperson@lemmy.world 6 points 2 hours ago

I was wondering the same when I came across it a few hours ago and decided to look into it, apparently it’s because it was decided to use an atomic distribution as a base and Suses is apparently not considered stable enough by them. (I can not argue the validity of these statements given either way, that’s just what I found in one of their gitlab issues . if someone wants to look at it for themselves, searching for Fedora on the issue tracker should bring it up)

[–] cypherpunks@lemmy.ml 31 points 5 hours ago (1 children)

I wonder how much work is entailed in transforming Fedora in to a distro that meets some definition of the word "Sovereign" 🤔

Personally I wouldn't want to make a project like this be dependent on the whims of a US defense contractor like RedHat/IBM, especially after what happened with CentOS.

[–] Korkki@lemmy.ml 15 points 5 hours ago

I read the sovereign to mean something like an unified platform for EU institutions, that you can dev and train people on.

dependent on the whims of a US defense contractor like RedHat/IBM

A very good point.

[–] m33@theprancingpony.in 15 points 5 hours ago (4 children)

@SpiceDealer Sorry, what ? How can it be made in EU if it's a Fedora fork/derivative ?

[–] notanapple@lemm.ee 13 points 4 hours ago (1 children)

I mean Fedora is open source but if they really wanted a european base, they could have gone with opensuse. AFAIK opensuse is the only fully european linux distro plus they use many of the same tech that redhat/fedora does.

Ultimately I think it doesn't matter too much since even the linux foundation is based in the US and large parts of what makes the linux desktop are maintained by non-EU companies (on top of all the major projects hosted by Github, Gitlab including most of Flathub). If its all open source, I think the risks are pretty low e.g. huawei was able to use Android despite all the restrictions.

[–] m33@theprancingpony.in 1 points 3 hours ago

@notanapple The more I read the docs, the more I think it doesn't matter, they are poking around an EU distro. Nothing more, for now it is a proof of concept, not entitled to produce anything production ready

[–] lambipapp@lemmy.world 20 points 4 hours ago (1 children)

As a Swede we claim all of linux to be finno-swedish :)

[–] ScotinDub@lemm.ee 2 points 4 hours ago (2 children)

Of all the distros to base it on, why would they choose fedora?

[–] CrabAndBroom@lemmy.ml 8 points 4 hours ago

openSUSE is right there lol

[–] m33@theprancingpony.in 1 points 3 hours ago

@ScotinDub I would say because it helps corporate adhesion, but no, they have no clue it's just a POC for now eu-os.gitlab.io/goals

[–] Ephera@lemmy.ml 2 points 4 hours ago (2 children)

Yeah, not a lot of distros they could've based it on, which are less rooted in the EU. 🫠

[–] nawordar@lemmy.ml 8 points 4 hours ago* (last edited 4 hours ago)

OpenSUSE is German

[–] m33@theprancingpony.in 2 points 3 hours ago

@Ephera OpenSUSE is first to come to mind, then probably Mageia + OpenMandriva (Mandrake derivatives).
All these EU opensource initiatives looks really good, but I fear that they may just be trying to pump taxpayer money and produce actually nothing usable.

[–] Pirky@lemmy.world 23 points 5 hours ago (2 children)

EUbuntu?

[–] SpiceDealer@lemmy.dbzer0.com 45 points 5 hours ago

They should call it EUROS.

[–] mutual_ayed@sh.itjust.works 9 points 5 hours ago (1 children)

Fedora based actually

[–] catloaf@lemm.ee 13 points 5 hours ago (1 children)

EUdora, since I don't think the mail client is still under development

[–] enemenemu@lemm.ee 7 points 5 hours ago* (last edited 5 hours ago)

Family Feudora

[–] Mwa@lemm.ee 18 points 5 hours ago (2 children)

Is this made by European union I wonder

[–] Telorand@reddthat.com 26 points 5 hours ago (3 children)

From the subheading on the ReadMe.

Community-led Proof-of-Concept for a free Operating System for the EU public sector 🇪🇺

So it's made by the EU in the sense that the maintainers are likely citizens of the EU, I guess.

[–] ininewcrow@lemmy.ca 20 points 5 hours ago (2 children)

Depending on who the group is ... it is good to first do a thorough check on who the group is ... it can just as likely be a group of scam artists that are riding on some nationalism band wagon happening around the world these days.

[–] Telorand@reddthat.com 7 points 4 hours ago (2 children)

They could, and if I was an EU government entity, I would do my homework on what they were offering, even if they were acting 100% in good faith.

However, helping governments get away from the clutches of the likes of Apple and Microsoft seems like a noble goal, and if this idea spurs that change regardless of the adoption of this distro, I think it will have been a net positive.

[–] Viri4thus@feddit.org 11 points 4 hours ago (1 children)

Government is only in the clutches of MS because MS bribes officials to maintain their cancerous software as a staple everywhere in Europe... Hungary is one of a few quite famous cases of bribery.

There's no depth to my loathing of MS and its illegal and anti-competitive practices.

[–] Telorand@reddthat.com 3 points 3 hours ago

It's going to have to start at the local level. They're usually the ones that have less budget and less influence to sell, anyway.

[–] ininewcrow@lemmy.ca 3 points 2 hours ago (1 children)

If they are honest about what they are suggesting ... the first step would be to be explicitly clear about who THEY are and WHO they represent.

I really don't care that much about the technical side of things because I'm not that technically knowledgeable. However, I am more apt to trust the judgment or recommendations of prominent people in the industry (that are not corporately attached or controlled) ... I would also trust public institutions or journalists or academics with a track record of social advocacy and wanting to represent people instead of corporations or businesses. I would also trust politicians or political advocates that mostly represent people and public institutions.

I really don't put my faith in any one person no matter who they claim to be to just say they want to build something meaningful and give me no information on their background, who they worked for, who they represent or what kind of people or organizations they associate with. There have been far too many 'good natured' technocrats and technology people from the past decade or two who claim to say that they want to change the world for the better and then end up wanting to burn it all down for a profit.

[–] Telorand@reddthat.com 1 points 2 hours ago

Sounds like you should run for office.

[–] Mwa@lemm.ee 3 points 5 hours ago

True

[–] Mwa@lemm.ee 2 points 5 hours ago

Alr thanks

[–] Korkki@lemmy.ml -1 points 4 hours ago

So it’s made by the EU in the sense that the maintainers are likely citizens of the EU, I guess

Even after that, be reminded that this current mania in the EU has nothing to with being anti-american or wanting to dump American products or services themselves. The people who are most into this are anti-Trump, not anti-american or fundamentally against Europe being subordinate to the US. Most of them are probably secretly wanting the world to return to 2024 and EU being US junior partner of "the west" and happily eating MacDonalds and using microsoft services. It's not an European sovereigist movement at it's core and therefore it has not staying power after Trump or Maga.

It might be that these people are just Foss enthusiasts with pure intentions wanting to promote the cause by riding the wave. However if the wave is just a meme conjured because of Trump then this project or things like it have no staying power or future even if it really being an EU project or being adopted tomorrow.

[–] ProtonBadger@lemmy.ca 2 points 3 hours ago (1 children)

No. It's one dude.

[–] Mwa@lemm.ee 1 points 3 hours ago

Ah okay

[–] richardisaguy@lemmy.world 3 points 3 hours ago

And it's based on fedora? Man, that's great