About r/linux
In its own words:
Welcome to /r/Linux! This is a community for sharing news about Linux, interesting developments and press. If you're looking for tech support, /r/Linux4Noobs and /r/linuxquestions are friendly communities that can help you. Please also check out: https://lemmy.ml/c/linux and Kbin.social/m/Linux Please refrain from posting help requests here, cheers.
Community guide
r/linux (#572, about 1.9 million subscribers) is oriented around: Welcome to /r/Linux! This is a community for sharing news about Linux, interesting developments and press. If you're looking for tech support, /r/Linux4Noobs and /r/linuxquestions are friendly communities that can… Recent activity samples show 50 posts/day in recent samples (~36% text, ~32% link, ~31% image). Public rules we collected include: r/linux is not a support forum; No spamblog submissions; No memes, image macros, rage comics, overdone jokes; Reddiquette, Trolling, *-isms, Poor Discussion or User Conduct; Relevance to r/linux community / Promoting closed source applications over FOSS. Directory metadata files it under “Technology”.
What belongs here
Stay inside the room’s stated scope rather than adjacent fandoms or general off-topic dumps. Self-promotion and advertising are tightly limited—read those rules before linking your own channel, shop, or site. This is not positioned as a tech-support desk; troubleshooting belongs in dedicated help communities. Low-effort memes or empty shitposts are commonly removed—add context that fits the room’s purpose.
How it differs from lookalikes
If you need install/fix help, prefer a support-oriented sub; keep this room for news, opinion, and on-topic discussion flagged by its rules. The length of the public rule list is itself a signal: skim all of them once before assuming defaults from similar communities.
Practical pointers
Read the current sidebar/rules on Reddit before posting; collected rules can lag. Common flairs in samples include: Software Release, Discussion, Development, Kernel.
SubMouse Editorial
The community was created on Jan 25, 2008, which makes it 18 years old. Since Oct 26, 2026, it has gained 2,322 subscribers (+0.12%). Among the 19 communities on our technology list it is number 6 by size. Among the 10 communities on our linux list it is the largest. It sits just behind r/worldbuilding (#571) and ahead of r/MangaCollectors (#573) in our ranking.
What sets r/linux apart
It is also one of the faster-growing big communities: its 0.81% gain since Sep 19, 2026 beats 91% of the Top 100. Its rhythm is strongly tied to time zones: the busiest hour (13:00 UTC) sees about 3.3× as many posts as the quietest (06:00 UTC).
Subscriber growth
Between Sep 19, 2026 and Nov 2, 2026, r/linux grew from 1,917,992 to 1,933,495 subscribers (+15.5K, +0.81%). That is about 352 new members per day. The chart uses our weekly snapshots (9 so far), so it gets longer every week.
What r/linux talks about
Across 319 recent posts (Oct 29–Nov 5), the words that come up most are “built”, “distro”, “released”, “windows” and “app”. Other frequent themes are desktop, open-source, fedora, arch, open and kde. Recurring phrases include “open source”, “kde plasma”, “pdf editor” and “word-sys pdf”. By format, 36% are text posts, 32% are links and 31% are images.
Popular post flairs: Software Release (107), Discussion (51), Development (36), Kernel (21), Popular Application (18), Distro News (15).
Activity and best time to post
r/linux gets about 50 new posts a day. The public archive holds 302,140 posts and 5,488,967 comments in total, about 18.2 comments per post. Last week the busiest day was Saturday (58 posts) and the quietest was Tuesday (27). Posting peaks around 13:00 UTC and is lowest around 06:00 UTC.
Rules of r/linux
The moderators of r/linux list 9 rules. In short:
- r/linux is not a support forum
- No spamblog submissions
- No memes, image macros, rage comics, overdone jokes
- Reddiquette, Trolling, *-isms, Poor Discussion or User Conduct
- Relevance to r/linux community / Promoting closed source applications over FOSS
- Spamming self-promotion, surveys, crowdfunding
- No misdirected links, login website, url shortener, and certain social media
- NSFW Image, links
- Non-useful Image Upload
How to join
Open reddit.com/r/linux and press “Join”. Read the community rules in the sidebar before you post: every subreddit is run by its own volunteer moderators.
Frequently asked questions
How many members does r/linux have?
r/linux has 1,933,495 subscribers (Nov 2, 2026), which makes it the #572 safe-for-work subreddit in the SubMouse ranking. It added 15,503 members between Sep 19, 2026 and Nov 2, 2026.
When was r/linux created?
r/linux was created on Jan 25, 2008, so it has been around for 18 years.
Is r/linux still active?
Yes. r/linux gets about 50 new posts a day (average of the last four weeks). Over its lifetime the archive counts 302,140 posts and 5,488,967 comments. In a sample of 319 recent posts we counted 260 different authors.
What is the best time to post in r/linux?
Based on post counts from Oct 29, 2026 to Nov 4, 2026, the busiest day was Saturday and the quietest Tuesday, and most posts arrive around 13:00 UTC, with the fewest around 06:00 UTC. More posts also means more competition, so a quieter hour can help a post get noticed.
What kind of posts are on r/linux?
The community describes itself as: “Welcome to /r/Linux! This is a community for sharing news about Linux, interesting developments and press. If you're looking for tech support, /r/Linux4Noobs and /r/linuxquestions are friendly communities that can help …” Recent post titles often mention built, distro, released, windows and app. Most posts are text posts (36%).
Is r/linux SFW?
Yes. Reddit does not mark r/linux as an 18+ (NSFW) community, and its own rules forbid NSFW content. SubMouse lists safe-for-work subreddits only.
What are the rules of r/linux?
Join the community on Reddit first, then use “Create post”. r/linux accepts both text and link posts, with images enabled. It has 9 posted rules, starting with: “r/linux is not a support forum”; “No spamblog submissions”; “No memes, image macros, rage comics, overdone jokes”. Moderators remove posts that break the rules, so read them in the sidebar before posting.
What subreddits are similar to r/linux?
Communities with similar topics include r/help (1.4M), r/brasil (3.4M), r/softwaregore (2M), r/notinteresting (1.4M) and r/developersIndia (1.6M).
Stats from public data (data updated Nov 2, 2026; activity, rules and archive totals via the Arctic Shift archive, Nov 6, 2026). Point and comment counts are archive snapshots and can be lower than on Reddit today. SubMouse is an independent directory and is not affiliated with Reddit or the moderators of r/linux.