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# Suckless
Suckless, software that [sucks](suck.md) less, is a type of [free](free_software.md) [software](software.md), as well as an organization (http://suckless.org/), that tries to adhere to a high technological [minimalism](minimalism.md), [freedom](freedom.md) and [hackability](hacking.md), and opposes so called [bloat](bloat.md) and unnecessary complexity which has been creeping into most "[modern](modern.md)" software and by which technology has started to become less useful and more burdening. It is related to [Unix philosophy](unix_philosophy.md) and [KISS](kiss.md) but brings some new ideas onto the table. New movements now came to existence from suckless, e.g. [Bitreich](bitreich.md) and our own [less retarded software](lrs.md). Suckless seems quite related to [cat-v](cat_v.md).
Suckless, software that [sucks](suck.md) less, is a type of [free](free_software.md) [software](software.md), programming philosophy as well as an organization (http://suckless.org/), that tries to adhere to a high technological [minimalism](minimalism.md), [freedom](freedom.md) and [hackability](hacking.md), and opposes so called [bloat](bloat.md) and unnecessary complexity which has been creeping into most "[modern](modern.md)" software and by which technology has started to become less useful and more burdening. It is related to [Unix philosophy](unix_philosophy.md) and [KISS](kiss.md) but brings some new ideas onto the table. It became somewhat known and highly influenced some newly formed groups, e.g. [Bitreich](bitreich.md) and our own [less retarded software](lrs.md). Suckless seems to share many followers with [cat-v.org](cat_v.md).
The community is relatively a small niche but has also seen a growth in popularity sometime in 2010s, thanks to tech youtubers such as [Luke Smith](luke_smith.md), [Distro Tube](distro_tube.md) and [Mental Outlaw](mental_outlaw.md). It has also gained traction on [4chan](4chan.md)'s technology board. While consisting a lot of expert programmers and [hackers](hacker.md) mostly interested in systems like [GNU](gnu.md)/[Linux](linux.md), [BSDs](bsd.md) and [Plan 9](plan9.md), a lot of less skilled "[Linux](linux.md)" users and even complete non-programmers have started to use suckless to various degrees -- [dwm](dwm.md) has for example seen a great success among "Unix porn" lovers and chronic [ricers](ricing.md). While some members are hardcore minimalists and apply their principles to everything, some just cherry pick programs they find nice and integrate them in their otherwise bloated systems.
The community used to be relatively a small underground niche, however after a rise in popularity sometime in 2010s, thanks to tech youtubers such as [Luke Smith](luke_smith.md), [Distro Tube](distro_tube.md) and [Mental Outlaw](mental_outlaw.md), the awareness about the group spread a lot wider, even mainstream programmers now usually know what *suckless* stands for. It has also gained traction on [4chan](4chan.md)'s technology board which again boosted suckless popularity but also inevitably brought some retardism in. While the group core consisting a lot of expert programmers and [hackers](hacker.md) mostly interested in systems like [GNU](gnu.md)/[Linux](linux.md), [BSDs](bsd.md) and [Plan 9](plan9.md), a lot of less skilled "[Linux](linux.md)" users and even complete non-programmers now hang around suckless to various degrees -- especially the [dwm](dwm.md) window manager has seen a great success among "Unix porn" lovers and chronic [ricers](ricing.md). While most of the true suckless followers are hardcore minimalists and apply their principles to everything, many of the noobs around suckless just cherry pick programs they find nice to look at and integrate them in their otherwise bloated systems.
Suckless is pretty cool, it has inspired [LRS](lrs.md), but watch out, as with most of the few promising things nowadays it is half cool and half shitty -- for example most suckless followers seem to be [rightists](left_vs_right.md) and [capitalists](capitalism.md) who are motivated by [harmful](harmful.md) goals such as their own increased [productivity](productivity_cult.md), not by [altruism](altruism.md). LRS fixes this, we only take the good ideas of suckless. Also it seems like by now that part of the suckless community degenerated a bit by its increase in popularity into a bit of what it opposed -- a kind of consumerist fashion followers who aren't interested so much in good design of technology but rather constantly ricing their dwm in pursuit of cool looking [pseudominimalist](pseudominimalism.md) system in ways not dissimilar to those of iToddlers.
Suckless is pretty cool, it has inspired [LRS](lrs.md), but watch out, as with most of the few promising things nowadays it is half cool and half shitty -- for example most suckless followers seem to be [rightists](left_vs_right.md) and [capitalists](capitalism.md) who are motivated by [harmful](harmful.md) goals such as their own increased [productivity](productivity_cult.md), not by [altruism](altruism.md). Many suckless people are quite pragmatic -- though they believe in hardcore minimalism, they will oftentimes, for practical reasons, rather choose e.g. a well established programming language ([C](c.md)) before the more minimal one (e.g. [Forth](forth.md)). LRS takes the good and tries to fix the issues of suckless, we only take the good ideas of suckless. Also it seems like by now that part of the suckless community degenerated a bit by its increase in popularity into a bit of what it opposed -- a kind of consumerist fashion followers who aren't interested so much in good design of technology but rather constantly ricing their dwm in pursuit of cool looking [pseudominimalist](pseudominimalism.md) system in ways not dissimilar to those of iToddlers.
{ From what it seems to me, the "official" suckless community is largely quiet and closed, leading conversations mostly on mailing lists and focusing almost exclusively on the development of their software without politics, activism and off topics, probably because they consider it bullshit that would only be distracting. There is also suckless subreddit which is similarly mostly focused on the software alone. They let their work speak. Some accuse the community of being Nazis, however I believe this is firstly irrelevant and secondly mostly false accusations of haters, even if we find a few Nazis among them, just as in any community. Most pro-suckless people I've met were actually true socialists (while Nazis are not socialist despite their name). Unlike [tranny software](tranny_software.md), suckless software itself doesn't promote any politics, it is a set of purely functional tools, so the question of the developers' private opinions is unimportant here, we have to separate ideas and people. Suckless ideas are good regardless of whose brains they came from. ~drummyfish }