{"slug": "gnu-parallel", "name": "GNU Parallel", "category": "terminal", "category_name": "Terminal and shell", "description": "", "recommenders": 4, "commenters": 11, "warners": 4, "score": 0.72, "rising": -1.31, "first": "2026-01-18", "latest": "2026-10-24", "why": "It's also extremely easy to set up - 'apt install parallel' is about all you need.", "why_is_quote": true, "has_verdict": false, "sentiment": {"recommend": 4, "neutral": 2, "compare": 1, "warn": 4}, "spark": [0, 0, 1, 0, 1, 0, 0, 0, 2, 0, 0, 0], "listed": true, "loved": [], "caveat": "", "short_quote": "It's also extremely easy to set up - 'apt install parallel' is about all you need.", "kind": "", "icon": true, "domain": "gnu.org", "github_repo": null, "official_url": "https://www.gnu.org/software/parallel/", "pricing": "", "aliases": ["GNU Parallel", "GNU parallel"], "verdict": null, "praise": [{"label": "", "summary": "", "quotes": [{"id": 783775632, "item_id": 48985977, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48985977", "by": "quotemstr", "date": "2026-07-20", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I love GNU Parallel too.", "excerpt": "I love GNU Parallel too. I love how it's free software and how I can patch out the obnoxious citation notice.", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "I wrote an bash enumerator because I was sick of xargs"}, {"id": 783771952, "item_id": 48985747, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48985747", "by": "tester457", "date": "2026-07-20", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I love gnu parallel.", "excerpt": "On the topic of xargs replacements, I love gnu parallel. The --dry-run flag of parallel made me confident to do more batch processing than I ever did with xargs. Parallel has an option for almost everything, it's almost too much. But I have shopped around for alternatives. The creator Ole Tange maintains a painstakingly long article of the alternatives and their differences. [0] The gnu parallel book and reading mate", "context": "", "use_case": "batch processing", "switched_from": "xargs", "story": "I wrote an bash enumerator because I was sick of xargs"}, {"id": 756425456, "item_id": 47276591, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47276591", "by": "i_think_so", "date": "2026-03-06", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Awww yeah.  +1 for GNU parallel.", "excerpt": "Awww yeah. +1 for GNU parallel. When I think of those obscenely ugly scripting hacks I used to do back in the day.... \"Well, trust me, this way's easier.\" -- Bill Weasley", "context": "", "use_case": "Parallel command execution", "switched_from": "", "story": "Parsync, a tool for parallel SSH transfers \u2013 7x faster than rsync"}, {"id": 746794192, "item_id": 46674637, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46674637", "by": "antonvs", "date": "2026-01-18", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "It's also extremely easy to set up - 'apt install parallel' is about all you need.", "excerpt": "Almost certainly not. You can go on AWS or GCP and spin up a VM with 2.2 TB RAM and 288 vCPUs. Worst case, if streaming the data sequentially isn't fast enough, you can use something like GNU Parallel to launch processes in parallel to use all those 288 cpus. (It's also extremely easy to set up - 'apt install parallel' is about all you need.) That starts to resemble Hadoop, if you squint, except that it's all running", "context": "", "use_case": "parallel process launching", "switched_from": "", "story": "Command-line Tools can be 235x Faster than your Hadoop Cluster (2014)"}]}], "caveats": [{"label": "", "summary": "", "quotes": [{"id": 783813904, "item_id": 48988369, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48988369", "by": "dataflow", "date": "2026-07-20", "version": null, "stance": "warn", "quote": "xargs Just Works without any of this nonsense, yet somehow I'm the one holding GNU parallel wrong?", "excerpt": "> That's common on linux. Many tools read from stdin if a file path isn't given: cat, xargs, base64, cksum, etc. No. I did pipe to stdin. I'm not a noob. I use Linux all the time, very much including xargs and all. (What do you think I use instead of parallel?!) That's not what's going on here at all. Here's a command line I ran right now, and the output I see: $ echo \"http://www.example.com\" | parallel -k -j 8 curl ", "context": "Linux user", "use_case": "running commands in parallel", "switched_from": "", "story": "I wrote an bash enumerator because I was sick of xargs"}, {"id": 781017632, "item_id": 48813602, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48813602", "by": "greyface-", "date": "2026-07-06", "version": null, "stance": "warn", "quote": "Edgy citation farming.", "excerpt": "Edgy citation farming. Anyone using GNU Parallel in scientific research is \"required\" to cite it in their research using this name. https://cgit.git.savannah.gnu.org/cgit/parallel.git/tree/doc/citation-notice-faq.txt A few months ago, \"Epstein files\". https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47592372", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "GNU Parallel 20260622 ('Rape Gang Inquiry') Released"}, {"id": 761575984, "item_id": 47598499, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47598499", "by": "simonkagedal", "date": "2026-04-01", "version": null, "stance": "warn", "quote": "Yes, I agree.", "excerpt": "Yes, I agree. It's been small enough of an issue for me to care (I have `~/.parallel/will-cite` set by my dotfiles repo, so wouldn't even see it on a new machine), but now I switched to `rust-parallel`. Picked that one because it was supposedly the fastest, I liked the Github page and I will remember the name :) And I guess I was hoping for it to be a drop-in replacement for `parallel` interface-wise, which it turned", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "GNU Parallel citation request now asks you cite \"Epstein files\""}, {"id": 761491056, "item_id": 47593191, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47593191", "by": "theamk", "date": "2026-03-31", "version": null, "stance": "warn", "quote": "If you think asking for citations is too much (and I do), I recommend using something else.", "excerpt": "GNU Parallel's citations was always weird - the author IMHO goes too far, in requiring each user to type \"will cite\" first time they use the app, even if context is entirely non-academic. Of course the author has the right to ask for anything, but I think that's too much, plus parallel is not nearly complex compared to other tools people use, like compilers or math libraries or Linux kernel - and those do not need ci", "context": "", "use_case": "running commands in parallel", "switched_from": "", "story": "GNU Parallel citation request now asks you cite \"Epstein files\""}]}], "who": [], "tags": [], "use_cases": ["running commands in parallel", "batch processing", "parallel command execution", "parallel process launching"], "compared": [{"slug": "xargs", "name": "xargs", "co": 2, "switched_from": 1, "switched_to": 0}], "makers": [], "threads": [{"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48984270", "title": "I wrote an bash enumerator because I was sick of xargs", "mentions": 4}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48813185", "title": "GNU Parallel 20260622 ('Rape Gang Inquiry') Released", "mentions": 2}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47592372", "title": "GNU Parallel citation request now asks you cite \"Epstein files\"", "mentions": 2}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50210935", "title": "Moreutils: The utilities package every Unix/Linux/Mac OS developer should know", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47269465", "title": "Parsync, a tool for parallel SSH transfers \u2013 7x faster than rsync", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46666085", "title": "Command-line Tools can be 235x Faster than your Hadoop Cluster (2014)", "mentions": 1}], "sentiment_by_month": {"2025-11": {}, "2025-12": {}, "2026-01": {"recommend": 1}, "2026-02": {}, "2026-03": {"recommend": 1, "warn": 1}, "2026-04": {"warn": 1}, "2026-05": {}, "2026-06": {}, "2026-07": {"warn": 2, "neutral": 1, "recommend": 2, "compare": 1}, "2026-08": {}, "2026-09": {}, "2026-10": {"neutral": 1}}, "versions": [], "version_unnamed": 0, "family_ref": null, "runs_on": null, "lines": [], "quotes": [{"id": 803525233, "item_id": 50220327, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50220327", "by": "JdeBP", "date": "2026-10-24", "version": null, "stance": "neutral", "quote": "Debian made its GNU Parallel package fix the name clash", "excerpt": "We're going to have the it-conflicts-with-GNU-parallel discussion again. It has happened almost every time that this has come up on Hacker News since 2015. This is entirely a packaging choice. There is no reason that parallel cannot be in its own package, or renamed. In fact, do not believe the old Hacker News discussions where people point to a bug filed in 2010 being closed as 'WONTFIX' by Joey Hess. In the interve", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Moreutils: The utilities package every Unix/Linux/Mac OS developer should know"}, {"id": 783813904, "item_id": 48988369, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48988369", "by": "dataflow", "date": "2026-07-20", "version": null, "stance": "warn", "quote": "xargs Just Works without any of this nonsense, yet somehow I'm the one holding GNU parallel wrong?", "excerpt": "> That's common on linux. Many tools read from stdin if a file path isn't given: cat, xargs, base64, cksum, etc. No. I did pipe to stdin. I'm not a noob. I use Linux all the time, very much including xargs and all. (What do you think I use instead of parallel?!) That's not what's going on here at all. Here's a command line I ran right now, and the output I see: $ echo \"http://www.example.com\" | parallel -k -j 8 curl ", "context": "Linux user", "use_case": "running commands in parallel", "switched_from": "", "story": "I wrote an bash enumerator because I was sick of xargs"}, {"id": 783782640, "item_id": 48986415, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48986415", "by": "jeffbee", "date": "2026-07-20", "version": null, "stance": "compare", "quote": "Parallel is ok but rush is nicer and much faster.", "excerpt": "Parallel is ok but rush is nicer and much faster. https://github.com/shenwei356/rush", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "I wrote an bash enumerator because I was sick of xargs"}, {"id": 783775632, "item_id": 48985977, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48985977", "by": "quotemstr", "date": "2026-07-20", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I love GNU Parallel too.", "excerpt": "I love GNU Parallel too. I love how it's free software and how I can patch out the obnoxious citation notice.", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "I wrote an bash enumerator because I was sick of xargs"}, {"id": 783771952, "item_id": 48985747, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48985747", "by": "tester457", "date": "2026-07-20", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I love gnu parallel.", "excerpt": "On the topic of xargs replacements, I love gnu parallel. The --dry-run flag of parallel made me confident to do more batch processing than I ever did with xargs. Parallel has an option for almost everything, it's almost too much. But I have shopped around for alternatives. The creator Ole Tange maintains a painstakingly long article of the alternatives and their differences. [0] The gnu parallel book and reading mate", "context": "", "use_case": "batch processing", "switched_from": "xargs", "story": "I wrote an bash enumerator because I was sick of xargs"}, {"id": 781241376, "item_id": 48827586, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48827586", "by": "snvzz", "date": "2026-07-07", "version": null, "stance": "neutral", "quote": "", "excerpt": "It's about the actual inquiry and report[0][1]. 0. https://static1.squarespace.com/static/6810978a41bbc42489eafa81/t/6a314bb1151e511944bd4421/1781615537601/The+Rape+Gang+Inquiry+Report.pdf 1. https://www.therapereport.co.uk/", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "GNU Parallel 20260622 ('Rape Gang Inquiry') Released"}, {"id": 781017632, "item_id": 48813602, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48813602", "by": "greyface-", "date": "2026-07-06", "version": null, "stance": "warn", "quote": "Edgy citation farming.", "excerpt": "Edgy citation farming. Anyone using GNU Parallel in scientific research is \"required\" to cite it in their research using this name. https://cgit.git.savannah.gnu.org/cgit/parallel.git/tree/doc/citation-notice-faq.txt A few months ago, \"Epstein files\". https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47592372", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "GNU Parallel 20260622 ('Rape Gang Inquiry') Released"}, {"id": 761575984, "item_id": 47598499, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47598499", "by": "simonkagedal", "date": "2026-04-01", "version": null, "stance": "warn", "quote": "Yes, I agree.", "excerpt": "Yes, I agree. It's been small enough of an issue for me to care (I have `~/.parallel/will-cite` set by my dotfiles repo, so wouldn't even see it on a new machine), but now I switched to `rust-parallel`. Picked that one because it was supposedly the fastest, I liked the Github page and I will remember the name :) And I guess I was hoping for it to be a drop-in replacement for `parallel` interface-wise, which it turned", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "GNU Parallel citation request now asks you cite \"Epstein files\""}, {"id": 761491056, "item_id": 47593191, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47593191", "by": "theamk", "date": "2026-03-31", "version": null, "stance": "warn", "quote": "If you think asking for citations is too much (and I do), I recommend using something else.", "excerpt": "GNU Parallel's citations was always weird - the author IMHO goes too far, in requiring each user to type \"will cite\" first time they use the app, even if context is entirely non-academic. Of course the author has the right to ask for anything, but I think that's too much, plus parallel is not nearly complex compared to other tools people use, like compilers or math libraries or Linux kernel - and those do not need ci", "context": "", "use_case": "running commands in parallel", "switched_from": "", "story": "GNU Parallel citation request now asks you cite \"Epstein files\""}, {"id": 756425456, "item_id": 47276591, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47276591", "by": "i_think_so", "date": "2026-03-06", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Awww yeah.  +1 for GNU parallel.", "excerpt": "Awww yeah. +1 for GNU parallel. When I think of those obscenely ugly scripting hacks I used to do back in the day.... \"Well, trust me, this way's easier.\" -- Bill Weasley", "context": "", "use_case": "Parallel command execution", "switched_from": "", "story": "Parsync, a tool for parallel SSH transfers \u2013 7x faster than rsync"}, {"id": 746794192, "item_id": 46674637, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46674637", "by": "antonvs", "date": "2026-01-18", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "It's also extremely easy to set up - 'apt install parallel' is about all you need.", "excerpt": "Almost certainly not. You can go on AWS or GCP and spin up a VM with 2.2 TB RAM and 288 vCPUs. Worst case, if streaming the data sequentially isn't fast enough, you can use something like GNU Parallel to launch processes in parallel to use all those 288 cpus. (It's also extremely easy to set up - 'apt install parallel' is about all you need.) That starts to resemble Hadoop, if you squint, except that it's all running", "context": "", "use_case": "parallel process launching", "switched_from": "", "story": "Command-line Tools can be 235x Faster than your Hadoop Cluster (2014)"}]}