{"slug": "illumos", "name": "illumos", "category": "os", "category_name": "Operating systems and desktop", "description": "", "recommenders": 4, "commenters": 8, "warners": 0, "score": 4.405, "rising": 0.02, "first": "2026-01-21", "latest": "2026-10-15", "why": "I really enjoy working with illumos on my home server.", "why_is_quote": true, "has_verdict": false, "sentiment": {"recommend": 4, "neutral": 2, "compare": 3, "warn": 0}, "spark": [0, 0, 2, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 1, 0, 1, 0], "listed": true, "loved": [], "caveat": "", "short_quote": "I really enjoy working with illumos on my home server.", "kind": "", "icon": true, "domain": "illumos.org", "github_repo": null, "official_url": "https://illumos.org", "pricing": "", "aliases": ["illumos", "Illumos"], "verdict": null, "praise": [{"label": "", "summary": "", "quotes": [{"id": 794612450, "item_id": 49663278, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49663278", "by": "joshAg", "date": "2026-09-11", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "If it really bothers you OpenBSD (edit: thanks for the reminder TimTheTinker) and Illumos don't allow overcommit at all", "excerpt": "Don't worry, it's not just you: https://lkml.org/lkml/2019/8/4/15 It's because linux is a toy OS. Specifically, it overcommits memory in the hope/assumption that it won't all be used at once, but doesn't have a way to gracefully degrade when applications collectively want to use more memory(+swap) than it actually has. You can turn off overcommit, but applications are designed with the overcommitting feature in mind,", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Stop making swap partitions\u2014use swap files instead"}, {"id": 781287360, "item_id": 48830460, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48830460", "by": "NexRebular", "date": "2026-07-08", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Can't get more reliable ZFS than on illumos.", "excerpt": "> or which one would have the most reliable zfs module state? Can't get more reliable ZFS than on illumos. OmniOS on napp-it if you want GUI[0]. [0] https://www.napp-it.org/index_en.html", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "How to Build a Minimal ZFS NAS Without Synology, QNAP, TrueNAS"}, {"id": 747359664, "item_id": 46709979, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46709979", "by": "TheAmazingRace", "date": "2026-01-21", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I'm impressed that illumos is still going strong.", "excerpt": "It's crazy that we are over 15 years removed from when illumos officially started as a project, shortly after Oracle took over Sun and killed off OpenSolaris. I was on the group call that made the announcement in 2010 and I'm impressed that illumos is still going strong. Fun fact, it is the only open-source OS that is proper UNIX (SVR4), not Unix-like, like the BSDs or Linux.", "context": "was on the 2010 announcement call", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "illumos"}, {"id": 747352272, "item_id": 46709517, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46709517", "by": "samtheDamned", "date": "2026-01-21", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I really enjoy working with illumos on my home server.", "excerpt": "I really enjoy working with illumos on my home server. I run SmartOS[1] and it's zone management is great and the webui they've been working on is pretty cool too. 1. https://www.tritondatacenter.com/smartos", "context": "", "use_case": "home server", "switched_from": "", "story": "illumos"}]}], "caveats": [], "who": [{"by": "TheAmazingRace", "context": "was on the 2010 announcement call", "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46709979", "date": "2026-01-21"}], "tags": [], "use_cases": ["alternative build environment", "home server"], "compared": [{"slug": "solaris", "name": "Solaris", "co": 3, "switched_from": 0, "switched_to": 0}, {"slug": "openbsd", "name": "OpenBSD", "co": 2, "switched_from": 0, "switched_to": 0}, {"slug": "linux", "name": "Linux", "co": 2, "switched_from": 0, "switched_to": 0}], "makers": [], "threads": [{"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46708807", "title": "illumos", "mentions": 2}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50102923", "title": "Libreboot 26.10 \"Ominous Olive\" released with UEFI, Chromebook support", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49910465", "title": "cp: -r or -R?", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49618087", "title": "Stop making swap partitions\u2014use swap files instead", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49136736", "title": "NetBSD 11.0 Released", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48827325", "title": "How to Build a Minimal ZFS NAS Without Synology, QNAP, TrueNAS", "mentions": 1}], "sentiment_by_month": {"2025-11": {}, "2025-12": {}, "2026-01": {"recommend": 2, "neutral": 1}, "2026-02": {}, "2026-03": {}, "2026-04": {}, "2026-05": {}, "2026-06": {"neutral": 1}, "2026-07": {"recommend": 1}, "2026-08": {"compare": 1}, "2026-09": {"recommend": 1}, "2026-10": {"compare": 2}}, "versions": [], "version_unnamed": 0, "quotes": [{"id": 801734289, "item_id": 50108393, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50108393", "by": "yjftsjthsd-h", "date": "2026-10-15", "version": null, "stance": "compare", "quote": "although illumos or 9front becoming the preferred build environment for libreboot would make my inner nerd happy", "excerpt": "So what OS are you building on and running on the machine? https://codeberg.org/ethical-foss/open-slopware#kernels doesn't seem to list anything I would consider a good alternative to Linux, although illumos or 9front becoming the preferred build environment for libreboot would make my inner nerd happy.", "context": "", "use_case": "alternative build environment", "switched_from": "", "story": "Libreboot 26.10 \"Ominous Olive\" released with UEFI, Chromebook support"}, {"id": 799097505, "item_id": 49943594, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49943594", "by": "JdeBP", "date": "2026-10-03", "version": null, "stance": "compare", "quote": "Illumos also treats the two differently, but in a subtly different way:", "excerpt": "This is rather missing the point. The headlined article isn't really about how to achieve a goal, but about the weird history and evolution of a tool that leads us to the rather odd situation that we are in today. And it's far from being the only tool that has a weird history, that looks rather nutty if one looks at it from the point of view of a novice having to learn this stuff. It's also not even completely coveri", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "cp: -r or -R?"}, {"id": 794612450, "item_id": 49663278, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49663278", "by": "joshAg", "date": "2026-09-11", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "If it really bothers you OpenBSD (edit: thanks for the reminder TimTheTinker) and Illumos don't allow overcommit at all", "excerpt": "Don't worry, it's not just you: https://lkml.org/lkml/2019/8/4/15 It's because linux is a toy OS. Specifically, it overcommits memory in the hope/assumption that it won't all be used at once, but doesn't have a way to gracefully degrade when applications collectively want to use more memory(+swap) than it actually has. You can turn off overcommit, but applications are designed with the overcommitting feature in mind,", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Stop making swap partitions\u2014use swap files instead"}, {"id": 786245508, "item_id": 49140344, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49140344", "by": "ksec", "date": "2026-08-01", "version": null, "stance": "compare", "quote": "at least they seem larger than Solaris / Illumos", "excerpt": "I do think all the BSD, despite how niche it may seems are doing well and in an ongoing development stream. And at least they seem larger than Solaris / Illumos, despite some of the cool tech solaris branch has. All your Netflix video streaming from Open Connect CDN Edge are served by FreeBSD. [1] Serving at 800Gbps per Server.[2] This was 4 years ago, drewg123 also hangs around on HN so I hope he read this and there", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "NetBSD 11.0 Released"}, {"id": 781287360, "item_id": 48830460, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48830460", "by": "NexRebular", "date": "2026-07-08", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Can't get more reliable ZFS than on illumos.", "excerpt": "> or which one would have the most reliable zfs module state? Can't get more reliable ZFS than on illumos. OmniOS on napp-it if you want GUI[0]. [0] https://www.napp-it.org/index_en.html", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "How to Build a Minimal ZFS NAS Without Synology, QNAP, TrueNAS"}, {"id": 778311313, "item_id": 48644457, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48644457", "by": "JdeBP", "date": "2026-06-23", "version": null, "stance": "neutral", "quote": "Illumos has the original.", "excerpt": "Incorrect. :x is a vi feature, that was introduced by Mary Ann Horton to actual Joy+Horton vi in February 1980. * https://code.illumos.org/plugins/gitiles/illumos-gate/+/refs/heads/master/usr/src/cmd/vi/port/ex.news#1037 Ritter's vi is derived from Joy+Horton vi. Illumos has the original.", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "The Traditional Vi"}, {"id": 747447170, "item_id": 46715448, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46715448", "by": "spijdar", "date": "2026-01-21", "version": null, "stance": "neutral", "quote": "It's cool that Solaris/Illumos is \"true blooded unix\"", "excerpt": "That probably came off a bit too inflammatory/self-deprecating :) The point for me was realizing that, even though I do like all these systems and OSes, and I understand the appeal of both \"pure UNIX\" and (on the opposite spectrum) OSes that violently reject \"UNIX\", this kind of purity isn't actually... useful. End of the day, with most of the ways I use a computer for productivity, playing, or being social with othe", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Can you slim macOS down?"}, {"id": 747359664, "item_id": 46709979, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46709979", "by": "TheAmazingRace", "date": "2026-01-21", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I'm impressed that illumos is still going strong.", "excerpt": "It's crazy that we are over 15 years removed from when illumos officially started as a project, shortly after Oracle took over Sun and killed off OpenSolaris. I was on the group call that made the announcement in 2010 and I'm impressed that illumos is still going strong. Fun fact, it is the only open-source OS that is proper UNIX (SVR4), not Unix-like, like the BSDs or Linux.", "context": "was on the 2010 announcement call", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "illumos"}, {"id": 747352272, "item_id": 46709517, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46709517", "by": "samtheDamned", "date": "2026-01-21", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I really enjoy working with illumos on my home server.", "excerpt": "I really enjoy working with illumos on my home server. I run SmartOS[1] and it's zone management is great and the webui they've been working on is pretty cool too. 1. https://www.tritondatacenter.com/smartos", "context": "", "use_case": "home server", "switched_from": "", "story": "illumos"}]}