this post was submitted on 28 Aug 2024
195 points (99.0% liked)

Linux

56020 readers
1650 users here now

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Linux is a family of open source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991 by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged in a Linux distribution (or distro for short).

Distributions include the Linux kernel and supporting system software and libraries, many of which are provided by the GNU Project. Many Linux distributions use the word "Linux" in their name, but the Free Software Foundation uses the name GNU/Linux to emphasize the importance of GNU software, causing some controversy.

Rules

Related Communities

Community icon by Alpár-Etele Méder, licensed under CC BY 3.0

founded 6 years ago
MODERATORS
all 34 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] bufalo1973@lemmy.ml 63 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) (2 children)

Donates or "donates"? As "all yours" or as in "it's ours but you do the work"?

[–] anamethatisnt@lemmy.world 81 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) (4 children)

As in
“We’ve finished taking all we need from the Mono project and implemented it into our ~~proprietary~~ .NET implementation for Linux, Android and iOS. Instead of getting flack for killing off Mono (which is open source and would’ve been forked anyways) we graciously give this old husk to the Wine project. We recommend that active Mono users and maintainers of Mono-based app frameworks migrate to .NET. kthnxbye!”

Good thing that it went to Wine I guess, as they do lots of work to get old Windows programs up and running in Linux and that often involves Mono.

[–] morrowind@lemmy.ml 37 points 10 months ago (1 children)

.Net is open source bruh, it's not proprietary

[–] anamethatisnt@lemmy.world 32 points 10 months ago (1 children)

I stand corrected, .NET Core is open source and uses the MIT License.

[–] LeFantome@programming.dev 4 points 10 months ago

It is not “.NET Core” anymore though. Since version 5, it has just been “.NET”. The current version is 8 with previews of 9 available.

[–] woodgen@lemm.ee 29 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) (1 children)
[–] SatyrSack@lemmy.one 19 points 10 months ago

Good thing that it went to Wine I guess, as they do lots of work to get old Windows programs up and running in Linux and that often involves Mono.

I see this as the main purpose of this transfer of ownership. When it comes to developing new software, MS has their modern tech stack for creating cross-compatible code, and the recommendation is to use that. But that is not helpful when trying to get old legacy software running on a modern system. So MS is giving this "outdated" technology to the WINE team. A team whose primary goal is getting incompatible software to run in the "wrong" environment. This should allow WINE to continue to properly handle older Mono software for the foreseeable future.

[–] LeFantome@programming.dev 6 points 10 months ago

You are completely correct. The good news is that the “official” .NET is Open Source now and far better than the “Mono Project” ever was.

[–] GammaGames@beehaw.org 17 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago)

as in “your fork is official now, we have our own compatability in .net and there’s no need to maintain it”

The recognition is nice, but there hadn’t been a major release in over 5 years. I’d guess the outcome is mostly paperwork

[–] jaypatelani@lemmy.ml 36 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Technical debt is transferred to Wine team.

[–] Templa@beehaw.org 9 points 10 months ago (1 children)

They were already maintaining a fork of it though?

[–] LeFantome@programming.dev 8 points 10 months ago

The “fork” is the real version of Mono and Microsoft is not giving it up.

The repository managed by “The Mono Project” still targets .NET Framework. Microsoft does not care about the official version of that. Why would they want to manage an Open Source replica of it.

In some ways though, this is good. Nobody should be seeing the Mono Project as a viable cross-platform development framework at this point. It is nothing more than a support layer for running legacy software that was originally Windows only. That makes it a good fit for Wine.

If you want what Mono used to be, a cross-platform application framework, you can just use the actual .NET from Microsoft. It includes the Mono runtime for targeting mobile platforms and Microsoft continues to actively develop it. They are not passing control of that to anybody.

[–] MonkeMischief@lemmy.today 34 points 10 months ago

Okay, a suspicious thanks to you, Microsoft...

...So when can we get this treatment for WMR so all our VR headsets don't become useless bricks kthaaaanks!

[–] Charadon@lemmy.sdf.org 27 points 10 months ago

"""donates"""

[–] NateNate60@lemmy.world 21 points 10 months ago (1 children)

What are the implications of this?

[–] embed_me@programming.dev 13 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) (1 children)

Not much. There used to be this fear of Microsoft copyrighting Mono for reimplementing their stuff on Linux. For that reason, Mono was avoided by linux app developers. But since MS had acquired the company that made and developed Mono and they have also open-sourced .NET and everything, this does not mean much.

[–] Dirk@lemmy.ml -5 points 10 months ago

For that reason, Mono was avoided by linux app developers. But since MS had acquired the company that made and developed Mono

"You don't like it? Fine then, we buy it and force it on you!"

Classic Microshit.

[–] noxfriend@beehaw.org 17 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Does Mono have any purpose any longer? What is the point now that dotnet core is so well-established?

[–] domi@lemmy.secnd.me 21 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Yes, Mono is used by Wine to support Windows .NET applications since it's a) open source and b) contains support for Windows Forms and other Windows-only APIs.

They can't ship the regular .NET framework by default for licensing reasons but it can be installed with winetricks to replace Mono, which is sometimes necessary for compatibility reasons.

[–] noxfriend@beehaw.org 2 points 10 months ago
[–] melroy@kbin.melroy.org 9 points 10 months ago (1 children)
[–] possiblylinux127@lemmy.zip 9 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Microsoft donated mono to the wine project

[–] melroy@kbin.melroy.org 2 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Yea I know. But I still can't believe it.

Microsoft finally sees they can't code.

[–] LeFantome@programming.dev 6 points 10 months ago

No.

Microsoft maintains what is essentially the “real” version of Mono within their official .NET project. It is up to version 8.

The version of Mono represents by “The Mono Project” still targets .NET Framework ( stuck on version 4.x for years now ). Microsoft does not care about the real version, nevermind the Open Source replica.

What Microsoft is “donating” is pure legacy. It is a good fit for Wine though.

[–] possiblylinux127@lemmy.zip 5 points 10 months ago

Well that was unexpected

[–] drwho@beehaw.org 2 points 10 months ago
[–] 0x0@programming.dev -5 points 10 months ago (2 children)
[–] possiblylinux127@lemmy.zip 8 points 10 months ago

This is a different community all together

[–] smeg@feddit.uk 8 points 10 months ago (1 children)

It's not a repost if it's in a different community

[–] delirious_owl@discuss.online 2 points 10 months ago (1 children)

What's the difference? Thanks for sharing the repost. It let's us see the comments in both communities

[–] 0x0@programming.dev 2 points 10 months ago (1 children)

What’s the difference?

Technicalities... it has been cross-posted, i hadn't noticed it.