What's your most annoying bug/pet peeve/annoyance in Linux?

No software is perfect. All are flawed. What works on one system may not work on another. Fixing code is just a matter of need + desire + (coding + testing) = fixed software.

Fixing the software is easy, but what is not easily fixed or patched is the egos and attitudes of many who use Linux. This isn't to slam all Linux users, or even the vast majority of them, but there is still the prevailing "RTFM. n00b" attitude in the community at large, and within many sub-communities relating to certain distros.

Back when I started using computers (32 years ago at age 11 in 1978), there wasn't the whole egotism related to computing (in general), or fundamentalism over which OS is better, etc. there weren't any skript kiddies, etc. BBSes were just starting really. People worked together with each other, in computer clubs, figured things out themselves alone sometimes (and/or again, with other people) - and then they shared that information without ego, elitism, etc.

Somehow, somewhere, that all got lost. Now we have Mac fundies/zealots, Linux users who are the same, some people even are fundie about Windows (either for or against).

The biggest flaw in Linux is its' userbase; which ironically, is also it's greatest strength. There is both good and bad aspects to this community, like there is with ANY group of people, but if we as a community at large could overcome this, our #1 flaw, that would be the biggest Linux fix of all time and would do more to advance the OS than ANY line of code ever could.

I suppose mine isn't so much an annoyance but a bad habit of mine. I get suckered in to so-called "bleeding" edge releases that I go for Alpha releases only to kill my machine(s). I think the most annoying thing I've run into, however, is when I do an upgrade to a stable release and don't read the release notes close enough to realize a software package is no longer being supported. So, I've learned my lesson and I'm back running on Ubuntu 8.04 LTS and will probably remain for a while. :)

So, really I need some kind of deterrent to keep me from Alpha releases... maybe a sign about my computer that says, "Please don't hurt me."

The only pet peeve that I have with Linux is that it isn't perfect. There are times that I get frustrated that something didn't magically do what I want, but then I remember that the same problem occurs more often with any other OS.

Really, the biggest down side of Linux is the occasional lack of professional quality programs in a specific field. For instance, video editing and music composition are still yet to come to maturity in the open source movement. I mention open source because I simply refuse to use bloated proprietary software. In this respect, it is not a lack on the part of Linux, but of the OSS movement. Still, Linux is the best thing out there. Now, all we need to do is convince people to move to open source and all would be great.

I'm pleased to see that it's taken nearly 10 months to get 8 answers to this question. I can't imagine it would take very long to get 8 complaints about Windows. And these Linux peeves are very gentle to boot.

My pet peeve about Linux isn't the fault of Linux. I dislike the monoculture in the surrounding world that assumes I'm running Windows.

On the extremely rare occasion that I contact my ISP about a problem with their service, they ask me to go to My Computer and click this or that. I say, no no, I'm running Linux. They say oh we don't support Linux. I say you don't have too--the problem is with your service, not my computer. They say we don't support Linux. I say I support Linux, let me tell you what the problem is. They say we don't support Linux.

Then there are my non-technical friends. They say they have some problem with their computer. I ask what operating system they use. They give me a blank look. Are you running Windows? Well apparently the thought never occurred to them that there could be anything else to run. Or they've heard of Linux, but only smart people use it so they assume you have to be a genius to use it.

Then there are the viruses. There are no computer viruses. Malware is written for a particular platform. Almost all viruses that have ever been created attack Windows (or some particular software), not Linux (or OS X or FreeBSD or Solaris). Yet people assume my computer is susceptible to computer viruses.

Currently I’m using Fedora 13, and I find it quite stable, but the most annoying thing is when Pitivi crash when I’m trying to edit a long movie clip... that makes me crazy!

In general, Linux has it’s edges (Specially Fedora being on the latest versions of everything) but if you are curious and patient usually just takes a little goggle search to find an answer to your problems.

Linux is not perfect, but is more that enough to use it exclusively on my laptop.

as for bug reports.. Fedora makes it REALLY easy, I already reported two of them... let's see if they get fixed soon :-)

flash sometimes make my cpu go 100% cant output S-Video out on NVidia 9400GT with any driver older than 185.18.14 (but this issue also happens in Windows 7)
these are the most annoying issues i have and might be the only issues i have in my system (Kubuntu 9.10)

I wish there wasn't that layer of animosity amongst the various distro communities, why fight each other when we're all in this together?

Sure it's not as bad as between GNU/Linux and other OS's, but it's still there. A better sense of community between distros would be nice to see.

Apart from that, I don't have any major technical pet peeves :-)

A pet peeve? Well, I love Linux but I don't use it. Why? Windows users got used to the way things are on that platform, and it is difficult to change and be productive quickly again. The biggest peeve is that I find it very difficult to find data on newly installed drives. Say, I put in an extra hard drive. Where the hell is it??? In Windows, it's there - D: Drive or whatever. In Linux, sometimes we need to know how to find the obvious in other OSes which puts newbies off...

My pet peeve with Linux is the names. Pachage names, application names, utility names etc. etc. Naming a package with Greek mythical characters or meaningless (to most of us) acronyms just isn't helpful. Libreoffice tells me what it is. Pitivi(?) does not. Maybe the 'vi' in the name implies video but at first glance its meaningless. I've been working with computers since 1968 and the system with the best naming choices was VMS from the Vax systems from Digigal Equipment. Even IBM's naming convention is much easier to figure out.

Another pet peeve is in-fighting amongst the Linux groups - distros et al. If we want Linux to be universally accepted, this nonsense has to stop.

My 2 cents.

Steve Dupuis Ottawa Canada

Pet peeve with Linux?

The problem with Linux is that there is always more stuff to learn. There is always something new to explore. I spent 13 years with UNIX and I figured I knew it pretty well. Then, in 1995, I discovered Linux and my mind literally had to expand to take it all in.

There's so much to learn. It never tapers off. I've stopped trying to understand things is depth, because I don't have the time.

Slackware, Asterisk, FreePBX, thin clients, virtual servers, bootable CDs, bootable USB drives, multi-seat distros, Cups, qmail, apache, PHP, FreeTDS, ssh, rsync, Hylafax, Firefox, Google Apps, Joomla ...

Where will it ever end? I can't ever be productive because there's always something new I need to try.

Last night, I got the Brazilian MDM distro to turn my wife's crappy old Dell into a multi-seat setup. I've been trying to do that for years. It's like magic. It's like Gandalf and Dumbledore had sex and produced this magical distro that works on a crappy PC with crappy video cards and just works. Freaking magic!

And Thinstation! How in Gaia's name is it possible that everybody is not using Thinstation?

And SME Server! People are running down ubuntu and not using SME Server! Are they insane? What could be simpler? Idiots can run SME Server.

And BackupPC! What god descended from Valhalla to give us this peace of mind software, that just works and allows users to restore their own freaking files without bothering lazy sysadmins? What genius dwells amongst us?

And Twiki! The damn thing is like finding some NZT pills and never forgetting anything again. I can't live without it now. Literally can't leave home without it. And I look like a genius to everybody else, coz I always have the answer to some long forgotten problem.

It's bloody annoying, I tell you. There's always something new and incredible to learn. When am I ever going to get some sleep?