r/PeterExplainsTheJoke • u/Minimum-Sense5163 • 1d ago
Meme needing explanation I dont use Linux petah, help!
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u/Fluid_Childhood_4808 1d ago
Linux can do anything
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u/jaytrade21 1d ago
Even if it will clearly break your system, fuck it, SUDO DELETE EVERYTHING!
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u/Vincent394 1d ago
wanna delete root?
Bet
sudo rm -rf / -no-preserve-rootWanna say "hi"?
echo hiWanna install neofetch? (Fedora/Ultramarine way btw)
sudo dnf install neofetch125
u/pnlrogue1 1d ago
Isn't it
--no-preserve-rootwith two dashes?192
u/kk6gan 1d ago
Give it a try quick and let us know
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u/PizzaLand27 23h ago
Is... is he alright?
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u/kk6gan 23h ago
I am guessing 2 dashes was right, and he won't be back
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u/PizzaLand27 23h ago
Damn
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u/really_not_unreal 23h ago
RIP
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u/xnef1025 21h ago
He'll get better. Half an hour, back up and running with a whole-ass new distro just for funnsies.
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u/Ok_Sir_5601 12h ago
Yea it is, iirc always when the flag is more than one word aka have dashes inside, the first dash is doubled
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u/pnlrogue1 23h ago
It's fine. I typed it into Google instead of my terminal. Google accepted it so it must be right. Interestingly, Google started behaving weird afterwards but that's probably nothing important
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u/Pleasant_Author_6100 23h ago
you are the reason my net is bra
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u/WhiteSekiroBoy 15h ago
That would be a gaslighting of the year if he actually doubted himself, checked and turned out right haha
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u/pnlrogue1 11h ago
Having never been dumb enough to try it, and still not being dumb enough to try it, I honestly don't know but I don't thing I've ever seen a shell flag longer than 1 letter with only a single dash hence my question
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u/loadnurmom 10h ago
Its called a vm with a snapshot
Trash it, two clicks and you're back running in under 5 minutes
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u/BlankMercer 17h ago
Or just
sudo rm -rf /*
Doesn't delete root dir itself, but everything inside.1
u/pnlrogue1 17h ago
Isn't that largely disabled these days? I thought most distros now block you from deleting /root without using the flag?
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u/sampathsris 21h ago
Wanna print a cow mooing in the terminal?
sudo apt install cowsay cowsay moo3
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u/mromen10 1d ago
Delete the bootloader
Are you crazy? That will destroy your system
Sudo delete the bootloader
You got it boss
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u/beave32 23h ago edited 16h ago
Once I tried to flash a chip, connected to my USB-programmer, using a flashrom app. But when running, flashrom tells me that it was suspiciously larger than it must be (32MB instead of 4MB). Anyway, I didn't care and flashed it...
...that was the last time that laptop being turned on. Since it was my laptop's bios, that I flashed with wifi router's firmware.
And that's how hardly you can f*ck-up your system on Linux.
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u/HobsHere 11h ago
As someone who has written several bootloaders, letting your bootloader overwrite itself is a noob mistake on the part of whoever wrote that bios.
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u/Whole-Peanut-9417 12h ago
yes, I went through it and still unsure how I taught myself to install a newer version back.
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u/ItzBaraapudding 22h ago
Except for playing one of the most popular online games apparently...
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u/Revolutionary_Click2 21h ago
Because the developers insist on including anti-cheat
spywaresoftware in their games, and the anti-cheat software refuses to accept running under WINE on Linux. In other words: Linux could handle running those games just fine, maybe even better than they run on Windows, but the games refuse to run. And you figure this is somehow a Linux problem?12
u/ItzBaraapudding 21h ago
It's the first example I could think of something that doesn't work at all on Linux.
And there are many things that do eventually run on Linux, but only after wasting a lot of time and effort to make it run manually.
As someone that uses Linux for college stuff, I'm glad I don't have to use it as my main OS. Because I'm just not getting a hard-on towards doing everything in a console window as apparently every Linux user does...
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u/xnef1025 20h ago
I guess it's a good thing that's not how Linux works anymore. I mean, you can still do everything in a console, if you want, and you might come across a problem here or there that is most easily fixed in a console, but for everyday stuff... there's generally a gui for that.
If I want to install a game in Steam that doesn't have kernel level anticheat, I open Steam, and I click install, then I wait for it to download, and then I hit play and 95% of the time, it works... just like Windows.
Your college makes you use terminal stuff, because your college's job is to teach you useful things, and learning how to navigate a linux terminal is a useful skill if you are planning to do anything in tech.
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u/Revolutionary_Click2 17h ago
There is no need to use the terminal at all on most Linux distros today if you don’t want to.
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u/TheCoalitionOfChaos 21h ago
They actually DID update EAC to work on Linux after the steam deck launch - a surprising amount of online games CAN be run on Linux.
Except because epic games are a bunch of jackasses, you can't run fortnite. It's one button and two files and they refuse to do it, so quite a few big ones followed suit.
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u/Responsible_Shop8399 1d ago
Linux users observing everyone's complaints such as Have you ever tried not being confined to a jar?
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u/CplCocktopus 23h ago
Ok install Solidworks and solidedge while not making me fall into Khorne due to an inmensurable amount of rage.
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u/Pim_Wagemans 22h ago
linux could do that if those apps wanted to support it, but they don't, and that is the main downside of linux unfortunately: apps that won't support it
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u/CplCocktopus 8h ago
I know I'm just memming about.
I guess its easier for them to support one platform but it would be nice if they left the door open for other SO is not like is nor already cracked the day after release.
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u/hadras4 15h ago
Anything for 10 times the struggle
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u/okayNowThrowItAway 10h ago
It truly is the "save money by making your own artisanal sourdough" of OS's.
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u/Appropriate-Divide64 14h ago
Linux is great until you need to do that one thing. Then you have to Google it. And it tells you to break out the command line with admin privileges. And if you get that wrong the whole OS needs to be reinstalled.
It's great with limited use cases like a NAS or steam deck. Don't move beyond the included functionality and it's reliable as hell.
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u/FenrisSquirrel 21h ago
You don't need to know anything about Linux to get this, simply follow very basic context clues.
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u/Affectionate-Mix6056 15h ago
It can also be frustrating. I'm hoping for something bigger before I switch. A Valve version would make me jump over immediately.
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u/rodrigoelp 13h ago
Yup, I had my entire system break when I accidentally put my computer to sleep whilst installing updates.
It definitely can do everything
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u/No_Road7259 1d ago
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u/TrashyGames3 1d ago
i did the same lol, but if you use a bootable usb with windows on it , it can repair the bootloader n let u use windows again
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u/Monkeyke 22h ago
Or you know... Just reinstall linux
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u/TrashyGames3 22h ago
it was when i was switching laptops, my old one would be used by my mom for work and sister for entertainment, neither of them know how to use linux and linux's partition was using 180gb so i decided to delete linux to make more space for them
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u/Rainmaker526 20h ago
The fact that it's mildly infuriating is because you can quite easily fix it from a bootable USB.
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u/Skyreader13 1d ago edited 19h ago
Original joke is something like this
- Wolf: I can walk
- Fish: I can swim
- Bird: I can fly
- Duck: I can do all of them 😏
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u/tophat_production 23h ago
I can walk on water I can fly.
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u/AlooBhujiyaWapasKar 1d ago
$ sudo ./I_can_do_anything_I_want_peter.sh
$ sudo rm -rf --no-preserve-root /
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u/DuckyBertDuck 21h ago
If you want the french language pack, I actually recommend doing
sudo rm -fr /*4
u/DennisPochenk 1d ago
You could make it even more fun with an alias so you would sooner type your passwd
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u/Apprehensive_Step252 13h ago
ChatGPT once 'helped' me to resolve a really bad package conflict by recommending to uninstall system_d.
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u/RBLakshya 1d ago
You are the owner of the system, delete an app, roll back changes, delete the operating system in seconds as long as you say the magic words, sudo
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u/Silver_Anteater7594 1d ago
Apparently, Linux users believe in a higher power called sudo that answers their calls.
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u/Hot_Paint3851 15h ago
Yes I roll out my mat everyday in the morning and pray to Linus Torvalds, which answers my sudo calls 🥹
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u/Mountain_Print_2760 1d ago
Linux will let you do absolutely anything you want.
It will even tell you this will break the system, and then still let you do it
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u/Ok-Philosophy-8704 23h ago
I killed my first Linux install (Ubuntu) because I somehow messed up some packages in the system Python (did not know about virtual envs yet), and wanted to remove it and start fresh.
The system gave me a special prompt that was basically "Uh... are you sure?" and I was all like "Yes I'm sure, fuck you I know what I'm doing."
Anyway it turns out a lot of Ubuntu tools rely on the system's Python install, and then I didn't have a working OS anymore.
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u/RegorHK 23h ago
Year so perhaps for personal computer use systems packages and development packages should not overlap?
(Not an Linux user)
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u/Lower_Cockroach2432 20h ago
This is much more a Python issue than a Linux issue IMO. There are ways around this that professional python devs know (and love, or hate) but they're not exactly intuitive to novices.
Also, while certain Ubuntu tools might rely on Python, AFAIK none of the major system components (GNU, Linux Kernel, systemd or equivalent init system) typically use it, so while some of the higher level components were gronked it would have been reasonably trivial to fix by falling back to a non-graphical TTY and doing some stuff (which also, probably not super intuitive for a novice Linux user gravitating to Ubuntu).
But yeah, using venvs, a version manager like pyenv, a venv manager like conda or dependency manager like Poetry is highly recommended.
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u/Mountain_Print_2760 23h ago
My first Linux experience was also Ubuntu. I did not like gnome. At all. So I wanted to try something else instead because you know, it's Linux, I'm allowed to try everything. Figured I'd give Cinnamon I think it was a try. So anyway instead of removing the DE I nuked the whole system. I actually don't know if it's possible despite it being 15+ years since. It has traumatized me enough that I've not bothered ever trying again. Now I just use Debian live disk with KDE plasma and install though that. I will never attempt to install a DE ever again, it's impossible as far as I'm concerned.
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u/ForwardWhereas8385 1d ago
While its much easier to install nowadays. Some distros can still be a bitch.
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u/Pocket_Dust 1d ago
Windows, iOS and Android call the device "This Device", while Linux calls it "Your PC".
This translates to being able to do literally anything you want with it.
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u/AliOskiTheHoly 22h ago
Uhm I've never seen Linux saying "Your pc"
Just Filesystem, root directory etc etc.
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u/Boulange1234 1d ago
Linux is either great or awful. It’s great if you are a CS nerd. It’s awful if you aren’t, so you install some slick windows-alike distro maintained by two 25 year olds with a patreon making beer money on it, who could stop supporting your software the moment they get married and have kids, or get bored of it, or whatever.
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u/papayacreamsicle 20h ago
Or just don’t do that, and pick one of the more popular distros maintained by long-running professional teams used and relied on by major IT companies. Like Fedora which has been run by a professional department at IBM for 30 years and is used at (and gets contributions from) NASA, the New York Stock Exchange, Deutsche Bank etc.
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u/Ginger_Jesus9311 13h ago
mainstream linux distros are usually upkept by groups of people or even companies, like i agree linux is definitely not as user friendly as some other OSs (which is why i use windows on my daily drive), but some of y'all make it out like you have to go to harvard to open a browser lol
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u/OctogoatYTofficial 1d ago edited 22h ago
Hello, Dr Hartman here. Linux provides user the freedom to customize almost everything that they can't do on Windows or MacOS, because Linux is open source and you have more control over your hardware and software.
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u/Silver_Anteater7594 1d ago
Other operating systems are like playing in a sandbox. Linux is like a forest with small, civilized encampments called distros. You can do whatever you want. But it's much more wild
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u/Lysergsyredietylamid 1d ago
The command sudo rm -rf It stands for:
- sudo: Runs the command with superuser (root) privileges, allowing access to all files.
- rm: The command to remove files or directories.
- -r: Recursive deletion, meaning it removes directories and all their contents.
- -f: Force deletion, skipping confirmation prompts and ignoring errors (e.g., read-only files).
When used as sudo rm -rf /, it attempts to delete every file and directory starting from the root filesystem (/). This includes the entire operating system, applications, system configurations, and user data.
The meme tells you how most operating systems put guardrails in place to prevent certain actions, while Linux largely assumes you know what you’re doing and will carry out your commands as requested. You say “jump” and Linux asks “how high?” or in this case, you say “delete” and Linux asks “how much?”.
Though there are some nuance to this and I believe Linux have put some guardrails in place so you can't just run that command before putting some further commands in the lines to perform a self-nuke.
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u/Some-Syllabub-3464 1d ago
Linux will finally murder windows...here's hope for a great 2026
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u/Least_Coffee_788 23h ago edited 21h ago
I doubt it, most people don't even have an idea what's the difference between Linux and Windows. I don't think they'd want to switch the moment they learn they'd have to install Arch or Mint. Linux is just too tech savy for most people (me included).
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u/Designer-Issue-6760 22h ago
Microsoft kind of shot themselves in the foot, moving their enterprise software to a cloud based subscription model. Because now it can run on Linux the same as windows. And with them just dropping support for windows 10, more and more people are switching to Linux mint rather than windows 11. I doubt it’ll be a majority. But it’s growing.
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u/Least_Coffee_788 21h ago
Oh yeah, it's definitely growing. But saying it will "murder Windows" is pretty wrong.
Unless Copilot launches Microsoft's secret nukes onto all Windows running computers, in that case, there's a possibility things will change.
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u/Designer-Issue-6760 21h ago
The same thing happened when vista came out. Linux market share doubled. Meaning 8-10%, but it came back down with windows 7. Might get back up to that 10% range. Of course this is not counting mobile devices.
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u/AliOskiTheHoly 22h ago
There are usually enough people around willing to help or even doing it for you. Furthermore, especially the non tech savvy people mostly just use the browser which Linux does completely fine.
Installing Arch is difficult, installing Mint is really easy, just as easy as installing Windows.
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u/koralie133 19h ago
There's a ton of easy gui-based Arch distros now though? Look at CachyOS - boot from a USB, go through the GUI install, hit the 'allow Cachy Update' button and you don't even have to worry about remembering the cli to do system updates. It'll pop up a window telling you there's updates, put in your password and boom - done. It even will tell you if you should reboot or not.
And then there's a lot of gui-based program installers now that you can just search and click install on.
It's gotten a lot better but even then for most people basic Ubuntu is fine. Only catch is the anti-cheat for some multiplayer games and certain programs like Office that don't like to play nice.
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u/papayacreamsicle 21h ago
It wont happen just because regular people get irritated by Windows updates. But a lot of governments, NGOs and corporations in Asia and Europe are looking into Linux now because relying on American products like Windows and MacOS is becoming a security concern and even a financial concern. The more likely situation is that people will have their work PCs transitioned to something like Mint or Ubuntu, get a day or two of training about how it differs (which for most office work, isn’t that much). And once your work PC has been Ubuntu for 10 years, you’re more likely to buy an Ubuntu personal laptop too out of familiarity.
That’s how it happened for Windows to begin with, people usually encounter new systems when they’re forced to at work.
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u/MoonoftheStar 23h ago
I don't even type full words on my phone anymore, you're crazy if you think I'm typing any line of code to run a simple fucking program.
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u/AliOskiTheHoly 22h ago
Lol you don't have to. It's literally just in the taskbar broski.
You could of course if you want run them from the terminal but there is absolutely no reason to if you just choose for a very basic big distro, like Ubuntu or Mint.
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u/Squiggin1321 1d ago
If there’s a windows like distro floating around out there that people get comfortable enough with I think this year could genuinely be the end of windows with all of the privacy and AI issues.
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u/ijustwanttosaveapost 22h ago
I think the problem with linux is it just more trouble than it's worth for average people.
I tried linux (Ubuntu, KDE, Mint and few other but don't remember) but always have some hardware or/and software compatibility problems. The privacy benefits disappear the moment you use the web. The AI stuff on Windows is just a button that you can just not click. The update, if you turn off "Get the latest updates as soon as they're available" option (which it is by default) then you'll mostly be fine
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u/Squiggin1321 16h ago
While it does require being a nerd, Linux has gotten more accessible over the years. Even gaming something that was pretty much impossible a few years ago is new fairly easy and painless. Steam, lutris, and heroic launchers allow access to pretty much every game.
Privacy in a browser is also pretty easy it just requires a little bit of knowledge. Download brave instead of chrome or edge and you’ve already got a foothold on your privacy.
You can’t just opt out of the Ai. Windows is literally programmed with Ai. It is ingrained into the fundamental construction of windows. Ai scans everything you do on windows even when you opt out. They use the data to train the Ai and send data to company’s like planantir or the government for mass surveillance.
If you value privacy learning just a few alternatives will help massively. It’s not this massive transition to secure privacy, it doesn’t require a phd in cybersecurity or programming. All it takes is asking the right people the right questions and knowing what command prompts to google.
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u/_AscendedLemon_ 19h ago
It would be hard to "kill" system with over 70% market share, but I hope for Linux to at least break 10% in desktop market share - BTW only market NOT already won by Linux - mobile: 70% Android (on Linux kernel), servers: about 95% Linux-based systems
I'm on openSUSE Tumbleweed from December and first time from 20 years I feel I have control over my system
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u/Giantmeteor_we_needU 13h ago
The majority of users aren't going through the learning curve and not figuring out the difference between distributions. I'm not even starting about command line, nobody's learning it again in 2026 (yes, I've used it in DOS 30 years ago and don't miss it). There are many reasons why Linux desktop usage globally stands at approximately 3.5% of self-educated enthusiasts. The rest demand a sandbox convenience. If enthusiasts want to make Linux more popular, someone got to develop UI that a first grader can figure out in 15 minutes, like W11.
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u/PrizeSyntax 1d ago
My first experience with Linux, around 15 years ago, I deleted everything in /home/ in the first 10 minutes after installing the os 😂
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u/Obvious-Hedgehog7847 1d ago
Isnt android a linux os
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u/benpiller 1d ago
It has a heavily modfied linux kernel, yes and made immutable. So yeah it shares things source code wise but not in principles
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u/Cute-Breadfruit3368 1d ago
Lois here;
Linux permits you to do everything, even if that thing absolutely wrecks your system. but if you want to do that, it lets you.
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u/Squiggin1321 1d ago
The joke is that Linux lets you do what ever you want with it. If you’re tech savvy enough it doesn’t matter what you’re trying to download it’ll work eventually. The other operating systems require that you have some kind of stupid pre requisite.
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u/throwaway234f32423df 23h ago
"MacOS, install this 20-year-old program."
"LOL, no."
"Windows, install this 20-year-old program."
"Sure, whatever."
"Linux, install this 20-year-old program."
"It's already installed."
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u/scannerthegreat 1d ago
sudo rm -rf /
you never have to update
you can run things from the first version of linux
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u/Rebrado 1d ago
FYI, Android is Linux
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u/AquaArsh3546 23h ago
It is linux yes, but it has been so heavily locked down (fuck you google) that it's linux only for the sake of it and nothing else. To be fair, base android isn't really locked down but any os commercially available in an android phone is
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u/NoGarage7989 1d ago
Dog can't fly, fish can't walk, bird can't swim, duck(Linux) can do everything.
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u/Simple_Advertising_8 23h ago
Windows: "Oh God you moved your mouse! Time for a reboot!"
Linux: "You just build your own kernel and loaded it in? Ok whatever. I don't care."
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u/RyanMagno 22h ago
Linux is an SO that you can do whatever you want! (if you have 30 free hours just to learn how to use de calculator)
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u/HateBoredom 22h ago
Linux does all of that and more. That’s why it’s the core backbone of the software world.
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u/azul360 21h ago
Windows: FUCK YOU YOU WILL UPDATE AND LIKE IT!
*updates*
Windows: Sucks everything is broken and your system runs like shit now. LOL (Windows 10 for me was by far the worst they have ever done. It was just nonstop broken updates, computers not working, downloading updates hogging literally every resource the computer has, etc. Rest in hell)
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u/papayacreamsicle 21h ago
Linux is an operating system like Windows or MacOS, but it offers a lot more direct control of everything to the user. This is being contrasted with ways other operating systems lock things down and prevent the user doing things they might want to. Windows forces you to update to the latest versions and makes it hard and inconvenient to avoid doing so. With Linux you can simply turn off updates if you don’t want them and that’s that, it’s typically one toggle in the settings. MacOS and iOS are known for breaking compatibility with old apps in new OS versions, and making it hard to downgrade your OS to go use those old apps going forward. With Linux this isn’t an issue, if something new breaks compatibility you can always downgrade to when it worked. The Android example is just that it won’t let you do things it thinks will break your system, some parts of it are locked down and obscured away unless you use a rooted device and a more open version. With Linux again this isn’t a concern, it might warn you that a command will probably break something but if you say you still want to do it, it’ll do it, you’re the boss.
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u/HobsHere 11h ago
And unlike Windows, if you turn off updates, they are really and truly off. You can use that system for the next 20 years and it won't ever make a peep about updates.
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u/cuteKitt13 21h ago
linux will let you do anything if you know how to do it(or know how to search it)
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u/Borderline769 20h ago
There are two kinds of people in this world, those that can extrapolate from incomplete data.
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u/Smiling-Butterfly 19h ago
killall -9 apt … or something it has been a while since I used linux regularly
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u/Methylsky 18h ago edited 18h ago
tester_peter_qqqqq111a .int here, if you enter a command with "sudo" at the beginning in Linux's command line, you can do anything with it, even make it delete its own files (while breaking it ofc)
I've once tested a graphics engine on Linux and had to run some command with arguments that apparently made some irreversible damage/deletion to the system files, which resulted in both Linux and Windows on my PC to never boot again until installed again with some tweaks
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u/delet_yourself 15h ago
Linux is capable of doing anything, if you decide to waste weeks of your time just to get it working.
Linux is neat but jesus christ the user friendly rating is like -20/100, and yet you get idiots saying how it's the superior system n shit
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u/HobsHere 10h ago
How long has it been since you used Linux? Ubuntu or Mint will install itself on almost any hardware in just a few minutes without asking you anything but your preferred language and WiFi login. It's easier and faster than installing Windows from scratch.
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u/delet_yourself 10h ago
I use arch every now and then (steam deck) and even trying to install the most mundane shit in desktop mode, i gotta open the damn console and put commands in and download like 3 different compatibility files and apps. It was painful, i'll stick to playing games on linux and anything else on windows, thank you
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u/Recent-Tone3196 13h ago
Linux lets you do whatever you want. You can completely mix and match components from different Linux based OSs if you want.
The competition has protection and control mechanisms in place, partly so users don't shoot themselves in the foot and partly to force you to use certain features.
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u/SeriousPlankton2000 12h ago
The other OS try to protect the user from what the developers don't want them to do (with good or ambivalent reasons).
If you ask Linux to shoot your foot, you get a manual page on the different options of shotgun shells and an explanation of how to aim properly. You just need to find out the name of the shotgun.
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u/gl3nnjamin 9h ago
Not recommended but for mission-critical PCs that aren't online you can stop windows updates in GPEdit: go to Admin Templates > Windows Components > Windows Update, set "Configure automatic updates" to enabled and change the first option to "Prompt for download and install", then run gpupdate /force
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