// Tracklist

1. SLS

   Nineteen ‘93, summer heat in the Midwest Patrick at the terminal, running one more test Softlanding Linux System, S-L-S was the name But the bugs were piling high, and the install was a shame Every patch he submitted got ignored or lost So he took the source himself and paid the cost Fixed the broken pieces, made the system run Didn’t know that thirty years of work had just begun

   S-L-S was broken, so he built it right Slackware rose from S-L-S in the Minnesota night No committees, no meetings, no corporate oversight Just one man and his vision burning bright

   July seventeenth, version one went live Floppy disks and tar balls, watching it survive Named it after slack, from the Sub-Genius creed Freedom from the nonsense, give a hacker what he needs No dependency solver, you learn it or you break Every package standalone, that’s the choice you make you-nicks philosophy pure, nothing in between The simplest distribution that the world had ever seen

   S-L-S was broken, so he built it right Slackware rose from S-L-S in the Minnesota night No committees, no meetings, no corporate oversight Just one man and his vision burning bright

   They said it wouldn’t last, too minimal to grow But Patrick kept on patching through the rain and snow No V-C money chasing, no acquisition dreams Just a coder in the heartland stitching at the seams

   S-L-S is forgotten now, a footnote in the past But Slackware’s still releasing, built to last Sometimes all it takes is one who gives a damn To fix what’s broken, build a better plan From the ashes of a system that nobody maintained Came the oldest living distro, and the purest that remained Patrick took the slack, turned it into code And thirty years later, still carrying the load

   S-L-S was broken, so he built it right Slackware rose from S-L-S in the Minnesota night No committees, no meetings, no corporate oversight Just one man and his vision burning bright

2. Deb + Ian

   August ninety-three, Ian wrote a manifesto Twenty-two years old with a vision to invest though Software should be free, development wide open No corporation gatekeeping what you’re hoping Debra was his girl, so he named it for them both Deb plus Ian, Debian, a programmer’s oath The Social Contract written down for all to see If you use it, you can change it, that’s the guarantee

   Deb plus Ian, a love story in code Deb plus Ian, the heaviest load Built a foundation that the world would know Then December came with the falling snow

   Thousands of maintainers joined the cause Building packages, fixing flaws No single company could own the stack The community had the community’s back Apt-get install, dependencies resolved Every problem that you had got solved Ubuntu forked it, made it pretty for the masses But Debian stayed pure for the upper classes

   Deb plus Ian, a love story in code Deb plus Ian, the heaviest load Built a foundation that the world would know Then December came with the falling snow

   December twenty-fifteen, San Francisco cold Ian’s Twitter cried for help, a story never told The founder of the movement, the writer of the dream Taken by the darkness, nothing’s what it seems But the code keeps running, servers never sleep A million installations, promises to keep

   They say he was troubled, they say he was stressed Building Docker, always chasing for the best But the manifesto lives beyond the man who wrote it Every Debian install is a way to show it Twenty years of packages, stability supreme The most forked distro powering every dream Ian’s name embedded in the letters D-E-B His legacy is every server running free

   Deb plus Ian Forever in the code

3. The Hat

   Grandpa wore that hat at Cornell lacrosse games That old red cap, nothing fancy, didn’t need a name Got it from his grandpa, wore it in the lab Helping folks with Linux, never charged a tab “Hey, where’s the guy in the red hat?” that’s what they said Walking through the campus with that color on his head Didn’t know that cap would build a billion-dollar throne Just a kid helping strangers, never working alone

   The hat, the hat, the red hat on his head The hat, the hat, that’s how the legend spread From the help desk straight to fortune and fame The guy in the red hat changed the game Nothing was the same

   Ninety-four in North Carolina, cooking up the code Red Hat Software born on that Carolina road Marc YOO-ing had the code, Bob had the funds One built the system, one made it run Joined their forces, made the perfect fit Marc built the distro, Bob made it legit Called it Red Hat Linux, logo on the box Open source was coming and it was gonna rock

   The hat, the hat, the red hat on his head The hat, the hat, that’s how the legend spread From the help desk straight to fortune and fame The guy in the red hat changed the game Nothing was the same

   August eleventh, nineteen ninety-nine I-P-O at fourteen, watch the numbers climb Tripled by the closing bell, fifty-two a share Wall Street finally noticed, open source was there First I-P-O of its kind, proving doubters wrong Selling free software, yeah, the model’s strong

   That red hat sits in Raleigh now, behind the glass A reminder that the biggest things grow from what you pass Twenty-nineteen I-B-M came knocking at the door Thirty-four billion dollars, biggest deal in lore Did they sell out or prove the dream was real? Corporate or community, what’s the deal? A grandpa’s lacrosse hat at a college game Now the biggest open source acquisition by name

   The hat, the hat Thirty-four billion for the hat

4. Chameleon

   September ninety-two in FURT they gathered Four German students, a vision that mattered Roland, Thomas, Burchard, and Hubert made four Building S-U-S-E on the Bavarian floor Precision engineering in the code they wrote One of the oldest commercial distros of note The chameleon mascot, changing to survive Little did they know how many changes would arrive

   The chameleon changes colors but it’s still alive The chameleon adapts so it can survive Five different owners couldn’t kill the dream German engineering, nothing’s what it seems Still alive, still alive

   Two thousand three, No-vell wrote a check Two hundred ten million on the deck Hubert couldn’t take it, resigned in protest “This isn’t the company, not what I thought best” But the code kept running, servers kept on serving Attachmate bought No-vell, the carousel was swerving Micro Focus next, then E-Q-T stepped in Twenty-nineteen independent, born again

   The chameleon changes colors but it’s still alive The chameleon adapts so it can survive Five different owners couldn’t kill the dream German engineering, nothing’s what it seems Still alive, still alive

   Hubert came back, couldn’t stay away Founder in his blood, had to save the day Few companies change hands so many times And still keep shipping, always on the climb Open SUE-zuh for the community free Enterprise SUE-zuh for the company Both still running, both still strong The chameleon’s been adapting all along

   From Nuremberg to global, billion-dollar plays Thirty years of owners, thirty years of praise Some call it unstable, ownership unclear But the chameleon’s still standing, year after year Adapt or die, that’s what they say The chameleon chose to adapt every day German roots still holding, code still clean Most resilient distro that you’ve ever seen

   The chameleon Still alive Still alive The chameleon

5. Magic

   July ninety-eight, Guy-EL had a vision Fork Red Hat, make it easy, user-friendly mission Mandrake Linux born in Paris that summer Drag and drop installing, couldn’t be much smoother Way to use the system, even grandma could try France had a Linux, watch the penguin fly User-friendly champion of the early years Before the competition came and brought the tears

   Mandrake magic fading from the scene Nothing ever’s quite what it seems Their own government chose the other side Seventy thousand machines, the magic died Mandrake

   Two thousand four, a shuttle-worth of cash South African billionaire made a splash Ubuntu shipping free CDs across the world Every mailbox opened, every flag unfurled Mandrake couldn’t match that marketing might No billion dollars burning through the night Ship-It program flooding every home While France was building something of their own

   Mandrake magic fading from the scene Nothing ever’s quite what it seems Their own government chose the other side Seventy thousand machines, the magic died Mandrake

   Two thousand eight, the killing blow French Zhon-dar-muh-ree, don’t you know Seventy thousand computers switching over But not to Man-dree-vah, the French four-leaf clover They chose Ubuntu, the foreign brand While Man-dree-vah withered in its homeland Liquidated twenty-fifteen, offices dark Another distro fading like a dying spark

   Guy-EL watched it happen, couldn’t stop the fall Built something user-friendly, gave it all But a billionaire’s money, a government’s choice Drowned out the local, drowned out the voice Muh-jay-uh rose from ashes, volunteers remain Open Man-dree-vah carries on the name But the lesson lingers in the code and pain You can build the best, still lose the game

   Mandrake Mandrake Their own government chose the other side

6. Compile

   Daniel Robbins had a vision, pure and clean Every package compiled, nothing in between JEN-too penguin, fastest swimmer in the sea Named for the penguin, speed was the key POR-tij building, source code flowing down Configure, make, install, the purist’s crown Hours of waiting while the CPU runs hot But when it’s done, perfection’s what you’ve got

   Compile, compile, wait for it to build Compile, compile, every flag fulfilled U-S-E flags set exactly right Your system, your way, worth the wait all night Compile

   Twenty-oh-four, Robbins stepped away Foundation took over, different day Twenty-oh-five, the community was stunned Daniel joined Microsoft, shocking everyone “Help them understand,” that was the plan he spun But the culture clash, it couldn’t be undone Less than a year, he walked back out the door Frustrated, done, couldn’t take it anymore

   Compile, compile, wait for it to build Compile, compile, every flag fulfilled U-S-E flags set exactly right Your system, your way, worth the wait all night Compile

   FUN-too rose in twenty-oh-seven Daniel back to building, coder’s heaven But the strangest legacy none could foresee Chrome O-S runs on JEN-too secretly Every Chromebook, underneath the sheen JEN-too’s POR-tij, compile machine Google took the recipe, baked their bread The penguin’s swimming, far from dead

   They call it old school, too much work to do Why compile when packages come pre-made for you But the purists know that optimization wins Every cycle saved is where performance begins JEN-too’s not for everyone, that’s the deal Roll your own, make your system real From source to binary, yours and yours alone The fastest penguin built your custom throne

   Compile, compile Your system, your way Worth the wait Compile

7. Rollin

   Two thousand two, Canadian coder had a plan Judd vih-NAY said “I’ll build it clean as I can” Tired of the bloat, tired of the weight Every other distro carrying what you hate Stripped it to the core, nothing but the base Pacman pulling packages, keeping up the pace Rollin release model, never reinstall Just keep updating, answer every call

   Rollin, rollin Never looking back Rollin, rollin Staying on the track No versions, no releases, just the bleeding edge Keep it simple stupid, that’s the Arch pledge Rollin

   “I use Arch, by the way” became a meme Ee-LEE-tist reputation, or so it would seem But the truth is simpler, reed and you’ll learn No hand-holding here, that’s not a concern The Wiki rose up, best docs ever made Not just for Arch users, everybody stayed Ubuntu, Debian, even JEN-too heads Come to read the words the Arch community spreads

   Rollin, rollin Never looking back Rollin, rollin Staying on the track No versions, no releases, just the bleeding edge Keep it simple stupid, that’s the Arch pledge Rollin

   Oh-seven, Vinet walked away Moved on to live another day Aaron Griffin took the wheel Kept the rollin, kept it real Twenty-twenty, Griffin done Now the community’s the one No single leader, just the code Rollin forward, sharing the load

   Steam Deck running Arch inside Valve bet big on the rollin tide man-JAR-oh, Endeavour, derivatives grow Built on foundations Vinet laid below Twenty years later, still on the rise Minimalist vision, no compromise Not for everyone, that was always known But those who get it found their home

   B-T-W I use Arch Rollin, rollin Always moving, never stop Rollin

8. Humanity

   I am because we are, that’s the meaning of the name A philosophy from Africa before the software came oo-BOON-too in Zulu means humanity to man The spirit of connection, that was always the plan Mark had the money, half a billion in the bank Coulda bought an island, coulda bought a tank But he looked at Linux, saw a gift that wasn’t shared Saw a million users stuck because nobody cared

   Humanity, it’s not about the code Humanity, it’s lightening the load Humanity, I am because you are oo-BOON-too spreading Linux like a rising star

   Forked it from Debian, kept the package base intact Added polish, added vision, that’s the Canonical pact Linux for human beings, not just hackers in the night Make the terminal friendly, make the desktop right Twenty-oh-four in October, first release hit the net Warty Warthog ugly but the best you could get Every six months dropping, like clockwork on the dot Building something bigger than the money that he’d got

   Humanity, it’s not about the code Humanity, it’s lightening the load Humanity, I am because you are oo-BOON-too spreading Linux like a rising star

   From VEL-kom to the world, from the veld up to the stars The circle is unbroken, connecting near and far Not a charity, a mission, give the tools away What good is all that money if you don’t light the way? Second space tourist, first AF-roh-nawt in the sky Eight days on the station, watching Africa fly by Came back down to Earth with a vision from above Put Linux in the hands of everyone with love

   Ship-It dot Ubuntu, fill your name and address out A week later at your doorstep, there ain’t no doubt Free CDs in the mail, yeah, we ship it worldwide From Cape Town to Tokyo, nothing left to hide Twenty million discs we sent, yeah we rose above Every one a convert, spreading Linux love Critics said he’d fail, open source don’t pay the bills But a billion downloads later, yeah, we climbing hills

   Humanity I am because we are Humanity Ubuntu

9. Five Megabytes

   NAT-an-eye-el KO-pah, two thousand five Built a tiny distro just to keep routers alive Running from the RAM, disposable design Reinstall on every boot, everything’s fine Muscle not g-lib-c, BIZ-ee-box inside Every megabyte trimmed, nothing left to hide Routers in the closet, firewalls at the edge Alpine was a secret, just a tiny wedge

   Five megabytes, that’s all it takes Five megabytes, no mistakes Ubuntu four hundred, Alpine five The smallest distro, but it’s alive Five megabytes running the cloud Five megabytes, silent but loud

   Docker came around, containers on the rise Image sizes bloating, everybody cries Ubuntu base was heavy, hundreds megs of weight Then someone tried Alpine, and it changed their fate From four hundred megabytes down to just five The smallest footprint, containers thrive Docker noticed, gave Copa a call Hired him directly, Alpine for all

   Five megabytes, that’s all it takes Five megabytes, no mistakes Ubuntu four hundred, Alpine five The smallest distro, but it’s alive Five megabytes running the cloud Five megabytes, silent but loud

   Disposable, he called it, reinstalled every boot Matches containers perfectly, that’s the root Ephemeral systems, nothing left behind When you’re building billions, every byte’s designed Now the default image for the Docker way Billions of containers, running every day You never see it, never know it’s there Five megabytes of Alpine in the air

   They said it’s too small, too niche to survive But less is more when your containers thrive No one knows the name behind the smallest king NAT-an-eye-el built the base for everything Running in the cloud on Alpine’s tiny frame The distro nobody knew became a household name Well, household for the coders, for the dev-ops crew Five megabytes of Alpine, running just for you

   Five megabytes Running everything Five megabytes The invisible king

10. Cinnamon

    Clement had a mission back in oh-six Linux for beginners, something that just clicks Mint green interface, Cinnamon so sweet Works right out the box, making life complete Ubuntu underneath but polished to a shine Grandma could install it, everything’s fine Growing every year, millions came along Linux Mint was friendly, Linux Mint was strong

    Cinnamon sweet, until the bitter day February twentieth, hackers came to play Everything we trusted, everything we knew Backdoored in the download, what do we do?

    WordPress vulnerability, they got inside Replaced the I-S-Os with malware worldwide Tsunami botnet hiding in the code Anyone who downloaded carried the load Forum database stolen, passwords leaked Sold for eighty-five dollars, futures bleak Bul-GAIR-ee-uh the source, so-FEE-ah the town Clement watched his kingdom almost going down

    Cinnamon sweet, until the bitter day February twentieth, hackers came to play Everything we trusted, everything we knew Backdoored in the download, what do we do?

    He took it all offline, every single page Burned the house to stop the fire’s rage Rebuilt from the ground up, verified each bit Came back to the community, refusing to quit Transparency in crisis, showed them every crack Told the world exactly how they got hacked Trust was broken, but he earned it back Mint kept running, getting back on track

    Now they verify the hashes, triple-check the source Security got stronger through the force Of a crisis that could’ve killed the dream But Clement held it together at the seams Millions still use Mint, the flavor can’t be beat The hack’s a distant memory, they’re back on their feet Learn from what went wrong, build it back up right Mint’s still shining through the darkest night

    Cinnamon Sweeter for the struggle Cinnamon Rising from the rubble

11. The Dragon

    Muts in the shadows, two thousand four WHOP-icks on Knoppix, opening the door Security toolkit, everything you need To break into systems, plant the seed WHAX came next, then Auditor merged in BackTrack was born, let the games begin Offensive Security, O-S-C-P The certification proving you can break free

    The dragon awakens, Kali takes flight Wings spread wide in the digital night March thirteenth, twenty-thirteen The deadliest distro that you’ve ever seen Kali, Kali, breathe the fire Every system burns, climbing higher

    From a forum contest, the beast was born A stolen design, but they paid for the form N-map and MET-uh-sploit ready to deploy Wireshark and Burp Suite, pen-tester’s toy Aircrack for the wireless, John for the hash Hydra for the passwords, making systems crash Not for the script kiddies, learn before you fly Black hat or white hat, the dragon don’t lie

    The dragon awakens, Kali takes flight Wings spread wide in the digital night March thirteenth, twenty-thirteen The deadliest distro that you’ve ever seen Kali, Kali, breathe the fire Every system burns, climbing higher

    DEF CON and Black Hat, the conferences call Kali on the laptops, hackers standing tall Training a generation how to break the locks Ethical intrusion, thinking outside the box But twenty-nineteen, Muts walked away Left his dragon flying, different day The beast keeps on hunting without its maker near Kali’s still burning, year after year

    Root access granted, that’s the goal The dragon’s got the claws to take control Port scans running, vulnerabilities found Exploits executing, making no sound They call us criminals, we call it research Finding every weakness, completing the search Scales of the dragon, fire and design Building defenses one exploit at a time

    Kali, Kali Breathe the fire Destruction as creation Taking systems higher

12. The Betrayal

    December eighth, twenty-twenty, the hammer fell Red Hat killed SENT-oss, sent it straight to hell Eight years early, roadmap torn apart Stream ain’t stable, that’s a broken heart Enterprise depended on that free rail clone Now I-B-M said you’re on your own Forum lit on fire, Twitter lost its mind “Unprecedented betrayal” of the open source kind

    The betrayal, the betrayal Corporate greed will always fail The betrayal, but we don’t break Rising up for Rocky’s sake Named for the dead, fighting for the living The community keeps on giving

    Four days later, Gregory stood tall Original SENT-oss founder heard the call “We will rebuild what they tore down” Rocky Linux rising, wearing the crown Named it for his partner, Rocky muh-GAW Who passed away, but his spirit saw Every line of code that Gregory wrote Rocky’s legacy keeping hope afloat

    The betrayal, the betrayal Corporate greed will always fail The betrayal, but we don’t break Rising up for Rocky’s sake Named for the dead, fighting for the living The community keeps on giving

    GitHub trending number one that night Thirty thousand stars, the future bright AL-muh-Linux too, “soul” in Spanish means Multiple forks rising from the dreams June twenty-twenty-three, they struck again Red Hat locked the source, but we remain CERN chose Alma, Fermilab the same The scientists know who’s playing games

    They thought they’d kill it, thought we’d go away But open source will always find a way Rocky for the dead, Alma for the soul The community’s taking back control From the ashes of the broken trust We build again because we must Red Hat took the money, I-B-M’s check But the penguins always rise from the wreck

    The betrayal couldn’t kill the dream Rocky’s running, Alma’s on the team For the community, for the code For the fallen, carrying the load We persist We persist We persist