Sporks
sporks.space · Personal blog · on HN since 2020
Sporks writes about operating systems, software portability, Linux, Rust, RISC-V and chat platform design.
What HN saysHN commenters often cite its Win32-as-stable-Linux-ABI essay in debates about Linux app compatibility, and a chat platform design post.
19HN people shared it
4linked it in comments
39stories submitted
889story points
3 months agolast shared
2020people per year2026
Most-shared posts
- 1Win32 is the stable Linux userland ABI (and the consequences)4 people · 336 points · first shared 2022 · 241 comments on HN
- 2A few design decisions for a new chat platform4 people · 4 points · first shared 2026 · discussion on HN
- 3Is Linux collapsing under its own weight? On Rust for Linux3 people · 21 points · first shared 2024 · 5 comments on HN
- 4Tips for installing Windows 98 in QEMU/UTM2 people · 130 points · first shared 2025 · 32 comments on HN
- 5RISC-V isn’t as interesting as you think2 people · 123 points · first shared 2021 · 151 comments on HN
- 6My experience at community college2 people · 103 points · first shared 2022 · 95 comments on HN
- 7Portable software is more complex than you think2 people · 77 points · first shared 2021 · 24 comments on HN
- 8Sleeping through a decade of Cocoa: Retrospective from modernizing an old Mac a2 people · 5 points · first shared 2024 · discussion on HN
- 9Potemkin Villages and the Autocracy of Design2 people · 4 points · first shared 2021 · discussion on HN
- 10There is no 64-bit type in C892 people · 4 points · first shared 2021 · discussion on HN
- 11Mastodon is crumbling – and it will only get worse1 people · 41 points · first shared 2021 · 63 comments on HN
- 12Why ThinkPads are overrated and misunderstood1 people · 11 points · first shared 2021 · 6 comments on HN
- 13Poor schemas, poor cataloguing: why music tagging sucks1 people · 8 points · first shared 2023 · 1 comments on HN
- 14It never had to be like this: the Git “index”1 people · 3 points · first shared 2021 · discussion on HN
- 15Downgrading binary packages with pkg on FreeBSD1 people · 3 points · first shared 2022 · discussion on HN
What HN people wrote when they linked it
aleph_minus_one · 2025-10-09
> My recommendation for happiness with Linux is: Always use native apps. Don’t use WINE. Don’t try to be compatible to inherent hostile things.
Rather: don't try to be compatible with inherently unstable APIs:
https://sporks.space/2022/02/27/win32-is-the-stable-linux-userland-abi…
https://blog.hiler.eu/win32-the-only-stable-abi/
Just to be clear: I consider it to be a good idea to write native apps for GNU/Linux, but first stabilize the APIs so that they stay basically stable for at least 20 years.
______-_-______ · 2022-02-28
I love comparing these kinds of comments to articles like this: https://sporks.space/2022/02/27/win32-is-the-stable-linux-userland-abi…
You really think businesses like Repography should just ignore the OS with 80% marketshare?
crabmusket · 2026-02-10
Sure, but I think this article makes a good point: there's a demographic that uses voice chat as more of a space, not an event: https://sporks.space/2026/02/10/a-few-design-decisions-for-a-new-chat-…
Barrin92 · 2023-08-19
Yes. Someone blogged about this last year and it generated a lot of discussion here as well.
https://sporks.space/2022/02/27/win32-is-the-stable-linux-userland-abi…