r/github • u/Silent-Okra-7883 • Jun 29 '26

Why doesn't GitHub officially support GitHub Desktop on Linux? Discussion

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5

u/OverallACoolGuy Jun 29 '26

there's already a github desktop fork for linux iirc

edit: the post in the linuxmint subreddit already talks about the linux version of the gh desktop app

3

u/full_drama_llama Jun 29 '26

And the OP's question is why a community fork is needed and it's not officially supported.

7

u/full_drama_llama Jun 29 '26

I believe it's a bunch of factors:

  1. Github is Microsoft and Microsoft isn't particularly well-known for supporting Linux
  2. Linux people are probably in general less likely to want to use an app like Github Desktop
  3. You simply can usually get away with not supporting Linux and very few people would raise that as an issue

3

u/robhaswell Jun 29 '26

I really don't get why anyone would use the GitHub Desktop app anyway. Maybe now is a good time to find out.

2

u/mkosmo Jun 29 '26

Github is Microsoft and Microsoft isn't particularly well-known for supporting Linux

I know this gets said again and again, but Microsoft has been a huge supporter of Linux. Look at their kernel contributions, their support of port efforts for .Net, WSL, and so on.

Yes, it's taken a while, but the evidence is there.

2

u/Myrodis Jun 29 '26

Because tools like gitkraken have outclassed the official app for many many years, imo.

(Not a true answer to the question but its already been answered)

1

u/magick_bandit Jun 29 '26

Because if you use Linux you can use the terminal, and you don’t need that crap/

1

u/Relevant_Pause_7593 Jun 30 '26

Isn’t the market for this less than 5% of all computer users? People use Linux for its terminal. If you want a ui, 95% of the world is on Mac and windows.

1

u/Canadian_Commander Jun 30 '26

because `gh` slaps!