There appears to be a rush a disgruntled Linux users switching to NetBSD:

https://mastodon.sdf.org/@netbsd/117451701775023949

They even got a ton of new donations (which, funnily, broke their little progress bar):

https://cannot.understand.computer/kunev/p/1791449917.947134

So… donations for @netbsd@netbsd over the last few years look like this:

2020 - $46k
2021 - $52k
2022 - $44k
2023 - $60k
2024 - $40k
2025 - $79k

And in 2026 $120k so far!

And why is all that? Because of this:

Do not commit tainted code to the repository.

If you commit code that was not written by yourself, double check that the license on that code permits import into the NetBSD source repository, and permits free distribution. Check with the author(s) of the code, make sure that they were the sole author of the code and verify with them that they did not copy any other code.

Code generated by a large language model or similar technology, such as GitHub/Microsoft’s Copilot, OpenAI’s ChatGPT, or Facebook/Meta’s Code Llama, is presumed to be tainted code, and must not be committed without prior written approval by core.

https://www.netbsd.org/developers/commit-guidelines.html

This official guideline is much more “tame” and “diplomatic” than the overall “vibe” (sic) on the Fediverse: NetBSD basically says no to AI as much as possible.

And, apparently, this attracts lots of users and donors. Maybe there’s still some hope after all?