SerpentOS is an original Linux distribution launched by Ikey Doherty of SolusLinux, which has been pursuing its own package management system and new innovations in the field of Linux distributions. While there have been some recent successes and new development releases, SerpentOS feature development is expected to slow down due to a lack of project funding.
SerpentOS reached alpha status in late 2024, while its development has been underway for several years. Since mid-2022, Ikey Doherty has been developing Solus Linux full-time after working as a Mozilla Thunderbird developer. While working at SolusLinux, Ikey also worked on ClearLinux and other work for Intel.
While SerpentOS is making good progress with its alpha release and features like offline rollback and writing more software in Rust, it unfortunately encounters the most common challenge in the open source world: funding can't keep up with the work.
The SerpentOS project announced yesterday at X that development would be "delayed" due to lack of funding:
Ikey later elaborated on the project's lack of funding on LinkedIn, saying it has "zero funding" and is now looking for work elsewhere unless new funding/sponsorship is secured for SerpentOS:
This is an unfortunate occurrence that often happens in the open source world. Hopefully some solution can be found to resume improvements to these low-level Linux distributions at full speed.