What does HackerNews think of libobjc2?

Objective-C runtime library intended for use with Clang.

Language: C

#6 in Swift
GNUStep now has badges | Aug 2023
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> Question: is Objective-C post 2.0 being actively maintained outside of Apple?

Yes as part of the GNUStep project [1]. You can compile Objective-C with Clang for any platform, including Windows, and link with the GNUStep Obj-C runtime. The big problem is outside of GNUStep and macOS you won't have any frameworks - not even NSString.

> I loved Objective-C very much (yes, really) and I'd like to continue using it after Apple phases it out

You're not alone. Unlike C++, Obj-C was a reasonable OO extension to C. It's a shame the language never received more love.

[1] https://github.com/gnustep/libobjc2
Design Principles Behind Smalltalk (1981) | Jun 2020
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GNUstep being LGPL has as much adverse impact on developers as Apple's implementation being proprietary. (I.e., none.) It's the _LGPL_ after all, not the GPL.

GNUstep has also moved to GitHub and seems to favor the the MIT license nowadays where possible (e.g., libobjc2)[1][2].

1. https://github.com/gnustep/libobjc2

2. http://etoileos.com/dev/licensing/
GNUstep LiveCD 2017 | Aug 2017
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Including libobjc2, which is a substantial improvement over the old GNU implementation. And it's MIT licensed!

https://github.com/gnustep/libobjc2
Dynamic Swift | May 2016
> Leaning on the Objective-C runtime feels like a temporary solution because it only exists on the Mac and iOS.

That's not entirely true; libobjc2[0] exists, for example, and is fully compatible with objc4.

[0]: https://github.com/gnustep/libobjc2