this post was submitted on 14 Jul 2023
154 points (97.0% liked)
Linux
48329 readers
1259 users here now
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Linux is a family of open source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991 by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged in a Linux distribution (or distro for short).
Distributions include the Linux kernel and supporting system software and libraries, many of which are provided by the GNU Project. Many Linux distributions use the word "Linux" in their name, but the Free Software Foundation uses the name GNU/Linux to emphasize the importance of GNU software, causing some controversy.
Rules
- Posts must be relevant to operating systems running the Linux kernel. GNU/Linux or otherwise.
- No misinformation
- No NSFW content
- No hate speech, bigotry, etc
Related Communities
Community icon by Alpár-Etele Méder, licensed under CC BY 3.0
founded 5 years ago
MODERATORS
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
view the rest of the comments
I've been using Arch Linux as a daily driver for about two years I believe. As with any other distribution, it depends on the user's preferences, experience and needs, whether or not I'll recommend them Arch.
What I like the most about Arch is the customization from the ground up, the rich, detailed and yet user-friendly Arch Wiki, the AUR (although one shouldn't depend on it too much) and that after the installation everything seems more trouble-free than the distributions I've tried before. Arch almost never broke for me and even then fixing the issues weren't a big problem. It's not as difficult as it is often portrayed.
Nor is it as easy as it is often portrayed. A new user could be comfortable starting with Arch Linux, but it doesn't hurt to have experienced another distribution that is intended to be user-friendly.
Having spent years on Gentoo and done several installs, installing Arch the other day was a wall in the park and felt natural. I had to learn the new tech stack (nmcli, pacman, arch-chroot) but after that it was basically easy mode. You mean I don’t have to define compiler flags and feature flags and I don’t have to wait for it to compile or set up a cross arch compiler farm?
This is how I feel about Gentoo too but I use Void as a daily instead, no systemd and it feels more like what Arch used to be (e.g. Runit is like 5k SLOC whereas systemd is 100s of k's).
Not bashing but everything seems well engineered with less cruft/bitrot than Gentoo. Of course there's less customisability xbps-src is pretty decent at doing the job, or just write your own templates :)