This is why Arch Linux should be considered when choosing a Linux distro
I’ve been using GNU/Linux as a main operating system since 2005 and tried a couple of different distributions. Debian was my choice for a long time, eventually, I moved to Ubuntu, then Linux Mint — and I still suggest the later for new users — but it was Arch Linux that got my heart when I finally tried it.
Let me make it clear from the beginning that Arch Linux is not for beginners. It demands some time to understand how its packaging system works and requires some knowledge about Unix systems, including concepts as kernel, userspace, display server and window manager, basically because you need to configure (almost) everything separated. Beginners, however, can start with one of the several Arch-based distributions.
Choosing your distro
Deciding which Linux distro to use is mostly a personal choice. One can achieve the same goals with any Linux distro out there, despite some of them being more suitable for specific tasks.
I use Arch Linux for my laptop, mostly because I believe it’s much easier to install anything on it, including proprietary software than on any other distro. But would probably decide for Debian or CentOS for a server, for better support and stability.
In short, choosing a distro must consider what is it for and who will use it.
Rolling distribution
Arch Linux is what we call a rolling distribution, which means it has no versions or releases of its own.
A rolling distribution includes new versions of packages as fast as possible once they have been released by their developers and never freezes their versions for the sake of stability of support.
Note that this can be good or bad depending on the case. Since Arch Linux adds the most recent versions of any software to its packages, it can always stay up to date with software developers. On the other hand, there are no extra testing and security control from the distro maintainers. — You get new software just as the developer releases it.
Great community support and documentation
Help from the community is something important when using open source software, especially because most of the time the users can’t have help from a support team.
Arch Linux has one of the best communities I’ve ever seen, with developers and users being able to help on forums and IRC channels and has one of the more complete wiki about Linux on the internet. I used to read Arch Wiki for tutorials and solutions long before using Arch Linux.
Arch User Repository
Arch Linux also provides a user repository, the AUR, which contains packages created and maintained by its users and includes proprietary and non-free software. It’s possible to find almost anything in AUR making it a great resource for anything not included on the distribution packages.
While AUR is not an official source for packages thus not installable with pacman (the package manager), there are some tools that makes very easy to use it, like pacaur or packer.
It’s also very easy to create packages for the AUR, which makes easy for developers to provide their new software to Arch Linux user. From time to time some packages from AUR are included in the official repositories.
Conclusions
Arch Linux is an easy to use distribution once the use passes the low-level system installation process and already have some experience with Linux. Even a full upgrade of packages is usually easier than in other distros, with a very clear conflicts resolution and fixes.
Of course, there are some caveats, like the lack of support for hardware manufacturers, banks security software and others, due to the still small community compared to Ubuntu or Red Hat.
My word on this is that whoever doesn’t depend on a specific feature from other distro or is limited by hardware or third party software should try Arch Linux.
This is why Arch Linux should be considered when choosing a Linux distro was originally published in The Miners on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.