Arch Linux

Related articles
Arch compared to other distributions
Arch terminology
Arch-based distributions
Frequently asked questions
Trademark policy
archiso
Arch Linux
is an independently developed,
x86-64
general-purpose
GNU/Linux
distribution that strives to provide the
latest stable versions
of most software by following a
rolling release model
.
The default installation is a
minimal base system
, configured by the user to only add what is purposely required.
Principles
Simplicity
Arch Linux defines simplicity as
without unnecessary additions or modifications
. It ships software as released by the original developers—
upstream
—with minimal distribution-specific
downstream
changes. Patches not accepted by upstream are avoided, and Arch's downstream patches consist almost entirely of backported bug fixes that are obsoleted by the project's next release.
In a similar fashion, Arch ships the configuration files provided by upstream with changes limited to distribution-specific issues like adjusting the system file paths. It does not add automation features such as enabling a service simply because the package was installed. Packages are only split when compelling advantages exist, such as to save disk space in particularly bad cases of waste.
Arch Linux
official packages
do not provide system-wide
GUI
configuration utilities (i.e. there is neither a GUI installation wizard nor a GUI system configuration tool, and Arch as a distribution does not promote GUI tools for system configuration), encouraging users to perform most system configuration from a
command-line shell
and a
text editor
.
Modernity
Arch Linux strives to maintain the latest stable release versions of its software as long as systemic package breakage can be reasonably avoided. It is based on a
rolling-release
system, which allows a one-time installation with continuous upgrades.
Arch Linux incorporates the
latest
available
kernels
as well as features available to GNU/Linux users, including:
the
systemd
init system,
modern
file systems
,
LVM2
,
software RAID
,
udev
support,
initcpio
(with
mkinitcpio
).
Arch Linux does not keep using ancient things if there are modern, future-proof, and better options.
Pragmatism
Arch is a pragmatic distribution rather than an ideological one—
the principles here are only useful guidelines.
Ultimately, design decisions are made on a case-by-case basis through developer consensus. Evidence-based technical analysis and debate are what matter, not politics or popular opinion.
The large number of packages and build scripts in the various Arch Linux repositories offer free and open source software for those who prefer it, as well as proprietary software packages for those who embrace functionality over ideology.
User centrality
Whereas many GNU/Linux distributions attempt to be more
user-friendly
, Arch Linux has always been, and shall always remain
user-centric
:
The distribution is intended to fill the needs of those contributing to it, rather than trying to appeal to as many users as possible.
It is targeted at the proficient GNU/Linux user, or anyone with a do-it-yourself attitude who is willing to read the documentation, and solve their own problems.
All users are encouraged to
participate
and contribute to the distribution. Reporting and helping fix
bugs
is highly valued and patches improving packages or the core
projects
are very appreciated: Arch's developers are volunteers and active contributors will often find themselves becoming part of that team.
Archers
can freely contribute packages to the
Arch User Repository
, improve the
ArchWiki documentation
, provide technical assistance to others or just exchange opinions in the
forums
,
mailing lists
, or
IRC channels
. Arch Linux is the operating system of choice for many people around the globe, and there exist several
international communities
that offer help and provide documentation in many different languages.
Versatility
Arch Linux is a general-purpose distribution. Upon installation, only a command-line environment is provided; rather than tearing out unneeded and unwanted packages, the user is offered the ability to build a custom system by choosing among thousands of high-quality packages provided in the
official repositories
for the
x86-64
architecture.
Arch is a rolling-release model backed by
pacman
, a lightweight, simple and fast package manager that allows for continuously upgrading the entire system with one command. Arch also provides the
Arch build system
, a ports-like system to make it easy to build and install packages from source, which can also be synchronized with one command. In addition, the
Arch User Repository
contains many thousands of community-contributed
PKGBUILD
scripts for compiling installable packages from source using the
makepkg
application. It is also possible for users to build and maintain their own custom repositories with ease.
History
The Arch community has grown and matured to become one of the most popular and influential Linux distributions, also testified by the
attention and review
received over the years.
Apart from
select exceptions
, Arch developers remain unpaid, part-time volunteers, and there are no prospects for monetizing Arch Linux, so it will remain free in all senses of the word. Those curious to peruse more detail about Arch's development history can browse the
Arch entry in the Internet Archive Wayback Machine
and the
Arch Linux News Archives
.
The early years
Judd Vinet
—a Canadian programmer and occasional guitarist—began developing Arch Linux in early 2001. Its first formal release—Arch Linux 0.1—was on 2002-03-11.
Inspired
by the elegant simplicity of
Slackware
,
BSD
,
PLD Linux
and
CRUX
, and yet disappointed with their lack of package management at the time, Vinet built his own distribution on similar principles as those distributions. But, he also wrote a package management program called
pacman
, to automatically handle package dependency resolution, installation, removal, and upgrades.
The middle years
The early Arch community grew steadily, as evidenced by
this chart of forum posts, users, and bug reports
. Moreover, it was from its early days known as
an open, friendly, and helpful community
.
Birth of the ArchWiki
On
2005-07-08
the
ArchWiki
was first set up on the
MediaWiki
engine.
The dawning of the age of Aaron Griffin
In late 2007,
Judd Vinet
retired from active participation as an Arch developer, and
smoothly transferred
the reins over to American programmer
Aaron Griffin
, also known as Phrakture.
The
Official Arch Linux Logo Contest
—see the
submissions
—took place at the same time.
Arch Install Scripts
The 2012-07-15 release of the installation image
deprecated
the menu-driven
Arch Installation Framework
(AIF) in favor of the
Arch Install Scripts
(
arch-install-scripts
).
The systemd era
Between 2012 and 2013 the traditional
UNIX System V
init system was replaced by
systemd
.
[1]
[2]
[3]
[4]
Drop of i686 support
On 2017-01-25 it was
announced
that support for the
i686
architecture would be phased out due to its decreasing popularity among the developers and the community. By the end of November 2017, all i686 packages
were removed
from the mirrors.
Review of Project Leader role and election
At the start of 2020, in a team effort the Arch Linux staff devised a new process for determining future leaders, documented in
DeveloperWiki:Project Leader
.
As
Aaron Griffin
had decided to step down from his role, a poll was held to elect a new person to replace him, and on 2020-02-24 its results were
published
, making the election of
Levente Polyak
official.
The GitLab era
In
May 2023
, Arch Linux migrated its packaging infrastructure to a self-hosted
GitLab
instance. Besides
internal changes and innovations
, this also resulted in splitting the
testing
repository into
core-testing
and
extra-testing
, the
staging
repository into
core-staging
and
extra-staging
, and finally
community
has been merged into
extra
.
Several months later, in
November 2023
, the old
Flyspray
bug tracker
bugs.archlinux.org
was migrated to
gitlab.archlinux.org
and its collaboration features—issues and merge requests—were opened to the public. For archiving reasons there remains a static copy of the old bug tracker, so that links—for example the randomly picked
FS#56716
—are still valid.