Getting involved

Related articles
ArchWiki:Contributing
Frequently asked questions
In evolutionary biology,
cooperation
describes interactions where an individual pays a small cost to yield a larger benefit to one or more others. If this contribution is reciprocated, everyone involved can benefit tremendously. This principle also applies to proactive members of the Arch community wanting to get involved and contribute to their favorite Linux distribution. Their participation benefits not only the community member and their fellow Archers, but all users of
free and open source software
.
This article describes how both new and experienced Arch users can contribute to the community. Note that this is not an exhaustive list. Before contributing, please get accustomed with the
Code of conduct
.
Community
Post on the forums
One of the easiest ways to get involved is participating in the
Arch Linux Forums
, which allows getting to know the community and help new users.
Improve this wiki
ArchWiki
is a collaboratively maintained Arch Linux documentation. All users are encouraged to
contribute
.
Join the chatroom
You can help other users solve problems on the
Arch IRC channels
. It is of vital importance however, that you read the
channel rules
before participating.
Further channels
are available for specific topics.
Join the mailing lists
Join the discussion on one or more of the public
mailing lists
. Make sure to stay on topic as provided in the list description.
Artwork
Feel free to share wallpapers, splash screens, color palettes, widgets, themes, etc. with the community on the
art subforum
.
See also
Arch Linux Art
and
Artwork
.
Packages
Report installed packages
pkgstats
provides a
systemd timer
that sends a list of the packages installed on your system, along with the architecture and the mirrors you use, to the Arch Linux developers in order to help them prioritize their efforts and make the distribution even better. The information is sent anonymously and cannot be used to identify you. You can view the collected data at the
Statistics page
. More information is available in
this forum thread
.
Fix and report bugs
Reporting and fixing bugs for Arch packages on
GitLab
is one of the possible ways to help the community.
However, ineffective use can be counter-productive. Please read the
Bug reporting guidelines
and
General guidelines#Packaging merge requests
.
Inform about security issues
New vulnerabilities are found all the time. Help the
Arch Security Team
keep track of new vulnerabilities.
Help test packages
Packages on the testing repositories need to be tried out and signed off before they are promoted to the main repositories. Help the
Arch Testing Team
test new packages.
Request features
Request features for Arch packages on
GitLab
. Before doing so, read
Bug reporting guidelines#Bug or feature?
, to make sure it is a valid feature request, and
General guidelines#Packaging merge requests
.
Request features for AUR packages on the corresponding AUR package pages.
Create and adopt AUR packages
The
Arch User Repository
contains community-made package scripts, allowing users to easily install software not part of the
official repositories
. Popular packages get included into the
extra repository
.
Becoming a Package Maintainer
If you want to help maintain the
AUR
and packages in the
extra repository
, you can apply to become a
Package Maintainer
. See
Package Maintainers#How do I become a Package Maintainer?
for details.
Hosting a mirror
If you wish to contribute to a worldwide spread
mirror
network and help deliver package updates to users, you can set up a mirror server and apply by following the
DeveloperWiki:NewMirrors
guidelines.
Help porting Arch Linux to other architectures
While Arch Linux only supports x86_64 as underlying processor architecture, the acceptance of
RFC0032: Arch Linux Ports
has opened the possibility for other architectures to eventually become supported. If this is something you want to help out with, take a look at the
related projects on GitLab
,
Arch Linux Ports
web page, and join the
#archlinux-ports
IRC channel and the
arch-ports mailing list
to participate in discussions.
Events
There are regular events open to the community for bugfixing, cleanup, and other activities.
AUR Cleanup Day
Bug Day
Software projects
The
Arch Linux
distribution comprises of many components and each of the projects can be contributed to individually.
Discussion around the various projects (unless noted otherwise) takes place on the
arch-projects mailing list
and in the
#archlinux-projects
IRC channel on the
Libera Chat
network.
Project
Description
Languages
Maintainers
Additional links
alpm
Project that works on specifications, Rust libraries and tools for Arch Linux Package Management
Rust
dvzrv, orhun, nukesor
bugs
,
documentation
,
IRC irc.oftc.net#alpm
alpm.rs
Rust bindings for libalpm
Rust
Morganamilo
bugs
arch-boxes
Virtual machine images
Bash
klausenbusk
bugs
,
IRC #archlinux-releng
,
arch-releng mailing list
arch-install-scripts
Useful scripts for installing Arch Linux
Bash
Foxboron
bugs
arch-rebuild-order
A CLI tool to determine the rebuild order of provided package(s)
Rust
jelle
bugs
arch-release-promotion
Promotion and synchronization of existing releases of a project in Arch Linux's GitLab instance
Python
dvzrv
bugs
arch-repro-status
CLI tool for querying the reproducibility status of the Arch Linux packages
Rust
orhun
bugs
arch-security-tracker
The
security.archlinux.org
CVE tracking platform and aids in publishing advisories
Python (Flask)
anthraxx
bugs
,
IRC #archlinux-security
,
Advisory mailing list
arch-signoff
Sign off Arch Linux test packages
Python
Jelle
bugs
archinstall
Arch Linux official installer
Python
Torxed
bugs
,
Discord
,
documentation
archivetools
A turnkey solution to snapshot Arch Linux packages repositories, ISOs images and bootstrap tarballs
Bash
bugs
archiso
Scripts and configuration for building live media
bash
dvzrv, nl6720
bugs
,
IRC #archlinux-releng
,
arch-releng mailing list
archlinux-common-style
Arch Linux common CSS styles
SCSS, HTML, JavaScript
anthraxx, jelle
bugs
archlinux-docker
Docker images
Bash
hashworks, sangy
bugs
,
docker hub
,
IRC #archlinux-releng
,
arch-releng mailing list
archlinux-keyring
Arch Linux PGP keyring handling
Python
anthraxx, dvzrv
bugs
archlinux-repro
Tools to rebuild Arch Linux packages
Python
Foxboron, Jelle, Coderobe
bugs
archlinux-wsl
WSL images
Bash
Antiz, mark
bugs
,
Arch Wiki
,
IRC #archlinux-releng
,
arch-releng mailing list
archmanweb
The
man.archlinux.org
website
Python (Django)
Lahwaacz
bugs
archweb
The
archlinux.org
website
Python (Django)
jelle
bugs
aurweb
The page and system for
aur.archlinux.org
Python, HTML, MySQL
artafinde, lfleischer
bugs
,
IRC #archlinux-aurweb
,
aur-dev mailing list
bugbuddy
Helper daemon that watches the incoming bug reports for Arch Linux and makes sure that the right people are assigned to them
Rust
anthraxx, gromit
bugs
bumpbuddy
A daemon watching for new upstream releases for our packages
Bash
Antiz, gromit, klausenbusk
bugs
buildbtw
A service for assisting Arch Linux staff with building new versions of packages
Rust
anthraxx, sven, raffomania
bugs
,
IRC #archlinux-buildbtw
dbscripts
Scripts to release and manage packages into the repositories
Bash
Foxboron
bugs
devtools
Packaging tools for developers and packagers
Bash
Anthraxx, Foxboron, jelle, gromit
bugs
gitlab-exporter
GitLab metrics exporter
Rust
Artafinde, orhun
bugs
gluebuddy
A secure helper daemon that watches several aspects of the Arch Linux infrastructure and makes sure that certain conditions are met
Rust
anthraxx, jelle
bugs
infrastructure
Arch Linux infrastructure
Ansible, Bash, Python, Packer, Terraform, Zsh
anthraxx, foutrelis, freswa, heftig, jelle, klausenbusk, svenstaro, artafinde, gromit, Antiz
bugs
,
IRC #archlinux-devops
,
arch-devops mailing list
keycloak-archlinux-theme
Keycloak Arch Linux theme
Java
Artafinde
bugs
mkinitcpio
Initramfs generator
Ash, Bash
Foxboron
bugs
mkinitcpio-archiso
Mkinitcpio integration for archiso
Ash, Bash
dvzrv, nl6720
bugs
,
IRC #archlinux-releng
,
arch-releng mailing list
namcap
Tool for checking binary packages and source PKGBUILDs for common packaging errors
Python
alerque, dvzrv, FFY00, kgizdov
bugs
netctl
Profile based systemd network management
Bash
jwitteveen
bugs
neoasknot
Contribution landing page for Arch Linux
JavaScript, Svelte
polyzen
bugs
,
whatcanidofor.archlinux.org
pacman
Package Manager
Bash, C
Allan, agregory
bugs
,
IRC #archlinux-pacman
,
pacman-dev mailing list
pacman-contrib
Contribution scripts to pacman
Bash, C, Perl
Demize, Polyzen
bugs
,
IRC #pacman-contrib
,
pacman-contrib mailing list
pkgstats-cli
pkgstats client
Go
pierres
bugs
,
pkgstats.archlinux.de
pkgstats.archlinux.de
Arch Linux package statistics website
JavaScript, PHP, Vue
pierres
bugs
,
pkgstats.archlinux.de
pyalpm
alpm Python bindings
Python, C
Jelle
bugs
pytest-pacman
Pytest plugin for generating repository sync databases
Python
Jelle
bugs
rebuilderd-website
Website for
reproducible.archlinux.org
JavaScript
Jelle
bugs
,
reproducible-builds.org
,
Debian wiki
,
IRC #archlinux-reproducible
releng
Automation of release artifacts (installation medium, PXE boot)
Bash, Python
dvzrv
bugs
,
IRC #archlinux-releng
,
arch-releng mailing list
repod
Tooling to maintain binary package repositories for Linux distributions using the pacman package manager
Python
dvzrv
bugs
,
documentation
signstar
A secure enclave signing solution and tooling around it
Rust
dvzrv
bugs
,
documentation
,
IRC #archlinux-signstar
voa
A project to provide Rust libraries, command line tools to interact with the
File Hierarchy for the Verification of OS Artifacts (VOA)
.
Rust
dvzrv, heiko
bugs
,
IRC irc.oftc.net#alpm
Donate money
You can find out how to help sustaining server costs on the
official Arch Linux donate page
.
Unofficial projects
Note
Entries listed here are
not
part of the
Arch Linux
project.
Arch's community maintains many projects. Feel free to include yours!
Groups
Arch-specific groups that you can engage in.
Arch Linux Subreddit
Place for Reddit users to discuss Arch related issues.
International communities
Local communities and meet-up places for users.
Telegram group
Place for
Telegram
users to discuss Arch related issues.
Matrix room
(in
Arch Linux space
)
Place for
Matrix
users to discuss Arch related issues.
Discord server
Place for
Discord
users to discuss Arch related issues.
Archcord - Discord server
An alternative
Discord
server providing users with choice, effective moderation and a warm community. Archcord also has a Fluxer available now at
https://fluxer.gg/arch
Software
Community-developed software that focuses on Arch Linux.
Community Contributions
Forum for Arch-related projects.
Arch Linux topic @GitHub
GitHub repositories for Arch-related projects.
Becoming an Arch Developer
The main motivation for your work on Arch should be helping the whole community, and not simply trying to become an
Arch developer
by any means.
Usually, new developers are picked by the existing developers as the workload increases. Sometimes they post a position and you can apply to fill it, but more often, they just invite somebody they know would be good at it and would fit in well with the rest of the team. Having a portfolio of Arch contributions is the best way to make it on the team.
Here is a list of things that you may do in order to gain some "popularity" towards Arch's developers:
Establish a reputation as being helpful by offering assistance whenever possible.
Answer questions on the forum, IRC, and mailing lists.
Join the
Package Maintainers
to gain packaging experience to show your skills.
Submit packages to the AUR
.
Join one of the offshoot projects that may be incorporated into Arch mainstream someday, or start your own.
Work on
pacman
,
makepkg
or other project (on
GitLab
) and submit patches to the bug tracker.
Traverse the
bug tracker
and fix existing bugs.
Find and submit new bugs.
Fix wiki errors, add new pages, clean up existing pages and make sure the procedures are up-to-date.
Submit translations.