Arch compared to other distributions

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Arch Linux
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pacman/Rosetta
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This page attempts to draw a comparison between Arch Linux and other notable GNU/Linux distributions and UNIX-like operating systems. The summaries that follow are brief descriptions that may help a person decide if Arch Linux will suit their needs. Although reviews and descriptions can be useful, first-hand experience is invariably the best way to compare distributions.
For a more complete comparison, see
Wikipedia:Comparison of operating systems
and
Wikipedia:Comparison of Linux distributions
.
In all of the following, only Arch Linux is compared with other distributions. Community ports that support architectures other than x86_64 can be found listed among the
Arch-based distributions
.
Source-based
Source-based distributions are highly portable, giving the advantage of controlling and compiling the entire OS and applications for a particular machine architecture and usage scheme, with the disadvantage of the time-consuming nature of source compilation. The Arch base and all packages are only compiled for the x86_64 architecture.
CRUX
CRUX
is a lightweight distribution that focuses on the
KISS
principle. CRUX inspired Judd Vinet to create Arch.
CRUX uses BSD-style init scripts, whereas Arch uses
systemd
.
While Arch uses a rolling release system, CRUX has more or less yearly releases.
Both ship with ports-like systems, and, like *BSD, both provide a base environment to build upon.
Arch features
pacman
, which handles binary system package management and works seamlessly with the
Arch build system
. CRUX uses a community contributed system called
prt-get
, which, in combination with its own ports system, handles dependency resolution, but builds all packages from source (though the CRUX base installation is binary).
Both Arch and CRUX officially support only the x86_64 architecture.
Arch features a large array of binary package repositories as well as the
Arch User Repository
. CRUX provides a more slimmed-down officially supported ports system in addition to a comparatively modest community repository.
LFS
LFS
, (or
Linux From Scratch
) exists simply as documentation. The book instructs the user on obtaining the source code for a minimal base package set for a functional GNU/Linux system, and how to manually compile, patch and configure it from scratch. LFS is as minimal as it gets, and offers an excellent educational process of building and customizing a base system.
LFS provides no online repositories; sources are manually obtained, compiled and installed (several manual methods of package management exist, and are mentioned in
LFS Hints
). Consequently, LFS doesn't have any other package maintainers except you, unless you are building your LFS as a team with others. This means that you need to test all packages yourself. It can be also tricky to patch security vulnerabilities in timely fashion.
Arch provides these very same packages, a few extra tools and the powerful
pacman
package manager as its base system, already compiled for x86_64. Along with the minimal Arch base system, the Arch community and developers provide and maintain many thousands of binary packages installable via pacman as well as
PKGBUILD
build scripts for use with the
Arch build system
.
Judd Vinet built Arch from scratch, and then wrote pacman in C. Historically, Arch was sometimes humorously described simply as "Linux, with a nice package manager."
Gentoo Linux
Both Arch Linux and
Gentoo Linux
are rolling release systems, making packages available to the distribution a short time after they are released upstream.
By default, the Gentoo packages and base system are built directly from source code according to user-specified
USE flags
and compiler flags.
Since December 2023 Gentoo started to offer an optional binary package repository for selected CPU architectures.
Arch provides a ports-like system for building packages from source, though the Arch base system is designed to be installed as pre-built x86_64 binary.
This generally makes Arch quicker to install and update, and allows Gentoo to be more systemically customizable.
Arch only supports x86_64 while Gentoo officially supports many more CPU architectures.
Gentoo's official package and system management tools tend to be rather more complex and "powerful" than those provided by Arch, and certain features which are at the very heart of Gentoo (
USE flags
,
SLOTs
, etc.) do not have any direct Arch Linux equivalent. Some of that is due to the fact that Arch is primarily a binary distribution, but differences in
design philosophy
also play a big role, with Arch taking a more principled stance in favor of architectural simplicity and avoiding over-engineering.
Unlike Arch Linux's
pacman
package manager, Gentoo's Portage (Emerge) can be installed as
Gentoo Prefix
. This enables Portage to work as secondary package manager in other GNU/Linux distributions (much like the Guix package manager).
Unlike Arch, Gentoo provides official support for
systemd
,
OpenRC
and
other init systems
. If comfortable with
systemd
, Gentoo users will also generally feel at ease with most other aspects of Arch.
Because both the Gentoo and Arch installations only include a base system, both are considered to be highly customizable and emphasize user choice.
GNU Guix System
GNU Guix System
has been inspired by
NixOS
in a way similar to how Arch has been inspired by
CRUX
.
Both Arch Linux and Guix System are rolling release distributions, making packages available to the distribution a short time after they are released upstream. Guix System is however primarily a source-based distribution (although pre-built binaries exist and are called "
substitutes
"), while Arch is primarily a binary distribution.
Arch uses
pacman
as package manager, whereas Guix System uses
guix
, which supports
experimental packaging features
not present in other distributions and can be used as secondary package manager on other GNU/Linux distributions.
Arch only supports x86_64, while Guix System officially supports
several architectures
.
Arch uses
systemd
as
init
system, whereas Guix System uses the
GNU Shepherd
.
Guix System breaks up with many traditional concepts of Unix, including the
Filesystem Hierarchy Standard
. For instance, many files that in traditional distributions are spread across different directories, in Guix System will be located somewhere under
/gnu/store/
.
Arch might occasionally ship software that is non-free (often drivers), while Guix System ships only free software and is endorsed by the
Free Software Foundation
– although alternative repositories that ship non-free software for Guix
exist
.
Arch expects the user directly to configure installed software packages, while Guix System encourages a global system configuration in
Guile Scheme
, which in turn
instantiates
configuration files.
General
These distributions offer a broad range of advantages and strengths, and can be made to serve most operating system uses.
Debian
Debian
is the largest upstream Linux distribution with a bigger community and features stable, testing, and unstable branches, offering hundreds of thousands
packages
. The available number of Arch binary packages is more modest. However, when including the
AUR
, the quantities are comparable.
Debian has a more opinionated stance on free software but still includes non-free software in its non-free repositories. Arch is more lenient, and therefore inclusive, concerning
non-free packages
as defined by GNU.
Debian focuses on stringent testing of the Stable branch, which is "frozen" and supported up to
five years
. Arch packages are more current than Debian Stable, being more comparable to the Debian Unstable branch, and has no fixed release schedule.
Debian is available for many architectures, whereas Arch is x86_64 only.
Arch provides more expedient support for building custom, installable packages from outside sources, with a ports-like package build system. Debian does not offer a ports system, relying instead on its large binary repositories.
The Arch installation system only offers a minimal base, transparently exposed during system configuration, whereas Debian's methods, such as the use of apt
tasks
to install pre-selected groups of packages, offer a more automatically configured approach as well as several alternative methods of installation.
Arch generally packages software libraries together with their header files, whereas in Debian header files have to be downloaded separately.
Arch keeps patching to a minimum, thus avoiding problems that upstream are unable to review, whereas Debian patches its packages more liberally for a wider audience.
Fedora
Fedora Linux
is the upstream, community distribution of Red Hat® Enterprise Linux. Red Hat is the project’s primary sponsor, but thousands of independent developers also contribute to Fedora. Packages and projects are released on Fedora, and through its own distinct set of tests and quality assurance processes, those features migrate to CentOS Stream and eventually get incorporated into a version of Red Hat Enterprise Linux, and some eventually become adopted by other distributions. Arch has no fixed releases and does not serve as a branch for another distribution, even if
many other distributions
are based on Arch Linux (e.g. SteamOS for the
Steam Deck
).
Fedora packages use the RPM format with the
DNF
package manager. Arch uses
pacman
to manage its packages. Many packages of both projects, particularly desktop environments, are described as being "vanilla", and without customization.
Fedora does not include non-free software in official repositories due to its dedication to free software, though third-party repositories are available for such packages. Arch is more lenient in its disposition toward non-free software, leaving the discernment to the user.
Fedora uses the graphical Anaconda installer and offers many installation images including an "everything" expert option which facilitates a base system install all the way up to a full-fledged desktop environment of your choosing. Fedora "spins" also provide alternative assortments of specific desktop environments, each with a modest assortment of default packages. Arch, on the other hand, is designed to be assembled from a minimal base system command line and therefore provides simple scripts meant to ease the process.
Fedora has a scheduled ~6 month release cycle, but officially supports discrete version upgrades with the DNF system-upgrade plugin. Arch is a rolling-release system.
Arch features a ports system, whereas Fedora does not.
Both Arch and Fedora are targeted at experienced users and developers. Both strongly encourage their users to contribute to project development.
Fedora has earned much community recognition for integration of SELinux, GCJ compiled packages (to remove the need for Oracle's JRE), and prolific upstream contribution; Red Hat and thus, Fedora developers by extension, contribute the highest percentage of Linux kernel code as compared to any other project.
Arch Linux provides what is widely regarded as the most thorough and comprehensive distribution wiki. The Fedora wiki is used in the original sense of the word "wiki", or a way to exchange information between developers, testers and users rapidly. It is not meant to be an end-user knowledge base like Arch's. Fedora's wiki resembles an issue tracker or a corporate wiki.
Slackware
Slackware
uses BSD-style init scripts, whereas Arch uses
systemd
.
Arch supplies a package management system in
pacman
which, unlike Slackware's standard tools, offers automatic dependency resolution and allows for more automated system upgrades. Slackware users typically prefer their method of manual dependency resolution, citing the level of system control it grants them, as well as Slackware's excellent supply of pre-installed libraries and dependencies.
Arch is a rolling-release system. Slackware is seen as more conservative in its release cycle, preferring proven stable packages. Arch is more
bleeding-edge
in this respect.
Arch Linux provides many thousands of binary packages within its official repositories, whereas Slackware official repositories are more modest.
Arch offers the
Arch build system
, an actual ports-like system, and also the
AUR
, a very large collection of PKGBUILDs contributed by users. Slackware offers a similar, though slimmer system at
slackbuilds.org
which is a semi-official repository of Slackbuilds, which are analogous to Arch
PKGBUILDs
. Slackware users will generally be quite comfortable with most aspects of Arch.
Beginner-friendly
Sometimes called "newbie distros", the beginner-friendly distributions share a lot of similarities, though Arch is quite different from them. Arch may be a better choice if you want to learn about GNU/Linux by building up from a small base, as an installation of Arch installs few packages in comparison. Specific differences between distributions are described below.
Ubuntu
Ubuntu
is a popular Debian-based distribution commercially sponsored by Canonical Ltd., while Arch is an independently developed system built from scratch.
The two projects have very different goals and are targeted at a different user base. Arch is designed for users who desire a do-it-yourself approach, whereas Ubuntu provides a pre-configured system. Arch presents a simpler design from the base installation onward, relying on the user to customize it to their own specific needs. Many Arch users have started on Ubuntu and eventually migrated to Arch.
Arch development is not biased towards any one particular user interface beyond what its community provides support for. Furthermore, Canonical's commercial nature has led them to some controversial decisions, such as the inclusion of advertisements in Unity's
Dash
menu, developing, promoting and integrating
Snap
and the closed-source
Snap Store
, and user data collection. Arch is an independent, community-driven project with no commercial agenda.
Ubuntu moves between discrete releases every 6 months, whereas Arch is a rolling-release system.
Arch offers a ports-like package build system and the
Arch User Repository
, where users can share source packages for the
pacman
package manager. Ubuntu uses the more complex
apt
and
Snap
, and allows redistribution of binary packages via
Personal Package Archives
.
The two communities differ in some ways as well. The Arch community is much smaller and is strongly encouraged to contribute to the distribution. In contrast, the Ubuntu community is relatively large and can therefore tolerate a much larger percentage of users who do not actively contribute to development, packaging, or repository maintenance.
Linux Mint
Linux Mint
was born as an
Ubuntu
derivative, and later added the LMDE (Linux Mint Debian Edition) that is instead based on
Debian
. On the other hand, Arch is an independent distribution that relies on its own
build system
and
repositories
.
Mint includes several graphical tools for easier maintenance, called
MintTools
. Arch only provides simple command-line tools like
pacman
and leaves system management to be organized by the user.
New versions of Mint are released every six months, about a month after Ubuntu. Each release is based on the most recent Ubuntu LTS and is supported for five years. Linux Mint Debian Edition (LMDE) is based on Debian Stable and only receives updates in Mint packages and security updates. Arch is instead a full rolling-release distribution.
openSUSE
openSUSE
was born from the original SUSE Linux and is sponsored by SUSE (the makers of SUSE Enterprise Linux). SUSE Enterprise Linux Desktop (SLED) is based on openSUSE Tumbleweed and shares a common codebase with openSUSE Leap
OpenSUSE Uses the Zypp package manager (
zypper
on commandline), the RPM package format and its well-regarded YaST2 GUI-driven configuration tool. Arch uses
pacman
to manage
.tar.zst
packages and does not offer graphical configuration tools.
openSUSE offers 2 different versions:
Leap is the long-term support version of openSUSE featuring discrete releases.
Tumbleweed is the rolling release version of openSUSE.
In contrast, Arch is strictly a rolling-release model and does not offer discrete release versions.
Rather than a complete desktop environment, Arch offers a minimal base system installation. openSUSE may therefore be more appropriate for users who want a more GUI-driven environment, automatic configuration, or expected functionality out of the box while still allowing the customization possible on all distributions.
Mandriva/Mageia
Mandriva Linux (formerly Mandrake Linux) was created in 1998 with the goal of making GNU/Linux easy to use for everyone.
Mandriva is RPM-based and uses the
urpmi
package manager.
Mageia is a Mandriva fork created by former Mandriva employees which opposes its parent distribution's commercial position, being a non-profit and community-driven project.
Arch takes a simpler approach than Mandriva or Mageia, being text-based and relying on more manual configuration, and is aimed at intermediate to advanced users.
The BSDs
The BSDs share a common origin and descend directly from the work done at UC Berkeley to produce a freely redistributable, free of cost, UNIX system. They are not GNU/Linux distributions, but rather, UNIX-like operating systems, and derived from the original AT&T UNIX code.
Arch and the BSDs share the concept of a tightly-integrated base and ports system. However, unlike GNU/Linux distributions such as Arch, the BSDs' kernel and userland programs (such as the shell and core utilities like
ls
,
cp
,
cat
, and
ps
) are developed together in a single source repository.
The
BSD license
is permissive, in contrast to the
GPL
, which has the stipulation that derivatives need to be released under the same license. Arch is released under the GPL.
To learn more about the BSD variants, see
Wikipedia:Comparison of BSD operating systems
.
See also
DistroWatch
- Linux distributions news and reviews