Archlinux Overview

I want to share with you the joy of using this distribution. I use the second year on the home desktop without knowing the grief. The distribution is relatively young, but already quite popular (see eighteenth place on Distrowatch.com ). According to the “sensations”, I think it can be compared with Slackware and Gentoo.


Arch follows the path of KISS - “keep it simple stupid!”

The distribution is young, so there are sometimes big changes in it, such as changing leaders, restructuring repositories, redesigning. But let it not frighten anyone - all changes are only beneficial, stability also does not suffer.
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Arch is a binary distribution and exists in two different versions: optimized for i686 architecture and for x64.

Arch is notable for its own package format and management accordingly. The system itself is somewhat reminiscent of Gentoo with its ebuilds, but according to the statement of the developers of PKGBUILDs it is easier to create. Pacman's package manager does an excellent job, is simple and convenient. Expansion of binary packages: tar.gz, and for fans of installation from source, there is ABS (thanks to voidMan 'for reminding me). Like Gentoo, Arch bears the proud name of a metadistributive, which means a sliding release system and the fact that the newest versions of programs will appear in you often faster than in other distributions.

A little about the main repositories.
[Core] - the basis of the distribution, the kernel, plus the minimal environment selected by the principle of “just one”: one editor, one window manager, and so on.
[Extra] - everything that is not included in the core is stored here: X, various libraries, KDE, Xfce, Gnome, development packages, demons, editors, emulators, games, multimedia, network, office and scientific software, system utilities.
[Community] - Here are the packages supported by so-called trusted users (those who have long been working with developers and delivering very high-quality packages to AUR). This repository is disabled by default, but for all the time it has been used, I have not encountered any serious problems. If something is not found in the extras - it does not matter, there will definitely be in the community.
[Testing] - packages that will soon replace the software in Core and Extra but need additional testing (to avoid), such as global updates of the kernel, package manager, and X, come here. Also disabled by default, but if you want to help developers test, go for it.
[AUR] Archlinux user repository - here anyone who has registered can send their own build packages.
I want to tell about one more interesting repository for fans of the kde environment: [KDEMod]. Here is the site of this project . Unlike KDE from the official repository, this assembly is modular, which means you can install only those parts that you really need. But this goodies do not end there. It is not for nothing that the project is called “Kde on steroids” - to enhance the functionality and achieve different beauties, all parts of kde are patched to the eye here, even the QT library itself is expanded. I have been using this build for a long time, I am very satisfied and recommend it to everyone.

The next item may scare some, but I think it is impossible not to mention it. Archa has a pseudographic installer. That, in other matters, does not make it bad or transcendentally complex, all the same standard steps: partitioning disks, selecting directories, selecting packages, downloading and installing, selecting a bootloader, editing configs and voila! You are already loading into the working minimum system from under which to add a user, deliver and configure everything you need will not be difficult. Little attention is paid to the installer only because the next time you will have to see it still very, very soon, why not reinstall a perfectly working system?

Yes, the configuration files need to be edited and supplemented by yourself, in Arch there are no official graphical configurators like for example SuSE. For many, I think it will even be a plus. And I advise new users not to be afraid, it is not so difficult at all. Fortunately, Arch users have already created several programs that make life easier for newcomers. These programs determine the configuration of your computer and configure configs according to it. In addition, Archa has a great, frequently updated and supplemented with new wiki materials, which contains how-to articles on everything you need. The community is also very friendly, if suddenly you did not find the answer to your question on the wiki - the forum will always help you with advice.

Perhaps Arch is not exactly suitable for those who are familiar with the Linux family of OSs, but for those who want to carefully study and delve deeper, I think it will be just right. The distribution kit will also appeal to those who want freshness, lightness, simplicity, speed, flexibility, and at the same time software “from the needle” from Linux.

You can read more about the distribution on its official wiki (in which, by the way, there is a Russian section).
And you can immediately start downloading installation images from a special page on the distribution site .
Images for i686 and x64 are shipped separately and come in two different “flavors”: Core and Ftp install. They differ in that a basic set of packages is attached to the first one: the kernel and the minimal environment (here we must take into account that these are release time packages, respectively, not quite the “bleeding edge”). The second downloads them along with the rest you need on the fly.

Archlinux mirrors in Russia:
ftp://archlinux.org.ru/pub/archlinux
ftp://mirror.yandex.ru/archlinux
http://archlinux.freeside.ru
In Ukraine:
ftp://hell.org.ua/archlinux
ftp://ftp.linux.kiev.ua/pub/Linux/ArchLinux

UPD : Do not forget about the Russian-speaking community Archlinux . Thanks zzeus ' for the tip.