Arch Linux. What makes it different from the other distributions? Why is there some weird elitism paralleled by disgust around it?
In: 1021
Arch Linux is the distro equivalent of a Framework laptop. It’s pretty much modular. It comes with just about the bare minimum to be able to install stuff. Imagine if your phone only came with a store app, didn’t even include a launcher or anything, just setting and store. Its appeal is having that clean slate. The downside is you need to know how to setup everything. Like people mentioned, it’s not the only example of this kind of distro, but it is the most accesible bare bones distro for most users. Another one is Alpine which is very stripped down, usually used for images that run on top of an existing host, so you don’t want to allocate gigabytes per image if you are spinning up a dozen or two just enough to run the program.
Arch linux might be the most well-documented product in computer history. (ok that’s setting the bar kinda low but bear with me) The documentation is so good that even users of other distros use it to figure out how to do a certain thing or fix various issues.
The flip side is that the installer does nothing that other installers do automatically. The documentation/manual is good. but to get a working system, you *have to* use the documentation and manually do many configuration and setup steps of the installation.
I had a look at Arch the other day to install on a VM as I thought it sounds fun then I saw the install process and I’m like are we back in the 90’s? I’m still going to have a play around with it as it looks intriguing. Not sure why elitism though as the commands you use to install it you should know anyway I personally think.
>What makes it different from the other distributions?
– Packages are rolling release.
– It’s a highly modular and minimalist distro from the get-go with a lot of user-driven choices at install.
– Arch is [extremely well-documented](https://wiki.archlinux.org/).
– [Arch User Repository](https://aur.archlinux.org/), a popular community driven package repo.
> Why is there some weird elitism paralleled by disgust around it?
– The Arch ethos pushes self-learning and responsibility, as it’s well-documented but less forgiving for Linux newcomers than many well-packaged distributions. This creates a barrier to entry, for better or worse.
– Some elitists think their hands-on experience makes them hardcore. They conflate their experience with Arch being better.
– Several Arch-derived distributions exist, like Endeavor and Manjaro. OS differences or forum policy may lead to Arch users dismissing non-Arch questions on their forums, leading to disgruntled questioners and tired responders.
– Most often the elitism and disgust is feigned! It’s Linux humor.
Love searching for a pretty niche question and finding it was asked on ELI5 7 days ago and not 7 years
Latest Answers