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Arch Linux RSS Feed DistroWatch.com: Arch Linux

Arch Linux

Last Update: 2019-09-15 02:20 UTC

Arch Linux is an independently developed, x86_64-optimised Linux distribution targeted at competent Linux users. It uses 'pacman', its home-grown package manager, to provide updates to the latest software applications with full dependency tracking. Operating on a rolling release system, Arch can be installed from a CD image or via an FTP server. The default install provides a solid base that enables users to create a custom installation. In addition, the Arch Build System (ABS) provides a way to easily build new packages, modify the configuration of stock packages, and share these packages with other users via the Arch Linux user repository.

Popularity (hits per day): 12 months: 15 (583), 6 months: 15 (587), 3 months: 15 (604), 4 weeks: 14 (624), 1 week: 15 (632)

Average visitor rating: 9.36/10 from 312 review(s).


Arch Linux Summary
Distribution Arch Linux
Home Page http://www.archlinux.org/
Mailing Lists https://lists.archlinux.org/listinfo/
User Forums http://bbs.archlinux.org/
Alternative User Forums
Documentation http://wiki.archlinux.org/
Screenshots DistroWatch Gallery
Screencasts
Download Mirrors http://www.archlinux.org/download/ •
Bug Tracker http://bugs.archlinux.org/
Related Websites Planet Arch • Arch Linux ARM • Wikipedia • Arch Brazil • Arch Chile • Arch Denmark • Arch France • Arch Germany • Arch Hungary • Arch Italy • Arch Russia • Arch Spain • Arch Turkey
Reviews 2019: Ordinatechnic
2016: Keith Curtis
2015: DistroWatch • Keith Curtis • LWN
2011: Guillermo Garron
2010: ITworld • LWN
2009: It's A Binary World • DistroWatch • Adventures in Open Source • Polishlinux
2008: Guia do PC (Portuguese) • DistroWatch • OStatic • Blogspot • Wordpress
2007: Blogspot
0.8: Polishlinux • Pro-Linux (German) • Skatox (Spanish) • Tuxmachines
0.7: USALUG • Wordpress • OSNews • LinMagazine (Hebrew) • Linux Magazine (PDF) • LinuxUser (German) • ABC Linuxu (Czech) • OSNews • LWN • OSNews
0.5: OSNews • OSNews
0.3: OSNews
Where To Buy

Recent Related News and Releases
  Releases, download links and checksums:
 • 2012-11-02: Distribution Release: Arch Linux 2012.11.01
 • 2012-10-07: Distribution Release: Arch Linux 2012.10.06
 • 2012-09-08: Distribution Release: Arch Linux 2012.09.07
 • 2012-08-05: Distribution Release: Arch Linux 2012.08.04
 • 2012-07-22: Distribution Release: Arch Linux 2012.07.15
 • 2011-08-20: Distribution Release: Arch Linux 2011.08.19
 • 2010-05-18: Distribution Release: Arch Linux 2010.05
 • 2009-08-09: Distribution Release: Arch Linux 2009.08
 • 2009-02-17: Distribution Release: Arch Linux 2009.02
 • 2008-06-24: Distribution Release: Arch Linux 2008.06
 • 2008-04-16: Development Release: Arch Linux 2008.04 RC
 • 2007-10-07: Distribution Release: Arch Linux 2007.08-2
 • More Arch releases...

  Headlines:
 •2018-09-10 Arch team answers questions on Reddit
 •2018-07-10 AUR packages compromised
 •2017-11-08 Arch drops 32-bit x86
 •2017-01-24 Arch Linux phasing out 32-bit
 •2016-06-27 Updated screen may not reattach
 • More Arch headlines...

Table Notes and Explanations

(Please refer to the table below.)
  • Select view: Major packages only (52) All tracked packages (226)
  • To compare the software in this project to the software available in other distributions, please see our Compare Packages page.
  • Notes: In case where multiple versions of a package are shipped with a distribution, only the default version appears in the table. For indication about the GNOME version, please check the "nautilus" and "gnome-shell" packages. The Apache web server is listed as "httpd" and the Linux kernel is listed as "linux". The KDE desktop is represented by the "plasma-desktop" package and the Xfce desktop by the "xfdesktop" package.
  • Colour scheme: green text = latest stable version, red text = development or beta version. The function determining beta versions is not 100% reliable due to a wide variety of versioning schemes.
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Feature current 2011.08.19 2010.05 2009.08 2009.02 2008.06
overlord		 2007.08
dontpanic		 0.8
voodoo		 0.7
wombat		 0.6
widget		 0.5
nova		 0.4
dragon		 0.3
firefly		 0.2
vega		 0.1
homer		 Feature
Release Date 2019-09-15 2011-08-19 2010-05-17 2009-08-09 2009-02-17 2008-06-24 2007-08-05 2007-04-01 2005-01-24 2004-03-01 2003-07-21 2002-12-18 2002-08-07 2002-04-17 2002-03-11 Release Date
End Of Life                               End Of Life
Price (US$) Free Free Free Free Free Free Free Free Free Free Free Free Free Free Free Price (US$)
Image Size (MB)   1-659                           Image Size (MB)
Free Download PKG ISO ISO ISO ISO ISO ISO ISO ISO ISO ISO ISO ISO ISO ISO Free Download
Installation Text mode Text mode Text mode Text mode Text mode Text mode Text mode Text mode Text mode Text mode Text mode Text mode Text mode Text mode Text mode Installation
Default Desktop                               Default Desktop
Package Management Pacman Pacman Pacman Pacman Pacman Pacman Pacman Pacman Pacman Pacman Pacman Pacman Pacman Pacman Pacman Package Management
Release Model Rolling Rolling Rolling Rolling Rolling Rolling Rolling Rolling Rolling Rolling Rolling Rolling Rolling Rolling Rolling Release Model
Office Suite GOffice, Calligra, LibreOffice -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- KOffice KOffice KOffice     Office Suite
Processor Architecture x86_64 i686, x86_64 i686, x86_64 i686, x86_64 i686, x86_64 i686, x86_64 i686, x86_64 i686, x86_64 i686 i686 i686 i686 i686 i686 i686 Processor Architecture
Init Software systemd SysV SysV SysV SysV SysV SysV SysV SysV SysV SysV SysV SysV SysV SysV Init Software
Journaled File Systems Btrfs, ext3, ext4, JFS, ReiserFS, XFS ext3, ext4, JFS, ReiserFS, XFS ext3, ext4, JFS, ReiserFS, XFS ext3, ext4, JFS, ReiserFS, XFS ext3, ext4, JFS, ReiserFS, XFS ext3, JFS, ReiserFS, XFS ext3, JFS, ReiserFS, XFS ext3, JFS, ReiserFS, XFS ext3, JFS, ReiserFS, XFS ext3, JFS, ReiserFS, XFS ext3, ReiserFS ext3, ReiserFS ext3, ReiserFS ext3, ReiserFS ext3, ReiserFS Journaled File Systems
Multilingual                               Multilingual
Asian Language Support                               Asian Language Support
Full Package List current 2011.08.19 2010.05 2009.08 2009.02 2008.06 2007.08 0.8 0.7 0.6 0.5 0.4 0.3 0.2 0.1 Full Package List

Full Package List:   Arch Linux 0.4
  Number of packages: 323 (download as TXT)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
  •  abiword 1.0.2
  •  alsa-driver 0.9.0rc6
  •  alsa-lib 0.9.0rc6
  •  alsa-utils 0.9.0rc6
  •  apache 1.3.27
  •  apmd 3.0.2
  •  arts 1.1.0
  •  at-spi 1.0.2
  •  aterm 0.4.2
  •  atk 1.0.3
  •  audiofile 0.2.3
  •  aumix 2.8
  •  autoconf 2.57
  •  automake 1.7.2
  •  bash 2.05b
  •  bc 1.06
  •  bftpd 1.0.22
  •  bin86 0.16.10
  •  bind 9.2.1
  •  binutils 2.13.1
  •  bison 1.75
  •  blackbox 0.65.0
  •  bonobo activation 1.0.3
  •  bug-buddy 2.2.0
  •  bzip2 1.0.2
  •  cdparanoia 9.8
  •  cdrdao 1.1.7
  •  cdrtools 2.0pre3
  •  clisp 2.30
  •  control-center 2.0.1.1
  •  cpio 2.5
  •  cups 1.1.17
  •  curl 7.10.2
  •  cvs 1.11.2
  •  cvsup 16.1f
  •  db 4.0.14
  •  dcron 2.3.3
  •  devfsd 1.3.25
  •  dhcpcd 1.3.22pl1
  •  dialog 0.7
  •  diffutils 2.8.1
  •  dillo 0.6.6
  •  divx4linux 5.01
  •  docbook xml 4.1.2
  •  docbook xsl 1.55.0
  •  dosfstools 2.8
  •  doxygen 1.3rc1
  •  e2fsprogs 1.32
  •  ed 0.2
  •  eel 2.0.7
  •  emacs 21.2
  •  enlightenment 0.16.5
  •  eog 1.0.3
  •  esd 0.2.29
  •  ethereal 0.9.7
  •  exim 4.10
  •  expat 1.95.4
  •  fetchmail 6.2.0
  •  file 3.39
  •  file roller 2.0.4
  •  filesystem 0.4
  •  fileutils 4.1
  •  findutils 4.1
  •  flashplugin 6.0r69
  •  flex 2.5.4a
  •  fluxbox 0.1.14
  •  fnlib 0.5
  •  freetype1 1.3.1
  •  freetype2 2.0.9
  •  fvwm 2.4.12
  •  gail 0.17
  •  gaim 0.59.6
  •  gcc 3.2.1
  •  gconf-editor 0.3.1
  •  gconf 1.2.1
  •  gd 2.0.8
  •  gdb 5.2.1
  •  gdbm 1.8.3
  •  gdk-pixbuf 0.18.0
  •  gdm 2.4.0.11
  •  gdsl 1.0
  •  gedit 2.0.5
  •  gentoo 0.11.34
  •  gettext 0.11.5
  •  gftp 2.0.14
  •  ggv 1.99.95
  •  ghostscript 7.05.5
  •  gimp-print 4.2.4rc1
  •  gimp 1.2.3
  •  gkrellm 2.1.3
  •  glib2 2.0.7
  •  glib 1.2.10
  •  glibc 2.3.1
  •  gmp 4.1
  •  gnome-applets 2.0.3
  •  gnome-common 1.2.4
  •  gnome-desktop 2.0.9
  •  gnome-games 2.0.4
  •  gnome-media 2.0.2.5
  •  gnome-mime data 2.0.1
  •  gnome-panel 2.0.10
  •  gnome-session 2.0.8
  •  gnome-system monitor 2.0.2
  •  gnome-terminal 2.0.1
  •  gnome-utils 2.0.5
  •  gnome-vfs 2.0.4
  •  gnome-vfs extras 0.99.5
  •  gnome2-user-docs 2.0.1
  •  gnupg 1.2.1
  •  gpm 1.20.0
  •  gqview 1.2.0
  •  grep 2.5
  •  groff 1.17.2
  •  gtk-doc 0.9
  •  gtk2 2.0.9
  •  gtk 1.2.10
  •  gtk engines 1.9.0
  •  gv 3.5.8
  •  gvim 6.1
  •  gzip 1.2.4a
  •  hdparm 5.2
  •  icewm 1.2.2
  •  imagemagick 5.5.2
  •  imap 2002.RC5
  •  imlib 1.9.14
  •  initscripts 0.4
  •  intltool 0.22
  •  ion 20020207
  •  ipfm 0.11.4
  •  iptables 1.2.7
  •  ircd 2.10.3p3
  •  ircii-pana 1.0c19
  •  irssi 0.8.6
  •  ispell 3.2.06
  •  joe 2.9.7
  •  jpilot 0.99.3
  •  kbd 1.08
  •  kdeaddons 3.1rc5
  •  kdeadmin 3.1rc5
  •  kdeartwork 3.1rc5
  •  kdebase 3.1rc5
  •  kdebindings 3.1rc5
  •  kdeedu 3.1rc5
  •  kdegames 3.1rc5
  •  kdegraphics 3.1rc5
  •  kdelibs 3.1rc5
  •  kdemultimedia 3.1rc5
  •  kdenetwork 3.1rc5
  •  kdepim 3.1rc5
  •  kdesdk 3.1rc5
  •  kdetoys 3.1rc5
  •  kdeutils 3.1rc5
  •  kdevelop 2.1.4
  •  kdoc 2.0a54
  •  kernel 2.4.20
  •  koffice 1.2
  •  lame 3.92
  •  less 378
  •  lesstif 0.93.36
  •  lesstifextensions 9.0.9
  •  lftp 2.6.2
  •  libao 0.8.3
  •  libart lgpl 2.3.10
  •  libbonobo 2.0.0
  •  libbonoboui 2.0.3
  •  libgail-gnome 1.0.1
  •  libglade 2.0.1
  •  libgnome 2.0.5
  •  libgnomecanvas 2.0.4
  •  libgnomeprint 1.116.0
  •  libgnomeprintui 1.116.0
  •  libgnomeui 2.0.5
  •  libgtkhtml 2.0.2
  •  libgtop 2.0.0
  •  libidl2 0.8.0
  •  libidl 0.6.8
  •  libjpeg 6b
  •  libogg 1.0
  •  libpcap 0.7.1
  •  libpng 1.2.5
  •  librep 0.16.1
  •  librsvg 2.0.1
  •  libtiff 3.5.7
  •  libtool 1.4.3
  •  libungif 4.1.0
  •  libvorbis 1.0
  •  libwnck 0.17
  •  libxml2 2.4.24
  •  libxslt 1.0.22
  •  libzvt 2.0.1
  •  licq 1.2.0a
  •  lilo 22.3.4
  •  linc 0.5.2
  •  links 2.1pre7
  •  logrotate 3.6.5
  •  m4 1.4
  •  mad 0.14.2b
  •  mailman 2.0.13
  •  mailx 8.1.1
  •  make 3.80
  •  man 1.5k
  •  manpages 1.53
  •  mawk 1.3.3
  •  mc 4.5.55
  •  metacity 2.4.3
  •  mktemp 1.4
  •  mm 1.2.1
  •  modutils 2.4.22
  •  mozilla 1.2.1
  •  mpg321 0.2.10
  •  mplayer 0.90rc1
  •  mtx 1.2.17
  •  mutt 1.4
  •  mysql 3.23.54
  •  naim 0.11.4.12
  •  nano 1.0.9
  •  nasm 0.98.35
  •  nautilus 2.0.7
  •  ncurses 5.3
  •  net-tools 1.60
  •  netcat 1.10
  •  netkit-base 0.17
  •  netkit-ftp 0.17
  •  netkit-telnet 0.17
  •  nfs utils 1.0.1
  •  ngrep 1.40.1
  •  nmap 3.00
  •  openldap 2.1.8
  •  openssh 3.5p1
  •  openssl 0.9.6h
  •  orbit2 2.4.3
  •  pacman 2.2
  •  pango 1.0.5
  •  parted 1.6.4
  •  patch 2.5.4
  •  pccts 1.33mr
  •  pcmcia cs 3.2.0
  •  pcre 3.9
  •  perl 5.8.0
  •  php 4.2.3
  •  pilot link 0.11.5
  •  pine 4.51
  •  pkgconfig 0.14.0
  •  popt 1.7
  •  portmap 5beta
  •  ppp 2.4.1
  •  procinfo 18
  •  procmail 3.22
  •  procps 3.1.4
  •  proftpd 1.2.7
  •  psmisc 21.2
  •  python 2.2.2
  •  qt 3.1.1
  •  rar 3.0
  •  ratpoison 1.1.1
  •  rcs 5.7
  •  rdate 990821
  •  readline 4.3
  •  reiserfsprogs 3.6.4
  •  rep-gtk 0.17
  •  ripperx 2.4
  •  rsync 2.5.5
  •  ruby 1.6.7
  •  rxvt 2.6.4
  •  samba 2.2.7
  •  sawfish 1.2
  •  screen 3.9.11
  •  scrollkeeper 0.3.11
  •  sdl 1.2.5
  •  sed 4.0.5
  •  sh-utils 2.0
  •  shadow 4.0.3
  •  slocate 2.6
  •  snarf 7.0
  •  strace 4.4
  •  sudo 1.6.6
  •  sysklogd 1.4.1
  •  sysvinit 2.84
  •  tar 1.13
  •  tcl 8.4.1
  •  tcp_wrappers 7.6
  •  tcpdump 3.7.1
  •  tcsh 6.12
  •  textutils 2.1
  •  tin 1.4.6
  •  tk 8.4.1
  •  totem 0.10.0
  •  traceroute 1.4a12
  •  unzip 5.50
  •  util-linux 2.11y
  •  vim 6.1
  •  vorbis tools 1.0
  •  vsftpd 1.1.3
  •  w32codec 0.90pre7
  •  w3m 0.3
  •  wget 1.8.2
  •  which 2.14
  •  whois 4.5.33
  •  windowmaker 0.80.2
  •  wine 20021125
  •  wvdial 1.53
  •  wvstreams 3.70
  •  x2x 1.27
  •  xautolock 2.1
  •  xaw3d 1.5
  •  xchat 1.8.10
  •  xemacs-sumo 20020919
  •  xemacs 21.4.9
  •  xfce 3.8.18
  •  xfree86 4.2.1
  •  xine-lib 0.9.13
  •  xine-ui 0.9.13
  •  xlockmore 5.05
  •  xmlto 0.0.10
  •  xmms 1.2.7
  •  xplanet 0.94
  •  xscreensaver 4.06
  •  yelp 1.0.6
  •  yp tools 2.7
  •  ypbind mt 1.12
  •  ypserv 2.6
  •  zip 2.3
  •  zlib 1.1.4


Reader Ratings
Reader supplied reviews for Arch Linux

Average rating
9.4
from 312 review(s)
Please selecting a rating in the range of 1-10.
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Past reviews - sort by:

Version: current
Rating: 10
Date: 2019-09-13
Votes: 2


 Low level, rough, pure freedom. I use Linux since 1994: Arch is fresh air.


Was this review helpful? Yes No
Version: current
Rating: 10
Date: 2019-09-08
Votes: 4


 best system you can use if you want to get somewhat advanced at linux. It is very stable too. I had no issues with it (expect those that i created myself :/). It is also fun to fiddle around with some config files and break everything while doing it xD.


Was this review helpful? Yes No
Version: current
Rating: 10
Date: 2019-09-01
Votes: 29


 I run Arch with a KDE Plasma desktop on a Core i5 box with 16GB ram and hardwired internet. I use it for day-to-day stuff, development, and photo processing.
I’ve installed and used many systems over many years. My main system runs Arch.
The system is; stable, fast, and economical in the use of system resources.
Arch gives fine control over; what is installed, system configuration, and which services run. OK the initial CLI install is slower and more involved than a graphical install. But you do know about how how the system is configured. And subsequent configuration and maintenance is straightforward.
There are a wide range of up to date applications. I just have what I use installed on top of the base/utilities stuff. Not much point in having a load of unused stuff.
Package management is simple and works. Dependency handling is really good. Just remember never to type 'sudo pacman -Rcs base-devel' or you will end up with the dark screen of death, and have to reach for the install media. That was a sad day.
Documentation is very comprehensive. Although you do have to get your head around the massive kit of parts at your disposal to pick out the optimum way to get what you want. And despite the wiki scrutiny people trying to keep the wiki to facts, it is very educational.
You get a high performance customized Linux system. I'm really glad Arch Linux exists.



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