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openEuler Developer Day 2025
Arch Linux RSS Feed DistroWatch.com: Arch Linux

Arch Linux


Last Update: 2025-03-26 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: 65 (163), 6 months: 66 (172), 3 months: 66 (185), 4 weeks: 64 (187), 1 week: 67 (175)

Average visitor rating: 9.25/10 from 247 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/ • DistroWatch Torrent Archive
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 2024: MichlFranken (German)
2023: DistroWatch
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 Donate, Buy or Try

Recent Related News and Releases
  Releases announcements with 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:
 • 2025-02-17 Arch Linux is retiring old repositories
 • 2024-11-18 Arch system installer gets new text-based menu system
 • 2024-05-22 Arch community discusses mirror requirements
 • 2023-04-11 Arch powers the PINE64 PineTab-V
 • 2023-02-13 Arch Linux advises manual updating of base-devel
 • 2022-11-14 Unity desktop ported to Arch Linux
 • 2022-10-05 Arch users report Intel video driver bug in recent kernels
 • 2022-09-23 Arch drops Python 2 packages
 • 2021-01-05 Arch making progress toward reproducible builds
 • 2020-11-01 Arch offers install media accessibility options
 • More Arch headlines...

Table Notes and Explanations

(Please refer to the table below.)
  • Select view:
  • 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 2025-03-26 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 2011.08.19
  Number of packages: 172 (download as TXT)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
  •  acl 2.2.51-1
  •  aif 2011.08.19-1
  •  attr 2.4.46-1
  •  b43-fwcutter 014-1
  •  bash 4.2.010-1
  •  binutils 2.21.1-1
  •  btrfs-progs-unstable 0.19.20101006-1
  •  bzip2 1.0.6-1
  •  ca-certificates 20110421-3
  •  coreutils 8.12-3
  •  cracklib 2.8.18-1
  •  crda 1.1.1-3
  •  cronie 1.4.8-1
  •  cryptsetup 1.3.1-2
  •  curl 7.21.7-1
  •  db 5.2.28-1
  •  dbus-core 1.4.14-1
  •  ddrescue 1.14-1
  •  device-mapper 2.02.87-1
  •  dhclient 4.2.1.1-1
  •  dhcpcd 5.2.12-1
  •  dialog 1.1_20110707-1
  •  diffutils 3.1-1
  •  dmraid 1.0.0.rc16.3-2
  •  dnsmasq 2.57-1
  •  dnsutils 9.8.0.P4-1
  •  dosfstools 3.0.11-1
  •  e2fsprogs 1.41.14-1
  •  elinks 0.13-8
  •  eventlog 0.2.12-2
  •  expat 2.0.1-6
  •  file 5.08-1
  •  filesystem 2011.08-1
  •  findutils 4.4.2-3
  •  fuse 2.8.5-1
  •  gawk 4.0.0-1
  •  gc 7.1-3
  •  gcc-libs 4.6.1-2
  •  gdbm 1.8.3-8
  •  gettext 0.18.1.1-3
  •  glib2 2.28.8-1
  •  glibc 2.14-4
  •  gmp 5.0.2-2
  •  gnu-netcat 0.7.1-3
  •  gnutls 3.0.0-2
  •  gpm 1.20.6-6
  •  grep 2.9-1
  •  groff 1.21-1
  •  grub 0.97-20
  •  gzip 1.4-2
  •  hdparm 9.37-1
  •  heirloom-mailx 12.5-2
  •  iana-etc 2.30-2
  •  idnkit 1.0-1
  •  inetutils 1.8-3
  •  initscripts 2011.07.3-1
  •  iproute2 2.6.39-1
  •  iputils 20101006-1
  •  ipw2100-fw 1.3-5
  •  ipw2200-fw 3.1-3
  •  iw 3.0-1
  •  jfsutils 1.1.15-2
  •  js 1.8.5-3
  •  kbd 1.15.3-1
  •  keyutils 1.5.2-1
  •  krb5 1.9.1-3
  •  less 444-1
  •  lftp 4.3.1-2
  •  libarchive 2.8.4-2
  •  libcap 2.22-1
  •  libedit 20110802_3.0-1
  •  libevent 2.0.12-1
  •  libfetch 2.33-3
  •  libgcrypt 1.5.0-1
  •  libgpg-error 1.10-1
  •  libgssglue 0.3-1
  •  libidn 1.22-1
  •  libldap 2.4.26-3
  •  libnl 1.1-2
  •  libpcap 1.1.1-2
  •  libpipeline 1.2.0-1
  •  libproxy 0.4.7-1
  •  librpcsecgss 0.19-5
  •  libsasl 2.1.23-7
  •  libssh2 1.2.7-2
  •  libtasn1 2.9-1
  •  libtirpc 0.2.2-2
  •  libui-sh 2011.08.19-1
  •  libusb 1.0.8-1
  •  libusb-compat 0.1.3-1
  •  libxml2 2.7.8-1
  •  licenses 2.8-1
  •  lilo 23.2-3
  •  linux 3.0.3-1
  •  linux-api-headers 2.6.39.1-1
  •  linux-firmware 20110727-1
  •  logrotate 3.8.0-1
  •  lua 5.1.4-6
  •  lvm2 2.02.87-1
  •  lzo2 2.05-1
  •  man-db 2.6.0.2-2
  •  man-pages 3.32-1
  •  mdadm 3.2.2-3
  •  memtest86+ 4.20-1
  •  mkinitcpio 0.7.2-1
  •  mkinitcpio-busybox 1.18.5-1
  •  mkinitcpio-nfs-utils 0.2-1
  •  module-init-tools 3.16-1
  •  nano 2.2.6-1
  •  nbd 2.9.23-1
  •  ncurses 5.9-1
  •  netcfg 2.6.7-1
  •  nettle 2.2-1
  •  net-tools 1.60-18
  •  nfsidmap 0.24-2
  •  nfs-utils 1.2.4-2
  •  nilfs-utils 2.0.23-1
  •  nmap 5.51-1
  •  nspr 4.8.8-1
  •  ntfs-3g 2011.4.12-1
  •  ntfsprogs 2011.4.12-1
  •  ntp 4.2.6.p3-3
  •  openconnect 1:3.02-1
  •  openssh 5.8p2-9
  •  openssl 1.0.0.d-1
  •  openvpn 2.2.1-1
  •  pacman 3.5.4-3
  •  pacman-mirrorlist 20110816-1
  •  pam 1.1.4-1
  •  parted 3.0-3
  •  pciutils 3.1.7-4
  •  pcmciautils 018-1
  •  pcre 8.13-1
  •  perl 5.14.1-3
  •  popt 1.16-3
  •  ppp 2.4.5-2
  •  pptpclient 1.7.2-3
  •  procps 3.2.8-4
  •  psmisc 22.14-1
  •  readline 6.2.001-2
  •  reiserfsprogs 3.6.21-3
  •  rpcbind 0.2.0-3
  •  rp-pppoe 3.10-7
  •  rsync 3.0.8-2
  •  run-parts 3.4.4-1
  •  sed 4.2.1-3
  •  shadow 4.1.4.3-2
  •  speedtouch 1.3.1-3
  •  sysfsutils 2.1.0-6
  •  syslinux 4.04-2
  •  syslog-ng 3.2.4-3
  •  sysvinit 2.88-2
  •  tar 1.26-1
  •  tcpdump 4.1.1-2
  •  texinfo 4.13a-5
  •  tre 0.8.0-1
  •  tzdata 2011h-1
  •  udev 173-3
  •  usbutils 003-1
  •  util-linux 2.19.1-3
  •  vi 1:050325-1
  •  vpnc 0.5.3.svn457-1
  •  wget 1.13.1-1
  •  which 2.20-4
  •  wireless-regdb 2010.11.24-1
  •  wireless_tools 29-4
  •  wpa_actiond 1.1-2
  •  wpa_supplicant 0.7.3-3
  •  xfsprogs 3.1.5-1
  •  xz 5.0.3-1
  •  zd1211-firmware 1.4-4
  •  zlib 1.2.5-3


Reader Ratings
Reader supplied reviews for Arch Linux

Average rating
9.2
from 247 review(s)
Please select a rating in the range of 1-10.
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Past reviews - sort by:

Version: current
Rating: 10
Date: 2025-03-09
Votes: 20


 My distro hoping ended here 5 years back. AUR is just a complete satisfaction. I used Arch Linux on many old and new configuration without any problem. I used it in very heavy as well as very light resources. Arch Linux is totally configurable based on available resources (CPU, RAM etc).

AUR is another beautiful thing for Arch Linux. Almost all the packages are available here. AUR make life much more easier.

Another nice thing for Arch Linux is that it is very modern. Packages are readily up-to-date.

So Arch is what I need for my daily use.


Was this review helpful? Yes No
Version: current
Rating: 10
Date: 2025-03-09
Votes: 3


 I switched from the Debian world to Arch. On a new Laptop. Runs very well. There is no significant difference in direct comparison with Linux Mint. Exept the form of updates. If you like the Debian way with 'apt update; apt dist-ugrade' you only need 'pacman -Syu'. Write an alias 'upgrade' as same as for Debian or Ubuntu and everything is okay.

I use yay for package management for AUR. So I only need to use yay for upgrading both, basic system and AUR packages. Works fine.

Upgrading twice a week is okay. Then nothing is different to Debian stable. Except the system is much more up-to-date.

I use Cinnamon desktop. There ist no difference to Linux Mint Cinnamon. The Arch Project uses the actual sources from the Cinnamon Project out of Linux Mint. Works wonderful.

I use the Linux-LTS kernel. Also Grub. Very easy to configure with the new install script 'archinstall'. Except the os-prober. You must know that 'update-grub' has an own package. That's all. Same procedure with /etc/default/grub. There you can configure os-prober. You can use the configuration from Debian as well except the grub start information.

Some packages you may not like to find with pacman, then they are in the AUR. The parameters for yay are the same for searching and installing. Done a couple of times, then it makes no difference if you were used to apt.

Palemoon and the Edge browser are in the AUR. But be careful. During the initial installation, a lot of memory is required in the user directory. Up to 6 GB for package building. If you configure your home directory too tightly, error messages will appear. The alternatve is to give the yay directory inside the cache directory an own partition for package building. Works fine.

A good way is, to configure a test user, and in the moment of switching in the most cases you can copy your old user directory with the configuration of apps. With the actual Linux Mint this works fine with less error messages. The old Cinnamon config will work. If you are using the old system of group 100, you must configure it. Also where to configure your home directory. Arch gives you no limits as seen in Debian. You can configure your personnel user later after configuring the system.

I use my system in the traditional way. I am very glad with it. Everything works fine for me.

With 25 years of Linux experience, I have to say that I am glad to have arrived at Arch Linux now. Trust me. Try it. Use the wonderful Arch wiki, your search engine in the web, and many videos on Youtube. The Arch wiki may have some older informations. So search for newer informations. Many blogs have good examples to find your own way.


Was this review helpful? Yes No
Version: current
Rating: 10
Date: 2025-03-08
Votes: 0


 After so many years distro hoping, I finally found a Distro that has it all. Despite not being easy to install (unless you use the archinstall script), and the learning curve is somewhat high for a Debian based user like me, I got used to its commands pretty quickly and learned everything I had to know for a daily driver machine to run it.

I can say now that I would not go back to any other Distro in my life. Its Wiki page is quite something else and pretty much every issue has been documented there.



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See all 247 reader reviews of Arch Linux...

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