Differences between Arch linux and RHEL-based Distros?

Riizu · 2013-10-31 04:54:17

Hi there!

So, I am officially trying to make the permanent switch from Windows to Linux. I've used Linux in the past, from Ubuntu, to Fedora, to Mint, and I've always liked Arch the most. Nothing beats the feeling of an OS you had a hand in setting up.

I'm wondering though, what are the differences in Arch vs distros like Red Hat, Fedora, and CentOS? I recently picked up a book called, "The Linux Bible" which provides a course-like approach to learning the intricacies of Linux. I'm wondering if it would be easily possible to adapt the lessons from that to Arch, or to use Fedora or another RHEL-based distro like it suggests.

Thanks

anonymous_user · 2013-10-31 05:08:27

Does this page answer your question:

https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Ar … er_Distros

If you mean differences in the commands used, then keep in mind that Arch Linux uses the pacman package manager, it has the systemd init system, and if you want ifconfig you'll need to install net-tools. There's probably more differences obviously, so I would just suggest searching the Arch Wiki if you want to learn howto perform a particular task.

fukawi2 · 2013-10-31 06:03:26

There are a lot of similarities, and a lot of differences. I use RedHat-based systems daily at work and on my personal servers, while I use Arch on my desktops. I do not have a huge issue switching between the 2.

For example, to enable a service:

chkconfig sshd on    # RedHat
systemctl enable sshd   # Arch

Installing a package:

yum install openssh-server    # RedHat
pacman -S openssh   # Arch

Of course all the basics are the same (ls, grep, cat, cd, pwd etc) so you should be able to find your way around enough to figure out the rest.

The biggest issue I have is remembering the differences in configuration file paths. For example, to configure networking on RedHat, everything is kept in /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/ while on Arch you need /etc/network.d/ (if you're using netctl) and the syntax of the files is completely different.

Riizu · 2013-10-31 14:17:40

Alright, so it sounds like the two biggest tasks will be remembering distro-specific programs (such as Pacman) and file-path differences.

Also, thanks for the link to that Wiki page! Lots of great info.

ngoonee · 2013-10-31 23:21:46

fukawi2 wrote:

The biggest issue I have is remembering the differences in configuration file paths. For example, to configure networking on RedHat, everything is kept in /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/ while on Arch you need /etc/network.d/ (if you're using netctl) and the syntax of the files is completely different.

You mean /etc/netctl, right

cfr · 2013-10-31 23:26:10

The biggest issue I find is with SE Linux. I don't know if this is default in RHEL itself but Fedora uses it. If I understood it properly, though, I doubt it would be such an issue!

EDIT: I think it would be best to learn one distro first, using documentation for that distro. So if you want to use the book, install something that matches the book as closely as possible. If you want to use Arch, use the wiki as your primary documentation. I say this because there is a big difference between figuring out the ways in which two distros differ when you understand the GNU/Linux basics and (I imagine) trying to do so when you are still learning those basics. I don't just mean ls, grep etc. - other systems use those - but the stuff which is common to any GNU/Linux distro. Obviously this applies even more if you also are learning stuff like ls, grep, cd etc. (which might be true if you're moving from Windows rather than, say, OS X or one of the BSDs).

Last edited by cfr (2013-10-31 23:30:15)

fukawi2 · 2013-10-31 23:56:47

ngoonee wrote:

You mean /etc/netctl, right

Ooops, apparently I haven't migrated my work desktop from netcfg to netctl yet.... But I guess this just highlights my point

cfr wrote:

The biggest issue I find is with SE Linux. I don't know if this is default in RHEL itself but Fedora uses it.

Yes it is installed by default. It lasts about 18.4 seconds on each server I install before being disabled

Arch Linux

#1 2013-10-31 04:54:17

Differences between Arch linux and RHEL-based Distros?

#2 2013-10-31 05:08:27

Re: Differences between Arch linux and RHEL-based Distros?

#3 2013-10-31 06:03:26

Re: Differences between Arch linux and RHEL-based Distros?

#4 2013-10-31 14:17:40

Re: Differences between Arch linux and RHEL-based Distros?

#5 2013-10-31 23:21:46

Re: Differences between Arch linux and RHEL-based Distros?

#6 2013-10-31 23:26:10

Re: Differences between Arch linux and RHEL-based Distros?

#7 2013-10-31 23:56:47

Re: Differences between Arch linux and RHEL-based Distros?

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