Arch Linux

Mazur

Member

Registered: 2009-06-10

Posts: 103

Website

Opinion: What you do NOT like in Arch Linux?

Hello,
    I saw many topics about opinion of Linux and many like "why you have switched to Arch" but there was no topic about complaints. I know that most of Developers would not like to see topics like that but it is needed to improve this great distribution. If this is wrong section then please move it to "try this" but I was thinking that more people will look here. Let's write every thing, even that which cannot be just improved by Devs. Then let's begin:

"What do I not like in Arch?"

- I don't like that Firefox is not branded. I hate that blue globe.
- I don't like that 'vlc' is not patched for embedded video so it is little annoying.
- I would like to see [community] repository on main page with the same priority as [extra] because it sometimes happened that new kernel is going to extra and some packages are still not compiled for it. It would be nice if TU's could use [testing] to test their packages.
- I hate that pulseaudio support is not included in Gnome, I know it is not very stable for many people but for me it is very usable.
- I don't like that some icons of applications are in bad quality, I just hate that .
- I don't like that I cannot even use virtualbox on x86_64.

Now it is your turn to write what you do not like in Arch, guys. If you do not have complaints then you can go on to 'Arch is best' thread and write there how you love Arch but I think everybody will write something.

Peasantoid

Member

Registered: 2009-04-26

Posts: 928

Website

Re: Opinion: What you do NOT like in Arch Linux?

In my opinion, it still contains too many packages by default — ones I have no use for. (Although still far less than the more mainstream distros like Ubuntu, Mandriva, SUSE, etc.) Had to spend an hour cleaning stuff out and I'm still not sure if I got it all.

cardinals_fan

Member

From: /dev/null

Registered: 2008-02-03

Posts: 248

Re: Opinion: What you do NOT like in Arch Linux?

I don't like the BSD-style init system.  It is superior to SysV, but I like SliTaz's solution much more.

---

Segmentation fault (core dumped)

bender02

Member

From: UK

Registered: 2007-02-04

Posts: 1,329

Re: Opinion: What you do NOT like in Arch Linux?

In my opinion, it still contains too many packages by default — ones I have no use for. (Although still far less than the more mainstream distros like Ubuntu, Mandriva, SUSE, etc.) Had to spend an hour cleaning stuff out and I'm still not sure if I got it all.

What? I certainly hope that you mean it ironically...
If not - just consider that the basic install has to be able to at least get a network connection on pretty much all the machines, you need to be able to access and manage all possible filesystems, perform basic operations (edit, pack/unpack), display info about the computer. This covers pretty much the whole core repo.

lseubert

Member

From: Maryland, USA

Registered: 2009-05-18

Posts: 141

Re: Opinion: What you do NOT like in Arch Linux?

Sometimes, packages don't come with a proper desktop entry for the menuing system, and they also lack the corresponding icon.

While upstream might not provide this sort of info in their tarballs, it is relatively trivial for a packager to add this info to the PKGBUILD. There is an excellent ArchWiki article entitled, Creating desktop entries and menus.

I wish all packagers followed its guidelines for the sake of greater GUI consistency throughout Arch. Debian requires such things as part of its building process and testing scripts.

---

"To the question whether I am a pessimist or an optimist, I answer that my knowledge is pessimistic, but my willing and hoping are optimistic."
    -- Albert Schweitzer

Peasantoid

Member

Registered: 2009-04-26

Posts: 928

Website

Re: Opinion: What you do NOT like in Arch Linux?

In my opinion, it still contains too many packages by default — ones I have no use for. (Although still far less than the more mainstream distros like Ubuntu, Mandriva, SUSE, etc.) Had to spend an hour cleaning stuff out and I'm still not sure if I got it all.

What? I certainly hope that you mean it ironically...
If not - just consider that the basic install has to be able to at least get a network connection on pretty much all the machines, you need to be able to access and manage all possible filesystems, perform basic operations (edit, pack/unpack), display info about the computer. This covers pretty much the whole core repo.

Like I said, ones I have no use for.

tomk

Forum Fellow

From: Ireland

Registered: 2004-07-21

Posts: 9,839

Re: Opinion: What you do NOT like in Arch Linux?

Im going to put an end to this thread right here, because it is a waste of time, space, and bandwidth.

If you want to help improve Arch, post bugs and/or feature requests in the bugtracker, including your proposed solution to the issue you have raised, and ideally a patch that implements that solution. All bug reports and feature requests are read and evaluated by at least one member of the dev team, and assigned to the most appropriate dev for resolution. This process is tracked, so that any progress that is made can be seen, and any required additional information can be requested. In contrast, forum threads such as this are usually not read by the devs, and therefore do not generate the intended action and results.

The enthusiasm is appreciated - just use it more constructively.