Arch Linux

windy

Member

Registered: 2013-11-10

Posts: 58

One Decade with Arch

On this day ten years ago I installed Arch Linux on my desktop PC.

% head /var/log/pacman.log
[2014-06-24 19:18] [PACMAN] Running 'pacman -r /mnt -Sy --cachedir=/mnt/var/cache/pacman/pkg --noconfirm base base-devel'
[2014-06-24 19:18] [PACMAN] synchronizing package lists
[2014-06-24 19:22] [PACMAN] installed linux-api-headers (3.14.1-1)
[2014-06-24 19:22] [PACMAN] installed tzdata (2014e-1)
[2014-06-24 19:22] [PACMAN] installed iana-etc (2.30-4)
[2014-06-24 19:22] [PACMAN] installed filesystem (2014.06-2)
[2014-06-24 19:22] [PACMAN] installed glibc (2.19-5)
[2014-06-24 19:22] [PACMAN] installed ncurses (5.9-6)
[2014-06-24 19:22] [PACMAN] installed readline (6.3.006-1)
[2014-06-24 19:22] [PACMAN] installed bash (4.3.018-3)

It has been my primary OS since then and in the meantime the dual-boot Windows has been removed because gaming with Linux "just works".

Updating the very same installation nearly works flawlessly most of the time (3-4 times I had to fix something like incompatible NVidia drivers). Even moving to a different drive or mainboard did not cause any issues.

Many thanks to the people behind Arch and the great community!

avidseeker

Member

Registered: 2022-09-06

Posts: 63

Website

Re: One Decade with Arch

Beautiful. In 2014, I was having a lot of trouble and frustration with Windows. I wish someone told me about an available alternative to this mess. Would you mind sharing how did you get into Linux?

Also, this might originates from my past experience with Windows, but if my system is very old, I feel that it is "unclean" because of all the packages that come and go and the remnants of dependencies that are removed. Not sure if this: https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Pacman … ckup_files fully "cleans" my system.

windy

Member

Registered: 2013-11-10

Posts: 58

Re: One Decade with Arch

Would you mind sharing how did you get into Linux?

My first distribution must have been SuSE Linux 6.0 in the late 90s. That did not work out but only a few years later I made the switch to Linux as my primary OS with Mandrake Linux.

Since then I tried a lot on my desktop: Debian, Ubuntu, Mint, and for the last 10 years Arch Linux.

BluePyTheDeer_

Member

Registered: 2024-05-23

Posts: 117

Re: One Decade with Arch

Congrats (late)

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I messed my Arch Linux installation, then fixed it
"Sometimes the best complexity is simplicity." - BluePy, 1856.

cryptearth

Member

Registered: 2024-02-03

Posts: 1,713

Re: One Decade with Arch

I'm starting my 3rd year right now:

[main@main ~]$ head /var/log/pacman.log 
[2022-10-24T20:42:31+0200] [PACMAN] Running 'pacman -r /mnt -Sy --cachedir=/mnt/var/cache/pacman/pkg --noconfirm base linux linux-firmware sudo vim efibootmgr grub dhclient amd-ucode'
[2022-10-24T20:42:31+0200] [PACMAN] synchronizing package lists
[2022-10-24T20:42:58+0200] [ALPM] transaction started
[2022-10-24T20:42:58+0200] [ALPM] installed iana-etc (20220915-1)
[2022-10-24T20:42:58+0200] [ALPM] installed filesystem (2022.10.18-1)
[2022-10-24T20:42:58+0200] [ALPM] installed linux-api-headers (5.18.15-1)
[2022-10-24T20:42:58+0200] [ALPM] installed tzdata (2022e-1)
[2022-10-24T20:42:58+0200] [ALPM] installed glibc (2.36-6)
[2022-10-24T20:42:59+0200] [ALPM] installed gcc-libs (12.2.0-1)
[2022-10-24T20:42:59+0200] [ALPM] installed ncurses (6.3-3)

serseri

Member

Registered: 2014-02-22

Posts: 4

Re: One Decade with Arch

zcat /var/log/pacman.log.220210.gz|head
[2013-11-21 19:10] [PACMAN] Running 'pacman -r /mnt -Sy --cachedir=/mnt/var/cache/pacman/pkg base'
[2013-11-21 19:10] [PACMAN] synchronizing package lists
[2013-11-21 19:21] [PACMAN] installed linux-api-headers (3.10.6-1)
[2013-11-21 19:21] [PACMAN] installed tzdata (2013h-1)
[2013-11-21 19:21] [PACMAN] installed iana-etc (2.30-3)
[2013-11-21 19:21] [PACMAN] installed filesystem (2013.05-2)
[2013-11-21 19:21] [PACMAN] installed glibc (2.18-10)
[2013-11-21 19:21] [PACMAN] installed ncurses (5.9-6)
[2013-11-21 19:21] [PACMAN] installed readline (6.2.004-2)
[2013-11-21 19:21] [PACMAN] installed bash (4.2.045-5)

Beginning of my current system. I copied this installation to a few other systems at different times.

Vamp898

Member

Registered: 2009-01-03

Posts: 1,032

Website

Re: One Decade with Arch

My server is running on Arch since 2010 and still going strong. Can't remember ever having issues with it.

Sadly I only keep logs for the past 3 years so I can't post the fancy pacman line looking back maybe should have saved it^^

Last edited by Vamp898 (2025-08-27 03:23:51)

SimonJ

Member

From: Alicante, Spain

Registered: 2021-05-11

Posts: 290

Website

Re: One Decade with Arch

I don't keep logs either, but I can do this

stat / | awk '/Birth: /{print $2}'

2022-09-25

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Rlu: 222126

dimich

Member

From: Kharkiv, Ukraine

Registered: 2009-11-03

Posts: 414

Re: One Decade with Arch

[dimich@dimich ~]$ head -1 /var/log/pacman.log 
[2012-02-19 06:10] installed filesystem (2011.12-2)

However, this is second install after HDD died.

Last edited by dimich (2025-08-27 12:06:12)

cryptearth

Member

Registered: 2024-02-03

Posts: 1,713

Re: One Decade with Arch

after HDD died.

oh no!
have you tried CPR? or unplugging and replugging it? such tragedy! storage passed too soon ...

nah - who am I kidding?
*counting the number of dead drives over the years
at least one full set of a 5 drive raid5
already 3 drives of my current 8 drive zfs pool
at least 3 OS drives
2 laptop drives
2 HDDs for my once best friend
1 dead from my sisters old pc ... wait, make that 2
another 1 from my dads system I built for his 50th

so, overall - at least a dozen or more are already on my list

dimich

Member

From: Kharkiv, Ukraine

Registered: 2009-11-03

Posts: 414

Re: One Decade with Arch

oh no!
have you tried CPR? or unplugging and replugging it? such tragedy! storage passed too soon ...

Actually it was "logical" death after I mistakenly enabled a sort of "software RAID" in BIOS. Root partition (reiserfs?) were damaged, it seemed easier to install from scratch than recover old installation. Fortunately, /home survived. The HDD hardware was alive and it served for few years until it was time for upgrade.

cryptearth

Member

Registered: 2024-02-03

Posts: 1,713

Re: One Decade with Arch

ah ... those days of that infamous FakeRAID - far too late I learned about its truth and shortcommings and was one of the reasons I had to finally upgrade (and also why I switched to Linux: ZFS)
since I moved away from "OS on RAID" - if the OS dies - who gives a damn - all important data is on the array anyway which is independent of the OS
/home also only serves as default location for browser downloads and some cache stuff - so even if it dies along with the os I safe
but yea - made the same mistake myself - been there - know it well - never again

Last edited by cryptearth (2025-08-27 15:18:20)