Key features of ArchLinux for geeks and developers

nDray · 2011-04-06 16:33:22

Hello fellow Archers!

Here at ATNoG [1], we have bi-weekly meetings with discussions of several topics.
Planned for next Wednesday is a talk about which Operating System/Distribution each one uses, their major features and why each one would be good for others.

This is a networks and telecommunications group. Most of us work on low level, kernel code (network protocols), or mobile and security applications. Most people here use Windows, Ubuntu, openSUSE, Fedora, and maybe a few others, like Gentoo.

What I would like was to get (on top of mine and another's Archer here) your personal contributions on why ArchLinux is great, in this case for developers, people who like to have control of their machines, but also don't want software to get in his way through the times.

Thanks in advance,
André!

[1] - http://atnog.av.it.pt/

the_isz · 2011-04-06 17:23:36

The things that come to my mind right now are:

Incredibly easy to create packages which make it easy to install libraries or
programs without corrupting the system with files that are not tracked by the
package management system.
Very up-to-date packages.
No software configuration software (e.g. Yast) to get in your way of
configuring the system.
Very helpful community in the case you should run into problems.

Oh yeah, and obviously an Allan to blame in case something should go wrong ;P

Lone_Wolf · 2011-04-07 13:32:25

- configuration is done by editing of text-files

- very lean install, console-based.
You rarely need to remove things you don't want , instead you add what you want.

- packages use vanilla upstream versions as much as possbile.

PReP · 2011-04-08 08:38:07

Yeah.

. Vanilla packaging (as close to "as intended" as possible, removing abstractions in between, and thus not adding places to search for cause/blame (allan excluded )

. Add what you need, instead of remove what you don't need.

. Very simple and sensible control, all that is needed is to read up on an actual application or project - and then you get to actually know how any application or system-thingie' works.

. Up to date

. Arch linux is linux, and pacman makes it easy for arch to be linux.

hongy19 · 2011-04-10 01:30:15

1, pacman is so great.
2, the system is simple and not so complicated
3, wiki and forum is great.

Allan · 2011-04-10 01:48:14

the_isz wrote:

Oh yeah, and obviously an Allan to blame in case something should go wrong ;P

PReP wrote:

thus not adding places to search for cause/blame (allan excluded )

Hey!

essence-of-foo · 2011-04-10 08:03:45

1. The Arch way in general
2. CLI-friendly system administration
3. Speed (because of simplicity and optimization for i686 and x64_86)
4. Community (allan included)

jelly · 2011-04-10 10:16:56

Allan wrote:

the_isz wrote:
Oh yeah, and obviously an Allan to blame in case something should go wrong ;P
PReP wrote:
thus not adding places to search for cause/blame (allan excluded )

Hey!

We have Awesome devs who reply to mails, are very helpfull, make sure we get the most bleeding, stable packages.

And mention AIF, it's very nice

nDray · 2011-04-10 10:33:20

Yes, jelly, that framework I'd forget because I've never used it, and I'll have to study first.

All the other, I totally agree, and will try to present in a good manner!

swathe · 2011-04-10 12:35:10

1. The Arch Way
2. See 1.

PReP · 2011-04-11 16:43:36

Allan wrote:

the_isz wrote:
Oh yeah, and obviously an Allan to blame in case something should go wrong ;P
PReP wrote:
thus not adding places to search for cause/blame (allan excluded )

Hey!

- Allan being a dev that actually replies to users yes, and understands friendly joking stabs

Humour aside, all the big work from all our devs are just great and highly appreciated.

frank604 · 2011-05-04 01:46:55

Archlinux provides a good amount of control on what occurs in your system. You may hear about this over and over but what does this actually mean? Some distros come with prepackaged applications and/or customizations. Some of these annoy me, for example, linux mint's(LM) firefox has a LM theme associated with it where if you google, 1/4 of the page has LM logos and 'garbage'. I like vanilla firefox, where it is kept simple, clean, and functional. This is just one aspect. Another area of control is in regards to understanding the libraries, dependencies, etc needed for an application to run. Because the default installation is bare bone, you get the opportunity to really understand the background requirements in running an application by debugging it and looking at the errors in logs. This helps the understanding that library A is needed to run application X. This knowledge is useful in case there are certain versions of library A (newer or older) that can cause bugs to occur in application X. Then we can look for the appropriate version and rummage through out of sync mirrors or even the library archive repository.

The arch way of configuration is simple in that the configuration is streamlined to follow the BSD style init.

Arch is rolling release, but unlike some distros, it is bleeding edge. Other rolling release distros can be outdated, simply holding onto packages, kernels, etc for a longer period. You may notice that they are not running on the latest kernel among other things. This may be crucial, in particular to a kernel, if the latest one has a fix for your hardware. Bleeding edge just adds a bonus to Arch that you always have access to the latest versions giving you the power to choose to stick with a stable older version or have it updated.

Overall, in the one month of using linux I've learnt a lot just by reading the wiki on Arch. It is by far the best wiki a distro has made so far for me. I haven't seen any other distros provide such a vast and updated wiki. I normally hate asking questions but really there is rarely a need as the wiki plus forums provide all the answers. Of course if there is an unique issue, the community comes together as long as you provide detailed information and have exhausted all other sources.

Although I am not a dev, I would imagine the above reasons plenty for any dev to welcome this type of environment where control in their environment is critical to the success of the project they are working on.

458italia · 2011-05-04 13:26:00

What others here have said is true, but I will also add that you can avoid system breakage with archlinux as well by maintaining a shadow repository of packages to keep things stable in a production environment (i.e. make your own repo, use pacman to use only your 'stable' repository of packages, and everything is golden :-) )

Arch Linux

#1 2011-04-06 16:33:22

Key features of ArchLinux for geeks and developers

#2 2011-04-06 17:23:36

Re: Key features of ArchLinux for geeks and developers

#3 2011-04-07 13:32:25

Re: Key features of ArchLinux for geeks and developers

#4 2011-04-08 08:38:07

Re: Key features of ArchLinux for geeks and developers

#5 2011-04-10 01:30:15

Re: Key features of ArchLinux for geeks and developers

#6 2011-04-10 01:48:14

Re: Key features of ArchLinux for geeks and developers

#7 2011-04-10 08:03:45

Re: Key features of ArchLinux for geeks and developers

#8 2011-04-10 10:16:56

Re: Key features of ArchLinux for geeks and developers

#9 2011-04-10 10:33:20

Re: Key features of ArchLinux for geeks and developers

#10 2011-04-10 12:35:10

Re: Key features of ArchLinux for geeks and developers

#11 2011-04-11 16:43:36

Re: Key features of ArchLinux for geeks and developers

#12 2011-05-04 01:46:55

Re: Key features of ArchLinux for geeks and developers

#13 2011-05-04 13:26:00

Re: Key features of ArchLinux for geeks and developers

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