yay is a package manager that has been made for AUR. yay is not the official package manager for Arch Linux, pacman is, and it does not support AUR. yay is not installed on Arch Linux by default, its official package manager, pacman, is. AUR is for unofficial 3rd party packages, i.e. "use at your own risk". It has always been the case.
On one hand, the distro developers can’t really prevent people from, say, hitting their computers with a sledgehammer or something. So to some extent, the users have to be trusted.
But, maybe it would be best not to have “yay” available. Using something like AUR without reading the package build files is… pretty bad, right? And it is bad for the community, because if there is a convention of doing that sort of thing, it makes the AUR a good target for attacking.
Nearly all distros have this problem when it comes to packaging and distributing 3rd party software.
Even if you're using an immutable distro, your KDE Plasma session can get hijacked if you simply use the built in wizard to install 3rd party desktop widgets, which is a right-click + single-click away on any Plasma destkop.
The current iteration of SteamOS (the one shipped on Steam Deck) is Arch based. So a lot of non-linux users got exposed to it as their first linux distro. Especially with all the emulation guides and other random guides for doing "advanced" stuff to your Steam Deck by dropping in the Arch-ish desktop.
Also anyone who wants to try "Gaming on Linux" needs bleeding edge kernel which is Arch's default setup compared to other distros.
This is a slight aside, but CachyOS is a great example of the failure of Wikipedia politics.
The "CachyOS" page was deleted[1], and replaced with a redirect to the Arch Linux page. But CachyOS is not mentioned anywhere on that page, nor on the "List of Linux distributions § Arch Linux-based" page.
An evaluation of what's best really depends on how one weighs different tradeoffs. For example, Debian and Arch are basically polar opposites in terms of two questions:
1) do you want an intermediary between you and the upstream? for example, to patch out telemetry
2) is it important that what you're using continues to work the same way so you can focus on your actual work?
No answer to either is consequence-free, e.g. for 1), see the Debian SSH patch event, or for 2), if the answer is "it doesn't work", then that kinda forces one's hand.
This is just ignorant. I've been daily driving Linux since 2005. The majority of that time has been with Arch. Despite the memes, I've found it to be MORE stable than your typical Debian derivatives. It's funny to me that it took over a decade for people to come to the same realization.
You know? I did drive Arch daily for a few years, coming from NetBSD.
Then had to use something 'officially' supported for a while, then did some Debian derivative live-distro running from USB/in RAM because of HW-problems, and settled for CachyOS when new (old) HW arrived.
I update maybe once a month at the most, more likely every two monts, because I don't give a shit. With the exception of FF, or maybe some nicer Kernel, for eBPF and scheduler-stuff.
That's reviewing changes in a few config files, after having read up about them at Archs & CachyOS sites. Maybe five minutes max, opening a few relevant tabs. (If necessary at all, which often isn't the case.)
Starting Pacman. Downloads instantly, even if several GB. Decompresses and installs stuff. Maybe two to three minutes. Reboot. 20 seconds. Plasma is back.
Clicking FF. Back with all its tabs. Maybe two to three seconds. Maybe uBO blocks a few more secs sometimes, while updating lists.
After intentionally having killed it with -9 in preparation before reboot.
Cleaning Pacman's package-cache and btrfs-snapshots because The only way is Fooorwaaard!
Personally I've been running Arch on my work machine for a few years now with very few issues. I'm not even very consistent with updates, and probably run them about once every 3 weeks on average. I have only had to manually intervene on a handful of occasions.
I like it a lot because everything is always up-to-date. I don't face any issues with unsupported versions for tools like I have with Debian in the past. The rolling release model also saves me the pain of doing a "hard" OS upgrade, which often come with issues.
I'm hesitant to comment further seeing I've attracted the ire of some people with my comment, but anyway. I too used Arch out of curiosity about like ten years ago, during the first "Arch, BTW" memes, and found it too unstable, but that's expected from a rolling release: update too soon or too late, and something could break. I didn't mind, as it was a hobby.
Eventually, I got more busy and had less time to tinker, so I migrated to Ubuntu LTS, which has some small warts, but has needed practically null babysitting compared to Arch. I was surprised when the Arch memes resurfaced this year, but that's the only growth I've seen. None of my Linux-savvy peers use Arch, BTW.
I can't imagine what kind of a problem I would personally have to encounter to make me utter such a sweeping generalization with this much confidence. :)
At least this guy has been using it as a daily driver (at home and at work) for at least fifteen years.
Well, Arch has (historically) been rather difficult to install from scratch, and requires a lot of Linux knowledge to get up-and-running as a daily driver. If one is installing it for the first time and misses something (which audio backend?), it can be rather frustrating down the line.
There is a reason Ubuntu is usually the first distro new Linux users go to. For almost a decade now, installing a feature-complete Ubuntu setup is not much more difficult than reimaging Windows.
It this recent? I thought “I use arch btw” was more of a thing… 5 or so years ago.
I switched away from Arch (to Ubuntu) as a sort of side effect of switching computers a couple years ago (desktop->laptop, though Ubuntu would “bring the batteries along” more conveniently). Ubuntu is fine I guess, but I really miss the stability of rolling release and the user-friendliness of not having too many built in programs.
FWIW this is AUR. These packages are not officially supported. AUR = Arch User Repository.
Plenty of package managers (such as `yay`) install from AUR by default.
yay is a package manager that has been made for AUR. yay is not the official package manager for Arch Linux, pacman is, and it does not support AUR. yay is not installed on Arch Linux by default, its official package manager, pacman, is. AUR is for unofficial 3rd party packages, i.e. "use at your own risk". It has always been the case.
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On one hand, the distro developers can’t really prevent people from, say, hitting their computers with a sledgehammer or something. So to some extent, the users have to be trusted.
But, maybe it would be best not to have “yay” available. Using something like AUR without reading the package build files is… pretty bad, right? And it is bad for the community, because if there is a convention of doing that sort of thing, it makes the AUR a good target for attacking.
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Nearly all distros have this problem when it comes to packaging and distributing 3rd party software.
Even if you're using an immutable distro, your KDE Plasma session can get hijacked if you simply use the built in wizard to install 3rd party desktop widgets, which is a right-click + single-click away on any Plasma destkop.
Is arch exploding in popularity? Because of Omarchy or something else?
The current iteration of SteamOS (the one shipped on Steam Deck) is Arch based. So a lot of non-linux users got exposed to it as their first linux distro. Especially with all the emulation guides and other random guides for doing "advanced" stuff to your Steam Deck by dropping in the Arch-ish desktop.
Also anyone who wants to try "Gaming on Linux" needs bleeding edge kernel which is Arch's default setup compared to other distros.
CachyOS (Arch based distro), no.1 on https://distrowatch.com/
That’s just a ranking of subpage hits per day. Not only is that easily gamed, it also says very little about how popular an OS really is.
This is a slight aside, but CachyOS is a great example of the failure of Wikipedia politics.
The "CachyOS" page was deleted[1], and replaced with a redirect to the Arch Linux page. But CachyOS is not mentioned anywhere on that page, nor on the "List of Linux distributions § Arch Linux-based" page.
[1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Articles_for_deletio...
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> Blazingly Fast & Customizable Linux distribution
I love Arch Linux, but please...
(Arch Linux is already "fast" (depends on what you install for your DE, if any) and customizable.)
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I think I saw posts on Reddit with XQC saying Arch is the best. I mean it is. And I use Arch btw.
An evaluation of what's best really depends on how one weighs different tradeoffs. For example, Debian and Arch are basically polar opposites in terms of two questions:
1) do you want an intermediary between you and the upstream? for example, to patch out telemetry
2) is it important that what you're using continues to work the same way so you can focus on your actual work?
No answer to either is consequence-free, e.g. for 1), see the Debian SSH patch event, or for 2), if the answer is "it doesn't work", then that kinda forces one's hand.
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The only thing I've seen Arch exploding in popularity has been memes. It's a fun distro for hobbyists, but too inconvenient as a daily driver.
This is just ignorant. I've been daily driving Linux since 2005. The majority of that time has been with Arch. Despite the memes, I've found it to be MORE stable than your typical Debian derivatives. It's funny to me that it took over a decade for people to come to the same realization.
You know? I did drive Arch daily for a few years, coming from NetBSD.
Then had to use something 'officially' supported for a while, then did some Debian derivative live-distro running from USB/in RAM because of HW-problems, and settled for CachyOS when new (old) HW arrived.
I update maybe once a month at the most, more likely every two monts, because I don't give a shit. With the exception of FF, or maybe some nicer Kernel, for eBPF and scheduler-stuff.
That's reviewing changes in a few config files, after having read up about them at Archs & CachyOS sites. Maybe five minutes max, opening a few relevant tabs. (If necessary at all, which often isn't the case.)
Starting Pacman. Downloads instantly, even if several GB. Decompresses and installs stuff. Maybe two to three minutes. Reboot. 20 seconds. Plasma is back.
Clicking FF. Back with all its tabs. Maybe two to three seconds. Maybe uBO blocks a few more secs sometimes, while updating lists.
After intentionally having killed it with -9 in preparation before reboot.
Cleaning Pacman's package-cache and btrfs-snapshots because The only way is Fooorwaaard!
( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e_tVzx_PIH8 Daxon ft. Numa - The Only Way (Extended Mix) [COLDHARBOUR RECORDINGS] 7mins, 7secs )
Letting btrfs rebalance in the background.
Opening other stuff, on other virtual desktops, being exactly where and how I left it, thanks to working session-mgmt.
Feels very convenient to me, in opposition to most of the other 'mainstream stuff'.
Maybe the memes have a core of truth to them? For ppl who know what they do?
Cachy, Cachy, Caramba, Yay, Yay!
Can you elaborate why you think this?
Personally I've been running Arch on my work machine for a few years now with very few issues. I'm not even very consistent with updates, and probably run them about once every 3 weeks on average. I have only had to manually intervene on a handful of occasions.
I like it a lot because everything is always up-to-date. I don't face any issues with unsupported versions for tools like I have with Debian in the past. The rolling release model also saves me the pain of doing a "hard" OS upgrade, which often come with issues.
I'm hesitant to comment further seeing I've attracted the ire of some people with my comment, but anyway. I too used Arch out of curiosity about like ten years ago, during the first "Arch, BTW" memes, and found it too unstable, but that's expected from a rolling release: update too soon or too late, and something could break. I didn't mind, as it was a hobby.
Eventually, I got more busy and had less time to tinker, so I migrated to Ubuntu LTS, which has some small warts, but has needed practically null babysitting compared to Arch. I was surprised when the Arch memes resurfaced this year, but that's the only growth I've seen. None of my Linux-savvy peers use Arch, BTW.
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I can't imagine what kind of a problem I would personally have to encounter to make me utter such a sweeping generalization with this much confidence. :)
At least this guy has been using it as a daily driver (at home and at work) for at least fifteen years.
I've been using Arch as my daily driver for over fifteen years. I'm not a fanatic, it just works really well.
If Arch is too "inconvenient" as a daily driver, you might find yourself more at "home" on a Windows install instead.
Well, Arch has (historically) been rather difficult to install from scratch, and requires a lot of Linux knowledge to get up-and-running as a daily driver. If one is installing it for the first time and misses something (which audio backend?), it can be rather frustrating down the line.
There is a reason Ubuntu is usually the first distro new Linux users go to. For almost a decade now, installing a feature-complete Ubuntu setup is not much more difficult than reimaging Windows.
It this recent? I thought “I use arch btw” was more of a thing… 5 or so years ago.
I switched away from Arch (to Ubuntu) as a sort of side effect of switching computers a couple years ago (desktop->laptop, though Ubuntu would “bring the batteries along” more conveniently). Ubuntu is fine I guess, but I really miss the stability of rolling release and the user-friendliness of not having too many built in programs.