ArchLinux — smooth and cuddly
[ Friday, 4 May 2007, riklaunim ]
ArchLinux or Arch for short is one of the uprising new distributions. Well, at least compared to old folks like Debian or Slackware it’s still fresh and shining :). Arch is gaining new users and good reviews every day. Let’s find out why this is happening.
The fun starts here
Arch is a rolling-release distro which means that the repositories are updated regularly and not in a few month cycle like Fedora or Ubuntu. New releases just update the install CDs with recent packages, but the distribution is evolving constantly regardless the releases. In order to install ArchLinux we can use three different ISO images:
- ftp allows a direct install from repositories, so we have to have a good Internet connection,
- base contains core packages on the CD allowing a basic install (we get the text mode as a result)
- full contains more packages, including X.org a some lighter window managers.
I personally recommend ftp or base options as full becomes outdated very fast.
Arch installation is performed by a text/curses based installer which is divided into few parts: partitioning and partitions selection, selecting and installing packages and the kernel and, at the end, configuring the system and installing Grub (the boot manager). The installer requires that you read the docs before the actual installation (unless you are Linus or alike ;)).
What’s under the arch?
I performed a base install of Arch x86_64 and I got a basic system where I could install everything I wanted later on. I used the opportunity to test kdemod from a fresh install, so I’ve added extra repository in Pacman configuration and started the installation of packages. In my case:
pacman -S kdemod-kdebase kdemod-kde-i18n-pl kdemod-kdebase-kicker kdemod-kdegraphics-kolourpaint kdemod-kdegraphics-kpdf kdemod-kdegraphics-ksnapshot kdemod-kdemultimedia-base kdemod-kdenetwork-kget kdemod-kdeutils-ark xf86-video-sis ttf-dejavu kaffeine gwenview
This resulted in downloading about 160 MB of packages. Update of the core system and installation of kdemod went smoothly. I’ve reused xorg.conf from by existing Gentoo system (oh well…) and booted into KDE with kdemod patches. I’ve noticed no icon for the openSuSE-like KMenu (but it was there). The menu may look nice but for me the original menu is faster and easier to use. In the openSuSE type I had to make a few clicks to get to the application I wanted to launch.
Pic. 1 KDE kdemod after start with openSuSE KMenu
As I used ADSL network connection at the time of testing Arch I just reused my /etc/ppp config and firmware from Gentoo, reloaded ueagle-atm module, loaded pppoatm and ADSL worked :). Arch configuration is easy and doesn’t require any super special config centres. Most of the settings are located in /etc/rc.conf.
So, next used Pacman, the package manager to install e17 snapshot and XFCE4 to see how they look and work under Arch.
Pic. 2 Installing packages is very easy
Pic. 3 Pacman is busy downloading so I’ll just read something…
Pic. 4 XFCE 4 in action 
Pic. 5 AlwaysAlfa-e17 is indeed in alfa stage. The menu has links to non-existing applications.
Arch is flexible — there is no default window manager or applications. You choose what you want. There is no problem with KDE, GNOME, XFCE or other window managers, everyone will find his favorite applications. This is one of advantages that lead advanced Linux users to such distributions. The second one is the package manager. Pacman and the config file(s) are the art of (functional) simplicity.
Houston, we have a problem
Every OS has bugs, especially one of them… But returning to Arch. I don’t like the kernel update system at all. It creates the initrd on the fly and if you have something wrong with the config you may end up with a kernel panic. As uncle Google shows, this isn’t a minor problem 
It happens as they say. It can be easily fixed but such a complicated system looks like it wasn’t designed for the simplicity of Arch. The next surprise was the naming of my partitions. Old kernel ATA drivers use hda* while new ones in Arch use sda* — not a bug, just a “surprise”.
Arch versus Gentoo
On the ArchLinux forums Gentoo is quite a popular word — there are comparisons, distro speed wars and so on. Both distributions are good for me because they use a rolling release type. Arch allows you to set up a full system in about 15 minutes, whereas Gentoo system needs more time, care and love. The difference is in package management — Gentoo has portage with bigger collection of software and USE Flags which allow us to drop features that are not needed. Gentoo also has split KDE ebuilds (which I use and like). No more kdegames for kdeaddons dependencies. Arch is simple and powerful. Gentoo is better for more addicted Linux followers
Arch versus Frugalware
Frugalware is a bit like Slackware (similar config) with Pacman manager. Frugal has bigger repositories but it likes to behave in a very odd way as no other distro does. As for the packages. Arch has AUR repository where users share their pkgbulds (which may be broken or old). In Frugalware all frugabulds are send to the developers and if they are OK they go to the main repositories and they are managed by the devs. For me the Frugalware solution is better than AUR/community (at least more packages should go from those two to the base repositories). As for configuration Frugalware has many files which you have to know of. Arch has most of the configs in one file and you don’t have to jump between different /etc files to configure everything (Note: Frugalware has also a curses config tools which cover most of the settings). And last — the repositories. Frugalware has two types - “stable” which is updated from release to release and rolling “testing” which is updated regularly, but it’s “more testing” than arch base repositories.
Wishlist
As usually, here is my wishlist — the things that annoy me, but it may be only me so don’t take it personally :D:
- More “stable” updates — it breaks rarely now but it still does happen.
- Alternative split KDE and other applications (for example things like GNOME-python if someone doesn’t use GNOME and plays with pyGTK)
- As for the 64 bit version — 32bit codecs + mplayer, wine, opera could be useful
Conclusion
Arch is a very good distribution for all hackers, terrorists and even regular users who want to learn a bit more of Linux. Arch was my third distro which I used regularly (SuSE -> old MEPIS -> Arch/Gentoo) and I still like it and use it from time to time (with Gentoo onboard as well, of course ;)).
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You did not mention the -current repository in frugalware, it’s the repo which compares to the base/extra of arch.
Testing is just a snapshot of the current repo when a new test release is created..
What are the odd ways ?
I used arch for quite some time and really liked it. What I really hated about it was its policy towards documentation other than man pages: it is stripped from the packages. So it did actually happend to me that I had to download the whole source tarball of a library just to read the documentation . I suggested building seperate -doc packages but I was told that this definitly won’t get into arch.
btw, to be fair: they said they already have traffic problems without the documentation packages.
You have kdemod for split kde.
And lib32 in AUR for 32-bit stuff on Arch64.
I try all the major distro,but i stay with archlinux from 3 years and i have’t any problem.I thing Arch is the best distro in the linux’s world.
Frederik, if you want docs, you may uncomment the respective line in /etc/makepkg.conf, then rebuild the package(s). Not as comfortable as using binary, but it works
This is where Arch really shines, (re)building packages. It’s just so easy to customize everything to your liking. Also, creating new packages is easier than with every other distro I’ve tried. Write a pkgbuild, execute makepkg and you’re all set. If you want, you can submit it to the user repository, it might even find its way into the community repo. Great stuff!
Personally, I never liked the idea of having seperate documentation files for one and the same application, too much clutter. When I began using GNU/Linux, I learned how to use the man pages, everything else I searched for on the net. So I didn’t have to get accustomed to Arch’s way of handling documentation
BTW, all you German Arch newbies, check out archlinux.de!
This is an due to the introduction of the new PATA subsystem in kernel 2.6.19 and not related to Arch per se (cf. http://kernelnewbies.org/Linux_2_6_19#head-cdcbaa9c1b476decdc064e0a75d23d1328b1ddce). You can go back to the old IDE drivers by replacing “pata” with “ide” in /etc/mkinitcpio.conf.
Arch Linux just works! Even though I am a relative novice, I have never had any difficulty with installing and configuring Arch 64 bit, no less! Also, even as a novice I now have the confidence that if something were to go wrong on my system I can fix it fairly easily since I am already reasonably familiar with the inner working of the system at the time of installation. At least I would know where to look!
Also, Arch gives great flexibility to install and remove packages and Windowing environments and one can easily experiment with different things and get rid of stuff that one does not like very easily and thoroughly.
I am surprised that more distros have not adopted the pacman tool for package management, it would be great if all Linux distros supported this way of seamless upgrades without ever having to burn new CDs and DVDs.
I have not had the urge to remove Arch Linux from my computer since the time I installed it, few months ago!
mandriva has similar concept of “rolling updates” if you use ‘cooker’ repository.
I like urpm[fiq] mandriva’s package managment, pacman has lack of features like finding package name by using filename tht contain package, eg.: if you need kmail, you must know, that is located in kde-pim package. with mandriva’s urpmf, you can search package name with urpmf bin/kmail,
another pacman’s drawback is also lack of gui frontends.
You say drawback, I say advantage
I have ended my distro search happily at Arch, and have been repeatedly satisfied with Arch as my desktop for months now.
Those who join us Archers will take pride in knowing a system, and not just how to use it, KISS is boi.
I used ArchLinux for a while after using Gentoo for some time (I was still discovering it as my, finally, chosen distro). ArchLinux seemed to me not only too simple but also too rigid. It feels like you are given something you can improve on only to a certain limit, a limit that really felt too close. I can’t really explain it more simpler…
2 eric:
I’m using archlinux and like this concept, but lack of pacman’s features is definitively drawback. Imagine, if I compiling and some header file/library is missing, currently is not simple way, how to find package, where this file is and this will not be probably improved in pacman3;(
IMHO, Arch linux is the best way to *learn* and not just *use* linux. I started out on Arch, and I’ve tried many others distributions out of curiosity, but none have been as simple as Arch. With Arch it is possible to get a grasp of the big picture and really understand all of your system.
For pj:
“finding package name by using filename tht contain package”
this will do it:
pacman -Qo
Arch stopped my distro shuffle several years ago. Great learning tool.Its a beautiful o/s, hard to quantify why as in theory all desktop types (I use kde) should function in the same way, but they don’t, in Arch it just seems to work and work smoothly and effortessly, a joy to use. A mate just tried latest Ubuntu - buggy, annoying inconsistant!!! Ugh!
2 Eldarion:
pacman -Qo is usefull only for already instaled packages, I’m out of luck, if I know only filename and don’t know package name for instalation.
http://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=25718
You should check this tool called Yaourt, developped by Wain of Arclinux France!
USAGE: yaourt [OPTION…]
example:
$ yaourt [regexp] : search for matching strings (with *) and allows to install it
$ yaourt -S [packagename]: download package from repository, and fallback on AUR
$ yaourt -Ss [regexp] : search remote repositories and AUR for matching strings
$ yaourt -Syu –aur : upgrade system + packages from aur
$ yaourt -Sybu –aur : upgrade by building PKGBUILD + packages from aur
$ yaourt -Syu –devel : upgrade all cvs/svn/mercurial packages (from aur)
So what you guys say now..
Arch
Gentoo
or
Frugalware?
gentoo is definitively not an option.
frugal has some advantages over arch like gui package manager, archlinux has only commandline pacman, but arch seems has bigger user community and good wiki;)
+1 for Frugalware, because it has a -stable branch where you can be sure things stay working. When new stable release occurs they are often even more up2date than Arch.
Sure, Arch’s community is great, am also registered there, help out from time to time and ask a question there too. But i have to admit that the philosophy doesn’t quite match me, i want it stable and efficient.
I think, arch will have similar concept issuing relatively fresh “stable” releases. with each new kernel (starting linux26.21?) will be issued new arch release cd.
jacman is a gui package manager for pacman, but i seldom use it because pacman is good enough.
Every OS has bugs, especially one of them…
Interesting, wich one them ???
I vote for Arch also, despite to the fact, that I had some problems with network and soundcard after kernel upgrade.
But next kernel release solved it perfectly.
This distro is really easy to install,fast and stable.
So I suggest for everybody to give a try!
For me, the rolling release system means it has never had to be reinstalled in 3 years of use - yet it is more up to date than Vista! And considerably faster.
It runs on Pentium2s upwards (>200 MHz) and can be maintained by anyone with minimal linux experience.
i like it a lot. it takes me a whole day to make everything works, including X stuffs. but i learn a lot from that.
now, i can have everything works in an hour.
i especially like the rc.conf which replace tedious works in other distro.
it’s fun way to learn linux.
too bad, i cant find a way install it to my old thinkpad600x and travelmate507dx to replace my outdated debian there…
(kernel panic on both system)