Debian GNU/Linux: mostly empty thread
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== Source-based ==
== Source-based ==
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Source-based distributions are highly portable, giving the advantage of controlling and compiling the entire OS and applications for a particular machine architecture and usage scheme, with the disadvantage of the time-consuming nature of source compilation. The Arch base and all packages are compiled for i686 and x86_64 architectures, offering a potential performance boost over
i486/i586 binary distributions, with the added advantage of expedient installation.
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Source-based distributions are highly portable, giving the advantage of controlling and compiling the entire OS and applications for a particular machine architecture and usage scheme, with the disadvantage of the time-consuming nature of source compilation. The Arch base and all packages are compiled for i686 and x86_64 architectures, offering a potential performance boost over i486/i586 binary distributions, with the added advantage of expedient installation.
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=== CRUX ===
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* Before creating Arch, Judd Vinet admired and used CRUX; a minimalist distribution created by Per Lidén. Originally inspired by ideas in common with CRUX and BSD, Arch was built from scratch, and [[pacman]] was then coded in C.
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* Arch and CRUX share some guiding principles: for instance, both are architecture-optimized, minimalist and K.I.S.S.-oriented.
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* Both ship with ports-like systems, and, like *BSD, both provide a minimal base environment to build upon.
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* Arch features pacman, which handles binary system package management and works seamlessly with the [[Arch Build System]]. CRUX uses a community contributed system called prt-get, which, in combination with its own ports system, handles dependency resolution, but builds all packages from source (though the CRUX base installation is binary).
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* Arch officially supports x86_64 and i686 only, whereas CRUX officially offers only x86_64.
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*Arch uses a rolling-release system and features a large array of binary package repositories as well as the [[Arch User Repository]]. CRUX provides a more slimmed-down officially supported ports system in addition to a comparatively modest community repository.
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=== LFS ===
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* LFS, (or Linux From Scratch) exists simply as documentation. The book instructs the user on obtaining the source code for a minimal base package set for a functional GNU/Linux system, and how to manually compile, patch and configure it from scratch. LFS is as minimal as it gets, and offers an excellent and educational process of building and customizing a base system.
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* LFS provides no online repositories; sources are manually obtained, compiled and installed with ''make''. (Several manual methods of package management exist, and are mentioned in LFS Hints).
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* Arch provides these very same packages, plus [[systemd]], a few extra tools and the powerful [[pacman]] package manager as its base system, already compiled for i686/x86_64. Along with the minimal Arch base system, the Arch community and developers provide and maintain many thousands of binary packages installable via pacman as well as [[PKGBUILD]] build scripts for use with the [[Arch Build System]]. Arch also includes the [[makepkg]] tool for expediently building or customizing ''.pkg.tar.xz'' packages, readily installable by pacman.
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* Judd Vinet built Arch from scratch, and then wrote pacman in C. Historically, Arch was sometimes humorously described simply as "Linux, with a nice package manager."
=== Gentoo/Funtoo Linux ===
=== Gentoo/Funtoo Linux ===
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* The installation process involves configuring a simple base system from the shell and ncurses menus, then optionally recompiling the base system afterward.
* The installation process involves configuring a simple base system from the shell and ncurses menus, then optionally recompiling the base system afterward.
* Like Arch, there is no default WM/DE/DM, and Xorg is not included in the base installation. Several X server alternatives are available (X.Org 6.8 or 7, XFree86).
* Like Arch, there is no default WM/DE/DM, and Xorg is not included in the base installation. Several X server alternatives are available (X.Org 6.8 or 7, XFree86).
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== Minimalist ==
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The minimalist distributions are quite comparable to Arch, sharing several similarities. All are considered "simple" from a technical standpoint.
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=== LFS ===
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* LFS, (or Linux From Scratch) exists simply as documentation. The book instructs the user on obtaining the source code for a minimal base package set for a functional GNU/Linux system, and how to manually compile, patch and configure it from scratch. LFS is as minimal as it gets, and offers an excellent and educational process of building and customizing a base system.
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* LFS provides no online repositories; sources are manually obtained, compiled and installed with ''make''. (Several manual methods of package management exist, and are mentioned in LFS Hints).
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* Arch provides these very same packages, plus [[systemd]], a few extra tools and the powerful [[pacman]] package manager as its base system, already compiled for i686/x86_64. Along with the minimal Arch base system, the Arch community and developers provide and maintain many thousands of binary packages installable via pacman as well as [[PKGBUILD]] build scripts for use with the [[Arch Build System]]. Arch also includes the [[makepkg]] tool for expediently building or customizing ''.pkg.tar.xz'' packages, readily installable by pacman.
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* Judd Vinet built Arch from scratch, and then wrote pacman in C. Historically, Arch was sometimes humorously described simply as "Linux, with a nice package manager."
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=== CRUX ===
−
* Before creating Arch, Judd Vinet admired and used CRUX; a minimalist distribution created by Per Lidén. Originally inspired by ideas in common with CRUX and BSD, Arch was built from scratch, and [[pacman]] was then coded in C.
−
* Arch and CRUX share some guiding principles: for instance, both are architecture-optimized, minimalist and K.I.S.S.-oriented.
−
* Both ship with ports-like systems, and, like *BSD, both provide a minimal base environment to build upon.
−
* Arch features pacman, which handles binary system package management and works seamlessly with the [[Arch Build System]]. CRUX uses a community contributed system called prt-get, which, in combination with its own ports system, handles dependency resolution, but builds all packages from source (though the CRUX base installation is binary).
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* Arch officially supports x86_64 and i686 only, whereas CRUX officially offers only x86_64.
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*Arch uses a rolling-release system and features a large array of binary package repositories as well as the [[Arch User Repository]]. CRUX provides a more slimmed-down officially supported ports system in addition to a comparatively modest community repository.
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=== Slackware ===
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* Slackware and Arch are quite similar in that both are simple distributions focused on elegance and minimalism.
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* Slackware is famous for its lack of branding and completely vanilla packages, from the kernel up. Arch typically applies patching only to avoid severe breakage or to ensure packages will compile cleanly.
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* Slackware uses BSD-style init scripts, Arch uses [[systemd]].
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* Arch supplies a package management system in [[pacman]] which, unlike Slackware's standard tools, offers automatic dependency resolution and allows for more automated system upgrades. Slackware users typically prefer their method of manual dependency resolution, citing the level of system control it grants them, as well as Slackware's excellent supply of pre-installed libraries and dependencies.
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* Arch is a rolling-release system. Slackware is seen as more conservative in its release cycle, preferring proven stable packages. Arch is more ''bleeding-edge'' in this respect.
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* Arch Linux provides many thousands of binary packages within its official repositories whereas Slackware official repositories are more modest.
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* Arch offers the [[Arch Build System]], an actual ports-like system and also the [[AUR]], a very large collection of PKGBUILDs contributed by users. Slackware offers a similar, though slimmer system at [http://www.slackbuilds.org slackbuilds.org] which is a semi-official repository of Slackbuilds, which are analogous to Arch PKGBUILDs. Slackware users will generally be quite comfortable with most aspects of Arch.
== General ==
== General ==
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* The Arch installation system only offers a minimal base, transparently exposed during system configuration, whereas Debian's methods, such as the use of apt ''tasks'' to install pre-selected groups of packages, offer a more automatically configured approach as well as several alternative methods of installation.
* The Arch installation system only offers a minimal base, transparently exposed during system configuration, whereas Debian's methods, such as the use of apt ''tasks'' to install pre-selected groups of packages, offer a more automatically configured approach as well as several alternative methods of installation.
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* Debian utilizes the ''SysVinit'' by default (though systemd and upstart are available for users to configure), whereas Arch uses [[systemd]] by default for overall better performance. In its next stable release, Debian will use [[systemd]] by default.
* Arch generally packages software libraries together with their header files, whereas in Debian header files have to be downloaded separately.
* Arch generally packages software libraries together with their header files, whereas in Debian header files have to be downloaded separately.
* Arch keeps patching to a minimum, thus avoiding problems that upstream are unable to review, whereas Debian patches its packages more liberally for a wider audience.
* Arch keeps patching to a minimum, thus avoiding problems that upstream are unable to review, whereas Debian patches its packages more liberally for a wider audience.
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* [https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=179481 Some differences between packaging in Arch and Debian.]
=== Fedora ===
=== Fedora ===
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* Arch Linux provides what is widely regarded as the most thorough and comprehensive distribution wiki. The Fedora wiki is used in the original sense of the word "wiki", or a way to exchange information between developers, testers and users rapidly. It is not meant to be an end-user knowledge base like Arch's. Fedora's wiki resembles an issue tracker or a corporate wiki.
* Arch Linux provides what is widely regarded as the most thorough and comprehensive distribution wiki. The Fedora wiki is used in the original sense of the word "wiki", or a way to exchange information between developers, testers and users rapidly. It is not meant to be an end-user knowledge base like Arch's. Fedora's wiki resembles an issue tracker or a corporate wiki.
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=== Slackware ===
+
+
* Slackware and Arch are quite similar in that both are simple distributions focused on elegance and minimalism.
+
+
* Slackware is famous for its lack of branding and completely vanilla packages, from the kernel up. Arch typically applies patching only to avoid severe breakage or to ensure packages will compile cleanly.
+
+
* Slackware uses BSD-style init scripts, Arch uses [[systemd]].
+
+
* Arch supplies a package management system in [[pacman]] which, unlike Slackware's standard tools, offers automatic dependency resolution and allows for more automated system upgrades. Slackware users typically prefer their method of manual dependency resolution, citing the level of system control it grants them, as well as Slackware's excellent supply of pre-installed libraries and dependencies.
+
+
* Arch is a rolling-release system. Slackware is seen as more conservative in its release cycle, preferring proven stable packages. Arch is more ''bleeding-edge'' in this respect.
+
+
* Arch Linux provides many thousands of binary packages within its official repositories whereas Slackware official repositories are more modest.
+
+
* Arch offers the [[Arch Build System]], an actual ports-like system and also the [[AUR]], a very large collection of PKGBUILDs contributed by users. Slackware offers a similar, though slimmer system at [http://www.slackbuilds.org slackbuilds.org] which is a semi-official repository of Slackbuilds, which are analogous to Arch PKGBUILDs. Slackware users will generally be quite comfortable with most aspects of Arch.
=== Frugalware ===
=== Frugalware ===