> I’m not highly conversant with ARM linux, but in my mind I imagine it’s still largely a second class citizen In terms of distros maybe yes. Most distros are

> I’m not highly conversant with ARM linux, but in my mind I imagine it’s still largely a second class citizen In terms of distros maybe yes. Most distros are targeted at laptops, desktops or servers, and few of those have ARM processors. In terms of architectural support by the kernel and low-level infra, I see no reason for that to be true at all. Open source kernels and (at least lower-level) userspace have for decades paid more attention to compatibility with various hardware architectures than proprietary operating systems. Of course you'll have fewer drivers for hardware associated with a particular architecture if there's less interest for the hardware, or if the hardware is less available in form factors that most developers are interested in. But that applies at least equally to non-open source platforms. If MS or Apple don't have a commercial interest in maintaining support for a particular platform (and they usually have only one or two in mind), nobody's going to do it.