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While some may see it as a learning tool I have used Arch on my workstations for 14 years. The last time I remember having to manually fix things was when it mi

While some may see it as a learning tool I have used Arch on my workstations for 14 years. The last time I remember having to manually fix things was when it migrated to systemd. I am a linux sysadmin so I might be biased but I think people overestimate the effort required to get exactly what you want and nothing more out of an Arch setup.

jasperry 4y ago
A more recent update that required some work was switching to PipeWire for audio. But it was mainly about knowing which packages to remove and replace, and now audio works without a hitch for me, better than PulseAudio ever did.
joveian 4y ago
It depends on how uncommon what you want is, although I agree it is very low effort in general. For example, there was not too long ago an issue with the kernel not booting from syslinux for a few weeks. Also, arch-announce mentions a manual fix needed if you have a particular package installed every few months, so good to subscribe to that and fix as described if needed. https://lists.archlinux.org/mailman3/lists/arch-announce.lists.archlinux.org/ https://lists.archlinux.org/mailman3/lists/arch-announce.lis... My suggestions: 1) Keep both linux and linux-lts installed since otherwise you have no backup if the one you normally use doesn't work. 2) Always fully update the system since dependencies aren't always fully specified and a partial update can damage the rest of the system. If you need to hold back a package, add it to the IgnorePkg= line in /etc/pacman.conf until it works again. 3) Avoid AUR except for rare cases where you review the package manually (always avoid AUR helpers). 4) Don't be too lazy even though things mostly just work, check your boot logs at least every year or so to improve the chance of fixing issues before they cause trouble and look for and deal with pacnew files at least a few times a year.
autophagian 4y ago
I'm in the same boat. I started my linux use with everything-bundled distros like Ubuntu but I really appreciated Arch for giving me a better sense of how things tend to hang together. Made me much more comfortable transitioning into sysadmin/sre stuff.
omnicognate 4y ago
I use it on all my personal linux boxes at home: laptop, router, nas, a nuc, a couple of rpis and a bunch of VMs. Main thing I love is that I've never found myself in the position of just giving up and starting again on any of them. I've switched a few of those over to arch when I reached that point with what I was running on them before. Most distros effectively force you to do that eventually. I upgrade them when I get round to touching them for some reason so sometimes months will go by. I've never encountered a problem after upgrade that I couldn't quickly resolve with a brief bit of tinkering, and I'd take that over starting from scratch or leaving things mouldering away on outdated software any day.

jasperry 4y ago

A more recent update that required some work was switching to PipeWire for audio. But it was mainly about knowing which packages to remove and replace, and now audio works without a hitch for me, better than PulseAudio ever did.

joveian 4y ago

It depends on how uncommon what you want is, although I agree it is very low effort in general. For example, there was not too long ago an issue with the kernel not booting from syslinux for a few weeks. Also, arch-announce mentions a manual fix needed if you have a particular package installed every few months, so good to subscribe to that and fix as described if needed. https://lists.archlinux.org/mailman3/lists/arch-announce.lists.archlinux.org/ https://lists.archlinux.org/mailman3/lists/arch-announce.lis... My suggestions: 1) Keep both linux and linux-lts installed since otherwise you have no backup if the one you normally use doesn't work. 2) Always fully update the system since dependencies aren't always fully specified and a partial update can damage the rest of the system. If you need to hold back a package, add it to the IgnorePkg= line in /etc/pacman.conf until it works again. 3) Avoid AUR except for rare cases where you review the package manually (always avoid AUR helpers). 4) Don't be too lazy even though things mostly just work, check your boot logs at least every year or so to improve the chance of fixing issues before they cause trouble and look for and deal with pacnew files at least a few times a year.

autophagian 4y ago

I'm in the same boat. I started my linux use with everything-bundled distros like Ubuntu but I really appreciated Arch for giving me a better sense of how things tend to hang together. Made me much more comfortable transitioning into sysadmin/sre stuff.

omnicognate 4y ago

I use it on all my personal linux boxes at home: laptop, router, nas, a nuc, a couple of rpis and a bunch of VMs. Main thing I love is that I've never found myself in the position of just giving up and starting again on any of them. I've switched a few of those over to arch when I reached that point with what I was running on them before. Most distros effectively force you to do that eventually. I upgrade them when I get round to touching them for some reason so sometimes months will go by. I've never encountered a problem after upgrade that I couldn't quickly resolve with a brief bit of tinkering, and I'd take that over starting from scratch or leaving things mouldering away on outdated software any day.