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> I really like Arch, because contrary to the popular belief it is the most hassle free distro I've encountered. I completely agree. I tried switching to Linux

by coldpie 12y ago

> I really like Arch, because contrary to the popular belief it is the most hassle free distro I've encountered. I completely agree. I tried switching to Linux a few times in high school (early-mid '00s), and always had false starts with Fedora or Ubuntu. Usually the package manager would break and everything would fall to pieces. I ended up installing Arch as a Subversion server for some personal projects, and that's what finally made it click. I use Arch exclusively at work and at home. I do Linux development, which means I have to test out our product on other distros, usually Ubuntu. Eight-plus years later, and Ubuntu's package manager still falls over nine times out of ten. Fedora falls over. Mint falls over. I don't know what I'm doing wrong. Arch Just Works. It's dead simple, requires very little maintenance, and when something does go wrong (maybe once a year), it's easy to fix or roll back. Arch is just files on a hard drive, not some nebulous set of five different package sources and databases and "releases" and blech.

pimeys 12y ago
I've been using Arch on my workstation and on my laptop for several years already. I can sign all the points you gave in here and I really appreciate how easy it is to setup and use the distribution. Although many years ago I had problems when updating, in the recent years everything just works and I don't need to worry about upgrading the whole distro every 6 months.
- dougmany 12y ago
  That is good to hear. I used Arch and loved it until that upgrade thing you mentioned a few years ago. It basically made a machine I had unusable so I stopped using Arch altogether. Maybe it is time to go back.
- coldpie 12y ago
  Yeah, there were more upgrade conflicts years ago before most system software switched to the "conf.d" directory-style configuration system. Now the Arch-provided config upgrades cleanly as the user configuration is separate. Upgrade conflicts have been very rare lately.
dman 12y ago
Could you explain what causes Ubuntu package manager to fall over?
- antocv 12y ago
  Dependencies. Conflicts with. Unavailable dependencies from mirrors. Girlfriends OpenSUSE for example ran fine for a few months and now its stuck in an infinite update/upgrade loop or whatever it is trying to do - I really dont have the time to look into it. But the problem is, zypper cant update but really wants to update. Most likely it is conflicts between different repositories, or unavailable shit from some repository. But how useful would OpenSUSE be without the ability to play mp3 files? So all her programs are now outdated, getting older and older. Ive seen the same on most .deb based distros Ive tried - failure to update/upgrade a package or collection of packages - breaks the entire system. Oh you ran apt-get install something previously? Well now that failed, and I will not let you continue until you resolve the issue, the other package will be REMOVED, and the current package cannot be installed, but for an update is who the fuck cares stfu ragequit* * (installs archlinux).
  - kasabali 12y ago
    > Ive seen the same on most .deb based distros Ive tried - failure to update/upgrade a package or collection of packages - breaks the entire system. Which means you didn't try Debian stable. deb based or not doesn't matter, all that matters is distribution policies on packaging, migrations and releases.
    - antocv 12y ago
      Havent tried Debian stable, but then again, I dont live in 1999 either. What is the nginx version for Debian stable, is it even in the repositories yet?
      - kasabali 12y ago
        > Havent tried Debian stable, but then again, I dont live in 1999 either. > What is the nginx version for Debian stable, is it even in the repositories yet? It's none of my business to stop you from hating Debian. Just don't blame ".deb based distros" as if them being deb based was the reason of your suffering.
jefurii 12y ago
> ... and always had false starts with Fedora or Ubuntu. Usually the package manager would break and everything would fall to pieces. I ended up installing Arch as a Subversion server for some personal projects, and that's what finally made it click. Glad you've had a good experience with Arch. I've been using Debian and derivatives for years. I've occasionally seen hiccups with apt but I can almost always trace them to network trouble rather than the distro itself. In the other cases, reading the manpages or googling a bit helped unbork the system. It sounds like you didn't exercise your sysadmin/debugging skills.
- coldpie 12y ago
  Yes, part of it is ignorance on my part. I'm not familiar with DEB or RPM package management conventions. For example, on RPM systems, it turns out you can install two RPMs of the same name, but different versions! And this is the default instead of upgrading! Boy, that took ages to debug. But really, installing a system and using the system-provided package manager to perform a system update should "Just Work." And my experience is that this almost always ends in failure, and usually in a broken system. I dunno.

by coldpie 12y ago

pimeys 12y ago

I've been using Arch on my workstation and on my laptop for several years already. I can sign all the points you gave in here and I really appreciate how easy it is to setup and use the distribution. Although many years ago I had problems when updating, in the recent years everything just works and I don't need to worry about upgrading the whole distro every 6 months.

dougmany 12y ago
That is good to hear. I used Arch and loved it until that upgrade thing you mentioned a few years ago. It basically made a machine I had unusable so I stopped using Arch altogether. Maybe it is time to go back.
coldpie 12y ago
Yeah, there were more upgrade conflicts years ago before most system software switched to the "conf.d" directory-style configuration system. Now the Arch-provided config upgrades cleanly as the user configuration is separate. Upgrade conflicts have been very rare lately.

dman 12y ago

Could you explain what causes Ubuntu package manager to fall over?

antocv 12y ago
Dependencies. Conflicts with. Unavailable dependencies from mirrors. Girlfriends OpenSUSE for example ran fine for a few months and now its stuck in an infinite update/upgrade loop or whatever it is trying to do - I really dont have the time to look into it. But the problem is, zypper cant update but really wants to update. Most likely it is conflicts between different repositories, or unavailable shit from some repository. But how useful would OpenSUSE be without the ability to play mp3 files? So all her programs are now outdated, getting older and older. Ive seen the same on most .deb based distros Ive tried - failure to update/upgrade a package or collection of packages - breaks the entire system. Oh you ran apt-get install something previously? Well now that failed, and I will not let you continue until you resolve the issue, the other package will be REMOVED, and the current package cannot be installed, but for an update is who the fuck cares stfu ragequit* * (installs archlinux).
- kasabali 12y ago
  > Ive seen the same on most .deb based distros Ive tried - failure to update/upgrade a package or collection of packages - breaks the entire system. Which means you didn't try Debian stable. deb based or not doesn't matter, all that matters is distribution policies on packaging, migrations and releases.
  - antocv 12y ago
    Havent tried Debian stable, but then again, I dont live in 1999 either. What is the nginx version for Debian stable, is it even in the repositories yet?
    - kasabali 12y ago
      > Havent tried Debian stable, but then again, I dont live in 1999 either. > What is the nginx version for Debian stable, is it even in the repositories yet? It's none of my business to stop you from hating Debian. Just don't blame ".deb based distros" as if them being deb based was the reason of your suffering.

jefurii 12y ago

> ... and always had false starts with Fedora or Ubuntu. Usually the package manager would break and everything would fall to pieces. I ended up installing Arch as a Subversion server for some personal projects, and that's what finally made it click. Glad you've had a good experience with Arch. I've been using Debian and derivatives for years. I've occasionally seen hiccups with apt but I can almost always trace them to network trouble rather than the distro itself. In the other cases, reading the manpages or googling a bit helped unbork the system. It sounds like you didn't exercise your sysadmin/debugging skills.

coldpie 12y ago
Yes, part of it is ignorance on my part. I'm not familiar with DEB or RPM package management conventions. For example, on RPM systems, it turns out you can install two RPMs of the same name, but different versions! And this is the default instead of upgrading! Boy, that took ages to debug. But really, installing a system and using the system-provided package manager to perform a system update should "Just Work." And my experience is that this almost always ends in failure, and usually in a broken system. I dunno.