What is "Arch Linux Modernity" these days?
Hi, folks. I don't like the second paragraph of [1]. All that stuff (systemd, udev, …) was modern 10+ years ago, but nowadays they all are kind of mainstream. So, could you say what you think about modernity? My very personal opinion [2]—that second paragraph should be just deleted. But I hope you will point me out. --- Andrej Koršikov [1]: https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Arch_Linux#Modernity [2]: https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php?diff=838344
Mpan answered[1] my question: I did not know that "modern means current non ancient" and "modern does not mean futuristic". (I did believe that "modern" ~= "futuristic".) Ok, I see my mistake, but then I have another question. If "being modern" means just "staying current"—what is the "selling point"? Almost any Linux distro could say "hey, we're staying current—we use systemd". I am confused:) -- Andrej Koršikov [1]: https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Talk:Arch_Linux#Re:_What_is_%22Arch_Linux_M... On Sat, Jun 21, 2025 at 4:13 PM Andrei Korshikov <andrej.s.korshikov@gmail.com> wrote:
Hi, folks.
I don't like the second paragraph of [1]. All that stuff (systemd, udev, …) was modern 10+ years ago, but nowadays they all are kind of mainstream.
So, could you say what you think about modernity?
My very personal opinion [2]—that second paragraph should be just deleted. But I hope you will point me out.
--- Andrej Koršikov
[1]: https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Arch_Linux#Modernity [2]: https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php?diff=838344
-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Hash: SHA256 I almost didn't respond to this list directly, but I thought it best. Let me know if I shouldn't have... Probably the main selling point is already explained in [1]. Arch is by design a rolling release distro, keeping to the latest stable versions of each package available on official repos and on the AUR. Most others I can think of have versioned releases, considered more stable by some but can make support of the absolute latest hardware impossible, if not a bit more difficult (it took Ubuntu a short while to be able to handle Intel's Alder Lake CPUs iirc). Just going to take a quick aside out to say that rolling release doesn't mean unstable, the unstable experience is handled by the testing and unstable repos. The packages in the regular core, extra, and multilib repos have gone through at least some testing before being pushed to stable. We're already seeing Arch transition into using Wine's WOW64 mode [2], removing the need for using the multilib repos when using wine (I'm keeping them enabled on my own system, mind you). We had Plasma 6 before almost everyone else, ditto for GNOME 40. The most important thing to mention that sets Arch apart from a source-based one like Gentoo is that you don't need to compile everything on your system to work. Is it possible to use Arch like that? Yes, there are enough -git packages to make it work. It's not officially supported though. I like being in control of basically everything on my system without having to compile it all (yet I still compile a handful of AUR packages and DKMS modules as needed). Ultimately, nobody has to use Arch, or really any other distro out there. The choice is yours. I won't put a gun to your head, and likely nobody else will. - -Adam [1]: https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Arch_Linux#Modernity [2]: https://archlinux.org/news/transition-to-the-new-wow64-wine-and-wine-staging... This message was signed with my PGP key. If you want to encrypt your messages to me, its corresponding public key is uploaded to the MIT and Ubuntu keyservers. If you have trouble using these, I will provide my public key on request. - -------- Original Message -------- From: Andrei Korshikov <andrej.s.korshikov@gmail.com> Sent: 21 June 2025 13:22:57 UTC To: arch-dev-public@lists.archlinux.org Subject: Re: What is "Arch Linux Modernity" these days? Mpan answered[1] my question: I did not know that "modern means current non ancient" and "modern does not mean futuristic". (I did believe that "modern" ~= "futuristic".) Ok, I see my mistake, but then I have another question. If "being modern" means just "staying current"—what is the "selling point"? Almost any Linux distro could say "hey, we're staying current—we use systemd". I am confused:) - -- Andrej Koršikov [1]: https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Talk:Arch_Linux#Re:_What_is_%22Arch_Linux_M... On Sat, Jun 21, 2025 at 4:13 PM Andrei Korshikov <andrej.s.korshikov@gmail.com> wrote:
Hi, folks.
I don't like the second paragraph of [1]. All that stuff (systemd, udev, …) was modern 10+ years ago, but nowadays they all are kind of mainstream.
So, could you say what you think about modernity?
My very personal opinion [2]—that second paragraph should be just deleted. But I hope you will point me out.
--- Andrej Koršikov
[1]: https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Arch_Linux#Modernity [2]: https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php?diff=838344
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participants (2)
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Adam Tazul
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Andrei Korshikov