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Why go through the trouble to use Arch?
(lemmy.world)
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this post was submitted on 13 Nov 2025
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The Arch Wiki is probably the sungle most useful documentation for any Linux user; I don’t even use Arch and it’s still extremely helpful.
I could see the benefits of using Arch just so almost every function my system has is near-perfectly documented in Arch Wiki.
As for the distro itself, it has the newest packages, and often good repos with interesting packages that Debian and others may lack. It also expects you to choose and install the components you want, whereas the Debian installer will usually just install defaults; you can use Debootstrap for a minimal Debian install, but that’s not as well supported for installing Debian due to the way tools as set up on the install medium.
The reason I choose Debian over Arch is because if I don’t use a device for several months and have to install updates (like my school laptop over the summer), Debian Stable is more likely to survive that than Arch; I’ve destroyed several Arch VMs by trying to update them after not using them for months. I’m sure I could have salvaged them if I tried, but I’d rather just make a new VM.
That is literally the main reason I started using it - over time I kept running across helpful Arch wiki articles while looking for info on stuff so when I got a new computer I figured I might as well go with Arch.