Been using Void for a while now, at home and at work, about 4 installs in total.

I have my own packages repo which follows the official void-packages closely where I keep my custom templates, they get built by CI and signed, so on my void machines I simply add my repo to xbps config and get all my junk. Here's the repo: https://code.hosaka.cc/hosaka/vast-packages

In addition, I rsync the official repo to mirror it on my server that syncs every few hours and my custom packages are build against that (see the CI workflow in the repo). This also has a benefit of being able to update the packages on my machines from my own mirror at much faster speeds.

It took me a while to get things setup this way, but was worth it in the end.

its great in the sense it offers both glibc and musl, between using void and arch, I do prefer arch more; faster installation times and it uses about the same memory (on idle) as it would with void. in the end I chose arch Linux as I'm more familiar with it; I've been using it for 4 months now and there are specific applications i use that are easier to install and get on arch than with void.

as I continue to say, arch now is what windows 10 was 10 years ago, you have AUR, you have pacman. With some minor problem solving here and there, applications haven't been easier to install on linux.

It’s barebones so none of the bloat of Tumbleweed.

Been using Void for years without any real issues. Besides some weirdness with KDE 18 months ago it’s been even more stable than my Arch set up.

I will contrast most comments here and say that I didn't really like it. It does what it claims to do and has some neat things going for it. But I don't want an OS to tinker with and configure from the ground up. Which is the entire point of Void. So, I settled on Fedora KDE, which is set up out if the box with a very usable system that has defaults that are easy to reconfigure how I want if I really need to. With Void, you have to configure just about every little thing. If that is what you are looking for (and in all fairness, there are valid reasons to want that), it is a great choice. It is just not what I want out of an OS.

I use it where I can. It's sane, simple, solid, has unix sensibilities, and good docs. To paraphrase one void dev, it fits inside your head. Xbps is outstanding and runit is very good.

I couldn't get hardware video acceleration on Intel working for some reason on Void, no matter what I tried. Switched to Artix+dinit+KDE and only had to install intel-media-driver for hardware decoding and set ANV_DEBUG for Vulkan video.

[Preamble P.S.Edit: Oh... that's quite a lot of effusive enthusiasm that just flowed through my keyboard. I hadn't quite realised I had this passion, for that little quiet one who just gets stuff done. Thanks Void.]

Void's been a fave of mine since at least... idk how many years before 2014.

One of the main things I love about void, is how clean and uncluttered the packaging is, as a user. No superfluous clutter of extra characters in package names, no superfluous clutter of extra similar named packages.

It makes installing things a pleasant painless breeze (~ + a scant few edge case exceptions).

Void's my go-to.

I'm a bedrock linux user (since 2012), and always, voidlinux has been part of (nearly) every (of many) bedrock installs over the years and versions. For many years, I've considered voidlinux one of my cornerstone distros to the system I build for myself on bedrock. Void, devuan, gentoo, artix. That's my 4. And like I say, void's my go-to. It's nearly always the first distro I reach for to get a package from.

Also, somehow, it's simplicity transfers to how I run void in bedrock. To explain, contrast to how I oft tend to run gentoo, devuan, and even artix. Sometimes I may make multiple gentoo strata, most typically split by keywords, sometimes by other criteria (even if just also having a decibellinux (pka "gentoostudio")). Sometimes I'll have a devuan for every release, nearly always at least a ceres stratum too (aside either testing or stable... or both... or more). Even artix, I find myself having more than one, mainly just to avert/backup around difficulties (y'know arch(/artix)... it likes to take a bite at you every once in a while). But void...? I cannot think of even once I've ever had a reason to have a second void stratum in my bedrock linux installs.

Void just does it.

No complicating it.

I've a strong fondness for the simplicity of distros like CRUX, KISS & Carbs. But in use, ~~ sure sure, you learn a lot more, but ~~ these are just not as smooth and pleasant to use, like void is.

Void manages to confer the simplicity on the user. Not leaving the simplicity in the code, leaving the user with the complexity to use (~ like, we're all bog standard convenience wrapped package manager stuff here... not make install'ing and chasing dependencies manually). And does not get in the way of this. Like I mentioned... no clutter in package names or package lists. It seems like such a little thing, but it really goes a very long way.

Big praise to the developers and maintainers. I understand xbps (that's the package manager's name, btw), has many features, but void so much "just works", I have so rarely had to venture outside the standard 5 commands for package management. Once you know how to search, install, remove, update, and upgrade, with a package manager, you know enough to cover >99% of your use case, likely. With void, that 99%'s points are a lot tighter towards 100%, than other distros. For an obvious comparison example, from my cornerstones, gentoo again... You learn the 5, you've still >10x more to learn, to effectively use gentoo. And artix too, that's likely two package managers (2x5 commands) to learn, if wanting AUR access with a wrapper (more, without wrapper). And even devuan, I'll find myself needing to rummage around in /etc/apt/repos or whatever from time to time. So ever rare to have to dig in deeper with void, in my experience.

It's quite like arch, but it's orders of magnitude less likely to bite you (e.g. render your system unbootable / need rescue after upgrade because of something you didn't do or something a dev/maintainer did).

And the repos are surprisingly well stocked.

It would not have become my go-to were it not well stocked.

It's easy to get a bit dismissive, and think of void as a late-comer to the scene, a pokey little distro, wont have as many packages, smaller community, etc etc, and think of it equivalent to the smaller more pokey distros. But no. Surprisingly well stocked.

As a bedrock user (for the majority of my use of voidlinux), it is rare that I need to reach for a package from one of the other cornerstones (or even more exotic distro strata) because void does not have it. But, okay, sure, it does happen. Manage expectations still. Often for the weird things only found on git or the AUR.

But no, I struggle to find complaints (~ maybe top of the list (~ have not checked on this for a while), haskell & xmonad could be a little more smooth... I forget the specifics, but there used to be a couple little extra pokey hurdles...).

Void's great.

Maybe takes a little extra diligence and the right temperament if a new user to unixen (like if a windows refugee, or new to computers). But with any level of prior familiarity, void should not be too scary to install. It's installer's much of the same philosophy... simplicity, extended right to the user.

I thoroughly encourage the curious to give VoidLinux a go.

Well worth the experience. Your next "distro challenge"? 3 durations on VOID Linux?

:)

I've used it for quite a few years on several machines, and I love it. It probably shouldn't be anyone's first distro, but if you're comfortable with basic Linux tooling or willing to teach yourself, it can be a great for personal use or a server.

As an example, the installer only handles some common setups. If you want a different setup (e.g. full-disk encryption) you can follow a guide, but it's going to assume you know (or can learn) how to create partitions, for example. Personally, I follow the guide rather than using the installer even for common setups, because it reinforces knowledge of the basic tools, and it exposes the relatively simple job a Linux installer actually does: create partitions, create filesystems, mount them, and install packages. The real Void Linux install is in a single command, which is just telling its package manager (XBPS) to install one package, and that package in turn depends on (installs) the kernel, userland tools, and other necessities.

Not every part of a "standard" distro will be there, but it probably won't affect you much, unless you're working on the distro itself. systemd isn't there, but packages in the repos will have runit services, and it's easy to create services for software you install manually - usually just one line. If you use a desktop environment like KDE, that will hide most of the differences at a higher level.

There won't be as many random guides tailored to Void Linux, of course, but Void mostly sticks to standard Linux tooling, so guides from most other distros usually work just fine, and you just ignore the specifics of systemd. I rarely need to tweak system services. The developers do a good job.

Compared to Tumbleweed, it's a lot simpler. Simpler than Arch, too. I've found it more reliable and faster than both, but that will depend on your setup and your priorities. Either option would be good for "normal" usage or gaming. (Not sure of your intended use...)

Updates for big security-sensitive packages are done quickly - kernel updates, Firefox, etc. are often out within a day. Larger efforts like KDE updates can take a month or two. Less commonly used packages may depend on community help. (I find the same to be true in bigger distros...)

As a less technical user I really liked my little bit of experience with it and it is many things I want that I can't otherwise find all together in a single distro, but I'm not really equipped for a minimal distro for the time being

Unimportant to most folks but worth knowing there is no package kit implementation for xbps, so you can't use desktop environment provided software stores for native applications, only for flatpacks

i've used Void in the past and i can confidently say that it's worth giving it a try if you are knowledgeable enough in the Linux space. it's not super hard to install and configure tho.

main thing i liked about it is how fast it booted up compared to systemd distros. this was especially helpful when i was still stuck with a crappy laptop running the system from a HDD.

I use it as a desktop. I like that it's free of the nasty surprises of modern Linux (flatpak/snaps, systemd, X11 is still pretty first-class) while not feeling quite as isolated as Slackware and its sort of pre-broadband approach to packaging.

My biggest issue was poor support for an old Epson scanner that rewuired a binary package that wouldn't install cleanly as it was designed for Debian; solved by buying a $10 used Canon scsnner which worked out of the box.

I like it better than Devuan for a non-systemd distribuition because, as its own thing, you don't end up with as many "do I need to follow the Standard Debian guides or do something special" questions.

I liked Void a lot. Except the slow review and approve cycle of their packages.

I'm missing some kind of aur. Void is too much centralized and this single point of failure I feel. As a developer.

You will certainly get glowing reviews from its users.

As someone who never used it I have the impression that it is quite good. With a similar approach as ArchLinux, but without systemd. So if the latter is important to you, you're probably better off with Void.

Its main features look very similar to ArchLinux to me, e.g. the "hybrid" package management.

But I don't know how much of a niche distro Void is - it certainly used to be - and I'm generally not a friend of niche distros. That's nothing against Void per se.

https://distrowatch.com/table.php?distribution=void
https://animeshz.github.io/site/blogs/void-linux.html

Void is amazing, if you don't mind a distro that you basically have to config from the ground up. I personally am a huge fan.

I run it on a ex-Chromebook pretty well, cool dostro!