NixOS or GNU Guix are your best options for advanced distributions. Guix is a much newer project so theres a lot of ways you can contribute.

A linux distro is a linux distro. It’s you, who invests the time to experiment and understand, who unlocks advanced features. There’s no shortcuts to learning Linux than to use it and read about it and install it many many times.

Have you at least tried to install Gentoo? Everyone has to think they can, and fail, at least once in their lives.

My personal journey was Arch > Void > Gentoo > Arch > Nix > Void again > realizing there's nothing really like Arch and going back for good. Hope this helps!

What do you mean? Arch doesn't have you "compiling everything". It's a mostly binary distribution. The Arch repositories are binary, and more than a few of the packages in the AUR are binary as well.

I'm also not following "not doing anything during and after install" - what do you mean by after install in that sentence?

I'd love to help, but I can't figure out what your issue is. If you're looking for something like Arch, but faster and easier to set up, try Endeavor - it's basically Arch with a graphical installer and some neat extra tools.

I'd also suggest looking in to Void, since you don't appear to be afraid of the command line. You'll find it similar in approach to Arch, but everything is binary packages; there's no compiling unless you grab dev tools and pull the source from Github or Codeberg or whatever yourself.

Similar to arch in what way? What about arch don't you like, you can look at other arch-based distros.

Most distributions have binary package managers anyways, so you won't struggle to find some.

What's the purpose? Which application do you have running on Linux that you think you need to compile everything, configure everything, and that will only run on an "advanced" distro?

Is it some high specialized clustered distributed high performance, high availability computing application where you need your own kernel tweaks in?

Or are you just a distro hopper, tinkering just for the sake of it and for imaginary bragging rights? If it's for learning, try to establish a specific real goal and learn how to reach it.

Try Void

What do you mean by “not doing anything during and after install” re Gentoo?

Your computer isn’t held hostage during compilation of that was your impression

What do you need that Arch doesn't provide?

I like Void, it feels a little more like a BSD. But I’ve only really used it for experimentation, no idea what it’s like as a daily driver.

You could also try an actual BSD. OpenBSD has a very clear style and direction which I like but be careful when partitioning, they have their own ‘disklabel’ system. Updates are really streamlined with syspatch and sysupgrade.

NetBSD had a nice TUI installer. It may appear a bit less focussed on its aims but has a lot going for it: many supporter platforms, a friendly community, etc.

There’s also FreeBSD, DragonflyBSD, possibly more but I don’t have much experience with those.

nixos is a personal love of mine.

NixOS! I can't for the life of me figure this shit out. It just won't click for me but I get the advantages so I wanna use it so bad

What do you mean by "advanced Linux distro"?

If you mean starting at a minimal starting point and only installing what you need, then you may as well start off with a minimal Debian netinst, then add the stuff you want once you've got the minimal system installed.

not doing anything during and after install

You know that those of us who use Gentoo as a daily driver don't just stare there and watch things compile, right?

Maybe once during the initial install but on a modern system kicking off updates before bed and coming back in the morning to an updated computer isn't unusual (just read any news and postinst messages).

Are you just looking for something new to explore or are there issues you have with Arch that you hope do not exist on other distros? Simply put what is it you are looking for?

What do you mean by "Like arch" exactly? What part of it would you like to keep in your next distro?

I've tried quite a few and have been on the debian train for ~5 years simply due to stability and usability

I don't think there is much of a point switching away from Arch if you like it but as others suggested already NixOS seems like what you are searching for.

parabola and void

use the chaotic aur repo for Arch

Automated building repo for AUR packages

https://aur.chaotic.cx/

It's not safe to use because it just compiles AUR packages. However, it's good practice to have your data like personal info, game saves etc. in a encrypted vault away from the devices you use everyday. Even my boomer parents get this, I tell them their NAS needs be open like a safe with their Yubikey.

try nixos. you can write one configuration for a bunch of different machines and carry your user profile around via home-manager. it's great.

maybe nix with no de?

You don't really compile anything during or after install with arch linux unless you find something on the AUR that needs to compile? If so, just look for <package_name-bin>.

Otherwise, a really nice system is NixOS.

Another is GNU Guix.

What do you mean by "advanced"?

I've been using Linux on-and-off since before kernel version 1.0, and I use a distro (Pop!_OS) with a reputation for being newbie-friendly and just working out-of-the-box.

If you’re just looking to learn something new, why not try an immutable OS like Fedora Silverblue? It’s an easier install than Arch, obviously, but there’s lots of differences from a standard distro. There’s security upsides but also consequences to work around.

Artix, Void, Obarun.

Linux Mint