Why Is Arch Linux So Popular? (HINT: Because It Rocks!)

why is Arch Linux so popular this is one of the questions that keeps coming up over and over again people want to know why I love Arch Linux so much or why the Linux community at large why do so many people in the Linux Community choose Arch Linux especially people that haven't tried Arch Linux they have some misconceptions about it I think and that's why they ask hey what the hell's up with Arch Linux why does it have all this popularity what's so special about Arch Linux well today I want wanted to cover some of the reasons I think Arch Linux is an amazing distribution reason number one for Arch being so popular is that Arch follows a rolling release model so Arch is a rolling release distribution rather than a static release distribution most Linux distributions are static release distributions where you have one version of XYZ distribution and then 6 months later a year later two years later they'll have the next version of XYZ distribution and you'll have to to do this massive upgrade from one version of your Dro to the new version of your drro or sometimes you'll just format the drive and you'll do a fresh install you'll go grab the latest ISO of the new version of your Dro you don't have to do any of that with Arch Linux on a rolling release distro as long as you're up to dat as long as you're constantly updating your Arch Linux machine all the time you're always on the latest version of Arch Linux but it's not just the fact that I don't have to do fresh installs or reinstalls or major updates and that's not really the reason that the rolling release model is so special the reason the rolling release model is so special is because I can go grab the latest piece of any software that's out there so for example for me I love testing out new software sometimes I test out new pieces of software on this YouTube channel well in Arch Linux when I find some new piece of software it's always the absolute latest version of that software and for me I find that fantastic you know that's exactly what I want and especially with software that is brand new in terms of it just saw its very first release I'm going to have that in a distribution like Arch Linux a rolling release distribution where a distribution that is a static release model like Debian or Aon to they're not even going to have that software available yet in their repos because their repos are still a few months or even a couple of years behind what we've got on Arch Linux so again it's that rolling release model that really drives a lot of people to Arch I think the second biggest reason people choose Arch is because of the a the arch user repository which is a community repository of software it's basically a community repository of just a bunch of package builds that anybody can submit you know you me anybody I've submitted things to the Aur I've had packages in there and it's really easy to you know get pieces of software into the AU are and because of that it is I would say Arch probably has the best software availability of any distribution if you're talking about their standard Repose plus the a there's very few programs that you will not find that are not in the arch repositories or the Aur like when you combine both pretty much everything you can imagine is there reason number three for Arch is the do-it-yourself philosophy I think is a appealing because when you install Arch you basically build your own distribution you install exactly what you want and nothing else right so it's a build from the ground up sort of distribution and you end up with exactly what you wanted you weren't served a particular desktop environment with a particular Suite of programs that were configured in a certain way no no no you do all that yourself and at the end of the day you're left with exactly what you wanted if you're somebody like me that's tried out a bunch of different Linux distributions some Linux distributions are very bloated in my opinion they install too much stuff I don't have to worry about that with Arch I'm only going to install exactly what I need I also don't have to worry about Arch being too minimal or you know not enough stuff is there because again I get to install exactly what I want I can make my Arch be as minimal or as bloated as I want it right I have that freedom also you're not forced certain Technologies or or anything that you don't want for example those those of you that have real problems with technology like snaps or flat packs or app Images you don't have to use any of them on Arch if you don't want to if you want to use them though you can install all three like I do again you have that that flexibility that customization that's there from this do-it-yourself kind of mindset reason number four that Arch Linux is so popular is that it's a community-based drro rather than a corporate based drro so many of the big distributions you know your popular distributions are corporate dros or if they're Community distributions that are largely driven by corporate funding in some way so you're really big distributions things like auntu and Fedora and Susa you know Red Hat even some you know Community drro like Debian you know Debian there's some corporate stuff that sometimes goes on with Debian Debian is very closely tied with a boon development uh you know there's a lot of different you know corporate dros out there Manjaro has a corporate ation behind it many people don't realize it's kind of a corporate distribution a small corporate distribution right but Arch Linux is very much Community oriented right it is largely just a community distribution and because so much of the free and open source software Community kind of has a problem with corporations we kind of fear corporate influence in our software that is appealing with Arch Linux reason number five for Arch linux's popularity really has nothing to to do with the drro itself but it has to do with its website so if you go to Arch linux.org click on Wiki right and the arch Wiki is just an absolutely fantastic resource maybe the best online Resource as far as any g/ Linux operating system and I'm not talking about just Arch Linux if you run any Linux distribution at all you will find the Arch Linux Wiki extremely helpful pretty much you will find articles about pretty much every kind of Linux related topic known demand any program if you need troubleshooting help for anything go check out the arch Wiki it is just a fantastic resource reason number six for Arch's popularity is one that had you asked me a few years ago I probably wouldn't have said this but now I think it is appropriate reason number six is gaming I think Arch Linux has become a very popular in recent years because of the gaming aspect and mainly that's kind of tied to the rolling release model because on Arch Linux you always get the latest Linux kernel you always get the latest Graphics drivers right you get the latest and greatest software that is often needed for your gaming experience and because of that Arch Linux and various Arch Linux based distributions are very popular among the gaming crowd of course Steam OS is based on Arch Linux reason number number seven for Arch linux's popularity it's going to be a controversial one but I'm going to State this anyway and that reason is the easy installation and I know some people are going to say wait I thought Arch Linux was hard to install I thought it was difficult to get Arch Linux installed no that's kind of a myth that's a lie that's been spread all over the internet back in the old days when I first installed Arch Linux you know when I was first coming up as a Linux user the Arch Linux installation was purely a command line installation now was it hard no you had to enter commands in a terminal is that difficult well it's difficult if you don't know how to type if you know how to type on a keyboard it's very simple because you read the arch Wiki the arch Wiki has an installation guide you follow the steps you enter what they tell you into the terminal and you're installed in about 10 to 15 minutes it's actually a very quick process the arch installation but here's the thing there's more to the story now because in recent years Arch Linux actually has a easy install they have the arch install script which is a end curses installer which is all menu driven installation you don't actually have to type anything you just select things in a menu you know what Window Manager desktop you want and what time zone you're in you know things like that and it's all done in this menu base almost in curses style installer that's dead simple to use like literally your grandmother could install Arch Linux using the the arch install script so we already had a pretty much a very easy way to install Arch Linux anyway now we have an even simpler way to install Arch Linux and finally an eighth reason why I think Arch is so popular is because when you use Arch Linux it makes you a better Linux user because Arch Linux has things like a command line installation you have to go read a Wiki the wiki is going to tell you how to use certain ganu core dual commands during the installation process when you finally get Arch Linux installed and the Arch Linux install it's very easy but then you have to go and install software you have to learn how to install software using their package manager pcman which is a command line package manager you start learning what various packages you need to install what various libraries in some cases you need to install you you learn about things like the boot loader and the display manager right and your display server and all these programs and all these things that you would have never learned about had you simply run through for example an auntu installation a very easy graphical installation that just serves you everything out of the box you didn't have to install anything you really didn't have to do anything except click okay three times in the auntu installer right with Arch Linux you do have to learn a little bit if you're brand new to Linux for example you're going to naturally learn a little bit more about Linux using Arch Linux Plus once you have it installed maintaining the system you have to constantly update the system being a rolling release model there may be some minor breakages every now and then when you update the system you're going to have to fix your system which sounds scary but for the most part it's actually rather easy if you need help with things you have the Arch Linux community that you can go to their forums or their Discord or their Reddit or whatever ask a question they'll typically be very friendly and help you you know sometimes you'll get a a-hole that will be rude to you you there's that old meme that the Arch Linux Community is you know they're the RTF crowd they're going to tell you go read the wiki which it's a good idea for you to consult the wiki before you ask your question but as long as you've done some research you know you've tried to fix the problem yourself and you come up short then you can go ask the ARs community and you know 99 times out of a 100 they'll be pretty friendly and they'll do their best to help you out so there you have it a list of eight reasons why I think Arch Linux has become very popular especially in recent years and I think a lot of other Linux distributions should actually take note of some of what Arch Linux is doing and maybe learn from Arch Linux because uh like the a for example why doesn't every Linux distribution have a A or the arch Wiki why isn't every Linux distributions documentation as fantastic as the arch documentation you know those are just easy examples we can point to and say hey Arch Linux is like miles ahead of everybody else in certain areas now of course these are just my opinions feel free to share your opinions down in the comments below before I go I need to thank a few special people though I need to thank the producers of this episode Matt Steve armor Dragon cap caveman darlo disas George Lee methos Arion Paul PE Arch Andor reality for L red profit Roland waru and abtu and Willie these guys they're my highest tiered patrons over on patreon without these guys this quick episode you just watched would not have been possible the show is also brought to you by each and every one of these fine ladies and and gentlemen all these names you're seeing on the screen right now these are all my supporters over on patreon because I don't have any corporate sponsors I'm sponsored by you guys the community if you like my work and want to see more videos about Linux and free and open source software subscribe to drro tube over on patreon peace guys