Arch Linux

Arch Linux

Arch Linux (<a href="/en/Help:IPA/English" title="Help:IPA/English" class="wl">/ɑːrtʃ/</a>)<a href="#cite_note-pronunciation-of-archlinux-13" style="counter-reset: mw-Ref 9;">[9]</a><a href="#cite_note-14" style="counter-reset: mw-Ref 10;">[10]</a> is an independently developed, <a href="/en/X86-64" title="X86-64" class="wl">x86-64</a> general-purpose <a href="/en/Linux_distribution" title="Linux distribution" class="wl">Linux distribution</a> that strives to provide the latest stable versions of most software by following a <a href="/en/Rolling_release" title="Rolling release" class="wl">rolling-release model</a>. The default installation is a minimal base system, configured by the user to only add what is purposely required.<a href="#cite_note-15" style="counter-reset: mw-Ref 11;">[11]</a>

<div class="shortdescription nomobile noexcerpt noprint searchaux" style="display:none" about="#mwt1">Rolling release distribution of Linux</div>

<style data-mw-deduplicate="TemplateStyles:r1066479718" typeof="mw:Extension/templatestyles mw:Transclusion">.mw-parser-output .infobox-subbox{padding:0;border:none;margin:-3px;width:auto;min-width:100%;font-size:100%;clear:none;float:none;background-color:transparent}.mw-parser-output .infobox-3cols-child{margin:auto}.mw-parser-output .infobox .navbar{font-size:100%}body.skin-minerva .mw-parser-output .infobox-header,body.skin-minerva .mw-parser-output .infobox-subheader,body.skin-minerva .mw-parser-output .infobox-above,body.skin-minerva .mw-parser-output .infobox-title,body.skin-minerva .mw-parser-output .infobox-image,body.skin-minerva .mw-parser-output .infobox-full-data,body.skin-minerva .mw-parser-output .infobox-below{text-align:center}</style><div class='mobile-collapse'><header class="mobile-collapse-header mobile-collapse-btn">Quick facts: Developer, Written in, OS family, Working sta... ▼</header> <table class="infobox vevent mobile-collapse-element"><caption class="infobox-title summary">Arch Linux</caption><tbody><tr><td colspan="2" class="infobox-image"><a href="/en/File:Archlinux-logo-standard-version.png" class="mw-file-description image media-thumb" data-hash="File:Archlinux-logo-standard-version.png"><img loading="lazy" src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/e8/Archlinux-logo-standard-version.png/250px-Archlinux-logo-standard-version.png" decoding="async" data-file-width="8000" data-file-height="2659" data-file-type="bitmap" height="83" width="250" srcset="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/e8/Archlinux-logo-standard-version.png/375px-Archlinux-logo-standard-version.png 1.5x, //upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/e8/Archlinux-logo-standard-version.png/500px-Archlinux-logo-standard-version.png 2x" alt="Archlinux-logo-standard-version.png"></a></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="infobox-label" style="white-space: nowrap;"><a href="/en/Programmer" title="Programmer" class="wl">Developer</a></th><td class="infobox-data">Levente Polyak (<a href="/en/Lead_developer" title="Lead developer" class="mw-redirect wl">lead developer</a>)<a href="#cite_note-1" style="counter-reset: mw-Ref 1;">[1]</a></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="infobox-label" style="white-space: nowrap;"><a href="/en/Programming_language" title="Programming language" class="wl">Written in</a></th><td class="infobox-data"><a href="/en/C_(programming_language)" title="C (programming language)" class="wl">C</a><a href="#cite_note-2" style="counter-reset: mw-Ref 2;">[2]</a> and <a href="/en/Python_(programming_language)" title="Python (programming language)" class="wl">Python</a><a href="#cite_note-python-3" style="counter-reset: mw-Ref 3;">[3]</a></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="infobox-label" style="white-space: nowrap;">OS family</th><td class="infobox-data"><a href="/en/Linux" title="Linux" class="wl">Linux</a> (<a href="/en/Unix-like" title="Unix-like" class="wl">Unix-like</a>)</td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="infobox-label" style="white-space: nowrap;">Working state</th><td class="infobox-data">Current</td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="infobox-label" style="white-space: nowrap;">Source model</th><td class="infobox-data"><a href="/en/Open-source_software" title="Open-source software" class="wl">Open-source</a></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="infobox-label" style="white-space: nowrap;">Initial release</th><td class="infobox-data">11&nbsp;March 2002; 21 years ago&nbsp;(2002-03-11)</td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="infobox-label" style="white-space: nowrap;"><a href="/en/Repository_(version_control)" title="Repository (version control)" class="wl">Repository</a></th><td class="infobox-data"><a rel="mw:ExtLink nofollow" href="https://gitlab.archlinux.org" class="external text" target="_blank">gitlab.archlinux.org</a></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="infobox-label" style="white-space: nowrap;">Marketing target</th><td class="infobox-data">General purpose</td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="infobox-label" style="white-space: nowrap;">Update method</th><td class="infobox-data">pacman</td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="infobox-label" style="white-space: nowrap;"><a href="/en/Package_manager" title="Package manager" class="wl">Package manager</a></th><td class="infobox-data">pacman, libalpm (back-end),<a href="#cite_note-4" style="counter-reset: mw-Ref 4;">[4]</a> Arch Build System</td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="infobox-label" style="white-space: nowrap;">Platforms</th><td class="infobox-data"><style data-mw-deduplicate="TemplateStyles:r1126788409" typeof="mw:Extension/templatestyles">.mw-parser-output .plainlist ol,.mw-parser-output .plainlist ul{line-height:inherit;list-style:none;margin:0;padding:0}.mw-parser-output .plainlist ol li,.mw-parser-output .plainlist ul li{margin-bottom:0}</style><div class="plainlist"><ul><li><a href="/en/X86-64" title="X86-64" class="wl">x86-64</a></li><li><a href="/en/P6_(microarchitecture)" title="P6 (microarchitecture)" class="wl">i686</a> (unofficial)<a href="#cite_note-6" style="counter-reset: mw-Ref 1;" data-mw-group="lower-alpha">[lower-alpha 1]</a></li><li><a href="/en/ARM_architecture" title="ARM architecture" class="mw-redirect wl">ARM</a> (unofficial)<a href="#cite_note-7" style="counter-reset: mw-Ref 2;" data-mw-group="lower-alpha">[lower-alpha 2]</a></li><li><a href="/en/PowerPC" title="PowerPC" class="wl">PowerPC</a> (unofficial)<a href="#cite_note-9" style="counter-reset: mw-Ref 3;" data-mw-group="lower-alpha">[lower-alpha 3]</a></li><li><a href="/en/RISC-V" title="RISC-V" class="wl">RISC-V</a> (unofficial)<a href="#cite_note-11" style="counter-reset: mw-Ref 4;" data-mw-group="lower-alpha">[lower-alpha 4]</a></li></ul></div></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="infobox-label" style="white-space: nowrap;"><a href="/en/Kernel_(operating_system)" title="Kernel (operating system)" class="wl">Kernel</a> type</th><td class="infobox-data"><a href="/en/Monolithic_kernel" title="Monolithic kernel" class="wl">Monolithic</a> (<a href="/en/Linux_kernel" title="Linux kernel" class="wl">Linux kernel</a>)</td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="infobox-label" style="white-space: nowrap;"><a href="/en/User_space_and_kernel_space" title="User space and kernel space" class="wl">Userland</a></th><td class="infobox-data"><a href="/en/GNU_Core_Utilities" title="GNU Core Utilities" class="wl">GNU</a>; <a href="/en/BusyBox" title="BusyBox" class="wl">BusyBox</a> can be installed if the user desires</td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="infobox-label" style="white-space: nowrap;">Influenced</th><td class="infobox-data"><a href="/en/EndeavourOS" title="EndeavourOS" class="wl">EndeavourOS</a>, <a href="/en/Manjaro" title="Manjaro" class="wl">Manjaro</a></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="infobox-label" style="white-space: nowrap;">Influenced by</th><td class="infobox-data"><a href="/en/CRUX" title="CRUX" class="wl">CRUX</a>, <a href="/en/BSD" title="BSD" class="mw-redirect wl">BSD</a></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="infobox-label" style="white-space: nowrap;"><a href="/en/User_interface" title="User interface" class="wl">Default user interface</a></th><td class="infobox-data"><a href="/en/Command-line_interface" title="Command-line interface" class="wl">Command-line interface</a> (<a href="/en/Zsh" title="Zsh" class="mw-redirect wl">Zsh</a> as the default shell in <a href="/en/Live_CD" title="Live CD" class="wl">Live CD</a> or <a href="/en/Live_USB" title="Live USB" class="wl">Live USB</a> and <a href="/en/Bash_(Unix_shell)" title="Bash (Unix shell)" class="wl">Bash</a> as the default shell after installation)</td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="infobox-label" style="white-space: nowrap;"><a href="/en/Software_license" title="Software license" class="wl">License</a></th><td class="infobox-data"><a href="/en/Free_software" title="Free software" class="wl">Free software</a> (<a href="/en/GNU_GPL" title="GNU GPL" class="mw-redirect wl">GNU GPL</a> and other licenses)<a href="#cite_note-12" style="counter-reset: mw-Ref 8;">[8]</a></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="infobox-label" style="white-space: nowrap;">Official website</th><td class="infobox-data"><a rel="mw:ExtLink nofollow" href="https://archlinux.org" class="external text" target="_blank">archlinux.org</a> <a href="/en/Q185576#P856" title="Edit this at Wikidata" class="image wl"><img loading="lazy"alt="Edit this at Wikidata" src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/8/8a/OOjs_UI_icon_edit-ltr-progressive.svg/10px-OOjs_UI_icon_edit-ltr-progressive.svg.png" decoding="async" data-file-width="20" data-file-height="20" data-file-type="drawing" height="10" width="10" srcset="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/8/8a/OOjs_UI_icon_edit-ltr-progressive.svg/15px-OOjs_UI_icon_edit-ltr-progressive.svg.png 1.5x, //upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/8/8a/OOjs_UI_icon_edit-ltr-progressive.svg/20px-OOjs_UI_icon_edit-ltr-progressive.svg.png 2x"></a></td></tr></tbody></table> <footer class='mobile-collapse-footer mobile-collapse-btn'>Close ▲</footer></div>

<a href="#Pacman" target="_blank">Pacman</a>, a <a href="/en/Package_manager" title="Package manager" class="wl">package manager</a> written specifically for Arch Linux, is used to install, remove and update software packages.<a href="#cite_note-pacman-16" style="counter-reset: mw-Ref 12;">[12]</a>

Arch Linux uses a rolling release model, meaning there are no "major releases" of completely new versions of the system; a regular system update is all that is needed to obtain the latest Arch software; the installation images released every month by the Arch team are simply up-to-date snapshots of the main system components.<a href="#cite_note-17" style="counter-reset: mw-Ref 13;">[13]</a>

Arch Linux has comprehensive documentation, consisting of a community-run <a href="/en/Wiki" title="Wiki" class="wl">wiki</a> known as the ArchWiki.<a href="#cite_note-distrowatch_review-18" style="counter-reset: mw-Ref 14;">[14]</a><a href="#cite_note-19" style="counter-reset: mw-Ref 15;">[15]</a><a href="#cite_note-20" style="counter-reset: mw-Ref 16;">[16]</a>

Arch Linux  Pacman, a package manager written specifically for Arch Linux, is used to install, remove and update software packages. Arch Linux uses a rolling release model, meaning there are no "major releases" of completely new versions of the system; a regular system update is all that is needed to obtain the latest Arch software; the installation images released every month by the Arch team are simply up-to-date snapshots of the main system components. 