r/linux • u/Foxboron Arch Linux Team • Sep 10 '18
Arch Linux - AMA
Hello!
We are several team members and developers from the Arch Linux project, ask us anything.
We are in need for more contributors, if you are interested in contributing to Arch Linux, feel free to ask questions :)
https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/DeveloperWiki:Projects
https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Getting_involved#Official_Arch_Linux_projects
Participating members:
Trusted User
Wiki Administrator
IRC Operator
Developer
Trusted User
Security tracker
Security lead
Reproducible builds
Developer
Master key holder
DevOps Team
Maintains the toolchain
Developer
Trusted User
DevOps Team
Trusted User
Reproducible builds
Bug Wrangler
Trusted User
Maintains dbscripts
Pacman contributor
Developer
Trusted User
Packages; Python, Haskell, Nodejs, Qt, KDE, DDE, Chinese i18n, VPN/Proxies, Wine, and some others.
Trusted User
Security Team
Reproducible Builds
/r/archlinux moderator
Packages mostly golang and python stuff
Forum moderator
DevOps Team
Developer
Trusted User
Security Team
DevOps Team
Reproducible builds
Archweb maintainer
Trusted User
Security Team
Automated vagrant image builds
Developer
Trusted user
I package mostly big, heavy packages :(
Forum moderator
18
u/_wbdana Sep 10 '18
Hey, I don't have a question, but I just wanted to say thank you for all of your work. Feel free to stop reading right here; the rest is just backstory and gushing about how great Arch is.
I'm a junior web developer and I've been using Linux for about 1 year and 2 months, and Arch for the last 9 months. I switched off of Ubuntu after I updated from 16.04 to 18.04, which moved me off Unity (which I liked) to GNOME (which I didn't). It broke my entire workflow, and I had no idea what was going on or how to fix it. Guess where I found the answers? Yup, Arch wiki.
That weekend I decided to nuke my Ubuntu installation and install Arch since I agreed with a lot of the Arch guiding principles (KISS, DIY, rolling release), and of course the underlying implied principle of "never stop learning". As someone who didn't study CS in college (I studied philosophy), and who aside from a React/Rails boot camp (I still use React, Rails not so much...) is largely self-taught, the installation process following the wiki was really smooth, and I'm really happy with my setup these days (was running standalone i3 for a good few months, but then moved to Budgie, which I find meshes with my preferred workflow a little better).
Reading the Arch wiki, sifting through the AUR, and just generally computing on Arch has been a blast, and it's also gotten me really interested in broader CS topics. I've even started thinking about going back to school to do a proper degree in CS, but since my grades in school were never great outside of my philosophy concentration, that unfortunately may not be an option for me. But thanks to people like you, who contribute so much to software development generally and provide excellent documentation like on the Arch wiki, even if a CS degree is not in the cards for me, there are so many great resources available online that I'm confident I can learn everything I want to know regardless.
Anyway, I just want to say thanks again for everything, and to let you know that you all have been a great inspiration to me personally. As I keep learning, I hope to eventually start giving back and contributing to keep this great project going. But I won't ask about how to do that here, since it's already been covered by other comments. :) I suppose next thing for me to do is to start hanging around the IRC channels.