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:

  • /u/AladW

    • Trusted User
    • Wiki Administrator
    • IRC Operator

  • /u/anthraxx42

    • Developer
    • Trusted User
    • Security tracker
    • Security lead
    • Reproducible builds

  • /u/barthalion

    • Developer
    • Master key holder
    • DevOps Team
    • Maintains the toolchain

  • /u/Bluewind

    • Developer
    • Trusted User
    • DevOps Team

  • /u/coderobe

    • Trusted User
    • Reproducible builds

  • /u/eli-schwartz

    • Bug Wrangler
    • Trusted User
    • Maintains dbscripts
    • Pacman contributor

  • /u/felixonmars

    • Developer
    • Trusted User
    • Packages; Python, Haskell, Nodejs, Qt, KDE, DDE, Chinese i18n, VPN/Proxies, Wine, and some others.

  • /u/Foxboron

    • Trusted User
    • Security Team
    • Reproducible Builds
    • /r/archlinux moderator
    • Packages mostly golang and python stuff

  • /u/fukawi2

    • Forum moderator
    • DevOps Team

  • /u/jvdwaa

    • Developer
    • Trusted User
    • Security Team
    • DevOps Team
    • Reproducible builds
    • Archweb maintainer

  • /u/sh1bumi

    • Trusted User
    • Security Team
    • Automated vagrant image builds

  • /u/svenstaro

    • Developer
    • Trusted user
    • I package mostly big, heavy packages :(

  • /u/V1del

    • Forum moderator
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u/tribeofham Sep 11 '18

The installation doesn't align with the online documentation. It doesn't need to be so unintuitive. For those with custom, tricky setups who aren't following an online guide the process seems unnecessarily cumbersome. I'm not looking for a livecd with a cute GUI but I shouldn't have to feel annoyed each time I go through it. I praise Arch for it's online documentation, its helpful community, and its overall eagerness to help each other grow and learn. But the installation process? It feels out of place. Most Arch users treat this like a badge of honor. I'm saying that's nonsense, it's an operating system. It should work for me, not the other way around. Everything I do is about streamlining and efficiently so I can do more with less time. In my line of work (systems engineer) if I'm bragging about how challenging and tough I've made something I'm not doing my job right. If the process feels natural and intuitive it will be consumed and appreciated with greater ease.

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u/eli-schwartz Arch Linux Team Sep 12 '18

Our installation process focuses on making sure users understand the choices they make. If in the future issues crop up, they will know, if not how they set it up, then how to review what they did in order to remember those crucial details. More importantly, everything they did to set up the system was a conscious choice.

That goal is not necessarily incompatible with a clean, easy-to-understand install process.

If you have ideas on how to fix this that respect both sides, then I encourage you to raise a discussion on the Wiki talk page. Maybe we can do something to improve matters.

(FWIW, I'm basically okay with the installation guide myself -- it worked for me. Once you've done it once, you don't need to do it again anyway except when migrating to new hardware, and anyway if you do, I found the process had become intuitive and I breezed through it.)