Advantages of Using minimal Distros

The rolling release model is important but it wouldn’t by itself warrant a switch, so what does?

Many things, such as:

1.) If you want to run a secure and performant system it will end up testing many assumptions you didn’t have to make using Debian, another five star distro. Why would you want your assumptions tested? If you want full control over your machine.

2.) They’re way different from a methodology perspective, where outside of the core program branches, arch can occasionally break your system, whereas Debian tends to enforce more structure to updates. This isn’t always true, but if you want package control, you’ll have to really understand many packages you add into the core. Some people want that, others won’t.

3.) If you don’t already know how to isolate control flow failures and assumptions, you will encounter occasional problems due to assuming things that should not be assumed. Is this good? Yes, and no. Yes because you get to understand your assumptions better, and no because you have to learn what you were at first not thinking correctly about. This can take time. There is a reward though.

4.) If you run arch for a few years, things will almost never “break” but if you’re just starting out, you’ll probably make some incorrect assumptions that will be met with some level of rigid conformity to “simple” that may throw some less inquisitive people off balance at first… however, your inquisitive nature will grow and you’ll become a formidable system admin if you stick with it. If you desire that level of control, arch is by far the most robust for customization while not introducing unnecessary failure points in. Many of the main programs are maintained by fairly skilled people that give a lot of time to pushing out built packages.

So, unless you roll your own Linux distro, which also will challenge many of your assumptions that even running Arch won’t, you’ll have to learn new things. New package manager, new config specs, build systems, etc. You’ll have to understand the environment more too.

I’ve done Arch, Debian, fedora, etc. and even recently built my own distro and package manager: I would say only run arch if you’re in alignment with the philosophical nature of the community and project. Read a little about the history, original developers, and updates over the years. Adhering to a simple and configurable system that favors being correct first and foremost while also pushing user-led choice over being spoon fed solutions.