Arch Linux is a Linux distribution for desktop and server computers. It is designed to be a minimalist distribution, with a small selection of pre-installed packages, and users are free to install only the packages they need. This means that Arch Linux is very lightweight, which makes it suitable for low-resource computers. Arch Linux is also known for its large amount of documentation and its active community, which makes it easy for new users to learn how to use it.
- pacman – Synthesis: Manages system packages.
- yaourt – Synthesis: Manages AUR packages.
- pacman -Syu – Synthesis: Updates all packages in the repositories.
- pacman -Ss – Synthesis: Searches the repositories for a specific package.
- pacman -Rsn – Synthesis: Uninstall a specific package.
- pacman -Qdt – Synthesis: Displays the list of orphaned packages.
- pacman -Qe – Synthesis: Displays manually installed packages.
- pacman -Qm – Synthesis: Displays packages installed from the AUR.
- sudo pacman -S – Synthesis: Installs a specific package.
- sudo pacman -Sy – Summary: Updates a specific package.
History of Arch Linux
Arch Linux was created in March 2002 by Judd Vinet, a Canadian software developer. The first version of the distribution, Arch Linux 0.1, was released in April 2002. This version contained a selection of basic packages, such as the Linux kernel, the ext3 file system, a selection of basic utilities and some additional packages.
In the following years, Arch Linux was improved and new features were added. In 2004, version 0.7 was released, which contained a new package management tool called ‘pacman’, a new installation tool called ‘archinstall’ and a new boot loader called ‘Syslinux’.
In 2006, version 1.0 was released, containing a new version of the Linux kernel, a new network configuration tool and a new user administration tool.
In 2008, version 2.0 was released, which contained a new package management tool called ‘yaourt’, a new package build tool called ‘makepkg’ and a new boot loader called ‘GRUB’.
In 2009, version 3.0 was released, which contained a new installation tool called ‘archboot’ and a new boot loader called ‘systemd’.
In the following years, Arch Linux became one of the most popular Linux distributions, thanks to its minimalist approach, its large amount of documentation and its active community. Today, Arch Linux remains one of the most popular Linux distributions, with its latest version, the Rolling Release, being one of the most widely used.
