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News
Mar 18 - pacman 1.2 released
- I've put a pacman-1.2 package up on the ftp site. This version comes with the pacsync utility, which lets you automatically download and install packages and otherwise keep your system up to date.
- I've set up an rsync server on archlinux.org. This will let
everybody keep their /usr/abs tree up to date, and it will also let you easily
mirror the ftp site. I'm in need of download mirrors, so please, if anybody would
like to volunteer, email me and I'll put you on the mirror page.
If you don't already have it, create the directory /usr/abs. Then to update your /usr/abs tree, you can do the following:
# cd /usr/abs && rsync -av archlinux.org::abs .
- I've finally got a bootable iso image on the ftp site.
The bad news is that you don't get a pretty interactive installer. But if
you wanted one of those, you would have gone with RedHat, right? ;)
Here's a short list of some future plans for 0.2:- Document ABS (Arch Build System) and provide a cvs-like update method so people can start building their own packages.
- Finish the contrib area and start posting third-party packages.
- Finish pacman 1.2 -- this will allow you to update your entire system with the latest stable version of all packages, all with one command.
- Add a pretty interactive installer. ;)
- Add more documentation -- our docs really suck right now. Please! If you have questions, just ask! Also, if you want to help out in any way, please let me know. I'm a student so my free time comes and goes at the will of my evil profs.
I'll try to get the docs up for ABS (Arch Build System) which, IMHO, is one of the best advantages of Arch. With ABS, you can easily create new packages, and it's trivial to rebuild existing packages with your own customizations.
And on that note, if you start to use the ABS and build your own packages, I welcome your submissions. My "development team" is working on a contrib area as we speak. ;)
About
Arch Linux is an i686-optimized linux distribution based on ideas from
CRUX, a great distribution developed by Per Lidén. It is lightweight and
contains the latest stable versions of software. Packages are in .tar.gz format and are tracked
by a package manager that is designed to allow easy package upgrades. Arch is quite streamlined
compared to some other distributions. Things that are relatively unused (by me, anyway) are not
kept (info-pages, for example). A default Arch install leaves you with a solid base; from there,
you can add packages to create the custom installation you're looking for. Arch has a package
build system that allows you to easily create your own packages, which makes it very easy to
rebuild a package with your own custom configuration. Arch also aims to use the newer features
available to linux users, such as reiserfs/ext3 and devfs.
Components
All components are optional, of course. It's your system -- build it however you want.
- Linux Kernel 2.4.18
- XFree86 4.2.0
- glibc 2.2.5
- gcc 2.95.3
- OpenSSH 3.1p1
- Mozilla 0.9.9
- WindowMaker 0.80.0
- Vim 6.1
- Reiserfsprogs 3.x.1b
- devfsd 1.3.22
- ... and more ...
Mailing List
There is a mailing list in place for general discussion about
Arch Linux. Here, you can post questions, problems, solutions, ideas, etc. To
subscribe to the list, send an email to arch-request@archlinux.org with
subscribe as the subject.
Alternatively, you can click
here to use the web interface.
IRC
The project is still in its early stages of development. If you are one
of those brave souls who has installed it and you're seeking help, you can usually find me
on #archlinux at irc.openprojects.net. My nick is
apeiro.