this post was submitted on 19 Jul 2024
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Linux

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Linux is a family of open source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991 by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged in a Linux distribution (or distro for short).

Distributions include the Linux kernel and supporting system software and libraries, many of which are provided by the GNU Project. Many Linux distributions use the word "Linux" in their name, but the Free Software Foundation uses the name GNU/Linux to emphasize the importance of GNU software, causing some controversy.

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[–] [email protected] 82 points 4 months ago (3 children)

Damn, that game's still going, eh? (/j)

[–] [email protected] 46 points 4 months ago (1 children)

Originally it was called puckman, but they changed it because it would have been too easy to vandalize people's arch installations

[–] [email protected] 6 points 4 months ago
[–] federino 23 points 4 months ago

going full open source 😎

[–] [email protected] 14 points 4 months ago

pacman is my favorite game on Arch.

[–] [email protected] 54 points 4 months ago

[- - - - - - - - - - - -C o o o o o o o o o]

[–] [email protected] 47 points 4 months ago (3 children)

This is exciting! Can't wait to kill my install by trying to upgrade!

[–] muhyb 26 points 4 months ago (2 children)

I mean you don't really use Arch if you don't bork it once in a while. :)

[–] [email protected] 6 points 4 months ago

That’s a very pleasant word for a horrible experience I keep doing to myself.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 4 months ago

NVidia borks my installation sometimes. Then my stupidity to choose the non-dkms beta driver from the AUR. But all in all, my non-NVidia-devices (server, workstation and laptop) run fine on arch testing, updated every time I use one of those devices.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 4 months ago (3 children)

You can run pacman on Windows?

[–] [email protected] 22 points 4 months ago (1 children)

It’s called Ms. PacMan over there

[–] [email protected] 2 points 4 months ago
[–] [email protected] 3 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago)

yes (msys2) except it will never bork your windows install unlike on arch.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 4 months ago (1 children)

Kinda. One of the Linux "wrappers" (I'm a bit tired and can't think of the correct term here, bear with me) that lets you utilize some Linux utilities on Windows, maybe it was mingw or cygwin, actually uses pacman as their package manager IIRC.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 4 months ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 2 points 4 months ago

Yep that's the one, thanks!

[–] [email protected] 4 points 4 months ago

If anything, i would expect packagekit frontends to break. If you use pacman as intended, you’ll be just fine

[–] [email protected] 22 points 4 months ago (2 children)
  • On Linux systems, ensure the download process does not write outside the download directory

What does that mean "On Linux systems"? Pacman is available for non Linux systems?

[–] [email protected] 21 points 4 months ago

The MSYS2 environment on Windows uses pacman as well.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 4 months ago (1 children)

Pacman was birthed from the Arch ecosystem, but it's built to be generalized so any project can use it if they choose.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago) (1 children)
arch = base.tarball[0] + pacman
 
[0] 90% similar to all other linux tarballs
[–] [email protected] 2 points 4 months ago (1 children)

I'm genuinely not sure what you're saying here...

[–] [email protected] 1 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago) (1 children)

The base tarball that separates Arch from Debian or Gentoo differ in very minor structural ways, but the difference is the way they fetch, parse, and install packages is huge.

Given this small difference in base tarballs, one can make the case the Arch codebase is the pacman codebase.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 4 months ago (1 children)

I mean... Yeah...? It's not all that controversial to say that any distro is essentially just glue between several pieces of software...

What's your point?

[–] [email protected] 1 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago) (1 children)

(not quite sure where the hostility is coming from, but) if you agree that the base tarball of the distro is inconsequential, then one could argue that the package manager is the actual distro.

That is, using pacman on Windows is akin to an Arch installation on windows.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 4 months ago (1 children)

Apologies, hostility wasn't my intention, only seeking understanding.

Ya know, in the context of the software in a vacuum, sure. But I think I'll ammend what I said earlier about what constitutes a distro:

IMO, It's not just software that glues other existing software together into a contiguous OS, but also a staff, a community, a philosophy cast on that collection of software. A way of doing things and thinking about them. Decisions and the rationale for them, a history of iteration, user needs and how those needs are filled. Us soft squishy humans that make, maintain, modify, administer, use, and complain about the software.

Because I think that reducing a distro to only the software it produces or uses fails to paint the whole picture. The mechanisms used for managing the collection of software on any specific machine is only one part of a larger system.

Pacman isn't the only part of Arch, and Arch isn't just pacman. The same is true if you s/Arch/MSYS2/g on that statement.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 4 months ago

I hear what you're saying but I try my best to divorce a piece of art from its art fans and curators, because ultimately I don't want to be sold into a doctrine on how I should see something, I just want to enjoy it.

I do agree that Arch is much bigger than its codebase (I just sometimes wish it wasn't, with the sole exception of the Arch Wiki)