Arch Linux

Arch Linux ( ) is an open source, rolling release Linux distribution. Arch Linux is kept up-to-date by regularly updating the individual pieces of software that it comprises. It provides monthly "snapshots" which are used as installation media. Arch Linux is intentionally minimal, and is meant to be configured by the user during installation to add only what is needed. Pacman, a package manager written specifically for Arch Linux, is used to install, remove and update software packages. The Arch User Repository (AUR) serves as a community-driven software repository for Arch Linux and provides packages not included in the official repositories and alternative versions of packages. AUR packages can be downloaded and built manually, or installed through an AUR 'helper'. such as Yet Another Yogurt (yay). Arch Linux has comprehensive documentation in the form of a community-run wiki known as the ArchWiki.

Arch Linux ( ) is an open source, rolling release Linux distribution. Arch Linux is kept up-to-date by regularly updating the individual pieces of software that it comprises. It provides monthly "snapshots" which are used as installation media. Arch Linux is intentionally minimal, and is meant to be configured by the user during installation to add only what is needed. Pacman, a package manager written specifically for Arch Linux, is used to install, remove and update software packages. The Arch User Repository (AUR) serves as a community-driven software repository for Arch Linux and provides packages not included in the official repositories and alternative versions of packages. AUR packages can be downloaded and built manually, or installed through an AUR 'helper'. such as Yet Another Yogurt (yay). Arch Linux has comprehensive documentation in the form of a community-run wiki known as the ArchWiki. ==Package management== === Pacman=== All packages are managed through pacman, a package manager written specifically for Arch Linux. Pacman handles package installation, upgrades, downgrades, removal and features automatic dependency resolution. The packages for Arch Linux are obtained from the Arch Linux package tree and are compiled for the x86-64 architecture. Pacman typically uses binary packages with a .tar.zst extension (for zstd compression), with .pkg placed before this to indicate that it is a Pacman package (giving .pkg.tar.zst ); though other compression formats are also valid, such as .pkg.tar.xz . Packages can be installed via pacman -S , and pacman -Syu can be used to perform a full system upgrade. As well as Arch Linux, Pacman is also used for installing packages under MSYS2 (a fork of Cygwin) on Windows. ===Repositories=== The following official binary repositories exist: core, which contains all the packages needed to set up a base system. Packages in this repository include kernel packages and shell languages. extra, which holds packages unneeded for the base system, including desktop environments and programs. multilib, a centralized repository for x86-64 users to more readily support 32-bit applications in a 64-bit environment. Packages in this repository include Steam. Also, testing repositories exist which include binary package candidates for other repositories. Currently, the following testing repositories exist: core-testing, with packages for core. extra-testing, with packages for extra. multilib-testing, with packages for multilib. The core-staging and extra-staging repositories are used for some rebuilds to avoid broken packages in testing. The developers recommend not using these repositories for any reason, stating that any system updating from them will "unquestionably break." There are also two other repositories that include the newest version of certain desktop environments. gnome-unstable, which contains packages of a new version of the software from GNOME before being released into testing. kde-unstable, which contains packages of a new version of KDE software before being released into testing. The unstable repository was dropped in July 2008 and most of the packages moved to other repositories. The community repository was merged with extra in May 2023. In addition to the official repositories, there are a number of unofficial user repositories. The most well-known unofficial repository is the Arch User Repository, or AUR, hosted on the Arch Linux site. The AUR does not host binary packages but instead a collection of build scripts known as PKGBUILDs. PKGBUILD scripts are executed by the makepkg command, which downloads the necessary files from the software's repository and builds them using the Arch build system. The Arch Linux repositories contain both libre and nonfree software, and the default Arch Linux kernel contains nonfree proprietary blobs, hence the distribution is not endorsed by the GNU project. The linux-libre kernel can be installed from the AUR or by enabling Parabola's repositories. === Arch build system (ABS)=== The Arch build system (ABS) is a ports-like source packaging system that compiles source tarballs into binary packages, which are installed via Pacman. The Arch build system provides a directory tree of shell scripts, called PKGBUILDs, that enable any and all official Arch packages to be customized and compiled. Rebuilding the entire system using modified compiler flags is also supported by the Arch build system. The Arch build system makepkg tool can be used to create custom pkg.tar.zst packages from third-party sources. The resulting packages are also installable and trackable via Pacman. === Arch User Repository (AUR)=== For packages not provided in the official repositories, the Arch User Repository (AUR) provides user-made PKGBUILD bash scripts which retrieve and build source code or binaries from non-Arch Linux sources. PKGBUILD scripts cannot be downloaded or run by pacman, but they contain all the necessary instructions and metadata to build packages which pacman can install. Unofficial AUR helper programs, like Yay or Paru, can automate installation from the AUR. However, because scripts not validated by any trusted person may be uploaded to the AUR, Arch developers have stated that utilities for automatic finding, downloading and executing of PKGBUILDs, including AUR helpers, will never be included in the official repositories. Arch Linux directs users to acquaint themselves with the process of vetting PKGBUILDs, including when using AUR helpers. Instances of malware have been discovered in the past, such as on 19 July 2025 when a modified Firefox build contained a Remote access trojan. On 12 June 2026, Arch announced "a high volume of malicious package adoptions and updates in the Arch User Repository", locking down registration and later posing a list of 1579 affected packages that day. The attack consisted of edits to PKGBUILDs adding installation instructions for malicious npm packages. Two days later several packages containing obfuscated malware code, russian spam and profanities are also found and fixed. Use cases and niches of the AUR include: Software that cannot be redistributed due to license restrictions can be included in the AUR since all that is hosted by the Arch Linux website is a shell script that downloads the actual software from elsewhere. Examples include proprietary freeware such as Google Earth and Spotify. The AUR contains variations of official and AUR packages, including possibly unstable packages from beta or dev branches. AUR packages which download binaries rather than source code may be provided to remove compilation from the build process. Software which is not significant enough to be included in the official repositories may be uploaded to the AUR. AUR packages that have 10 or more votes or more than 1% usage from pkgstats can be promoted into the extra official repository. This requirement is waived in special cases, such as for drivers and dependencies of popular packages. Package Maintainers, official Arch Linux staff, are charged with "keeping the AUR in working order". They maintain popular packages, communicate with and send patches to developers of packaged software, screen PKGBUILDs for malware, and vote on administrative matters. ===Reproducible builds=== Arch Linux is working on making all official packages reproducible. This means that when a package is rebuilt in a different environment it should be bit-by-bit identical. This allows users and researchers to verify the integrity of the packages found in the official repository. The status of this effort can be monitored on the dedicated status page.

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