I’ve been distrohopping for a while now, and eventually I landed on Arch. Part of the reason I have stuck with it is I think I had a balanced introduction, since I was exposed to both praise and criticism. We often discuss our favorite distros, but I think it’s equally important to talk about the ones that didn’t quite hit the mark for us because it can be very helpful.

So, I’d like to ask: What is your least favorite Linux distribution and why? Please remember, this is not about bashing or belittling any specific distribution. The aim is to have a constructive discussion where we can learn about each other’s experiences.

My personal least favorite is probably Manjaro.

Consider:

  • What specific features/lack thereof made it less appealing?
  • Did you face any specific challenges?
  • How was your experience with the community?
  • If given a chance, what improvements would you suggest?
  • @rtxnEnglish
    40•5 months ago

    I’m about to piss off a lot of people.

    It’s Arch and Arch-derivatives. And I’m saying it as an Arch user, btw, and I actually love it.

    Between the Big Three (Fedora, Debian, Arch), it is the least likely to have an official package for somewhat niche applications. If something is not available as a flatpak or appimage, I have to compile it from source or an AUR PKGBUILD, but we all know the dangers of doing that. Some software will just assume that it’s running on a particular disribution, usually Ubuntu. Some software will detect the distribution and straight-up refuse to work on Arch.

    That being said, it would take a lot to make me switch to a stable point-release distribution. Arch’s advantages more than make up for the sub-par software support.

    (actually, I lied. Fuck Canonical and *Ubuntu. And IBM.)

    • @[email protected]
      9•5 months ago

      Some software will just assume that it’s running on a particular disribution, usually Ubuntu. Some software will detect the distribution and straight-up refuse to work on Arch.

      Name to blame, please.

      • @rtxnEnglish
        7•5 months ago

        Twingate Connector. The installer script only works if the OS uses either the APT or the DNF package manager, otherwise it exits. Fortunately it has many deployment methods, including Docker. I ended up using the systemd unit in a Debian container inside Proxmox.

    • @[email protected]
      8•5 months ago

      Just use Distrobox my friend.

      I use it on Fedora Atomic (Silverblue) and I install Arch- and AUR-software all the time.
      In that way I can access everything I want and still enjoy the comfort of my unbreakable base.
      Another plus is that if I should break my Arch container, I can just remove and reinstall it without affecting my host. The performance is about the same as with Flatpaks, so, negabile.

      If you like Arch, then just use Ubuntu/ Debian/ Fedora/ whatever as container image and never stress yourself anymore with PKGBUILD

    • Gianni ROPEnglish
      3•5 months ago

      This is a balanced take in my opinion. Also an Arch user. Distrobox has helped remedy things somewhat.