What are the best Linux distributions for programming?

You build the package from a source you can see and read. You decide which features you want to build in and which aren't needed. You can choose build options, optimisation and whatever else fancy stuff you want modified. With a binary distribution this simply isn't possible. See More

Top Pro

Full control of the software

Top Con

Not beginner-friendly

You have to read a lot of instructions to start, even if you are familiar with Linux. Furthermore, as you have the ability to configure the kernel and init system, though you are not required to and can use other options, you might experience some boot failures at the beginning. See More

Top Pro

Fully customizable

The usage of advanced features like USE flags makes it more customizable than any binary distribution. See More

Top Pro

Can be officially systemd-free

Gentoo's default init system is OpenRC. Gentoo also officially supports systemd-free Gnome and udev. Users are free to choose any init system they want. See More

Top Pro

Can by optimized to any given CPU by using proper compile flags

Since everything is being built on your PC you can fine-tune the code to make use of your CPU. And all it requires is two lines of string variables in a global config. See More

Top Pro

Portability

There are many architectures available for Gentoo : i386, x86-64, PowerPC, PowerPC 64, sparc, DEC Alpha, ARM, MIPS, PA-RISC, S390, IA-64, sh, m68k. See More

Top Pro

A very large collection of software is available

There are more than 19.000 packages available in the official repository. And even more with overlays. See More

Top Pro

Gentoo does not impose a standard look-and-feel

Top Pro

Portage's emerge is powerful

Top Pro

Great for anyone who is serious about learning the intricacies of Linux

It's useful for both beginners and professionals. For the installation, Gentoo offers various types, which are referred to as stages. Basically meaning how in depth you would want to go into the process of installation. For beginners it's useful to choose for a starting distro due to its various stages that can be very time consuming but beneficial as you learn the composition in general of Linux. See More

Top Pro

Freedom

You are free to do whatever you want with it. As a result, its configuration reflects your unique taste and personality. See More

Top Pro

Live USB installation

Installation via a Live USB allows you to go back and fix mistakes from it without having to restart the whole installation process. See More

Top Pro

Live USB

If you need to install something, chances are someone in the Arch community has already made a package for it. This makes it incredibly easy for you to install and maintain all of the non-media content on your computer. See More

score 64 · Answer 2

Arch Linux

Top Pro

A package for almost everything

Top Con

Fragile packages

Updating an Arch system is always a gamble. The problem could be as simple as a package having a bug causing a program to crash on start or it may be something bigger like the WiFi or Bluetooth no longer working. There is also the slight chance the system may not even boot at all after a large update. If the user does not plan to read the forums weekly/daily or update fairly often, things can go wrong very fast. See More

cosmo's Experience

Arch Linux is the perfect operating system for a programmer! It's incredibly customizable; it does everything you want and nothing more. Once you have everything set up, it's out of your way forever. Given its thriving community and unparalleled documentation, any trouble you run into with even the most arcane programs will be quickly remedied. Finally, the sheer breadth of programs available in the AUR provides you with everything you could possibly need to complete your projects. I definitely recommend giving it a try if you haven't already! See More

Specs

Based On:NONE

Package Manager:Pacman

Default Desktop Environment:N/A

Arch does not come with an automatic installation process. The user is expected to walk through the installation steps published on the Arch wiki. This is very useful if, later, something happens to the installation as the user will be more familiar with the foundational steps required to get a full blown Arch installation working. See More

Top Pro

Helpful for understanding how Linux is installed

Top Con

Works only on AMD64

It is the only official supported instruction set of CPUs. See More

SpontaneousLlefelys's Experience

Arch as a distro isn't bad, but its reputation in nearly every category is WAY overblown. This is because there is an online cabal of "arch bros" that pretty much try to convert everyone to it. I've never seen a community as toxic as Arch. I understand RTFM and not wasting people's time, but when hostility and gatekeeping becomes such an integrated aspect of a communities reputation, to the point of PRIDE, there is something very, very wrong. If you need to do dev work in the real world, stick with Debian or Ubuntu. If you want to be cool and admired by 15 year old boys on 4chan, choose Arch. See More

Top Pro

Fast and simple package management

Pacman has performance advantages over apt-get and yum in both database operations (thanks to being written for speed) and download times (by virtue of using better mirrors than other distributions tend to select by default). There are also fewer default repositories to download from, and all package management is combined into one tool instead of being split into dpkg, apt-get, and apt-cache like on Debian distros. See More

Top Con

Systemd

Uses systems which makes it incompatible to the UNIX-world. See More

Top Pro

Excellent documentation

Arch's goal of simplicity means there's usually one preferred way to get things done - through organized and well documented configuration files. This focus, combined with the community's recognition that configuration files can be intimidating, has resulted in excellent documentation that's accessible to newcomers, and very instructive about how Linux actually works. The documentation is often so thorough that, when searching for solutions to problems while using other distributions, such as with video card drivers, oftentimes you'll find the most effective solution in the Arch Linux wiki or on the forums. See More

Top Con

Package Manager Quirks

pacman is a great package manager compared to the likes of apt-get or whatever fedora is using this week, however its far from perfect and is relatively slow (especially if one doesn't know to ParallelDownloads in their pacman.conf). Like apt, expansion from the default repos is a necessity for a lot of common packages, which means cosigning the nightmare of the AUR and its dubious packaging quality. See More

Top Pro

Cutting edge rolling release

Arch Linux follows a rolling release model, which allows users to stay on the most up-to-date versions of the software they are using. See More

Top Con

Highly egotistical community

Top Pro

Helpful community

If searching through the wiki or the forums for any problems turns nothing, any question on the official forums, Arch subreddit or the IRC channel will be answered within minutes. There will probably be no hand-holding however, Arch users prefer to point anyone to a resource that may help them instead of trying to outright solve their problem in a forum thread. This is quite helpful for people who want to really learn how their system works but also for other people who may stumble in that thread considering how most problems don’t have a universal solution. See More

Top Con

Not for the faint of heart

Arch only holds your hand a little bit of the way. While documentation is great, you are expected to know what you're doing. The result is that when you find the solution for a problem on a forum or elsewhere, the response may be completely over your head. If you're not well-versed in Linux, what would be a minor issue on another distribution can become a drawn-out research project on Arch, as you learn all the inner workings of the operating system, until you understand it well enough to solve your problems yourself. See More

Top Pro

Excellent package management with the AUR

The AUR is a repository with a very extensive catalogue of build/install scripts that are contributed by users. While these scripts are inherently less secure than conventional packages maintained by a distro's authors, it's still way easier to verify the security of install scripts than it would be to write them yourself. It's very usefull. See More

Top Con

Rolling release requires bandwidth

Arch uses a rolling release model for updates. Unlike, for example Ubuntu where a new version is released every six months, packages are updated when they are ready. The advantage is a very up to date system and that the work of upgrading can be spread over a longer span of time to a point where it is hardly noticeably effort. However it can be difficult for people without a high bandwidth connection, or with limits on how many GB can be downloaded imposed by their internet service providers. A GB a month of downloads is quite possible. This can be somewhat offset by Arch being lightweight, besides the relatively small core, the user selects what is installed (and has to be updated). See More

Top Pro

Stripped down to the bone

Since its stripped down, it is fast and you don't have to deal with bloatware. See More

Top Con

Not ready out of the box

You have to install your day-to-day software requirements manually. See More

Top Pro

Helpful 3rd-party installers

There are extremely helpful 3rd-party installers such as Anarchy Linux (Formerly Arch Anywhere). See More

Top Con

Occasional upstream package bugs

Most package maintainers look for issues that the packages might have ispecifically for arch. Which means if a package has a bug that applies to all linux distros regardless of the flavor, the maintainer may not be able to: A) catch it before pushing a update or B) have to wait for the packages developers to fix it. This is a minor issue because most issues are often patched before the end of the day if many users rely on it, or if its a less used package there will be specific troubleshooting instructions on the arch site. See More

Top Pro

No restrictive handholding, pure control over everything

Arch is mainly aimed at experienced Linux users, there is no hand-holding and not much in a way of UI elements when trying to install or tweak settings. See More

Top Con

Too many package upgrades that require manual intervention

Every year or so there is a update to ArchLinux that will break your system unless you first read the front page of archlinux.org. This happened with SystemD and with a few other updates that require you to do prior steps befor pacman -Syu. See More

Top Pro

Simplicity is absolutely the principal objective behind Arch development

The design approach of the development team focuses on elegance, code correctness, minimalism, and simplicity, and expects the user to be willing to make some effort to understand the system's operation. See More

Top Con

Documentation only makes sense if you know how to adjust it

While the documentation is a very valuable reference for experts, the recipes often don't actually work on your own computer. Some articles are outdated, incomplete, contradictory or duplicated. Only if you are expert enough to know which steps to skip, to adjust or which other documentation parts to plug in, you can make it work. See More

Top Pro

It is Linux at the core

This distro is barebones enough to make a new distro from. See More

Top Con

Problems with driver/kernel/gpu consistency

Arch has no proper desktop support, you must craft your system together. Things may work for the first but generally it takes days to configure a stable and working system. This is NOT ideal for a desktop user. See More

Top Pro

Good for ricing for r/unixporn

Top Con

Manual install process

The installation process for Arch Linux is not as streamlined as it is in other distributions. You have to install the OS, Desktop Environment, Network software and configure everything by yourself. See More

Top Pro

Vanilla

Learn about Arch, learn about Linux. What works for Arch, works for many other distros too. See More

Top Con

Instability can be an issue

Sometimes you can have a surprise, but in most cases it can be fixed quickly. See More

Top Pro

Highly reliable and stable build

See experts working on the packages and upgrades. Given Arch splits the load among people who care and have the experience, the overall setup is very stable and reliable, even though very broad too. See More

Top Con

Requires some background with Linux and the command-line to setup

Going in with zero Linux knowledge is not really recommended when wanting to install Arch, though it can be a good learning experience for those that are dedicated to trial and error as well as reading many faqs. See More

Top Pro

Easier to review the distributions packages

Unlike other some distributions, it's super simple to review the packages you download on the official arch repos or arch user repository. See More

Top Con

No performance advantage gained by manual installs

A wide range of benchmarks shows Debian installs with desktop outperforming even Arch installs without X. See More

Top Pro

An opportunity to improve

The process of learning to setup and use Arch will improve your skills with Linux and computers in general. See More

Top Con

Poor multiarch support

Top Pro

Multilib support is just around the corner

Just uncomment the according entries in the pacman.conf. See More

Top Con

Pacman is a slow package manager

Compared to other distribution packages the extracting of a pacman package archives is taking ages. See More

Top Pro

On average only 1 manual intervention needed a year now

The comments about issues with upgrades are over-exaggerated. Those comments assume that : A) They happen often, B) you are using a specific package with an issue, C) that package maintainers can't release a patch to the package that will work around the issue for you, and that D) Manual intervention or system recovery from such issues is hard to fix. On average once or twice a year a user may have to cut and paste some commands in the terminal to fix an issue, but that's about it. Additionally any system recovery required from such missed interventions is easy, just follow the wiki and make a live USB if your using a desktop or laptop. See More

Top Con

Not so great overall

Apart from the ArchBuildSystem/AUR, which brings you very quickly newer package versions, there is not really much where Arch Linux shines. You get better package managers with other systems. The most Linux distributions are far more stable than Arch. You learn more about Linux by using LFS or a source based distribution. You can customize the system much more in LFS or Gentoo. See More

Top Pro

Ultimate mid-range OS for Tinkering

If you like to tinker with things and see how they work you don't get much better than arch linux unless you commit to building your own kernel and using flags manually when installing your packages. See More

Top Con

Multiple Aur helpers

Arch has strict reasoning behind what goes into the official repositories accessible by pacman. As a result, many other projects end up in the Arch User Repository (AUR). Effectively using Arch, and getting easy access to all of the available software, means either manually downloading and installing from the AUR, or installing an AUR helper - these work along side the main package manager (Pacman), but are a bit less standardized or heavily supported. See More

Top Pro

Highly reliable upgrades

Always works. No matter if you upgrade 7 or 700 packages. See More

Top Con

Lost its way

It aimed to be KISS but it has lost iits way and is getting more and more complex, for example it uses systemd which is anything but KISS. It also has now some kind of package post configuration included. See More

Top Pro

Support for a large variety of hardware

From latest wacom pads to obscure wireless cards in laptops Arch's hw support has been and continues to be good. It has worked on laptops where other leading distro's like debian/ mint/ ubuntu failed to detect and work with all hardware. See More

Top Con

No graphical installer

Top Pro

As slim or copious as you want it

Arch keeps its core repositories slim and free of unnecessary dependencies. At first installation only a bare system is set up. You can easily get the other applications through the package manager. The repositories are nearly as full as those of Ubuntu, while they are often more up to date. That way you don't have to waste time with software you don't need or want. See More

Top Con

Not really for desktop

More like for posting screenshots on Reddit. See More

Top Pro

Good overall system quality

QoL of Arch is generally good. You get something more consistent and doable in Arch than you would get with most other OSes. See More

Top Pro

Experts working on the packages

Providers only provide the basic system and do a great job doing so. While with AUR people who actually use the packages, provide and maintain them. They CARE about making them work. See More

Top Pro

Minimal

If you need something, you should install it. It has nothing as default and you can build your system from zero. See More

Top Pro

Lets you choose what is pre-installed before installation

The official install script has the "Additional packages" option, which lets you choose additional packages that won't be installed from the terminal. This is helpful for custom configurations (e.g. if you wanted to take advantage of web development) because it is compatible with most packages from the AUR. This also diminishes the need for manual installation with Pacman. See More

Top Pro

Incredibly easy to manage

Arch is very simple to maintain, backup and in rare cases repair and recover. For example, the manual to recover your boot manager is already in the install guide! See More

Top Pro

You actually learn a LOT of the inner workings of your OS

Since you do everything by hand and a LOT of it, you actually learn very useful things even for other distros. See More

Top Pro

Highly customizable

Tailor the system to your needs. See More

Top Pro

Low maintenance

To basically keep your Arch setup up and running, it takes very little to barely any maintenance. See More

Top Pro

Rolling updates

Updating will keep the whole OS up to date (unlike Ubuntu/Debian/etc. where occasionally you will need to perform major version updates). See More

Top Pro

Flexible upgrades

Upgrade once a day, once a week, once a month... Three times a day... Automate it, upgrade manually, add packages to the ignore list. See More

Top Pro

Great for low performance hardware

Arch Linux works quite well with low performance hardware like netbooks. See More

Top Pro

Simple by design

Arch Linux is actually incredibly simple. It's really just a partition scheme, package manager, Linux kernel, file system, systemd and the bare minimum of utilities needed to easily set up your hardware. This makes it super simple to build your desired system using binary packages because there no bloat getting in your way when installing or configuring packages. See More

Top Pro

Incredible educational value

Arch gives great insight in the inner workings of operating systems, computers and data manipulation. See More

Top Pro

No need for external repos

The default and community repo of Arch Linux are so vast, that there is barely any need for additional software sources. And if there is, the additional software can be added to AUR, which results in the need actually growing the Arch repos. See More

Top Pro

Huge Repositories

Although Arch Linux only comes with around 10,000 packages, you can use the Arch User Repositories (AUR) which will add over 50,000 more packages. See More

Top Pro

Arch Linux Wiki

The Arch Linux Wiki is very useful not just for Arch Linux users, but for anyone who uses Linux. See More

Top Pro

Arch Linux Archive lets you choose your own update schedule

Despite being rolling release Arch Linux lets you be flexible about your update policy. If distro repos moved forward, but you don't want to update, you can temporarily switch to Arch Linux Archive, which stores repo snapshots across time. Later, when you're ready to update, you switch back to bleeding edge. See More

Top Pro

Vast variety of use and purpose

With its vast repos, Arch offers tons of applications for all kinds of use. See More

Top Pro

Completely signed repos by default

Arch-based distros, or even Arch installers, often use unsigned repositories. See More

Top Pro

Great security out of the box

Even a default Arch setup offers great security with the minimum number of open ports and very little information on the system for outsiders. See More

Top Pro

Great hardware support

Out of the box Arch comes with great hardware support. See More

Top Pro

Supports various desktop environments and window managers

Doesn't limit you in terms of desktop environments or graphical servers (X, Wayland). See More

Artix actively supports the runit init system known from Void Linux (equally besides the OpenRC init system known from Gentoo). See More

score 14 · Answer 3

Artix Linux

Top Pro

runit

Top Con

Few Arch packages might not be available yet

Developers are working migrating all packages into their own repositories while ensuring there's no systemd malware. See More

ProductiveThemis's Experience

It's Arch for all intents and purposes, but without the systemd liability. The most comprehensive package repositories on the planet, including the AUR. What more to ask? See More

Specs

Based On:Arch Linux

Package Manager:Pacman

Default Desktop Environment:Bash (Unix shell), Cinnamon, KDE Plasma, LXDE, LXQt, MATE and XFCE

Release Schedule:Rolling release

A less known init system that's robust and fast. See More

Top Pro

s6

Top Pro

Flexibility

You can have a functional system in less than 10 mins using GUI installer OR you can do it "the Arch way" See More

Top Pro

No systemd

Top Pro

Close to bare Arch Linux

No learning curve if you're coming from Arch or any of its derivatives. See More

Top Pro

Rolling distro

Top Pro

Lightweight

Only the software you would need like Terminal emulator, file manager, media player and a browser. See More

Top Pro

OpenRC

OpenRC is a modern init with process supervision and parallel service launch at boot. See More

Package Manager:RPM Package Manager, DNF package manager

score 16 · Answer 4

Fedora

Top Pro

Huge array of binary packages ready to install

Specs

Based On:Independent

Default Desktop Environment:GNOME

Fedora has a relatively short life cycle: version X is supported only until 1 month after version X+2 and with approximately 6 months between versions this means that a version of Fedora is supported for approximately 13 months. This promotes leading-edge software because it frees developers from some backward compatibility restraints. See More

Top Pro

Frees developers from some backward compatibility restraints

Top Pro

Strong commitment to free software philosophy

Top Pro

Fast and stable updates

Top Pro

Focuses on innovation

By using bleeding edge software, Fedora allows for innovation to take place by testing out things which other distros are not willing to try due to fears of having instability issues. See More

Top Pro

Integration with GNOME

It perhaps has the best integration with GNOME (GNOME software works out of the box). See More

Top Pro

Backed by one of the biggest Linux kernel contributors

Fedora is backed by RedHat, the 2nd biggest Linux kernel contributor in the world. Using a distribution made by RedHat means that it will be fine-tuned to work as efficiently as possible since it's made by the same people who work extensively on the kernel and know its ins and outs. See More

Top Pro

Spins and Labs

Spins are images with a different WM/DE, and Labs are filled with a specific theme of packages. See More

Top Pro

Fast performance

Top Pro

Can still be installed in a bad sector on the hard disk

Top Pro

Very good integration with Flatpak and Snap Packages

Top Pro

Linus Torvalds distro of choice

Top Pro

Create user after the installation

Very good for selling PC‘s with Fedora. See More

Top Pro

Frequent updates to latest versions of software, so quick security and other bug fixes

Latest version software often means quick bug fixes, more useful features. For example, for a daily user of TeX, the latest TeX distro is a must. It's also useful to be able to use recent external hardware such as USB Wi-Fi dongles or printers. See More

More secure than Debian, because it doesn't use Systemd. See More

score 4 · Answer 5

Devuan GNU+Linux

Top Pro

Very secure

Specs

Based On:Debian

Package Manager:dpkg with apt, aptitude or apt-build

Default Desktop Environment:XFCE

Init-System:SysVinit, runit or OpenRC

Devuan is Debian just without systemd, it just mirrors the the Debian archive and repacks packages that have hard dependencies on systemd. See More

Top Pro

It's Debian

Top Pro

Debian without systemd

Top Pro

Most decent look amongst other XFCE distros

Default XFCE theme is unique of all the XFCE distos including MXLinux, Xubuntu etc. See More

Top Pro

Init based

Isn't based on systemd which can spread malware into your system. See More

Top Pro

Stability

It is stable like Debian. See More

Manjaro allows the user to access of the Arch User Repository, a very large user-maintained repository of packages for Arch Linux and derivatives. See More

score 25 · Answer 6

Manjaro Linux

Top Pro

Arch User Repository access

Top Con

Can still be unstable

Here are the details of it. See More

kelly blak moffat's Experience

am a manjaro user, i found it easy to use, even when it comes to programming its one of the best distro to use. i would also recommend parrot OS studio edition, but that one i think is only good for desktop machines, for a laptop mmmmmh unless you want to make it a desktop laptop ;) . the OS is the power monster. thats why i have recommended manjaro os. See More

Specs

Based On:Arch Linux

Package Manager:pamac

Default Desktop Environment:XFCE, KDE Plasma, GNOME

Init-System:systemd

Packages from Arch's repositories are tested (about two weeks) longer for stability and compatibility issues. Patches are applied, when necessary, before being made available in the stable repositories. See More

Top Pro

Improved stability due to a longer testing period for new packages

Top Con

Bad dependencies

This is similar to the mac0S experience in that you're not allowed to remove plank. See More

CourteousEpimetheus's Experience

java,python pre installed See More

Top Pro

A rolling-release distribution

Manjaro uses a rolling release method for all updates, so once a system is installed, as long as the user regularly updates there is no need to re-install. See More

Top Con

Redundant

It's just Arch Linux with an easier installer so there is no reason to use it. See More

Top Pro

Good documentation and forum

The Manjaro community is very helpful, and there are lots of tutorials. See More

Top Con

No gfvs pre-installed

So no Trash (and possibly smartphone file system access via USB) support. See More

Top Pro

Stable and consistently up to date

Manjaro receives regular updates, but more importantly these updates are stable. The updates are rolled out, which means you can easily update the software without needing to re-install. See More

Top Con

Calls itself "stable," but actually just holds Arch Linux repositories back for a week

Top Pro

Support for multiple kernels

Manjaro has built-in support for multiple kernels as well as a way to easily install them. See More

Top Con

Installation is extremely buggy

There's no easy way to switch from local keyboard layout if non-Latin installer language is selected. See More

Top Pro

Uses low memory

By using XFCE (or LXDE, Fluxbox, supported by community) as the default desktop on an install, Manjaro is able to have a low memory footprint. See More

Top Con

Slightly bloated

Top Pro

Excellent graphical package manager (Pamac)

Features include: providing notifications of available updates; mirror management; AUR support (with the option to suppress unnecessary confirmations during the install process); update settings (frequency, whether to check for updates from the AUR, packages to ignore updates for); and a history of packages installed, updated, or removed (from the official repositories - AUR packages are not currently tracked). See More

Top Con

The Manjaro unstable repository is slow to sync with the Arch stable repository

The Manjaro unstable repository syncs with the Arch stable repository and if any package has moved, it gets moved to stable. Manjaro gets package updates a bit than Arch. See More

Top Pro

Friendly community

If you ask questions of users in their forums or on other platforms, they are willing to help you. Also according to the developers, they are open to new ideas in order to make the distro better. See More

Top Con

You can't change the default theme in certain applications

Although it is possible to change the default dark theme, this has no effect on Firefox, which appears to have the dark theme "hard coded". Hardened Linux pros may find a way to change this, but for the rest, it renders an otherwise nice distro a no-go. See More

Top Pro

Based on Arch and user friendly

Manjaro is an Arch-based distribution with all the benefits of the Arch ecosystem and community but with the added benefit of being much more user-friendly than Arch. See More

Top Con

It's Archbuntu

Top Pro

Different editions to select from + Manjaro community

You can choose between different Manjaro editions which have their own change in features, and there is also Manjaro community editions where the community can make their own changes. See More

Top Con

Poor multiarch support

Top Con

Nothing new

There is nothing new in Manjaro compared to any other Arch based distribution. See More

Top Con

Weekly manual updates

Since it is rolling release, it needs updates nearly every week, which (though are checked for automatically) must be manually downloaded, confirmed and installed. That may annoy or scare off many new users. See More

Top Con

New packages and security updates are held for testing longer

Packages are usually about two weeks behind Arch's stable repository. While some urgent security updates are released as soon as they become available, other security updates are held for testing longer. See More

Top Con

Bad Dependencies

This is similar to the mac0S experience in that you're not allowed to remove plank. See More

Top Con

Very slow development for 32-bit hardwares

ArchLinux-32 community maintain their forums every day. They upload new ISO's every month. But Manjaro-32 community upload new ISO's in every 6 month. And provide only a DE-mate. See More

Solves modern problems of software management in one concise, coherent, and fully integrated system. See More

score 2 · Answer 7

Guix

Top Pro

A truly advanced operating system

Specs

Based On:N/A

Default Desktop Environment:GNOME

Init-System:GNU Shepherd

OS Family:GNU/Linux

While the whole system can be configured using a declarative file with sufficient privileges. Users can install any package in their own local profile with a single command without root. See More

Top Pro

Secure rootless installation

Top Pro

Atomic package management without bloated init/supervision systems

For those with a clear focused concept of what is wanted, after building, the build can be replicated in a blink on countless machines. Both GUIX and shephard are complex but also a breath of fresh air. See More

Runit init system is incredibly fast to boot and very simple to use. See More

score 7 · Answer 8

Void Linux

Top Pro

Runit is fast and easy to configure

Specs

Based On:Independent

Package Manager:XBPS & xbps-src

Default Desktop Environment:CLI, XFCE, Cinnamon, Enlightenment, LXDE, LXQt, MATE, GNOME

Init-System:runit

A single instance of Void will be supported forever without needing to reinstall. See More

Top Pro

Rolling release

Top Pro

Friendly forum

Unlike the Arch Forum, it is a friendly forum (although small). See More

Top Pro

Easy to use installer

Unlike it's closest competitor, Arch, Void includes a very user-friendly and simple installer in the ISO. See More

Top Pro

Very lightweight

Base installation can idle at less than 250 megabytes of RAM. See More

Top Pro

Very minimal

More minimalistic than Arch since it doesn't use systemd. See More

Top Pro

Different DE's live ISO's are available

Arch Linux doesn't make ISO's with different DE's. One need to manually install it through CLI version. But Void which is competitor of Arch, provides a wide range of DE's ISOs. See More

Top Pro

Musl image available

Musl libc is lighter and faster than bloated glibc. Musl has been argued to be more secure overall than glibc also but is also not supported by all software. See More

Top Pro

BSD-like improvements with Linux

Full support for LibreSSL, an OpenSSL fork focused on maximizing security. The xbps-src package builder works in a similar manner to BSD's ports collection. See More

Top Pro

xbps (X Binary Package System)

A brand new package manager that is fast, full-featured, and tailored specifically for Void Linux. See More

Top Pro

Runit init system

An init system with the "do one thing and do it right" mentality. Void Linux does not support systemd. See More

Once installed you can almost forget about it and start to use your desktop for your daily tasks See More

score 21 · Answer 9

Debian GNU/Linux

Top Pro

Install and forget

Top Con

No default support for non-free hardware

Non-free hardware will not work upon install of Debian and the user will need to search out the correct non-free software to install in order to make them work. This can be difficult if one of the things not working is the WiFi connection. See More

Specs

Based On:NONE

Package Manager:dpkg with apt, aptitude or apt-build

Default Desktop Environment:GNOME

Known for being consistent in maintaining a highly secure system. Several other popular distros use Debian as a base or core for their own Linux OS, the security being one of the main factors why it's so commonly used. See More

Top Pro

Highly secure system

Top Con

No choices

Debian basically doesn't give you any choices: for example it is very hard to use a different Sound system than ALSA like OSS4, and the same goes for different init systems. See More

Top Pro

Standard vanilla Linux desktop

Debian runs standard Gnome, XFCE, KDE - it doesn't use its own special desktop environment, which means that users benefit from the work of the whole Linux community, Debian developers can focus on the distribution itself, and any support for your desktop environment on other distributions should work on Debian as well. See More

Top Con

Ridiculous package splitting

Even though it makes sense to split devel and the actual binary of an application, the splitting has become as mess in debian and its derivates: for example the nvidia driver is splitted into over 40 different packages. See More

Top Pro

Very stable

Top Con

Internal quarrels harm the project

Instead of working all together to provide the best Operating System, some maintainers are just ignorant and aggressive to new ideas or new maintainers. That led to many crises and controversy in Debian's history. See More

Top Pro

Wide choice of hardware platforms

Debian has the widest choice of hardware platforms, including: amd64, armel, armhf, i386, ia64, kfreebsd-i386, kfreebsd-amd64, mips, mipsel, powerpc, sparc, s390, s390x, source, multi-arch. See More

Top Con

Slow boot

Debian boots very slowly. See More

Top Pro

Extremely easy to find help with any problem

Debian is one of the oldest and most popular distros out there. Debian's popularity means that you will always be able to find a solution for your problem just by searching on Google, or if by chance nobody has had the problem you are having it's very easy to ask the community and quickly get a solution. See More

Top Con

Buggy and non-user friendly

Top Pro

Wide choice in desktop environments

Debian offers stable and testing CD images specifically built for GNOME (the default), KDE Plasma Workspaces, Xfce and LXDE. Less common window managers such as Enlightenment, Openbox, Fluxbox, GNUstep, IceWM, Window Maker and others can also be installed. See More

Top Con

Old software is not useful, but is stable

Certainly for the stable and old stable versions. But the testing version has quite up to date software. See More

Top Pro

Comes with over 37,500 packages

Because of its popularity, Debian has a lot of applications available which range from productivity programs to business software, games and development tools. It comes with over 37,500 packages (software that is precompiled and ready to be installed on a local machine) -- all of them for free. See More

Top Con

Not designed for general desktop usage

By default, Debian is not that great of a distro for general desktop usage, since the packages are very outdated. You'll have to spend a while configuring the system in order to make it work. See More

Top Pro

Well-working team

The developer works very well, meaning the code is one of the best written out there. See More

Top Con

Stable release contains extremely outdated packages

If you want the newest packages, you'll have to do a minimal installation of Debian stable then upgrade to testing or unstable by editing the repositories. Save yourself time and install a distro that is rolling release by default. See More

Top Pro

A lot of ways to install software

You can either use aptitude, apt or apt-build to install software from the Debian package archives. See More

Top Con

Outdated kernel of the live system

The kernel of the live system is years behind. See More

Top Pro

The Debian Social Contract

Guaranteed commitment to adherence to values, principles, priorities, requirements and guidelines by the Debian project See More

Top Con

No good choices of fresh desktop environments

GNOME is quite outdated and buggy; KDE is too old, even in Sid it is at 5.14 branch (at Jun 13 2019 Plasma 5.16 is available in many rolling/fresh distros); XFCE behaves like crooked, visual artifacts at the taskbar and so on; Cinnamon as far as I know works better in Linux Mint compared to (almost) any other distro; For other desktop environments (e.g. MATE) can't say - these are too new (as projects) and possibly incomplete, thus might have many bugs. See More

Top Pro

Comes with over 55.500 packages

Because of its popularity, Debian has a lot of applications available which range from productivity programs to business software, games and development tools. It comes with over 55.500 packages (software that is precompiled and ready to be installed on a local machine) -- all of them for free. See More

Top Con

Poor hardware support out of the box

For example, for WiFi adapters See More

Top Pro

Strict seperation of non-free software

Debian is one of the few distros that let the user choose if he wants a free system or not. See More

Top Con

Breaks if you suspend/resume

Breaks when you resume the activity on the system. See More

Top Pro

Widely supported

Almost any software that is available for Linux provides a Debian package. See More

Top Con

No WiFi for Live System

Pretty much the only live system that doesn't offer ANY of the usual choices for a WiFi connection. Like Network Manager or WICD. See More

Top Pro

Easy to find help with any problem

Debian is one of the oldest and most popular distros out there. Debian's popularity means that you will always be able to find a solution for your problem just by searching on Google, or if by chance nobody has had the problem you are having it's very easy to ask the community and quickly get a solution. See More

Top Con

Poor documentation

Try to get a WiFi connection with the live system as newbie. See More

Top Pro

Great for gaming

As Debian is the base for SteamOS and because Ubuntu is based on it, it's almost certain that all Linux games will run properly and require no hacks like creating symbolic links because of some hardcoded paths. See More

Top Pro

Rolling or Release based

Every Debian Release can either use a Rolling or Release based model. See More

Top Pro

Debconf

Depending how it is configured debconf does the most of the hard work for you and only asks you with configuration /file conflicts. See More

Top Pro

Apt-build

It is possible to rebuild the entire system and optimize it for your hardware.(of course it is not detailed as Gentoo's USE flags) See More

Top Pro

A real installer

Unlike other distributions that just extract their Live image, Debian offers a real traditional and modular installer to customize the installation. See More

Top Pro

Supports SecureBoot

You don't have to disable SecureBoot if you use it, which is useful for LiveUSB or dualboot setups. See More

Top Pro

Many ports

Debian supports almost any Kernel maintained CPU instructions set. It has also a few non Linux Ports. See More

Top Pro

Standard archives

debs are normal ar and tar archives with shell scripting and additional gz, bz, lzma or xz compression. See More

Top Pro

TUI installer

The debian installer can still be launched as text/curses-like installer which is more compatible and keyboard-friendly than the grapical version. See More

Top Pro

Live install images for CDs, DVDs and USB thumb drives

Debian releases live install images for CDs, DVDs and USB thumb drives, for the i386 and amd64 architectures, and with a choice of desktop environments. These Debian Live images allow the user to boot from a removable media and run Debian without affecting the contents of their computer. See More

NixOS's package manager Nix allows the creation of project-specific shell and build environments which are isolated from the rest of the system. These environments are defined declaratively to ensure reproducibility. See More

score 7 · Answer 10

NixOS

Top Pro

Isolated development environments

Top Con

A configuration change might end up bricking your system

Specs

Package Manager:Nix Package Manager

Release Schedule:Point or Rolling

OS Family:GNU+Linux

Atomic non-destructive upgrades/rollback of a system upgrade/declarative reproducible system configuration/unprivileged installation of packages/transparent source or binary deployment. See More

Top Pro

State of the art package manager

Top Con

Documentation is not good

A lot of the documentation of various functions is buried on the source code, their respective manuals, or non-existent. The documentation, the conventions, and the scattered toolchain really made searching for stuff easily missable. See More

Top Pro

Minimal

You can start with a minimal environment and add packages and software to suit your needs as you go along. See More

Top Pro

Reproducible system

NixOS is configured using the Nix package manager, allowing your system to be replicated and kept in sync across multiple machines. Great for keeping a laptop and desktop in sync. See More

Top Pro

Robust

Packages don't break after a NixOS upgrade as they are prone to with other distros (especially Arch). See More

Default Desktop Environment:Budgie, Cinnamon, Deepin, GNOME, i3, KDE Plasma, LXQt, MATE, Xfce

Answer 11

Endeavour OS

Package Manager:pacman

The installer is abysmal. Is there really no way to install this distro without using it? See More

score 4 · Answer 12

Obarun

Top Con

Installer

Specs

Based On:Arch Linux

Package Manager:pacman

Release Schedule:Rolling

OS Family:GNU/Linux

Package Manager:pkgutils, ports(prt-get)

Answer 13

CRUX

Default Desktop Environment:NONE

Init-System:BSD-style initscripts

Uses standard tar archives with shell scripting as packages. See More

score 1 · Answer 14

Slackware

Top Pro

Package management

Specs

Based On:Softlanding Linux System

Package Manager:pkgtool

Default Desktop Environment:KDE, Xfce, NONE

Init-System:SysVinit

Uses stable, plain-vanilla packages from upstream. See More

Top Pro

Stable

Top Pro

One more distro which is init based

Some users don't like to install systemd based distros because they increase booting and processing speed. See More

Top Pro

No systemd

Top Pro

Oldest surviving Linux distro

Besides Debian (which was first released in August 1993), it is the oldest still maintained Linux Distribution and was first released in July 1993. See More

Top Pro

Ideal to learn more of Linux

Follows the original Linux roots. It still sees Linux as a free clone of UNIX so the distribution tries to be UNIX-like. See More

Top Pro

Strong adherence to UNIX Principals

Based On:SLS>Slackware>Jurix>SuSE Linux

score 6 · Answer 15

OpenSUSE LEAP

All

1

Specs

Package Manager:rpm with zypper

Default Desktop Environment:Plasma, GNOME, Xfce, LXQT, NONE

Having Deepin installed also means you have thousands of quality apps to choose from. The apps which come with installation will suit your needs to browse the Internet, listen to music, watch videos, talk with friends, editing documents or simply any task you want to do at home or in your office. See More

score 13 · Answer 16

Deepin OS

Top Pro

Excellent apps

Top Con

Slow on some computers

Very slow - launching apps takes more time than other distros. On the other hand - booting and shutting down is very fast on SSD. See More

Specs

Based On:Debian

Package Manager:Debian Package Manager

OS Family:GNU+Linux

Origin:China

Even though it is based on Debian unstable, it is still pretty stable and you will hardly ever get a dependency issue. See More

Top Pro

Very stable

Top Pro

PRO Network Managment

Deepin has the facilities to create VLAN and other configuration like Wifi Hostpot on their GUI. See More

Top Pro

Blur and transparent design

Deepin has a blur and transparent design throughout the OS, which makes it one of the most beautiful Linux distros. See More

Top Pro

Launches programs faster

Programs load and launch faster in Deepin than other Linux distributions. It takes only about 3 seconds to launch Chrome. See More

Top Pro

Quite lightweight

Deepin 15.7 is lighter than Windows 10 and Ubuntu. See More

Top Pro

Based on Debian

It is based on Debian which is the best Linux distribution for desktops. See More

Top Pro

Company behind it

The Wuhan Deepin Technology is behind this Linux distribution. See More

Top Pro

Includes both Windows and macOS style interface

Top Pro

Includes good programs for programming in the official repository

The official repository of Deepin OS includes Mingw, Android Studio, Sublime Text, Visual Studio Code and many other good programs for programming. See More

Top Pro

Not based on Ubuntu

Some people don't like Ubuntu nor its derivatives. See More

Top Pro

Enjoy the simplicity of Deepin's desktop

The desktop interface and apps feature an intuitive and elegant design. Moving around, sharing and searching, etc. has become simply a joyful experience. See More

Top Pro

Best for daily use

Top Pro

Has its own toolkit

It has its own toolkit called "Deepin Tool Kit". And the maintainers themselves use it. See More

Top Pro

Great design to the app store

The app store is gorgeous. See More

Top Pro

Well-designed in every detail, developers have a professional aproach to the system

Deepin has a sane default set of apps including custom apps of their own design that gives the distro a very consistent look and feel. By working with the community on these tools as well as custom translations there is a great sense of polish when using it that is not often seen when using such a new desktop environment. See More

Top Pro

Easy to use

It's very easy to use. You can easily uninstall a program by going to the menu then right-clicking on the preferred app and selecting "Uninstall" option. See More

Top Pro

VLC media player works without any issue

In some cases, VLC media player has some problems with Ubuntu or Ubuntu-based Linux distros. That isn't the case with Deepin. See More

Top Pro

Easy to install

Installing Deepin OS is very easy. Even easier than installing Ubuntu! See More

Top Pro

Automatically cleans package cache

Deepin automatically cleans package cache. Cleaning package cache is a good thing as it will make the OS much faster and lighter. See More

Top Pro

Rolling release

It is a rolling release Linux distribution which is quite popular these days. See More

Top Pro

Includes a lot of packages in the official repository

The official repository of deepin OS includes over 73,000 packages. See More

Top Pro

Exciting applications

It has some exciting applications, such as Deepin Graphics Driver Manager which can easily change between free and proprietary drivers without any issue. See More

Top Pro

Great support for graphics cards

Deepin OS includes a program called "Deepin Graphics Driver Manager" which can easily install a good driver for the graphics card. See More

Top Pro

Supports Flatpak

Deepin OS supports Flatpak. It also has some Flatpak programs installed by default. See More

Top Pro

Gives warning messages when upgrading packages using apt

Deepin uses their own modified version of apt. When there is a distribution upgrade available and if we try to upgrade by running "sudo apt upgrade", then this modified version of apt gives this warning message, "DDE programs will work abnormally if run this command. Run sudo apt dist-upgrade or sudo apt full-upgrade instead." See More

Top Pro

Can be made to look like Windows easily

By default, Deepin looks kinda like macOS but it can be made to look like Windows by right-clicking on the dock and changing the mode from "Fashion Mode" to "Efficient Mode". See More

Top Pro

Seemless transition form Windows to Linux

Easy to install, comes with default packages to typical needs e.g. Chrome, WPS office, System Monitor and a bunch of multimedia utilities. Its easy to install and uninstall applications, it has a great app store and is fast. On same laptop run much faster than Windows 10 did. See More

The default XFCE UI is pretty generic and sometimes ugly unless customized to suit the user's needs and liking. Customization in XFCE is easier than on Unity, but still hard for beginners. See More

score 4 · Answer 17

Xubuntu

Top Con

UI is pretty generic without customization

Top Pro

Conservative, yet modern

It comes with all Ubuntu goodness but without bloat, a perfect mix between new ideas and usability. See More

Ray's Experience

Great alternative to Ubuntu when doing a fresh install if you're a fan of Xfce like me. See More

Specs

Based On:Debian>Ubuntu

Package Manager:Debian Package Manager

Default Desktop Environment:Xfce

The desktop environment used in Xubuntu has not been updated in over two years and is developed at a snail's pace. See More

Top Con

XFCE development is slow

Top Pro

Quick boot time

Boots at about double the speed of most distributions. See More

Top Con

Redundant

There is absolutely no reason to install it, since it uses the same package repositories as Ubuntu and you can transform any Ubuntu install into a Xubuntu install. See More

Top Pro

Customizable

Official distro of XFCE, one of the most customizable desktop environments. In XFCE you can create as many tasks bars as you need and configure every one of their elements and behaviours. You can also change any icon, font, color... etc. Literally there's nothing you can't change in GUI. See More

Top Pro

Great performance

Xubuntu is very fast and makes good use of resources. See More

Top Pro

Comes with lightweight applications

Xubuntu is designed as a lightweight operating system and Linux distro. It uses XFCE by default and comes packed with XFCE applications which are generally pretty lightweight. See More

Package Manager:Debian Package Manager

score 3 · Answer 18

Kubuntu

All

1

Specs

Based On:Debian>Ubuntu

Default Desktop Environment:KDE

The goal of MATE is to maintain the look and feel of Gnome 2, while maintaining compatibility with Gnome 3. To that end, it has also forked and renamed many of Gnome's core applications. It benefits from the years of work and polish that have gone into the Gnome project. See More

score 3 · Answer 19

Ubuntu MATE

Top Con

Too much bloat included by default

Top Pro

Perfect for people who like Gnome 2

Specs

Based On:Debian>Ubuntu

Package Manager:Debian Package Manger

Default Desktop Environment:MATE

There is absolutely no reason to install it, since it uses the same package repositories as Ubuntu and you can transform any Ubuntu install into a Ubuntu MATE install. See More

Top Con

Redundant

Top Pro

Simplicity of Gnome with the power of Ubuntu

Debian was good to use but has limited documentation and is difficult to pick up. Ubuntu MATE brings the ease of design and logic of the Gnome 2 style desktop so it's easy to get around coupled with the vast documentation, forums and ease of learning/using the Ubuntu system. See More

Top Pro

Works great on old laptops

It does not have a lot of system requirements so it works pretty well even on older laptops. See More

Top Pro

Highly configurable

Comes with an option to configure as Windows-like, Mac-like, Gnome-like, etc. in a single click. Wonderful to get you started without having to learn it all from scratch. See More

Top Pro

Behaves like Ubuntu with Unity - after Ubuntu-Gnome transformation

No better place to continue Unity experience with Ubuntu (Left-side panel, HUD) and not as awkward as Gnome. See More