When comparing PCLinuxOS vs OpenRC, the Slant community recommends PCLinuxOS for most people. In the question“What are the best rolling release Linux distributions?” PCLinuxOS is ranked 10th while OpenRC is ranked 36th. The most important reason people chose PCLinuxOS is:
The distribution is continually updated, so there's no need to install OS upgrades by hand.
Specs
Ranked in these QuestionsQuestion Ranking
Pros
Pro Rolling release
The distribution is continually updated, so there's no need to install OS upgrades by hand.
Pro Stable
PCLinuxOS is designed around stability.
Pro Multiple desktops available
Mate, LXDE, and KDE desktops are available.
Pro Can remaster the boot DVD
PCLinuxOS has built in tools for remastering bootable DVD into a copy of current install.
Pro Excellent hardware compatibility
Comes with nVidia drivers out of the box. Important if the PC has an nVidia chipset. Most Debian based distros don't have nVidia drivers available at install time.
LXDE version works well with older hardware.
Pro No feature creep
OpenRC follows the UNIX philosophy of 'do one thing and do it well', while it's true that it has more features than sysvinit, it does not stay away from its primary function with unnecessary added features.
Pro Extremely simple
All configuration is done via shell scripts and symlinks. Shell scripts can then use various specialized utilities to ease the development of init scripts.
Pro Fast
OpenRC builds on top of sysvinit and adds some more useful features (like parallel booting) while still the simplicity that sysvinit is know for. Because of this it generally boots faster than other init systems, especially when parallel booting is enabled.
Pro UNIX-Like
Does one thing and does it well.
Pro Less dependency creep
Using OpenRC does not lock in a distribution by providing specific NON-POSIX extra services which programs then would rely on.
Pro A very balanced compromise
Basically OpenRC doesn't replace SysV init, but rather works with it, providing features that SysV is lacking while taking advantage of its benefits. It's also used by a fair amount of reasonably popular distros and is well supported and developed.
Pro Very efficient on system resources
Uses multi-core and ram very efficiently.
Pro Portable
It can be ported to other UNIX and UNIX-like operating systems.
Pro Flexible and extensible
I can add a new startup script for most cases in under five minutes. The ability to quickly insert new applications into the system is a big help.
Pro Not bloated
Pro Deterministic
It always initializes a system the same way; if OpenRC booted and ran a system properly today, it will boot and run properly tomorrow, and the next day.
Cons
Con Installation fails most of the time, error messages, and hard to go to full screen in virtual box
Con Uses RPM packaging system
Uses the RPM packaging system with APT, rather than the more popular DEB packages.
Con No socket activation
OpenRC does not have socket activation yet. It will be added in the future though.
Con Not widely offered across distrubutions
From Distrowatch, only ten distributions (of which 8 Linux, 1 BSD) officially support OpenRC, and offer it through their standard repos.