I switched like ten years ago because I wanted to learn the details, but in all honesty I still feel like I barely understand anything. Not sure how normal this is, maybe I’m unusually dumb, but I feel like what I’ve really learned is how to troubleshoot and solve issues by reading documentation and tinkering, rather than understanding what I’m actually doing. I’ve had a stable system for years but I kind of feel like if a typical arch forum poster looked my system configuration for five minutes they’d be like wtf are you doing.
Knowing you don’t know everything is what makes you smart. Arch helps keep people smart by forcing them to be on edge all the time by feeding everyone the most recent, often not very well-tested versions of software. All the shiny new tech, with some of the sharp edges that still need to be sanded down.
Every time you learn how to configure a tool or daemon or subsystem, a new, shinier tool comes out, or there’s a major update, or you discover an approach that works better for you. The Linux landscape is constantly shifting. You can bite down and stick with what you know (CentOS and derivatives are great for that!) or you can stay along for the ride.
Weird shitty configs is the Arch Linux life. The flexibility is what allows you to configure your system in whatever way works for you, and until it inevitably all explodes with some future update, it’s probably best not to touch anything and break your config because there’s a “better” way. Unless you like that stuff, of course.
I switched like ten years ago because I wanted to learn the details, but in all honesty I still feel like I barely understand anything. Not sure how normal this is, maybe I’m unusually dumb, but I feel like what I’ve really learned is how to troubleshoot and solve issues by reading documentation and tinkering, rather than understanding what I’m actually doing. I’ve had a stable system for years but I kind of feel like if a typical arch forum poster looked my system configuration for five minutes they’d be like wtf are you doing.
If you know where to look and where to tinker, then I think you have at least some understanding of what you’re doing.
Knowing you don’t know everything is what makes you smart. Arch helps keep people smart by forcing them to be on edge all the time by feeding everyone the most recent, often not very well-tested versions of software. All the shiny new tech, with some of the sharp edges that still need to be sanded down.
Every time you learn how to configure a tool or daemon or subsystem, a new, shinier tool comes out, or there’s a major update, or you discover an approach that works better for you. The Linux landscape is constantly shifting. You can bite down and stick with what you know (CentOS and derivatives are great for that!) or you can stay along for the ride.
Weird shitty configs is the Arch Linux life. The flexibility is what allows you to configure your system in whatever way works for you, and until it inevitably all explodes with some future update, it’s probably best not to touch anything and break your config because there’s a “better” way. Unless you like that stuff, of course.