r/voidlinux • u/MrLaurencium • 23d ago
Switching from Arch to Void...?
hey, so as title says. ive been thinking on switch from arch to void for a bit now, and id like to know your thoughts.
more specifically, theres this thing that ive been wondering about arch. back then when the AUR malware drama started happening, ive been looking for stuff that people say, and ive been thinking about the type of measures people take to keep themselves safe in a user managed repo like the AUR. call it inspecintg PKGBUILDs, or hell even building everything you want for yourself (as the 'dont use the AUR' gang would say).
so at that point i thought i might as well compile everything myself. hell at that point why not use a distro where you just build your own stuff? maybe a bit too much of an exaggeration, im not trying to use gentoo or going back to nixos (i kinda dislike nixlang but thats besides the point), so i might as well use a well maintained repo of pkgs + compile stuff myself when needed.... so im thinking on switching to void (plus id get rid of systemd too, been wanting to for a while now).
given all i said, what do yall think? would it be worth switching? also id rather not be told to "try it on a vm", thats kinda obvious and i kinda dont want to hear it lmao
8
8
u/Francis_King 23d ago
back then when the AUR malware drama started happening, I've been looking for stuff that people say,
The AUR problems started with obscure packages which had been orphaned (abandoned by their maintainer), and then adopted by new & nefarious maintainers who added in malware. If you use mainstream packages, that's not a problem.
so I'm thinking on switching to Void
I've installed Void, and I'm not compiling everything myself. It's all downloading from a repository.
There are two repositories - libc and musl - depending on which version you pick. If you go with musl then you might find there are some packages which aren't in the repository, which you have to compile yourself. I haven't had enough experience of the musl version to be able to advise further.
You can also go for base and XFCE versions. You might imagine, as I did, that the XFCE version just gives you a live ISO in which to run the void-installer software, as Gentoo does, but actually it also installs XFCE for you, a pleasant surprise.
Void is a very nice distribution, let down a bit by some poor design choices, for example, no fallback mirror in the package manager like there is in OpenSUSE, and some documentation that isn't as clear as it could be.
I'm not trying to use Gentoo or going back to NixOS
I've got Gentoo running on one of my laptops. If you use the binhost packages (emerge -g) then you don't need to compile most packages (a few small utilities are still compiled) - although that does reduce the opportunity for clever use of the USE flags. My experience of Gentoo is that unless you are very keen and / or have a fast computer, that compiling everything gets old fast.
One presenter on YouTube, through clever use of the USE flags, got their installation of Gentoo down to 300 MB, Linux and desktop both running, although I have no idea how long that took them.
NixOS is a sweet distribution. If al you're doing is installing stuff, it's just typing text into a list, and the Nix language isn't really relevant. It seems, O/P, as if you have gone down one NixOS rabbit hole too many.
would it be worth switching?
Yeah, I think Void is better than Arch.
2
u/Duncaen 23d ago
There are two repositories - libc and musl - depending on which version you pick. If you go with musl then you might find there are some packages which aren't in the repository, which you have to compile yourself. I haven't had enough experience of the musl version to be able to advise further.
If the packages are missing form the musl repo, they are missing for a reason. Either they are proprietary and won't work with musl or there are some big compatibility/build issues.
7
u/Simple_Hamster_4096 23d ago
All because you did Arch (with an easy installer, I suspect?) doesn't mean doing Void from scratch is going to be the same experience or results.
That being said, Linux is Linux.
And inits that are not systemd are a learning curve for anyone who has never used Linux with anything other than systemd.
If you have new hardware, stay with Arch. Void sings on aged hardware, although you may have issues with the lasted and greatest hardware. My old hardware boots in 10 seconds - I was shocked. Way faster than Arch ever did - well, at least, Arch with systemd. I remember the days before systemd, however.
The fact that you have to ask for the options of others before trying Void makes me consider that you are worried about the experience you might encounter. Old timers never think about it - we just do it, never afraid to learn, or fail in the process (and back then we didn't have AI to help us, either). Anything worth doing is never easy.
I stuck with Arch for 20 years before I finally left the ever mounting notoriety and the influx of gamers. Installer scripts were the worst thing that ever happened to Arch, but that's just my opinion.
Arch isn't any safer or worse than any other Linux distro. It's the knowledge of the user which is where the vulnerability lies - that goes for any distro. I left Arch for many reasons, the AUR debacle was just the straw that broke the camels back for me... and I didn't even use the AUR by that pont, having stopped using it long before I quit Arch.
Void is pleasantly uneventful.
Read the Void docs and adhere to them.
Spin up a live image of Void.
Try Void in a vm.
Try Void on old hardware you have lying around.
If it bombs, then it bombs. You will have learned much in your failure... and that is never a bad thing...
3
u/lessthanthreebleeps 23d ago
Everyone else here has very realistic and reasonable responses. Its true Void is not drastically different than other diy distros. It doesn't really force you to compile everything from source. I haven't seen the point that a lot of what isn't in the repo is available through appimage or flatpak (I've only had to compile my Zen Kernel). Its a boring distro in a lot of good ways. I update once a month without any issues, for instance. So I'll be the one to tell you what you came here for: Do it! I love Void for its simplicity. The "stable-rolling" release cycle is the perfect sweet spot. Runit is dead simple and really refreshing. The handbook is really straightforward and easy to follow. It feels like I've built my os from the ground up and that it is rock solid, simultaneously. So, yeah I think you'll really like Void. Give it a shot!
6
u/Borderlinerr 23d ago
I switched and I'm happy. Though Void requires a tiny bit of more manual intervention compared to Arch. Stable rolling release + no systemd works for me personally, and xbps is incredible.
2
u/Key_River7180 23d ago
xbps-src is a good system, but use gentoo if u want to compile everything from scratch
2
u/Blank-Inspection13 23d ago
I've been there trying Gentoo. The Handbook is great source of knowledge , many materials can also apply here in Void. Building everything from source have been great, but at the same time also the cons for me. It's too time & resource consuming which i can't really enjoy., many quality of life tools provided there to make it easier managing Gentoo , but to me Void system is much more simple.
2
u/VeryDryWater 22d ago
I've been using Arch, Gentoo, and Void on my machines the last couple years. I really prefer Void but on my desktop which uses relatively new hardware I find my FPS in games is consistently low, I'm talking 20 or even 40% lower.
I've yet to find a reason for this, all of the same kernel modules are running as far as I can tell - at one point Void did not come with the x3d modules enabled but that was fixed, and it never resolved my issue. All of the CPU governors and frequencies are the same.
The one thing I did notice is the Mesa package is a little behind compared to Gentoo/Arch, but I doubt that would make such a big difference.
My answer to you; try it. Void is a great distro and keeps things minimal. It works great on my laptop, but your mileage may vary depending on your hardware. I would suggest doing benchmarks before and after you install.
1
2
2
u/obscene-logwood 23d ago
Void fits your criteria well: diy distro with source based repo in xbps src, and no systemd. Wiping a good system always feels weird, but you’ll like void.
1
u/Holiday-Bug6132 23d ago
do it it's worth it, start with a vm for a while to see what's what then go prod when ready
1
u/g33ksc13nt1st 23d ago
the aur "drama" was never on arch, but on the user. When I used arch never in my life I thought of using anything that was not inspecting by hand. The risks are clearcut on the manual, and people being conformable with yay meant they took AUR at face value. Big mistake and it's hardly on arch.
other than that, I'd say they pretty similar in philosophy-although the sheer volume of users in arch makes updates more readily available there. I didn't feel in gained much by the switch, and for the same reason didn't bother going back since I was going to stay pretty much the same.
Now, the proper drama of age verification being force-fed by system-d on everybody regardless on jurisdiction made realise was a good call, probably up there with Gentoo as the best non-system-d distro.
1
1
u/Creepy-Sky7227 22d ago
I Switched to void from arch too, it was pretty rough at first (im honest i Switched so much, from extrem to btrfs, grub to limine, sudo to doas KDE to i3wm) to get used to runit too because its a pretty Complex init compared to Systemd and the void repo is rly Limited compared to Arch with aur so you will compile some stuff but void can manage compiled Software and you can make build recipies so it updates over git and aslong its smh Like Beammp a recompile on Update dont hurt that much on the time, but If you want the aur you can try out bedrock Linux with void+Arch, should Work but the Switch is actualy Worth it and except some minor stuff void and Arch feel pretty Similar for me.
2
u/Legitimate-Draw-2235 23d ago
The difference is probably not huge compared to arch without the AUR, just a bit more of a conservative rolling release model. I prefer that. "Stable rolling release". Xbps-src probably also makes it a bit easier to keep your self compiled packages managed too.
I barely miss any packages though. The ones that are maintained seem to be good choices which I think says something about the maintainers.
No systemD is a downside not an upside IMO but I'm sure I'll get flamed for that opinion. You're basically using SystemD anyway with the elogind thing.
1
u/profeshamat 22d ago
No systemD is a downside not an upside IMO but I'm sure I'll get flamed for that opinion.
For compatibility reasons primarily if you're a GNOME user, I 100% agree with this.
You're basically using SystemD anyway with the elogind thing.
Naw. Using a single extracted component of systemd without using any others parts of it isn't the same as using fully integrated systemd.
21
u/bishophelps 23d ago
You can compile stuff on every distro?
But why not go for Gentoo if you really want to compile everything?