Artix Linux (or simply Artix ) is a rolling-release distribution based on

Arch Linux Arch Linux () is an independently developed, x86-64 general-purpose Linux distribution that strives to provide the latest stable versions of most software by following a Rolling release, rolling-release model. The default installation is a minim ...

that uses inits such as

OpenRC OpenRC is a dependency-based init system for Unix-like computer operating systems. It was created by Roy Marples, a NetBSD developer who was also active in the Gentoo project. It became more broadly adopted as an init system outside of Gentoo f ...

runit runit is an init and service management scheme for Unix-like operating systems that initializes, supervises, and ends processes throughout the operating system. Runit is a reimplementation of the daemontools process supervision toolkit that r ...

, s6, or Dinit, as opposed to Arch Linux's init

systemd systemd is a software suite that provides an array of system components for Linux operating systems. Its main aim is to unify service configuration and behavior across Linux distributions; Its primary component is a "system and service manager ...

. Artix Linux has its own package repositories but, as a

pacman originally called ''Puck Man'' in Japan, is a 1980 maze video game, maze action game, action video game developed and released by Namco for Arcade game, arcades. In North America, the game was released by Midway Manufacturing as part of its l ...

-based distribution, can use packages from Arch Linux repositories or any other derivative distribution, even packages explicitly depending on systemd. The

Arch User Repository Arch Linux () is an independently developed, x86-64 general-purpose Linux distribution that strives to provide the latest stable versions of most software by following a rolling-release model. The default installation is a minimal base system, ...

(AUR) can also be used. Arch OpenRC began in 2012 and

Manjaro Manjaro ( ) is a free and open-source Linux distribution based on the Arch Linux operating system that has a focus on user-friendliness and accessibility. It uses a rolling release update model and Pacman as its package manager. It is developed ...

OpenRC was subsequently developed alongside it. In 2017 these projects merged to create Artix Linux. Artix Community FF-Inkscape 2020-02

Release history

Artix initially offered two installation environments, a base command-line ISO image and the graphical Calamares installer based on

LXQt LXQt is a free and open source lightweight desktop environment. It was formed from the merger of the LXDE and Razor-qt projects. Like its GTK predecessor LXDE, LXQt does not ship or develop its own window manager, instead LXQt lets the user de ...

desktop, with an i3 version following later. Those early versions featured the OpenRC init system. The latest installation media are available in a variety of

desktop environments In computing, a desktop environment (DE) is an implementation of the desktop metaphor made of a bundle of programs running on top of a computer operating system that share a common graphical user interface (GUI), sometimes described as a graphica ...

LXDE LXDE (abbreviation for Lightweight X11 Desktop Environment) is a free desktop environment with comparatively low resource requirements. This makes it especially suitable for use on older or resource-constrained personal computers such as netb ...

, XFCE,

MATE Mate may refer to: Science * Mate, one of a pair of animals involved in: ** Mate choice, intersexual selection ** Mating * Multi-antimicrobial extrusion protein, or MATE, an efflux transporter family of proteins Person or title * Friendship ...

Cinnamon Cinnamon is a spice obtained from the inner bark of several tree species from the genus ''Cinnamomum''. Cinnamon is used mainly as an aromatic condiment and flavouring additive in a wide variety of cuisines, sweet and savoury dishes, breakfa ...

and

KDE Plasma 5 KDE Plasma 5 is the fifth and current generation of the graphical workspaces environment created by KDE primarily for Linux systems. KDE Plasma 5 is the successor of KDE Plasma 4 and was first released on 15 July 2014. It includes a new default ...

. Additionally, two unofficial community editions featuring

GTK GTK (formerly GIMP ToolKit and GTK+) is a free and open-source cross-platform widget toolkit for creating graphical user interfaces (GUIs). It is licensed under the terms of the GNU Lesser General Public License, allowing both free and propriet ...

and Qt desktops and a larger software base are offered, aiming at too-busy-to-customise or less experienced users. All current installation media come in OpenRC, runit, s6, and dinit versions.

Reception

An early review published on

DistroWatch DistroWatch is a website which provides news, distribution pages hit rankings, and other general information about various Linux distributions as well as other free software/open source Unix-like operating systems. It now contains information on ...

on 27 November 2017 found a few bugs, but overall ''"Artix is working with a good idea ..It's minimal, it is rolling and it offers a little-used init system. All of these I think make the project worthwhile."'' More critical, another review at the time fro
linux-community.de
concluded ''"the results so far are not exactly motivating."'' Much more favourable reviews were later featured in both sites. A review from

Softpedia Softpedia is a software and tech news website based in Romania. It indexes, reviews and hosts various downloadable software and reports news on technology and science topics. Website Softpedia hosts reviews written by its staff—each review in ...

gave Artix a 5 out of 5 stars rating, noting its "beautiful and pleasant graphical environments." Distrowatch readers' reviews on Distrowatch are mostly very favourable, with an average rating of 9.0.

Notes

References

External links

*
Artix wiki
* {{DistroWatch, artix, {{PAGENAME
Feature story in Distrowatch weekly

Softpedia review

2018 linux-community.de review (in German)

2020 linux-community.de review (in German)
Arch-based Linux distributions Linux distributions without systemd Rolling Release Linux distributions Linux distributions