Created a fresh setup, yet numerous Linux choices exist—what should you choose?
Created a fresh setup, yet numerous Linux choices exist—what should you choose?
I choose Arch Linux since it offers the most packages. For beginners, consider trying Manjaro, which comes pre-installed with Arch.
Yes, third-party packages are considered part of a distribution's packages. All distributions typically offer a similar quantity of available software.
However, most users of other distributions struggle to install third-party packages via the package manager, particularly through a graphical interface. I’m not sure what you mean by ‘third-party packages’—users could simply use AUR as a source for package management. Also, the entire AUR is hosted on Arch’s website. There are still ‘third-party’ packages available beyond AUR, and based on my limited experience with other distributions, installing packages tailored for different systems can be more challenging.
A humorous observation was raised about Linux distributions including their own compilers. Many Linux users might prefer sticking with Windows or macOS if they don’t need this level of detail. Recent trends show other tools like CMake and Meson taking over, suggesting automation possibilities exist. The question remains: How many of the available packages are still actively supported and offer real applications rather than just unused libraries?
That's right. But the beginners may stick with GUI tools for a a period of time. So I think it is still a factor. Yep, a lot of package could install in that way. Users can compile and build the package step by setp. What I complained about just like sometiomes the dependence packages got a different name. Or some rare library files are a little hard to figure out which packages are they come from. I think that is the reason I praise the assistant tool of AUR or pacman. It helps the compile and install automated. I think what you said makes sense. But I have no idea where to find the data about the number of "avaliable packages" I just find the data about total amount of packages from here: https://repology.org/repositories/statistics/total
Even using the AUR isn't accurate, as Debian hosts around 59,000 packages in its official repos.