Arch Linux

Table of Contents

• Arch Linux

  • Faster Updates

    • Mirrors

    • Parallel Downloads

  • Linux Kernels

  • History

  • Bibliography

Faster Updates

Mirrors

The Reflector program is used to find the fastest mirrors for Arch Linux. This will not work for other distributions based on Arch Linux such as Manjaro.

• Installation:

  $ sudo pacman -S reflector
  

• Optionally configure it by setting one argument per line in the configuration file:

  $ sudo vim /etc/xdg/reflector/reflector.conf
  --protocol [http|https]
  --latest <NUMBER_OF_MIRRORS_TO_USE>
  --country <COUNTRY1>,<COUNTRY2>
  --save /etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist
  

• Start it once:

  $ sudo systemctl enable reflector.service
  

• Run it once a week:

  $ sudo systemctl enable reflector.timer
  

[1]

Parallel Downloads

This is documented in Administration - Package Managers - PKGBUILD - Pacman - Parallel Downloads.

Linux Kernels

There are lots of Linux kernels available for Arch Linux. Here are the Linux kernels in order of fastest to slowest [2]:

1. linux

2. linux-zen

3. linux-hardened

4. linux-lts

5. linux-rt

For being able to install additional drivers, it is recommended to also install the <LINUX_KERNEL>-headers package.

History

• Latest

• < 2023.04.01

Bibliography

1. “Reflector.” ArchWiki. November 19, 2021. Accessed January 10, 2022. https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/reflector

2. “The Performance Impact From Different Arch Linux Kernel Flavors.” Phoronix. January 25, 2023. Accessed February 10, 2023. https://www.phoronix.com/review/arch-linux-kernels-2023/8