Why is Arch User Repository considered as a strong point for Arch and Arch-based distros? is it more reliable than the way Ubuntu manages packages? is it ok to trust some guy that made a version of a program you need to run? why most of the programs that have a linux version are only available for Debian/Ubuntu, Fedora (made by their own developers)?

It's more transparent than most package managers. In that sense, it's actually safer than a curated repo because you can see the sausage making instructions.

That said, it also places the burden on you to look and verify whether you're comfortable with what goes on in the pkgbuild, which is too much effort for most people.

The Debian family (Debian, Ubuntu, mint, etc.) is the largest in the Linux world, so it also has the strongest open source developer support. As it is typically used for servers or maintained for end-users by e.g. the Ubuntu devs, the packaging ecosystem reflects this via official support, LTS releases, etc.

The Red Hat family (fedora, red hat, RHEL, CentOS) has enterprise backing, so it has pretty strong corporate developer backing — and the typical corporate software problems.

Arch is popular, designed specifically for savvy users (instead of servers, end users, or corporate customers), and has a large (and often fanatical) user base determined to get everything they can to work on top of Arch. The rolling release cycle and the AUR reflects this.

Gentoo isn’t as popular as the above, and most of its users are very comfortable making everything work themselves. The tooling and general lack of e.g. an AUR reflects this. (Though it does have a dedicated base that will try to help)

I’m not experienced enough to talk about BSD.

There are a lot of other distros, but these cover most of the archetypes.

@Root Disagree.

I've now thought alot about wether I should write it all down or not.

But in fact this would lead to a very very very long rant.

Just to correct some things that I think were not quite correct...

- Gentoo has Layman and repository support, compared to Debian / RPM / PKGBUILDS ebuilds are far better. Mostly because they are _very_ strictly standardized and heavily documented. (EAPI).

The thing about Gentoo is: You can get support. But since everything needs to be compiled (few binary packages available by default) - you will need to have patience and accept the fact that you'll have to _learn_ things. Gentoo Wiki has become quite good.

- AUR suffers from the same problem _every_ distribution has - when it's packaged in an custom repository, be it Layman / PPA / Debian Repo / RPM source whatever - you don't know what you get.

You could check the source build definition (Ebuild, PKGBUILD, Debian directory....) but fact is:

Every buildsystem is unique.
Smaller packages - as in very few dependencies - will be fine.
But the clusterfuck some packages have as an buildsystem, especially in _very_ old packages, isn't something you can verify.

So - in any custom repository - be prepared that it might burn down your whole house and not work at all.

- Debian _officially_ consists only of main . https://debian.org/doc/...

Small nitpick - but most sites ignore that fact. And while a lot of stuff is in main, it's a difference in number of packages when you count contrib / non-free out.

- good thing about Arch is it's documentation.

- PKGBUILD system is in my opinion a whack job...

- RedHat... They're kind a anti heroes. One the one hand, they're very strong supporters of many areas regarding linux / distributions.

On the other.... SystemD / Pulseaudio / Networkmanager (If my brain remembers correctly) / ...
A lot of stuff which wouldn't be bad if it wouldn't be forcefully stuffed down the throat. :/

@IntrusionCM
Redhat is now owned by IBM. They're not long for credibility.

@SortOfTested although this is only 2 years.

While thinking about where to start I had the _fun_ in my head of thinking RPM v4 vs v5 and other craptastic stories of NIH...

@IntrusionCM Not disagreeing. That was more detail than I wanted to get into — though I suppose it answers the original question better than mine.

@Root :)

Have some Rum Rum Rum and some chimichangas.

And Just because I got lost in my my ramblings of packages.

TLDR: NIH, Not invented here, is a weakness and strength in FOSS.

Weak, since it leads to the situation that every distribution does it's own thing - strong since you have a variety to choose from.

Some distributions actively care about their relationship with others...

Some don't.

@IntrusionCM
Need to get you kids into real gorditas. You'll never want a deep fried phoenix-style tex-mex roll again.

@SortOfTested I make everything by myself... I only like food from certain restaurants, fast food chains are not mine...

Gordita reminds me of Börek...

Yum yum.

@IntrusionCM
Fast food, this guy. This is a staple, not taco bell shit. Corn Masa based, par fried, sliced, grilled, stuffed with marinated meat, and tomatillo is my pref.

Flour has no place near a taco. 😘

@SortOfTested another episode of it's toooooo warm, brain segfaulted.

I meant that handmade chimichangas are delicious. xD

the fast food part wasn't related to the gorditas.

In a nutshell: chimichangas can be delicious, but please no abomination from a fast food chain or from the frozen food department.

Ah. A gordita consists of masa.
Out of curiosity: Is the masa layer around the fillings thick or thin?

Pan Pizza thick vs Italian Pizza thin?

@SortOfTested how do I know if what is going on in the pkgbuild is secure? or how do I learn to do it? is it like tweaking things in the OS or it's common programming instructions or something like that? I have no idea about this

@juanchdzl

Just as an example:

https://aur.archlinux.org/packages/...

- browse the AUR, pick a package
- right side: Package Actions, PKGBUILD

https://aur.archlinux.org/cgit/...

- is eg the hot lnk for the PKGBUILD

As you see, the PKGBUILD is just a set of commands to generate a package from its build ;)

https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.ph...

See here for creating packages.