| Arch Linux | Debian |
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| Category | Linux distribution | Linux distribution |
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| Developer | Arch Linux community | Debian Project |
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| Created by | Judd Vinet | Ian Murdock |
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| First release | 2002 | 1993 |
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| License | GPL and other free licenses | GPL and other free licenses |
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| Open source | Yes | Yes |
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| Pricing | Free | Free |
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| Website | https://archlinux.org | https://www.debian.org |
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| Family | Arch | Debian |
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| Based on | Independent | Independent |
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| Package manager | pacman, AUR helpers | APT |
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| Package format | pacman package | deb |
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| Release model | Rolling | Fixed releases |
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| Release cadence | Continuous | About every 2 years |
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| Support lifetime | Rolling, no releases | 3 years, 5 with LTS |
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| Init system | systemd | systemd |
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| Default desktop | None (choose your own) | GNOME (choice in the installer) |
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| Immutable | No | No |
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| Made for | Desktop, Server | Desktop, Server, Containers |
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| Backed by | A community | A community |
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| Beginner friendliness | 1 of 5 | 3 of 5 |
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| Architectures | x86_64 | amd64, arm64, armhf, ppc64el, riscv64, s390x |
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