this post was submitted on 16 Jun 2026
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Arch doesn't come with the AUR "installed". The AUR is a repository of user scripts that exists on the internet. The user chooses to download the scripts, or install an AUR helper to download them automatically. There aren't even AUR helpers in the official Arch repos, so you need to go out of your way to install them.
Let's not take one out of Apple's playbook and limit what a user can do for "their owm safety" and because most people "don't know what's best for them".
You kind of have to have guardrails though. Especially with the recent migration from Windows 11 to Linux, a lot of gamers, mostly younger and/or inexperienced users, are being recommended Arch via CatchyOS. And a lot of the advice they get involve enabling the AUR and getting their required software from there. Some of the troubleshooting documentation also provides instructions using the AUR. It may not come with Arch, but it sounds to me like it's pretty indispensable.
On the other hand, you have people saying that Arch isn't for new users. That you have to be careful when using AUR and how dangerous it is. You have to know what you're doing.
So then why is it recommended so much? I feel like every other comment when people are asking questions on which Linux flavour to use the answer is always "just use Arch/just use X variant of Arch". And when I talk about using another distro like Debian, people on Linux communities get really critical and ask "this distro sucks, why don't you just use Arch/Catchy/X variant?"
So which is it? Is it for everyone or not? Is it safe to use or not? Should anybody be using it or not?
The comments are really conflicting with each other here.
And honestly if we're going to recommend Arch/Catchy/Whatever to new Linux adopters, there ought to be guardrails. Or don't recommend Arch. And DON'T recommend using AUR. Try other workarounds instead of taking the easy AUR solution. You don't simply give a loaded gun to someone who wants to do target practice without any precautions or anything to prevent them from hurting themselves or others. Maybe recommend an air-soft gun with some eye-protection goggles instead for target practice initially and let them learn the basics of firearm manipulation using that before moving on to the real deal.
@ZombieCyborgFromOuterSpace @black0ut Debian is beginner friendly and it has distros even more beginner friendly, so IMO people should start with that.
Yes. I agree. It's also much more stable so you don't spend time troubleshooting. And there's tons of support and even 3rd party packages available for peripherals and hardware.
That's what I personally recommend.