this post was submitted on 30 Aug 2026
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Linux is a family of open source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991 by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged in a Linux distribution (or distro for short).
Distributions include the Linux kernel and supporting system software and libraries, many of which are provided by the GNU Project. Many Linux distributions use the word "Linux" in their name, but the Free Software Foundation uses the name GNU/Linux to emphasize the importance of GNU software, causing some controversy.
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Not true.
The "add user to docker group" thing is not part of the install instructions (also, there is no official install docs for arch - but that's a moot point), it's in a separate document that literally starts with [emphasis mine] "These optional post-installation procedures describe how to configure your Linux host machine to work better with Docker" and contains a big orange box warning about that being part of the docker group is equivalent to being root.
Even if you think the docker doc could trick a newbie into thinking it's ok to make your user part of the docker group (which I'd argue it doesn't), you have to consider that:
You can say that the whole "docker group" thing is a very stupid idea and that it's existence is squarely on the docker's devs, and you could even argue that it's a trap, but there cannot be any doubt that falling for this trap (that has big "this is a trap!" signs all over) is a major blunder for a distro.
The issue is not the group existing, the issue is your user being part of that group.
Yes, you can make your user part of the docker group if you so chose, but distros should not make that very unwise choice for you per default (just as they shouldn't set things up to encourage you logging in as root or configure passwordless sudo for your user).