Arch Linux is an i686-optimized linux distribution. It is lightweight
and contains the latest stable versions
of software. Packages are in .tar.gz
format and are tracked by a package
manager that is designed to allow easy
package upgrades. Arch is quite streamlined
compared to some other distributions.
Things that are relatively unused (by
me, anyway) are not kept (info-pages,
for example). A default Arch install
leaves you with a solid base; from there,
you can add packages to create the custom
installation you're looking for. Arch
has a package build system that allows
you to easily create your own packages,
which makes it very easy to rebuild
a package with your own custom configuration.
Arch also aims to use the newer features
available to linux users, such as reiserfs/ext3
and devfs.
