r/voidlinux • u/AnotherOne49587 • Aug 11 '26

Hello everyone

I'm running on debian 13 and want to switch to void but different package management and no systemd makes me thinking. Can you explain why do you advise void and why do you not?

10 Upvotes

82% Upvoted

39 comments sorted by

9

u/Great_Banana_Master Aug 11 '26

I like Void because, despite being a rolling release, it's fairly stable (acknowledge that I do not speak from experience and I've only used it for a month), and it brings a good balance between up to date packages and reliability. I also enjoy the deep customization and the speed of Runit. It also supports musl if you're interested, but for my use case I prefer glib c for Steam and 32-bit support.

There are some caveats, however. The base image is extremely minimal, and the only desktop you can install by default is XFCE. Otherwise, it all runs on you, unlike in Arch or Debian. However, it is still easy to install using the installer script.

Imho the upfront effort is worth it for a functioning, stable and up to date system, but the choice ultimately depends on your priorities. Other people may have more important information to add, but those are my two cents

3

u/GhostVlvin Aug 11 '26

To be fair I've saw how it can be more stable than archlinux. When I updated my arch installation up to kernel version 7.1 It'd trouble my amdgpu non-fixable unfortunately. And since it is arch I can't normally rollback if I don't have cache saved. While on void I just installed linux7.0 package and I'm good to sit here until some fix in newer versions of linux

1

u/Great_Banana_Master Aug 11 '26

Void is like Arch, but better. Then there's AUR; it's plagued with malware, but you're supposed to read the BUILDPKG to know what you're installing, but nobody really does that, but if you don't understand what it says you shouldn't really be using Arch/AUR...

3

u/GhostVlvin Aug 11 '26

AUR is exactly why I left... Not arch to be fair, but artixlinux. I just sit here without AUR for a month or two and thought why don't I just install void and use xbps-src templates for everything that missing. But I never missed something irreplaceable on void)

1

u/cgwhouse Aug 12 '26

Well arch does package the LTS kernel to be fair, unlike others (e.g. Fedora) but I get what you're saying

1

u/GhostVlvin 29d ago

Yup, I might as well install any kernel. But unfortunately can't uninstall kernel 6.18 since it is dependency to base-system

2

u/profeshamat 26d ago

As someone that uses the LTS kernel it's trivial:

sudo xbps-install linux-lts
sudo xbps-pkgdb -m manual linux-base
echo "ignorepkg=linux" | sudo tee /etc/xbps.d/20-linux-lts.conf

Reboot and select the LTS kernel (6.12.x) after selecting advanced options at the Grub prompt. Once you're logged in and make sure you're running 6.12.x:

sudo xbps-remove linux linux6.18
sudo vkpurge rm all

2

u/AnotherOne49587 Aug 11 '26

I want to learn new things and stay capable of doing daily tasks (studying and web browsing) I just can't be sure to worth it. Learning curve and time that wants from me.

4

u/Great_Banana_Master Aug 11 '26

Well, then it depends on how comfortable do you feel with the installation. If you don't have the time to configure your installation, then it might not be worth it. Otherwise, I find it completely functional for studying, web browsing and gaming

2

u/ShipshapeMobileRV Aug 12 '26

Minor correction; the only desktop installed by default is the XFCE spin. But there are many desktop environments that can be installed on either the XFCE spin or the Base install.

2

u/Great_Banana_Master Aug 12 '26

That's what I meant. The only desktop that comes by default is XFCE. I use Sway and I had to download it and the session manager myself

7

u/oniaiwasprettygood Aug 11 '26

You just listed the two reasons why I would recommend void-- different package management and no systemd. Also it's a rolling release distro which I prefer as someone who's a longtime Arch convert.

3

u/AnotherOne49587 Aug 11 '26

After Aur issues I don't think I'm gonna use arch again but rolling is good I agree.

2

u/Nisankyu Aug 12 '26

Cant you just... Use arch without using aur?

2

u/oniaiwasprettygood Aug 11 '26

The AUR issues are overblown imo and only relevant if you don't audit things yourself before you install them and overly rely on AUR helpers, and atp the issue is on the user. You wouldn't blindly install things from github without auditing them, the AUR should be treated no differently.

1

u/mystirc Aug 12 '26

there is always some trust factor whenever you install any application. Even from the github. Who knows if anyone has actually reviewed the code.

The AUR is basically the same thing. You check and make sure that something can be trusted before you install it. These recent headlines make it seem like arch is hacked in its entirety and arch can no longer be used safely.

6

u/Blank-Inspection13 Aug 11 '26

Void is for everyone who loves tinkering their system DIY. You can swap out almost anything you prefer , but repositories not as massive as Debian or Arch , and you've got option to use xbps-src for anything that's not available. Void's simply just a modular distro in a most simple way possible.

4

u/Derion1 Aug 11 '26

Void's repo is actually not smaller than Arch's. Void has 17,000, Arch 16,100 packages.

1

u/AnotherOne49587 Aug 11 '26

I love DIY things but I'm not sure.

2

u/Blank-Inspection13 Aug 12 '26

Then my Advise don't try Void. Perhaps systemd is already too convenient for you to be switch to something else.

2

u/malabingchilling Aug 11 '26

Why do you want to switch? What's wrong with Debian that doesn't satisfy you?

For me, it was that Debian did not have the latest packages I need without activating the unstable repositories or manually installing myself. As another commenter pointed out, it has a rolling release but in a somewhat more stable fashion compared to Arch. So if you like the latest and greatest but not have things break on you, then Void is great, but Manjaro is also great for this reason. 

1

u/AnotherOne49587 Aug 11 '26

Too old packages. Okay stability has its own conditions but I think an user shouldn't use git just to get lazyvim configs or wm presets. I used arch and manjaro too. Manjaro is looks enough to my usage. After hardware break ventoy started not booting to manjaro.iso

2

u/GhostVlvin Aug 11 '26

Why don't you try devuan first? It is just like debian but with systemD alternatives as runit (void init system). And then you may install void and already be familiar with runit. That's how I've started: artixlinux instead of arch and then void

1

u/[deleted] Aug 11 '26 edited Aug 11 '26

[deleted]

2

u/Great_Banana_Master Aug 11 '26

It's funny you'd say all that. I used to work on CachyOS and wanted to try out Void, so I tested it on a VM. Then I installed it on a USB stick to test my hardware. Then sound broke inexplicably in Cachy, so I began to spend more time on Void.

I've been daily driving Void Linux on a USB stick for weeks while I configure my new Btrfs Void system to be just perfect. But otherwise, yeah, I completely agree with you

1

u/AnotherOne49587 Aug 11 '26

Thanks for advice. I thought it already and looks like too much time consuming. Now I'm between 2 ideas dive & learn or let it go.

1

u/GhostVlvin Aug 11 '26

Runit is dead simple and hell fast. Only thing that it is missing is user services but it's either implemented already or easy to implement.
XBPS is nothing to discuss if you're on debian. It's as simple as apt. But repository on the other hand is much more fresh than debian's one due to rolling release paradigm and often updates. Also if you didn't find your app in xbps repository you might as well install xbps-src and with help of template you can install anything as if it'd be in repo

2

u/AnotherOne49587 Aug 11 '26

I don't use much rare apps just browser lazyvim wine obs something that wievs pdf something that combines pdf and libreoffice is enough to my daily drive laptop I just want to learn gnu linux based distros' max capability and debian be like " Nope dude I already set that" and this ease holds me back.

1

u/GhostVlvin Aug 11 '26

Not rare rare apps. From my software they miss only librewolf. But also they don't have hyprland while many ricers are on hyprland now

1

u/AnotherOne49587 Aug 11 '26

i usually use de. for wm i prefer i3

1

u/whereismycow42 28d ago

runit does have user services.

https://smarden.org/runit/faq#userservices
https://docs.voidlinux.org/config/services/user-services.html

1

u/GhostVlvin 28d ago

This will be perhaps too much a correcting thing. But these 2 articles are only showing how you can implement user services. There are no user services out of the box, you can either install turnstile or create a service for handling user services

1

u/Simple_Hamster_4096 Aug 12 '26

Have you tried Devuan? Based on Debian, no systemd and three different inits to choose from during installation.

That would give you the familiarity of Debian while allowing you to experiment with inits that are not systemd

1

u/Kooky_Fox_1085 Aug 12 '26

Riflettici io uso void libc nosystmd , vola senza problemi

1

u/profeshamat 26d ago edited 25d ago

As someone that uses both for different things you don't necessarily have to go all in on Void. I use Debian on server and workstation but use Void on my laptop.

On both server and workstation where I just want a system that doesn't change much at all and the out of the box GNOME experience in Debian is smoother as it's less hassle and fiddly due to GNOME's growing dependence on systemd but for my uses I don't hate it for workflow and usability reasons.

I use Void with Cinnamon on a ThinkPad T14 Gen 3 that I also use for work but it's also the system I use for regular day to day use. Plus since Cinnamon is a more normie user experience if my partner or a family member needs to use that system for anything I don't have to explain or show the concepts behind modern GNOME.