ArcoLinux has had a small but dedicated following for roughly eight years, but Erik Dubois, lead developer for the project, announced on the distro's site that the time has come for him to step away.

In that post, Dubois stated, "This decision wasn’t made lightly. But as I approach 60, I’ve found myself with less energy, less focus, and making small mistakes that remind me I’m no longer at my peak. I want to leave ArcoLinux while it’s still strong and while I can look back with pride at everything we’ve accomplished together."

Over those eight years, ArcoLinux accomplished several important milestones, such as creating over 5,000 educational videos; the creation of ArcoInstall; the Carli education project; the Arch Linux Calamares Installer (ALCI); the ArcoPlasma, ArcoNet, ArcroPro, and Ariser variants; and much more. According to Dubois, they weren't just creating a distribution but a mindset.

Dubois says that the code will remain online so others can learn from, fork, or remix the distro. He also indicated that ArcoLinux will supply users with a transition package to help them convert their existing ArcoLinux systems to Arch Linux. That package will remove ArcoLinux branding, replace pacman.conf with an Arch and Chaotic-AUR focused config file, and change the arcolinux-mirrorlist to a single source.

For those who want to check out the source, you can find it on the official GitHub repository.