Arch Linux is a lean, flexible, and powerful independent distribution with an emphasis on simplicity and elegance. The Arch philosophy is to start with a slimmed-down installation and let the user add additional packages as needed. According to the Arch wiki, "Arch is installed as a minimal base system … upon which [the user's] own ideal environment is assembled by installing only what is required or desired for their unique purposes."

This emphasis on simplicity and building from the basics makes Arch an ideal candidate for users who want to create homegrown Live CD, DVD, or USB boot images. You can easily tailor-make your own custom Arch-based distro without contending with the code bloat and package proliferation that afflicts so many other popular Linux alternatives.

Building a custom distro is a tedious process that is well suited to automation. Archiso is a tool for helping users create a custom Arch-based Linux. Like Arch itself, Archiso is light and lean, with a command-line interface and a no-frills attitude. In fact, Archiso is little more than a collection of Bash scripts. However, I have found that, although Archiso has a higher learning curve than graphical distro-creation tools, it is ultimately less buggy and affords higher levels of control for the user.

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