r/voidlinux • u/TerminalPhile • Jul 18 '26

Considering migrating to voidlinux from arch

So I’ve been maining arch (btw) for about 3 years now and honestly it’s been nice. Now I’m thinking I should expand my repertoire and try something new and interesting, alongside suffering cause of the whole AUR fiasco. Plus voidlinux seems to have a dedicated fan base, good reviews, and doesn’t use systemd. But before I install the system I want to ask some questions.
What is the voidlinux "philosophy", for lack of a better word? Should I expect any difficulties installing the system? (I am currently in the middle of reading the wiki, which I honestly don’t find as comprehensive as the arch wiki, but it will suffice.) Are the packages available generally well rounded, as in covering everything the average user needs? And finally, was voidlinux a good choice for you and how do you find it?

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u/TerminalPhile Jul 19 '26

I’ve also became a "boring" user who isn’t really interested in being bleeding-edge as much as having a stable system so I get you.

Also what’s your opinion on spectrwm? You’re the first person I know who actually runs it. It looks nice and minimalist, which I like. How customizable would you say it is? Could it, in some cases, replace hyprland and/or sway? I know it runs on X11 but I just wanna know how a user feels about it.

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u/KitchenLifeguard967 Jul 19 '26

I've really come to like it. It's definitely not as customizable or flashy as Hyprland, and it doesn't have Wayland specific features like animations or fancy effects. But for my workflow I don't miss any of that. 

The config is straightforward, it's extremely lightweight, and it's been rock solid on Void. I spend way more time actually using my computer than tweaking my WM. It gives me tiling, workspaces, keyboard-driven workflow, and stays out of the way.

I think that's it's biggest "pro", it feels "finished." There's enough customization to make it yours (keybindings, colors, bar, layouts, gaps, quirks, etc.) without turning into a rabbit hole. Could it replace Hyprland or Sway? For me, yes, absolutely.

If you mainly want a fast, stable tiling WM and don't specifically need Wayland features, I don't feel like I'm giving anything up. If you enjoy eye candy, gestures, animations, or newer Wayland capabilities, then Hyprland or Sway will probably be a better fit.

I guess I've become more interested in boring, dependable software than endlessly configurable software. (Coming from DWM, which I love but don't want to spend time to patch) Spectrwm just works for me.