In order to be able to Further configure my system, I am looking for a fork of my current OS (artix with openRC as init system) in which i am able to compile every package from source in order to Further configure it with make flags. I am currently not using gentoo, and because the packages in its default repos are only updated when necessary, and the break-my-gentoo repo is more of a joke than an actual replacement for arch. However, if someone can recommand me a repo with similar package updates as arch, I would be looking at installing gentoo.
EDIT: Thank you for Pointing out to me that Gentoo can have newer Packages too. I did indeed not know this, and therefore just stamped off Gentoo as a stable rolling release distro. I will be looking at learning more about gentoo and eventually installing it, once I know how to use portage.
Gentoo. Not an Arch fork, and uses OpenRC by default. I use it and love it. Portage is the best package manager out there, imo.
You can still get binaries of the really annoying things to compile, like Firefox. Otherwise, it’s all source-based.
I’d advise installing it in a VM or on a spare computer first to get your hands around what it is.
In your case, you’ll want to specify the following flags in you makefile:
OpenRC, -systemd
You’ll add a bunch of others in there too depending on architecture and personal priorities.
Follow the handbook. https://www.gentoo.org/get-started/
There’s also Calculate Linux, which is basically Gentoo with a graphical front end, but I think it’s Intel only. CLI is more fun anyway.
If you are looking for a distro similar to Arch where you can compile everything from source you can just use Arch. https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Arch_build_system
Disclaimer: I have never used this feature so don’t know how easy it is to use, but I do use Arch which is how I know it exists. (I use Arch btw)
You could try Guix! It’s ostensibly source based but you can use precompiled binaries as well (using the substitute system)
It’s a source-first Functional package distro like Nix but uses Scheme to define everything from the packages to the way the init system (Shepherd) works.
It’s very different from other distros but between being functional, source-first, and having shepherd, I personally love it
It kindof seems like what you’re looking for is Gentoo. Any reason why you’re reticent to go that direction?
Most AUR packages that aren’t postfixed with “-bin” are compiled on your system. Most distro packages have AUR counterparts, but they’re usually git builds, so using them for every package you can will probably just break your system.
Im a huge gentoo nerd but recently have found https://nixos.org/ to be quite satisfying as well.
