Getting Involved

Summary
This article describes how both new and experienced Arch users can contribute to the community. Note that this is not an exhaustive list.
Related
Arch User Repository

In biology, mutualism is an interaction between two organisms from which each derives benefit. This principle also applies to proactive members of the Arch community wanting to get involved and contribute to their favorite Linux distribution. This participation benefits not only the community member and their fellow Archers, but all users of free and open source software.

Official Arch Linux projects

Post on the forums

One of the easiest ways to get involved is participating in the Arch Linux Forums, which allow getting to know the community and help new users.

Please get accustomed with Forum Etiquette. Forum staff can be contacted via forum@archlinux.org.

Improve this wiki

ArchWiki is a collaboratively maintained Arch Linux documentation. All users are encouraged to contribute.

Join the chatroom

You can help other users to solve problems on the IRC Channel. It is of vital importance however, that you read both the rules and guidelines before participating. Further channels are available for specific topics.

Report installed packages

pkgstats provides a cron job that sends a list of the packages installed on your system, along with the architecture and the mirrors you use, to the Arch Linux developers in order to help them prioritize their efforts and make the distribution even better. The information is sent anonymously and cannot be used to identify you. You can view the collected data at the Statistics page. More information is available in this forum thread.

Fix and report bugs

Reporting and fixing bugs on the bug tracker is one of the possible ways to help the community.

However, ineffective use can be counter-productive. Please read the bug reporting guidelines.

Create and adopt AUR packages

The Arch User Repository contains community-made package scripts so that users can easily install software that is not in the official repositories. Popular packages get included into the official [community] repository.

You can help by creating and adopting packages.

Official software projects

You can get involved in the development of official Arch Linux software projects.

Participate in events

There are yearly and monthly events for bugfixing, translating and cleanup. You can find forthcoming events in the Arch Linux Event Calendar.

Donate money

You can find out how to help sustaining server costs on the official Arch Linux donate page.

Community projects

Note: All projects listed here are community projects. None of these projects are considered official Arch projects.

Arch's community maintains many projects. Feel free to include yours!

Groups

Arch-specific groups that you can engage in.

ArchMap

Google Earth Arch user map.

ArchAudio

A third-party package repository and online discussion board for Arch Linux pro-audio users.

Arch Linux Subreddit

Place for reddit users to discuss Arch related issues.

Arch Linux Google Plus Community

A Google Plus community for Arch Linux users to interact, post questions, or general Arch Linux news conversations.

Arch Linux User Group

Local meet-up for users.

Arch Women

Group with the intention of resolving possible hurdles for female Arch users (forum thread).

LinkedIn Group

Arch Linux group for users and professionals.

Software

Community-developed software that focuses on Arch Linux.

AUR Helpers

Utilities to aid end users in using the Arch User Repository.

Pacman GUI Frontends

Graphical front-ends for pacman.

WiFiz

Graphical front end for Netctl.

Services

Services specifically made for Arch users.

ArchLinux.us

Gmail-based @archlinux.us emails.

Mobile access at archlinux.mobi.

ArchLinux.me

Arch Linux Blogs, to register read this forum post.

Other

Xyne's Arch Linux Projects

A trusted user's arch-related projects.

Repo-CK

Unofficial repository for CPU-optimized linux-ck packages for Arch Linux users.

infinality-bundle

Unofficial repository offering custom built freetype, fontconfig and cairo libraries, aiming at providing ultimate text rendering in Linux.

FAQ

Q: How can I become an Arch Developer?

A: The main motivation for your work on Arch should be helping the whole community, and not simply trying to become an Arch developer by any means.

Usually, new developers are picked by the existing developers as the workload increases. Sometimes they post a position and you can apply to fill it, but more often, they just invite somebody they know would be good at it and would fit in well with the rest of the team. Having a portfolio of Arch contributions is the best way to make it on the team.

Here is a list of things that you may do in order to gain some "popularity" towards Arch's developers:

• Establish a reputation as being helpful by offering assistance whenever possible.
• Answer questions on the forum, IRC, and mailing lists.
• Join the Trusted Users to gain packaging experience to show your skills.
• Submit packages to the AUR.
• Join one of the offshoot projects that may be incorporated into Arch mainstream someday, or start your own.
• Work on pacman, makepkg or other source code and submit patches to the bug tracker.
• Traverse the bug tracker and fix existing bugs.
• Find and submit new bugs.
• Fix wiki errors, add new pages, clean up existing pages, and make sure the procedures are up-to-date.
• Submit translations.

Q: How can I become a Trusted User?

A: Please read Trusted Users#How to become TU?.

Q: What can I do as an artist?

A: Feel free to share wallpapers, splash screens, color palettes, widgets, themes, etc. with the community on the art subforum.
See also Arch Linux Art.