🌬️ Aer Philosophy
Aer represents the purest form of Arch Linux within the AetherOS family—maintaining the freedom, control, and rolling nature of Arch while offering a cleaner onboarding path, secure defaults, and unified tooling.
Aer is for users who want control first and accept responsibility for breakage.
Why Aer exists
Arch provides powerful control, but:
- the installation experience is harsh for newcomers
- system defaults are not always security-conscious
- official repos lack optional signing workflows
- release discipline is entirely user-defined
Aer preserves the strengths of Arch while smoothing out rough edges:
- same rolling model
- same bleeding-edge culture
- same philosophy of user control
But:
- installation is guided
- tooling is consistent
- repos are signed
- branding is unified
- shared AetherOS packages are available
Core guarantees
Aer provides:
- rolling packages directly from upstream Arch
- minimal base install
- optional AetherOS repo for cutting-edge tooling
- reproducible installer workflows (Rust-based)
- no Python dependency for core tooling
- user autonomy preserved
Aer extends Arch—never restricts it.
What Aer deliberately does not promise
Aer makes no claims about:
- stability
- long-term reproducibility
- controlled update cadences
- curated dependency versions
- avoiding breakage when mixing repos
Users must manage those risks knowingly.
Relationship to Ignis
Aer and Ignis share infrastructure, but serve different users:
| Functional Area | Aer | Ignis |
|---|---|---|
| Update cadence | rolling | curated snapshots |
| Package workflows | experimental allowed | controlled pipeline |
| Stability | best effort | guaranteed |
| Arch upstream behavior | preserved | selectively overridden |
| AetherOS repo usage | primary testing area | promoted only after validation |
| Intended audience | power users | stability-conscious users |
Aer is the proving ground. Ignis is the destination once features mature.
Repo policy
Aer repo characteristics:
- testing originates in Aer before Ignis
- failures tolerated
- breakage accepted risk
- quick iteration encouraged
- no stability SLA
Repository priority for the Aer edition:
- Arch official repos
- Aer repo
- (optional / unsupported) Ignis repo
This ordering ensures Arch’s intended rolling release flow remains intact.
Installer philosophy
Aer simplifies installation without sacrificing control:
- fast, scriptable, repeatable
- Rust implementation
- optional guided TUI mode
- deterministic configurations
- no automation that hides system state
The installer teaches rather than abstracts.
Long-term vision
Aer becomes:
- the definitive minimal Arch experience
- secure by default, free by intent
- a sandbox for AetherOS development
- a launch point for users who want to learn and explore
- a contributor-friendly space for innovation
Aer ultimately empowers users who believe:
“I want Arch—but I want to start clean, controlled, and transparent.”
AetherOS respects that autonomy while providing shared infrastructure and signed trust.
Perfect — now we’ll define Terra + Aqua’s shared philosophy and their individual nuances. These documents must reflect:
- minimal base systems
- upstream authoritative repos
- AetherOS overlay repos
- rolling image regeneration tied to upstream stable streams
- no divergence from Fedora/Debian policies