# Manjaro Linux Hacker Approved page: https://hackerapproved.com/p/manjaro/ 24 people recommended Manjaro Linux in Hacker News comments, 5 had mixed feelings and 31 criticized it, November 2025 to October 2026. It was recommended in 11 of 12 months, in 26 threads. It does not meet the Hacker Approved badge rule. **Verdict:** Criticized more than recommended, mainly for update breakage and repository problems; those who recommend it cite an easy-to-install Arch-based Linux with up-to-date software and easy software installs. Summary written by Claude from the comments below. ## What people warn about - Updates that break or stop booting (6 comments in the sample): "liked Manjaro (Arch) until pacman stopped working for some reason" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49035520)) "Arch, but with additional weird package management upgrade issues that are a byproduct of Manjaro's own repositories" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47203910)) "use dodgy repos like Manjaro, then risk of update woes will increase significantly" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47418744)) - Seen as lower quality (3 comments in the sample): "It's alright. But a bit of a mess from a ux point of view." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46586277)) "I'm 100% confident saying that nothing Manjaro provided was important." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49635854)) "Stop using Manjaro. It's much lower quality than a serious distro." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46376021)) - Conflicting repos and AUR packages (1 comment in the sample): "When Manjaro's repos conflicted with AUR pkgbuilds, thousands of their users didn't understand" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49503409)) ## Why people recommend it - Rolling releases with up-to-date software (6 comments in the sample): "I'd recommend a rolling release distro like manjaro (arch) or fedora, so you get latest drivers and whatnot fast." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47610802)) "Even running a rolling release distro (Manjaro) has been fine on a laptop that was designed for Linux" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50167567)) "PopOS and Manjaro (IIRC) were the distros to game on, if you wanted up-to-date OOTB working drivers" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46568136)) - Easy software installs and builds (3 comments in the sample): "My favourite feature of Manjaro (and presumably Arch) is how easily I can install almost any software from a single package manager" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48034405)) "it just works and installing software is a breeze with Manjaro's graphical UI (pamac" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49510189)) "it makes many things - including compiling from source - simple" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48517530)) - Works well as a base system (2 comments in the sample): "Right now my base system is manjaro, which works very well as a base system" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48721480)) "it works quite well as base system" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48735550)) - Friendly, polished out of the box (1 comment in the sample): "You can install Fedora Linux, Linux Mint or Manjaro, and it's more user friendly than Windows 11 and macOS." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47691621)) ## Other Linux distributions people recommend - [Debian](https://hackerapproved.com/p/debian/): 454 recommend, 64 mixed, 165 criticize - [Ubuntu](https://hackerapproved.com/p/ubuntu/): 408 recommend, 98 mixed, 444 criticize - [Fedora Linux](https://hackerapproved.com/p/fedora/): 359 recommend, 50 mixed, 109 criticize - [NixOS](https://hackerapproved.com/p/nixos/): 351 recommend, 79 mixed, 95 criticize ## The badge A product earns the Hacker Approved badge when at least 10 people recommend it, recommenders outnumber critics at least 2 to 1 (mixed feelings count toward neither side), it was recommended in at least 4 of the 12 months and in at least 5 different threads, and no single thread supplies more than half of the people who recommend it. Health and money products are never badged. ## Cite as Hacker Approved, "Manjaro Linux", https://hackerapproved.com/p/manjaro/ (24 recommend, 5 mixed, 31 criticize; Hacker News comments, November 2025 to October 2026). Counts updated 2 Nov 2026, with data through October 31, 2026.