Glossary

A B C D F G I K L M N P R S U

access point: An access point is a device that your computer connects to in order to access the internet. For most people, this is a wireless router.
bootloader: The bootloader is a small program that runs after your system firmware (UEFI or BIOS) and before your operating system. Its job is to load the kernel of the OS into memory and start it. An example of this is GRUB.
compatibility-layer: A compatibility layer is a piece of software that converts an interaction between Software A and Software B into an interaction between Software A and Software C. Wine is an example of a compatibility layer, because it translate Windows NT kernel calls into Linux kernel calls.
compilation: Compilation is the act of turning source code into machine code.
distro: A “distro” (or Linux distribution) is a bundle of software including a fully-configured copy of the Linux kernel, and other software which allow applications to run. For example, Arch Linux is a distro that comes bundled with the GNU software collection, systemd, and pacman.
filesystem: A filesystem is a set of rules as to how files should be organised and accessed on a partition - this usually deletes everything on that partition (if there’s anything on there to begin with). Think of the partition as a piece of paper. Formatting is like drawing the guide lines, margin and setting the page layout so you can write inside of it properly, of course, for the piece of paper to be useful, everything on it needs to be rubbed out before you can do so.
firmware: Firmware is the computer software that provides low-level control for a device’s specific hardware. When the term “firmware” is used, it’s typically used to mean the UEFI of a system, which is the very first thing your computer runs when it turns on. It initialises (meaning “prepares”) your hardware so that the bootloader can take over.
format: To format a partition means to prepare it for storing files by creating a filesystem on it.
gnu: GNU, is a collection of software that allows you to fully interact with your computer. Linux was created after GNU as it has no kernel, which is essential for a computer to run.
greeter: A greeter is the login screen. It asks for a username and password so that you can then access your desktop. It is provided by the display manager, which is responsible for starting the graphics server. The graphics server is responsible for managing graphical elements on your computer, like drawing windows.
init: An init process is the first process your computer loads when powering on. It is the parent of all processes - it sets them up and manages them. It does things like running background processes, configures hardware et cetera, and makes sure that the computer has come to the state where it’s ready for you to use. It stays running the entire time that your computer is on, managing processes as I have stated before and handling errors if they crash. Arch Linux uses systemd, which is an entire suite of software, not just an init system, doing things such as logging and networking. It’s easy to manage as everything is in one place, and provides fast boot-up times.
initramfs: The initramfs is a file containing a mini-Linux filesystem which lives in the RAM when the kernel first boots. Its job is to provide the kernel with everything it needs before it actually loads what is on your drive.
iso file: An iso file is, generally speaking, an “image” (or snapshot) of what would be written to something like a CD or drive. However, within the context of this guide, an ISO file is a single file that contains all the data needed to install an operating system. Arch Linux is installed using a live ISO, meaning that the operating system that boots from it is a complete and fully-functional operating system. However, this is only used as an intermediate stage to get Arch Linux installed on to your drive.
kernel: A kernel is the middleman between programs and hardware. An example of this is the NT kernel, which is what Windows uses.
linux: Linux is a Unix-like kernel released in 1991 by Linus Torvalds.
machine code: Machine code (also known as a ‘binary executable’, or just ‘binary’) is what computers can actually understand and run (or “execute”).
mirror: A mirror is essentially a duplicate copy of some data on a master server (a server that the data was originally uploaded on). Mirrors are kept for two reasons, to have a copy in case something goes wrong on the master server (or, “redundancy”) and speed. Mirrors are set up on Linux distros to make download speeds faster, because, put simply, the closer you are to a server, the less time it takes to upload and download data. This is why the mirrorlist exists, as really slow download speeds can time out, meaning that your computer will give up after some period of waiting.
network: A network is a collection of computers that are connected to each other. Your “home network” refers to the all of the devices that are both in your house and are connected to the same access point. The internet is an example of a network.
package manager: A package manager is a collection of software that automates the process of installing, updating and deleting software on a computer in a consistent manner. Arch Linux uses pacman (not to be confused with the ’80s arcade game) which is a rolling release package manager, meaning that software is not released as regular, big updates every once in a while, but rather, small and continuous updates delivered frequently.
package manager: A repository (sometimes just referred to as a “repo”) is a collection of files found online. In the context of the guide, it is where packages can be downloaded from.
partition: A partition is an explicitly defined section of your drive. Each partition on your computer can be managed separately, meaning all of the data on one partition is completely different from the data on another. This is useful for keeping data crucial for your system to run from other data like documents.
root directory: Not to be confused with the root user. The root directory is the furthest back in a file structure you can go. It is where all the branches created from files and folders on your computer originate from. It holds important folders such as /boot/ and /home/.
root user: Not to be confused with the root directory. The root user is the most powerful user on your computer capable of performing any task with zero restrictions. Regular users can’t and shouldn’t be able to run everything as root, because it’s too easy to, for example, delete something important that is essential for your OS to function. This is why it’s good practice to make a user separate from the root user, and add a password to it so you think more about what you type in to your shell.
shell: The shell is the text interface that allows you to interact with your computer that surrounds the kernel to hide its intricate details.
signature: A signature (or a ‘hash signature’, or just ‘hash’) is a random string of letters assigned to a file that serves as its unique digital fingerprint. A good hashing algorithm (such as SHA-256) produces a unique string of letters for each input it is given, if they are different. This means that it is impossible for a file to be tampered with without producing an extremely different hash. This is why it is important to check the signature of each file you download off the internet with the one given by the software’s publisher.
source code: Source code is what computer programmers write to make computers do things. It needs to be converted into machine code before it can be run (or “executed”). Programs can either be distributed as source code, meaning that the user has to compile it themselves, or they can be distributed as machine code where no compilation is needed. Both approaches have their upsides and downsides. Source code distributions means that the user has to compile the code, meaning that your program suddenly has a learning curve attached to it. Machine code distributions mean that your program now only works for one kind of machine and operating system (for example, if you compile your program on an x64 Linux machine, the machine code binary will only work other x64 Linux machines).
SSID: An SSID (short for “Service Set Identifier”) is basically what your access point tells other devices nearby what its name is.
swap: Linux swap is either a file or partition on your drive. It is used as a section of your disk that can store data in RAM even when the computer is off (for hibernation, which is important for laptop users) or be used in case RAM runs out. Even if you are not on a laptop and have a sufficient amount of RAM, some programs rely solely on swap, so make create swap space regardless. This guide will not create a swapfile, but rather, a swap partition to keep the swap data separate from everything else.
unix-like: Unix is an operating system family that started off at AT&T. It became very influential within academic circles, leading to large-scale adoption by start-up companies, leading Unix to fragment into much smaller, similar but mostly mutually incompatible OSes. Among these are MacOS and the BSD operating systems (FreeBSD, OpenBSD, NetBSD .etc). An operating system is said to be Unix-like if it behaves like a Unix operating system. For this reason, Linux is generally considered to be Unix-like. The reason why Linux is Unix-like and not Unix is because it is commonly paired with GNU, which stands for “GNU’s Not Unix”.