Parabola: completely free Arch-based distro

Parabola GNU / Linux is a distribution based on Arch Linux but that only accepts software whose license is 100% free. It was originally the brainchild of members of the gNewSense English IRC channel, but didn't get many contributors at first. Later, users from different Arch communities joined, especially Spanish-speaking. Today the Parabola community is growing rapidly, with contributions from all over the world. Believe me when I tell you that this is a distro to try and fall in love with.

About a year ago the Parabola GNU / Linux community started a project: to provide the free software community with the possibility of using a totally free Arch Linux of proprietary software.

To date we have repositories and installable disk images of this wonderful GNU / Linux distribution, from which all non-free software components contained in its official repositories have been removed, and replaced with free alternatives.

The first example is Linux-libre, the kernel without blobs or proprietary firmware. It is followed by GNU IceCat, the free derivative of Mozilla Firefox that does not recommend non-free add-ons and does not recommend services that spy on you, such as the Google search engine.

Why use Parabola?

Parabola equals freedom of software plus all power to users. GNU plus the Arch approach. With a permanent update system, simple to manage, simple to package, you can build your operating system the way you want and learn a lot along the way.

Unlock Arch Linux

Following the minimalist spirit, KISSfrom Arch, we've made his release as simple as he is. To release your Arch Linux installation, simply install our list of free repositories and update the system.

No need to reinstall.

Features

Like its mother distro, Parabola uses the same package system, Pacman, and is also characterized by being a rolling release distro, that is, it lives in constant update, so that it is not necessary to format and install everything from scratch each time a new version comes out.

At the moment, there is no version name defined as it is a project that is just starting. There are 2 ways to obtain it, either through ISO images or you can perform a migration from a previously installed Arch Linux, changing only the list of repositories for Parabola's, which contain only 100% free software. All of its packages are compressed using the XZ format, which uses the LZMA algorithm.

Social Contract of Parabola GNU / Linux

The Parabola GNU / Linux social contract is a distribution commitment to the free software community in general and its users in particular.

• Parable GNU / Linux is free software: it follows the GNU "Guidelines for free system distributions", so it does not include or recommend proprietary software, nor does it provide documentation or any type of support for its installation or execution. This includes: proprietary software, binary-only firmware, or binary blobs.
• Parable GNU / Linux and other distributions: The objective of Parabola is to support the Free Software Movement, so we only compete against proprietary software. Parabola will endeavor to collaborate with other Free Software projects, to the best of its ability, and all the information on our project will be available to anyone who needs it. This includes packages and repositories as well.
• Parable GNU / Linux and its community: our community is essentially democratic, so the community is consulted when a decision needs to be made. We encourage community participation in the development of the project.
• Parable GNU / Linux and ArchLinux: Parabola is the free version of ArchLinux. We provide the repositories and installation images without any proprietary software. We respect Arch's KISS (Keep It Simple, Stupid) philosophy and its development process. In that sense, Parabola will always keep it backwards compatible with ArchLinux, in order to help release previous installations that are already in operation.