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Garuda Linux RSS Feed DistroWatch.com: Garuda Linux

Garuda Linux


Last Update: 2026-03-09 08:45 UTC


Garuda Linux is a rolling distribution based on the Arch Linux operating system. Unlike Arch Linux, Garuda Linux comes with a graphical installer (Calamares) for easy installation, and other advanced graphical tools for managing your system. Garuda is a performance-oriented distro with many performance enhancing tweaks. Some of the many tweaks include using zram, a performance CPU governor, along with custom memory management software. Garuda Linux has striven to provide system stability by including the Timeshift backup utility.

Popularity (hits per day): 12 months: 26 (405), 6 months: 32 (349), 3 months: 46 (275), 4 weeks: 59 (224), 1 week: 76 (218)

Average visitor rating: 8.5/10 from 291 review(s).


Garuda Summary
Distribution Garuda Linux
Home Page https://garudalinux.org/
Mailing Lists --
User Forums https://forum.garudalinux.org/
Alternative User Forums
Documentation https://garudalinux.org/installation
Screenshots DistroWatch Gallery
Screencasts
Download Mirrors https://garudalinux.org/editions
Bug Tracker https://gitlab.com/groups/garuda-linux/-/issues
Related Websites GitLab
Reviews 26: FOSS ForceDiolinux (Portuguese)
25: The New Stack
23: Ordinatechnic
22: DistroWatchDebugPointWorldOWeb
21: OrdinatechnicDedoimedo
20: It's FOSSDistroWatch
Where To Donate, Buy or Try DonateThe Linux Shop

Recent Related News and Releases
  Releases announcements with download links and checksums:
 • 2025-03-08: Distribution Release: Garuda Linux 250308
 • 2024-04-29: Distribution Release: Garuda Linux 240428
 • 2023-10-30: Distribution Release: Garuda Linux 231029
 • 2023-03-06: Distribution Release: Garuda Linux 230305
 • 2020-10-10: Distribution Release: Garuda Linux 201007
 • 2020-09-01: Distribution Release: Garuda Linux 200831
 • More Garuda releases...

  Headlines:
 • 2025-03-11 Garuda experiments with new COSMIC edition
 • More Garuda headlines...

Table Notes and Explanations

(Please refer to the table below.)
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  • To compare the software in this project to the software available in other distributions, please see our Compare Packages page.
  • Notes: In case where multiple versions of a package are shipped with a distribution, only the default version appears in the table. For indication about the GNOME version, please check the "nautilus" and "gnome-shell" packages. The Apache web server is listed as "httpd" and the Linux kernel is listed as "linux". The KDE desktop is represented by the "plasma-desktop" package and the Xfce desktop by the "xfdesktop" package.
  • Colour scheme: green text = latest stable version, red text = development or beta version. The function determining beta versions is not 100% reliable due to a wide variety of versioning schemes.
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Feature 260309 251103 240428 231029 221019 211128 201205 Feature
Release Date 2026-03-09 2025-11-03 2024-04-28 2023-10-29 2022-10-19 2021-11-28 2020-12-06 Release Date
End Of Life               End Of Life
Price (US$) Free Free Free Free Free Free Free Price (US$)
Image Size (MB) 2800-4600 2700-4700 1600-5000 1600-5000 1600-5000 1600-5000 1600-5000 Image Size (MB)
Free Download ISO ISO ISO ISO ISO ISO ISO Free Download
Installation Calamares Calamares Calamares Calamares Calamares Calamares Calamares Installation
Default Desktop Cinnamon, GNOME, Hyprland, i3, KDE Plasma, Mokka, Sway, Xfce Cinnamon, GNOME, Hyprland, i3, KDE Plasma, Mokka, Sway, Xfce Cinnamon, GNOME, i3, KDE Plasma, Qtile, Sway, Xfce Cinnamon, GNOME, i3, KDE Plasma, Qtile, Sway, Xfce bspwm, Cinnamon, GNOME, i3, KDE Plasma, LXQt, Qtile, Sway, Wayfire, Xfce bspwm, GNOME, i3, KDE Plasma, LXQt, Qtile, Sway, Wayfire, Xfce bspwm, Cinnamon, Deepin, GNOME, i3, KDE Plasma, LXQt, MATE, RecBox, UKUI, Wayfire, Xfce Default Desktop
Default Browser Firefox Firefox Firefox Firefox Firefox Firefox Firefox Default Browser
Package Format pkg pkg pkg pkg pkg pkg pkg Package Format
Package Management pacman pacman pacman pacman pacman pacman pacman Package Management
Release Model Rolling Rolling Rolling Rolling Rolling Rolling Rolling Release Model
Office Suite -- -- -- -- -- -- LibreOffice Office Suite
Processor Architecture x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 Processor Architecture
Init Software systemd systemd systemd systemd systemd systemd systemd Init Software
Journaled File Systems Btrfs, ext4, JFS, XFS Btrfs, ext4, JFS, XFS Btrfs, ext4, JFS, ReiserFS, XFS Btrfs, ext4, JFS, ReiserFS, XFS Btrfs, ext4, JFS, ReiserFS, XFS Btrfs, ext4, JFS, ReiserFS, XFS Btrfs, ext4, JFS, ReiserFS, XFS Journaled File Systems
Multilingual en en en en en en en Multilingual
Full Package List 260309 251103 240428 231029 221019 211128 201205 Full Package List
Package 260309 251103 240428 231029 221019 211128 201205 Package
alsa-lib (1.2.16.1) 1.2.15.3 1.2.14 1.2.11 1.2.10 1.2.7.2 1.2.5.1 1.2.4 alsa-lib (1.2.16.1)
amdgpu (25.0.0) 25.0.0 25.0.0 19.1.0 19.1.0 19.1.0 19.1.0 19.1.0 amdgpu (25.0.0)
apparmor (5.0.2) -- -- -- -- -- -- 3.0.0 apparmor (5.0.2)
apt (3.3.1) -- -- -- -- -- -- -- apt (3.3.1)
bash (5.3) 5.3 5.3 5.2 5.1 5.1 5.1 5.0 bash (5.3)
bind (9.20.24) 9.20.20 9.20.15 9.18.26 9.18.19 9.18.7 9.16.23 9.16.8 bind (9.20.24)
chromium (150.0.7871.114) -- -- -- -- -- 96.0.4664.45 -- chromium (150.0.7871.114)
cinnamon (6.6.8) 6.6.7 6.4.13 6.0.4 5.8.4 5.4.12 -- 4.8.0 cinnamon (6.6.8)
cups (2.4.19) -- -- -- -- -- -- 2.3.3 cups (2.4.19)
e2fsprogs (1.47.4) 1.47.3 1.47.3 1.47.0 1.47.0 1.46.5 1.46.4 1.45.6 e2fsprogs (1.47.4)
ffmpeg (8.1.2) 8.0.1 8.0 6.1.1 6.0 5.1.2 4.4.1 4.3.1 ffmpeg (8.1.2)
firefox (152.0.6) 148.0 144.0.2 125.0.2 119.0 106.0 94.0.2 83.0 firefox (152.0.6)
flatpak (1.18.0) -- -- -- -- -- -- 1.9.2 flatpak (1.18.0)
freetype (2.14.3) 2.14.2 2.14.1 2.13.2 2.13.2 2.12.1 2.11.0 2.10.4 freetype (2.14.3)
gcc (16.1.0) 15.2.1 15.2.1 13.2.1 13.2.1 12.2.0 11.1.0 10.2.0 gcc (16.1.0)
gimp (3.2.4) -- -- -- -- -- -- 2.10.22 gimp (3.2.4)
git (2.55.0) 2.53.0 2.51.2 2.44.0 2.42.0 2.38.0 2.34.1 2.29.2 git (2.55.0)
glibc (2.43) 2.43 2.42 2.39 2.38 2.36 2.33 2.32 glibc (2.43)
gnome-shell (50.3) 49.4 49.0 46.1 45.0 42.5 41.1 3.38.2 gnome-shell (50.3)
grub (2.14) 2.14 2.14rc1 2.12 2.12rc1 2.06 2.06 2.04 grub (2.14)
gtk (4.22.4) 4.20.3 4.20.2 4.14.3 4.12.3 4.8.1 4.4.1 3.24.23 gtk (4.22.4)
httpd (2.4.68) -- -- -- -- -- -- 2.4.46 httpd (2.4.68)
hyprland (0.55.4) 0.54.1 0.51.1 -- -- -- -- -- hyprland (0.55.4)
inkscape (1.4.4) -- -- -- -- -- -- 1.0.1 inkscape (1.4.4)
kmod (34.2) 34.2 34.2 32 31 30 29 27 kmod (34.2)
krita (6.0.2.1) -- -- -- -- -- -- 4.4.1 krita (6.0.2.1)
Package 260309 251103 240428 231029 221019 211128 201205 Package
LibreOffice (26.2.4) -- -- -- -- -- -- 7.0.3 LibreOffice (26.2.4)
libselinux (3.11) -- -- -- -- -- -- -- libselinux (3.11)
linux (7.1.3) 6.18.16 6.17.6 6.6.29 6.1.60 6.0.2 5.12.3 5.9.12 linux (7.1.3)
mariadb (12.3.2) -- -- -- -- -- -- -- mariadb (12.3.2)
mate-desktop (1.28.2) -- -- -- -- 1.26.0 -- 1.24.1 mate-desktop (1.28.2)
mesa (26.1.4) 26.0.1 25.2.6 24.0.5 23.2.1 22.2.1 21.2.5 20.2.3 mesa (26.1.4)
nautilus (50.2.2) 49.4 49.1 46.1 -- 42.2 41.1 3.38.2 nautilus (50.2.2)
NVIDIA (610.43.03) -- -- 550.76.3 525.60.11 520.56.06 495.44 -- NVIDIA (610.43.03)
openjdk (26.0.1) -- -- 22.0.1 21u35 18.0.2.1 17.0.1 14.0.2 openjdk (26.0.1)
openssh (10.4p1) 10.2p1 10.2p1 9.7p1 9.5p1 9.0p1 8.8p1 8.4p1 openssh (10.4p1)
openssl (4.0.1) 3.6.1 3.6.0 3.2.1 3.1.4 1.1.1q 1.1.1l 1.1.1h openssl (4.0.1)
perl (5.42.2) 5.42.0 5.42.0 5.38.2 5.38.0 5.36.0 5.34.0 5.32.0 perl (5.42.2)
php (8.5.8) -- -- -- -- -- -- -- php (8.5.8)
plasma-desktop (6.7.2) 6.6.2 6.4.5 6.0.4 5.27.9 5.26.1 5.23.3 5.20.4 plasma-desktop (6.7.2)
postfix (3.11.5) -- -- -- -- -- -- -- postfix (3.11.5)
postgresql (18.4) -- -- -- -- -- 13.4 -- postgresql (18.4)
Python (3.14.6) 3.14.3 3.13.7 3.12.3 3.11.5 3.10.8 3.9.9 3.9.0 Python (3.14.6)
qt (6.11.1) 6.10.2 6.10.0 6.7.0 6.6.0 6.4.0 5.15.2 5.15.2 qt (6.11.1)
samba (4.24.4) 4.23.6 4.23.2 4.20.0 4.19.2 4.17.0 4.15.2 4.13.2 samba (4.24.4)
systemd (261.1) 259.3 258.1 255.5 254.5 251.6 249.7 247.1 systemd (261.1)
thunderbird (152.0.1) 148.0 144.0.1 115.10.1 115.4.1 102.3.3 -- 78.4.3 thunderbird (152.0.1)
vim (9.2) 9.2 9.1 9.1 9.0 9.0 8.2 8.2 vim (9.2)
vlc (3.0.23) 3.0.21 3.0.21 3.0.20 3.0.19 3.0.17.4 -- 3.0.11.1 vlc (3.0.23)
wayland (1.25.0) 1.24.0 1.24.0 1.22.0 1.22.0 1.21.0 1.19.0 1.18.0 wayland (1.25.0)
xfdesktop (4.20.2) 4.20.1 4.20.1 4.18.1 4.18.1 4.16.1 4.16.0 4.14.3 xfdesktop (4.20.2)
xorg-server (21.1.24) 21.1.21 21.1.20 21.1.13 21.1.9 21.1.4 21.1.1 1.20.10 xorg-server (21.1.24)

Reader Ratings
Reader supplied reviews for Garuda Linux

Average rating
8.5
from 291 review(s)



What are your thoughts on Garuda Linux?
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Past reviews - sort by:

Version: 260309
Rating: 8
Date: 2026-06-21
Country: Unknown
Votes: 0


Installation was very easy

Garuda has a nice package with very bold colors and themes. The Tool Box is a nice app that organizes some of the major areas of the OS. It is quick to boot, quite snappy, and easy to work with. I'm not a fan of the wobbly animation when moving windows. Fortunately, that can be disabled.

Thus far I have found game performance to be the closest to Windows 11 of all the distros I have tried (I have tried plenty to some slight success to downright unusable). I typically start with Cyberpunk as my first performance benchmark. I was pleasantly surprised with how well it handled that game. Most other distros would have -40 fps while Garuda had -5 to 10 fps.

If there's one gripe I have with this distro is that it is a pain to setup OBS and software that compliments it. The custom dock is disabled, which I am aware that is more of a wayland X11 issue than this specific distro. Unfortunately, even with adding the fixes to include the custom dock, it was not available. Same can be said with the Opendeck (the alternative to El Gato's stream deck). Can't seem to keep the settings saved. With no way to determine how well the Garuda OS works with OBS to stream and game, I am not sure if I'll keep it or move on to the next distro. It is by far the best gaming focused distro, and that may persuade me to try to work on it a little longer.


Was this review helpful? Yes No
Version: 260309
Rating: 10
Date: 2026-05-16
Country: Bulgaria
Votes: 37


I swithed to Garuda after sometime running CachyOS, Fedora and many other distros.
Garuda looks like more polished than CachyOS.
It is build over Arch which gives you full control of your system.
Also this OS caomes with AUR and Chaotic-AUR preconfigured.
Also I havo no issues with AMD hardware (CachyOS has at this moment).
I also undervolted my AMD Ryzen 9 with ryzenadj, which gives me more performance per watt and more battery life.
If you choose KDE Lite have in mind that you have to install missing kde packages!
Also Garuda toolbox is very helpful.
I strongly recommend.


Was this review helpful? Yes No
Version: 260309
Rating: 9
Date: 2026-04-29
Country: Czechia
Votes: 2


Nobara user here.

I wanted to expand my horizon and try an arch based gaming distro, I have used MX, Nobara, Zorin, Mint and PopOS! for years.

In this case I went for the Cinnamon edition because I was kind of bored of using KDE/Gnome and Xfce since forever now..... and the Cinnamon version looked very nice (just a tiny bit less flashy as the dragonized edition)

Pros:

The one time 'setup some of your favourite programs' out of the box is a nice touch for beginners (imo).

On somehow the Snapper (backup and restore tool) is somehow even more amazing than Timeshift (restore even before the login screen) Superb stuff!

Games run fantastic (not sure if better than Nobara, but atleast within margin of error)

The Cinnamon desktop is just brilliant for me personally, (slightly less modern than KDE but not as Ancient as XFCE, just a great great balance for extra snappy response without compromising too much on functionality)

Con:

So far I have one weird little bug.. because I am using a lot of external drives, I have to swap them quite often, and eventhough I do unmount properly before unplugging the drives, the drives get the following error when replugging them (occasionally)

: 'error mounting /dev/sde1 at run/media/ wrong fs type, bad option, bad superblock on dev/sde1, missing codepage or helper program or other error'.

Unfortunately you have to then go and use a repair tool to make the drive readable again, so that kinda sucks, a little.

other than that flawless experience!

9/10


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