I used Arch a lot back in the days there was no dkms (got a new kernel? Recompile your gpu module otherwise no desktop on the next reboot, specially with nvidia) and Arch is a very good place to learn Linux, but I eventually went to Debian because everything just works.
For the topic I think is good to have dfsg and to patch any software with the goal to provide better integration with the system and for user's freedom.
For the topic I think is good to have dfsg and to patch any software with the goal to provide better integration with the system and for user's freedom.