IdeaWell

Project ideas from Hacker News discussions.

I love the work of the ArchWiki maintainers

Original Article

Hacker News Discussion

📝 Discussion Summary (Click to expand)

1. The Arch Wiki is the gold‑standard for Linux documentation

“I still find myself reading their wiki from time to time. It’s a phenomenal resource.” – dietr1ch
“The Arch Wiki has become the goto source for every time I need a real answer… it should just become my default for everything Linux.” – Groxx
“I use the Arch Wiki as my personal software configuration journal.” – foxrider

The consensus is that the wiki’s breadth, depth, and up‑to‑date nature make it useful even for non‑Arch users, and many people cite it as the reason they stay on or switch to Arch.

2. Arch’s “bleeding‑edge” nature is both a learning tool and a pain point

“It was a smooth sea never made a skilled sailor.” – thr0w4w4y1337
“The switch to systemd is the last time I FUBARed my system.” – benoliver999
“I got sick of the rolling release and Arch’s constant breakages, so I started looking into the alternatives.” – ofalkaed

Users praise the hands‑on experience that forces them to understand the system, but they also lament frequent breakages, confusing updates, and the need for constant maintenance.

3. Documentation quality, man‑pages, and the rise of LLMs shape troubleshooting habits

“Unfortunately there's a trend lately where many newer CLI tools don’t have a man page.” – nextaccountic
“I was definitely the same way at one point but it’s worth mentioning that the wiki remains a valuable resource even if you aren’t using Arch itself.” – beepbooptheory
“I do not use Arch but still use the wiki as a primary reference… I also use the AUR… the Arch wiki is a blessing.” – moxvallix

The discussion covers the need for proper help output, tools like help2man, and concerns that LLMs may replace or dilute human‑written documentation, potentially eroding the very knowledge base that keeps the Arch community thriving.

🚀 Project Ideas

Generating project ideas…

LinuxDocHub

Summary

  • Aggregates and normalizes documentation from Arch Wiki, Debian Wiki, Gentoo Wiki, manpages, and distro‑specific docs into a single searchable API and UI.
  • Provides structured, versioned data that can be queried by humans or LLMs, enabling consistent, up‑to‑date answers across distros.
  • Core value: eliminates the need to switch between multiple wikis and search engines for Linux troubleshooting.

Details

Key Value
Target Audience Linux power users, sysadmins, distro maintainers, LLM developers
Core Feature Unified search, structured API, cross‑distro knowledge graph
Tech Stack Go/Node.js backend, PostgreSQL + ElasticSearch, React frontend, GitHub Actions for CI, Docker
Difficulty High
Monetization Revenue‑ready: tiered API access (free + paid plans)

Notes

  • Arch Wiki users love it: “I keep going back to the Arch Wiki for almost everything” (Foxrider).
  • Debian users also rely on it: “I find myself more in the ArchWiki” (GuestFAUniverse).
  • The project addresses the pain of fragmented docs and the desire for a “single source of truth” that can feed LLMs and autocompletion tools.

AutoMan

Summary

  • CLI wrapper that transparently shows a man page if it exists, otherwise generates one from --help output using help2man or a custom parser.
  • Supports user‑level installation of generated man pages (~/.local/share/man) and can be integrated into package builds.
  • Core value: solves the frustration of missing man pages for modern CLI tools.

Details

Key Value
Target Audience Linux users, package maintainers, developers
Core Feature On‑demand man page generation & fallback
Tech Stack Rust (CLI), help2man, troff, systemd‑path, Docker for testing
Difficulty Medium
Monetization Hobby

Notes

  • “I should write a tool that converts help output to troff” (wpm).
  • “A more general tool would be pretty good” (nextaccountic).
  • Distros can patch build scripts to auto‑generate man pages, reducing the need for root installs.

ConfigCookbook

Summary

  • Community‑curated, versioned library of Linux configuration snippets (systemd units, kernel options, network settings) in YAML/JSON.
  • Can be imported into NixOS, Ansible, or used as a reference for manual setup.
  • Core value: provides reusable, tested configuration “cookbooks” that reduce manual errors and learning curves.

Details

Key Value
Target Audience System administrators, NixOS users, distro maintainers
Core Feature Structured config library with CI‑validated examples
Tech Stack GitHub repo, YAML/JSON schema, CI pipelines (GitHub Actions), web UI (Next.js)
Difficulty Medium
Monetization Hobby

Notes

  • “I use the Arch Wiki as my personal software configuration journal” (Foxrider).
  • “I want a wiki that is more structured” (grundrausch3n).
  • The library would complement the Arch Wiki by providing machine‑readable, reproducible configs that can be shared and reused.

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