Glossary

Short explanations of the terms this wiki uses, in alphabetical order. Each one links to the page that goes into more detail.

AppImage

A whole application packed into one file, downloaded from the developer's website. See AppImages.

Arch Linux

The Linux distribution SakuraOS is based on. Almost all of SakuraOS's software comes from Arch's repositories. SakuraOS adds the installer, the App Store, the Update Center, the recovery system and its own settings on top.

AUR

The Arch User Repository: build scripts written by Arch users for software that Arch does not package itself. Nobody reviews them before they are published. It is off until you turn it on. See The AUR.

BTRFS

The filesystem SakuraOS installs on. It can take a snapshot of itself almost instantly without copying anything, which is what makes restore points practical. See Disk layout.

Canary

SakuraOS's test machine. Every night it is installed from scratch, given the day's updates, restarted and checked. Updates that break it are held back from everyone until they are fixed. See Updates.

EFI system partition (ESP)

A small partition the firmware reads when the computer starts. It holds the boot loader and, on SakuraOS, the kernel images. Windows has one too, and on a dual-boot computer they share it. See Disk layout.

Flatpak

A way of distributing applications that runs each one in a sandbox with its own copy of what it needs. Flatpaks come from Flathub. See App Store.

Hook

A script that pacman runs before or after installing or removing packages. SakuraOS uses hooks for checks that must apply however a package is installed: from the App Store, a terminal or a script. See Terminal Assist.

Kernel

The core of the operating system, which talks to the hardware and runs every other program. See Kernel.

LUKS

The standard disk encryption on Linux, used when you choose to encrypt the disk during the install. See Installing.

pacman

Arch's package manager. Everything that installs, updates or removes system software goes through it, including the App Store and the Update Center.

Package

A piece of software prepared for installing, with a list of what else it needs. A single application can be several packages.

Proton

Valve's version of Wine, built into Steam, which runs Windows games. See Gaming.

Restore point

A snapshot of the system that you can go back to. SakuraOS takes one before every update, and you can save your own. A restore point is not a backup: it is on the same disk, so it does not protect against the disk failing. See Going back and Backups.

Rolling release

A distribution without version upgrades. Instead of a big upgrade every six months or two years, software updates arrive a little at a time, soon after they are released. SakuraOS, like Arch, works this way, so you never need to reinstall to get newer software.

Secure Boot

A firmware feature that only starts software signed by keys the firmware trusts. SakuraOS can set it up with its own keys during the install. See Secure Boot.

Snap

Canonical's way of distributing applications, from the Snap Store. Some software is only published there. See App Store.

Snapshot

A frozen copy of a BTRFS subvolume as it was at one moment. It takes almost no space at first, and grows only as the files it froze change. Restore points are snapshots of the system.

Subvolume

A separate part of a BTRFS filesystem that can be snapshotted on its own. SakuraOS keeps the system, your home folder, the logs and the package cache in separate subvolumes, which is why going back to a restore point does not touch your files. See Disk layout.

sudo

Put in front of a terminal command to run it with administrator rights. It asks for your password.

Terminal

The window where you type commands. On SakuraOS it is called Konsole. You do not need it for everyday use; this wiki uses it for fixes that have no button yet.

UEFI

The firmware on modern computers that starts the operating system. It replaced the older BIOS. SakuraOS needs a computer that starts in UEFI mode. See Requirements.

UKI

Unified Kernel Image: the kernel and everything it needs to start, in one file. SakuraOS's normal system and its recovery environment are each a UKI, so both can be signed for Secure Boot. See How recovery works.

Wine

Software that runs Windows programs on Linux. See Windows programs.

x86-64-v3

A set of processor instructions found on most Intel processors from 2013 and AMD processors from 2015 onward. Computers that have it get SakuraOS's tuned kernel. See Kernel.

zram

Compressed memory used in place of a swap file. See Tuning.

Last checked against the SakuraOS release of 3 October 2026. If your system behaves differently from this page, the page is wrong: please report it.