• Classy@sh.itjust.works
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    7 hours ago

    Maybe I’m just screaming into the void here, but does it seem like, as a person who is still relatively out of touch with linux, I don’t necessarily have to update my Arch distribution whenever there are new updates available? I could theoretically just go on downloading new programs, uninstalling old ones, using everything as it sits until theoretically something breaks?

    • doggle@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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      7 hours ago

      I don’t necessarily have to update my Arch distribution whenever there are new updates available

      Clearly, op agrees

    • azvasKvklenko@sh.itjust.works
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      6 hours ago

      Iirc, the Arch wiki says you should synchronize all packages while adding new ones, and it’s technically unsupported. It might work in some cases, but personally I didn’t have to do much to not be able to launch something because symbols missing in libraries or no such file altogether. To avoid problems it’s better to sync packages fully at least once in a while.

    • __Lost__@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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      5 hours ago

      You should always run a full upgrade when installing a new package to make sure your versions are all in sync. Like if your new package is looking for version 1.1 and you have 1.0 installed, the new package won’t work. In general, everything should be installed with ‘pacman -Syu’ not just ‘pacman -S’

      If you don’t install any new packages, then no you don’t need to upgrade anything. You’re just missing out on security patches and upgraded features. It’s worth running occasional upgrades.

  • ozoned@lemmy.world
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    9 hours ago

    And they were never heard from AGAIN! Oooooooo It is horror month, and that’s pretty scary! :-D

  • Mouselemming@sh.itjust.works
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    12 hours ago

    Side note: “I’mma” is a contraction of the whole phrase “I’m going to” or “I’m about to” so it’s followed immediately by the verb indicating what you’ll be doing:

    “I’mma rawdog this sucker without backups.”

    Yes, I added sucker, because it’s going to suck up all your time and data, sucka!

  • helaslo@lemm.ee
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    9 hours ago

    And that is why I use Opensuse tumbleweed, no worries ever (zypper takes a snapshot before and after each upgrade, single command to roll back)

    • wick@lemm.ee
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      33 minutes ago

      I’d automate it but the greybeards tell me it’s a bad idea :(

  • 1984@lemmy.today
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    14 hours ago

    It’s my experience that Ubuntu and Fedora break if you don’t upgrade often (and then suddenly do after a year), while arch doesn’t… Which is interesting, since it’s supposed to be the other way around…

    I think it’s because Fedora and Ubuntu add a lot of new things, while arch just updates it’s packages.

    • bitwolf@lemmy.one
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      7 hours ago

      Fedora upgrades are very reliable. I’ve never had one fail, 24 upgrades and counting.

    • timbuck2themoon@sh.itjust.works
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      9 hours ago

      Eh, I leave fedora for a while and come back and it’s fine. Never had it break and I’ve been using it consistently since like 27.

    • Melatonin@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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      13 hours ago

      More please. Getting ready to switch from Windows to Linux, been making sure I can install all the -arr I want and get games running, but in Mint.

      Now I’m hitting the brakes hard. It’s Arch if that means I don’t have this headache. I’ll need to start over learning, but it’ll be worth it.

      • punkfungus@sh.itjust.works
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        9 hours ago

        I’ve had two different arch based distros have issues when trying to update after long periods. I also had an Ubuntu server fail completely when doing a major version upgrade and had to restore it from backup. But then again I’ve also had no trouble updating an Ubuntu machine that was a couple years behind.

        I’m on Fedora now for my desktop and it’s been great so far, but I also do updates at least weekly. My advice would be if you expect to go months between updates your best choice is probably Debian.

      • DesolateMood@lemm.ee
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        11 hours ago

        As long as you update frequently (I do it whenever I think about it, usually once every few days to a week) you shouldn’t run into any issues

  • Sundial@lemm.ee
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    17 hours ago

    Just do a fresh install man. I’m getting anxiety just by looking at it.

      • Cyborganism@lemmy.ca
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        15 hours ago

        (correct me if I’m wrong, I’m also new at this)

        There are two partitions. One with the current system, one with the previous system. Updates are applied in a whole batch at once, once in a while.

        Current system is cloned into the old one and an update is applied to the clone.

        Once the update is complete, system reboots in the clone, and what was the current system becomes the previous one.

        If something goes bad, you can reboot into the previous system and fix the clone.

        • chirping
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          6 hours ago

          that is one way to do it, and it’s a very common one - it’s robust and simple. So I can’t correct you, but thought I would add to it. In NixOS, they’ve improved it by making sure all your apps are symlinked, and when updating, these symlinks are updated. That way you can start using your newly updated system straight away, without a reboot. When rebooting, you are prompted to which generation you want to boot into, (defaulting to “latest” after a few seconds of no input) making rollbacks a breeze.

          • ProjectPatatoe@lemmy.world
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            3 hours ago

            I believe this is how android has been for as long as i have used it. At least A6 or A7. Could be earlier but I haven’t used those enough

          • Cyborganism@lemmy.ca
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            12 hours ago

            Yes, it uses an immutable atomic distro. I don’t know about Android phones, but I wouldn’t be surprised.

      • Samsy@lemmy.ml
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        15 hours ago

        The atomic distro would do a backup and if update goes wrong, it automatically boots back into the previous one.

    • AItoothbrush@lemmy.zip
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      15 hours ago

      I know its a meme but nixos is actually good for this. You can be on the unstable branch, not update for 5 years and still get everything working after updating(tho i dont recommend because of security). I think nixos has some fucking AMAZING features but the problem is its paired with features that make it extremely hard to use for a casual user.

      • chirping
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        6 hours ago

        Agreed! I think a part of the “problem” is that with Nix, there’s now at least 3 sides: application specific knowledge, system knowledge, and you have to use the nix language, architecture and tools to interface with it. so for a seasoned linux user, there’s maybe just a new programming language, but if you’re new to Linux, it’s quickly gonna overwhelm you. which in a way is a bit ironic because I’d argue that it’s easier to manage a NixOS system, and getting help is so much easier when your problems can be replicated by just aharing your config.

        • AItoothbrush@lemmy.zip
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          1 hour ago

          Id say its easy to share your problems with other people because its a few files unlike distros like arch where your packages can be fucked up and then you have to reinstall in most cases. But the support it self isnt too good. Arch has archwiki, ubuntu has a lot of channels of support while nixos has a badly written wiki.