When it comes to updates, me neither. I rolled back to previous snapshots a few times and it was always when I messed something up.
An update never caused a major breakage for me. The worst I did regarding updates was attempting to update the major kernel version before the dkms drivers from the AUR were ready. But that was entirely my fault, in fact, I expected this to make my computer unbootable, but I did it out of curiosity regardless, and I turned out to be right.
Too far behind as in kernels. I used to use Mint and i was always had the same kernel versions as Arch. I want to be current because i use the most current hardware.
Eh, it’s only 1 version behind if you use backports. Current 5.8, Debian 5.7 (I use backports on all my Debian installs except my chromebook because 5.0+ kernels break the audio and I can’t figure out how to fix (that’s not just Debian, no OS have I gotten a 5.0+ kernel to work with audio on it)). And 5.8 is in SID so could easily be backported to buster if one wanted.
I don’t want to compile anything. I just want rolling! Open Suse Tumbleweed has more updates than this. On my tv computer i update it when i feel like it and sometimes it has a lot of updates but it doesn’t take very long. I just keep rolling.
I’ve just had the opposite experience, after a couple of months playing around with Debian as a secondary system I’ve removed it, probably for good as a desktop system.
Arch systems have been always been rock solid for me, disk failures aside I’ve never had to restore a backup to fix a “broken” system either. I find I’m trying other distros now less and less, when I do IMHO they just don’t stack up in comparison.
Those concerned with the rate of change on an Arch rolling system, run all updates on a similarly configured EOS / Arch VM system first for a little more piece of mind. Random driver issues aside you shouldn’t be surprised updating your bare metal system.
Understanding what most packages on your system actually do also helps when perusing results of checkupdates, but the EOS installer circumvents that learning process for all but the most inquisitive new users.
I wonder what is breaking. I’ve been using Arch for quite a few months and I’m constantly hopping around the tiling window managers. I haven’t had Arch break on me once.
Perhaps those users will take a similar view to my own regarding packages. What I tend to do when I spot a package that I am unsure of its purpose (normally from the list of updates) - then I type into a terminal yay packagename - just to see the description, then cancel any ‘actions’. If it’s interesting, the DuckDuckGo gets added to the investigation. It’s amazing how much of an idea you end up having of what is going on under there
I do that differently too - My conky has a scrolling section consisting of a list of all available updates, ALL the time. No notifier required! After a while, you just decide if it’s enough stuff, or important enough stuff, to justify an update run.
Of course, with my setup - an update run might include several visits to other distros!..
I don’t think the primary issue is that Arch is breaking. In this case, I think it is that applications are getting updated frequently and sometimes those updates introduce bugs in the applications.
Exactly to the exactly. it’s not the OS that breaks (ok, it might, but like most I can’t remember the last time it did), but application breakage is QUITE common.
I use mostly flatsies and snapies, the herecura repo for vivaldi browser, a few packs from aur, and for the most part it is fine.
And yes, I just posted a message about me doing a fresh install for the n-time, but that is cuz I’m always trying to to some shennanigans on my system xD.
The fact that arch is rolling fast, does not mean you have to roll with it too, look at manjaro, it is rolling some time behind arch, and it is very ‘stable’, I know, I left manjaro to come to EOS.
You could try to put a pin on pacman (this is not my lang, maybe I mean another word?) so that it holds the updates for a few days, a week maybe?
So you would be more like, slouching instead of rolling? XD
What I mean is you don’t have to throw it away yet, it took me a while to get the hang of it.
Laters
edit: I tried Sparky linux, Gameover? rolling thing, on debian testing, and that was pretty cool too, and broke a couple of times on me too, so it is more like how you want to look at it.
I have only ever had to fix an Arch update once. It was maybe a month ago or so. I did the updates and for whatever reason my password for logging into terminal was gone, or changed? I don’t know which. A quick chroot, timeshift restore and I was back. But that’s ever been it. I love Arch based. Everything works nice and easy for me.