[root] Update your system the smart way

General system Community contributions
2

In general, this is all solid advice.

I do have some differences in how I update my system.

  1. I think update notifiers are pointless on an distro that uses Arch repos. Unless you updated in the last few hours, it’s fairly safe to assume that there is an update available. I do use this script to safely check what updates are available, without synchronising the local package database.

  2. I never update from the TTY. I did that on Manjaro, and it somewhat makes sense there, since the updates are huge, and updating on Manjaro is a bit more stressful. But on Arch (and EndeavourOS) the updates are typically very small, if you update regularly. It seems to me that updating from the TTY is a myth and I have decided to test it by never doing it, and seeing how long until something breaks. So what I do to update is I simply run yay from the terminal emulator (three letters, plus a few more for my password). Nothing else. So far so good. :slight_smile:

  3. How often do I update? I update whenever I think to do it and I’m not busy with anything else and have a moment to do it. In practice, that’s typically every other day or so.

  4. I read this forum, so I have an idea when big updates, like the major kernel release are due. I keep that in mind when updating. I may delay an update to see whether other people are experiencing any issues.

  5. I think a good idea is to enable the magic SysRq button, in case you get the dreaded black screen after a botched update, so you can easily and safely reboot.

  6. I use Timeshift, btw. I haven’t desperately needed it (yet), Arch is a remarkably stable OS and if you’re not stupid, it doesn’t just break on its on. However, Timeshift gives me confidence when I tinker with my computers (which is the best way to learn, in my opinion).

  7. I don’t user reflector-simple I just use reflector. Ironically, I find the latter to be simpler to use (after RTFM).

6 Likes