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Using the same Arch Linux installation for a decade

meribold.org

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Re: Using the same Arch Linux installation for a decade

#22

> A few months ago, I copied my complete installation to a ThinkPad X13 Gen 2 using rsync How would something like this work? Is the target laptop running any random linux distro, and rsync replaces all system files etc. effectively "swapping" operating systems? Can the laptop boot into the new system as if it was installed normally?

Could be booted into a USB live CD and then manually mounted the internal harddrive to rsync the new root filesystem. They would need to make sure their boot partition is rebuilt/updated too with the kernel if necessary.

Re: Using the same Arch Linux installation for a decade

#23
post #3

Exhibiting the self discipline to not distro-hop in 10 years is more commendable...but I guess that's Arch Linux for you.

I'll be coming up on 10 years as well, mostly just because of the AUR. Whatever obscure/proprietary program you might need, there's a decent chance some helpful person has packaged it up. Also has the advantage of easily being able to uninstall the weird 10 year old perl/python/mono version the thing needed to run that would otherwise probably stay on my machine forever.

Re: Using the same Arch Linux installation for a decade

#24
I've been using the same base-install of Gentoo since like 2010. Switched from Gnome to Xfce some time ago; new machines just `rsync` the stuff over. But when the root partition when from /dev/sda3 to /dev/nvme0p3 there was some switching.

Back in my Windows days (1990-2001) I was NEVER able to do anything like that; copying that damned registry. Had to make special files; apps would never work. It was a game changer to find a system that was as simple as copy the files to the new hardware.

Re: Using the same Arch Linux installation for a decade

#26
post #3

Exhibiting the self discipline to not distro-hop in 10 years is more commendable...but I guess that's Arch Linux for you.

Yeah Arch is basically the final destination all that distro hopping gets you to. No reason to hop once you've arrived.

That said, I strongly recommend letting the distro hopping take you on a journey before you land on Arch-- don't skip to the end. It's nice to see how things are done elsewhere (defaults, etc.) so that you've got some opinions by the time you get to Arch and configure your own take on things.

Re: Using the same Arch Linux installation for a decade

#28
post #3

Exhibiting the self discipline to not distro-hop in 10 years is more commendable...but I guess that's Arch Linux for you.

Yeah Arch is basically the final destination all that distro hopping gets you to. No reason to hop once you've arrived.

I used arch around 2008 or so, then distro-hopped to Slackware, when I remain to this day. Some of us escape.

Re: Using the same Arch Linux installation for a decade

#29

I left my computer in storage for a year while I lived elsewhere and I couldn't upgrade through pacman. There was no simple viable upgrade. The constraints just couldn't be met. Fortunately, all I had to do was reformat / and go again since I keep most user config in /home Really enjoyed it otherwise

Weird AUR packages?

Re: Using the same Arch Linux installation for a decade

#30
post #13

I love arch linux. It just works. Even with video games. Steam deck is based on it. Linux really did win desktops. Running on arch for 3 years now.

Arch wiki is a real treasure too. I don't even run arch but use their wiki info all the time.
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