When I say Arch is not stable, I don't mean that you can't leave it running for a long period of time. I mean that it changes. Debian is not stable because you can run it for a long time without crashing (You sure can, but you can also run Debian with daily crashes, depending on what you're running). Debian is stable because it doesn't change. You get security updates, but you don't get feature updates, because feature updates introduce change, and the way you thought something was done is not the way to do it anymore. Flags change, output changes, inputs change. None of this is bad, but with Debian you know it won't happen until you're ready to move on to the next version. "Unstable" distros can introduce these changes at any time, making it harder to review what will change.
Using the same Arch Linux installation for a decade
31–40 of 422 posts
Re: Using the same Arch Linux installation for a decade
#32I'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…
I haven't tried this in a while, but Windows 10 can too be rsynced between different systems. Fixing the bootloader is a major PITA though, and I had to relearn doing that every time. Of course, it then spends half an hour installing new drivers for everything, but it is expected in that world.
Re: Using the same Arch Linux installation for a decade
#33> 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?
> How would something like this work?
Very well and very easily. You can do that even with Windows, even with different CPUs: I've ported my master Windows install from a Xeon to a regular Intel CPU on a laptop.
This laptop still feels like downloading Xeon-specific updates time to time, but every system peripheral is recognized in the device manager, and everything has been working great for over a year now.
For my next laptop, I'll do just the same: use bitlocker unlock, clone this Windows install into a larger SSD using Linux NTFS tools, plug the new SSD into the new laptop.
Re: Using the same Arch Linux installation for a decade
#34I recently switched to an arch flavor because the AUR had a lot of little small utilities that make life better on wayland. Also, it's quite easy to install the latest version of golang and rust, etc.
Pros: Documentation is excellent. Better than even Gentoo or Ubuntu's docs.
Cons: Arch doesn't have an installer, and seems almost militantly against providing one, or a lot of other little utilities that could improve the user experience. I get the same sort of 'I suffered, therefore you must suffer, learn to RTFM noob' elitism that I saw with slackware 20 years ago. I'm a grizzled vet, I can figure this stuff out, but it doesn't help your average technically literate joe.
Updates seem to break for odd reasons. I had to uninstall nodejs to be able to do a system update. Why? There should be some sort of automated way to address this.
Re: Using the same Arch Linux installation for a decade
#35I can provide some details regarding the times things did break that I mentioned in the article.
* In September 2014, X broke, and I created an `/etc/X11/Xwrapper.config` file with the lines `allowed_users = anybody` and `needs_root_rights = yes` to get it to work again. I don't remember and don't have notes on why that helped. It sure does sound like a pretty terrible hack. I don't have that Xwrapper.config file anymore, and I also don't know when I deleted it.
* In June 2017, audio stopped working, but all I had to do was add my user to the `audio` group.
* In May 2018, X broke a second time. This time I downgraded the `xorg-server-common` and `xorg-server` packages. A few weeks later, I ran another system upgrade, and this one went fine.
These weren't the only problems, but they were the most disruptive. Generally, things like TrackPoint driver updates changing how the cursor responds or Firefox changing its UI have been far more annoying than Arch Linux issues :)
Re: Using the same Arch Linux installation for a decade
#36The best thing about the rolling releases is that the OS feels ageless. If I leave a Thinkpad sitting in a corner for 3 years and boot it up again to pacman -Syu, it will have basically the same software as my modern Thinkpad. This just tickles my sense of "this is how the computer _should_ behave".
Re: Using the same Arch Linux installation for a decade
#37I recently switched to an arch flavor because the AUR had a lot of little small utilities that make life better on wayland. Also, it's quite easy to install the latest version of golang and rust, etc. Pros: Documentation is excellent. Better than even Gentoo or Ubuntu's docs. Cons: Arch doesn't have an installer, and seems almost militantly against providing one, or a lot of other little utilities that could improve…
There actually is an optional installer included with the official installation media now [1].
Re: Using the same Arch Linux installation for a decade
#38I recently switched to an arch flavor because the AUR had a lot of little small utilities that make life better on wayland. Also, it's quite easy to install the latest version of golang and rust, etc. Pros: Documentation is excellent. Better than even Gentoo or Ubuntu's docs. Cons: Arch doesn't have an installer, and seems almost militantly against providing one, or a lot of other little utilities that could improve…
Arch actually now has an installer script built into the installation ISO.
Re: Using the same Arch Linux installation for a decade
#39I recently switched to an arch flavor because the AUR had a lot of little small utilities that make life better on wayland. Also, it's quite easy to install the latest version of golang and rust, etc. Pros: Documentation is excellent. Better than even Gentoo or Ubuntu's docs. Cons: Arch doesn't have an installer, and seems almost militantly against providing one, or a lot of other little utilities that could improve…
[deleted]
Re: Using the same Arch Linux installation for a decade
#40Having to debug X or audio breaking several times even over 10 years is a non-starter. Had these issues 0 times over 10 years on mac, albeit on several machines, but I think it’s extremely rare for someone to reinstall Mac OS ever. Only time I did it was when I tried to setup a hackintosh and that really broke some things.