Using the same Arch Linux installation for a decade • Hacker News Board

Re: Using the same Arch Linux installation for a decade

#41

Post by ablob » Tue, Aug 16, 2022, 4:46 PM UTC

renewiltord wrote: post #20

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

You probably cant test it anymore, but I think it might have had something to do with the keys. I had a similar problem with failing upgrades once, until I updated the keyring.

Re: Using the same Arch Linux installation for a decade

#42

Post by cevn » Tue, Aug 16, 2022, 4:46 PM UTC

I tried to use Centos long term, that was a disaster. Ubuntu and Fedora both broke a few times but I was able to recover them. However, Manjaro / Arch feels the most stable in my experience.

Re: Using the same Arch Linux installation for a decade

#43

Post by nfhshy68 » Tue, Aug 16, 2022, 4:47 PM UTC

qbasic_forever wrote: post #30

kache_ wrote: 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.

I switched off Ubuntu to arch because I got sick of inconsistencies between Ubuntus hacks and developer defaults talked about in archwiki.

Re: Using the same Arch Linux installation for a decade

#44

Post by [deleted] » Tue, Aug 16, 2022, 4:48 PM UTC

wing-_-nuts wrote: post #34

I 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

#45

Post by encryptluks2 » Tue, Aug 16, 2022, 4:48 PM UTC

number6 wrote: post #25

ITT: people telling each other that they use archlinux. BTW I also use archlinux

Because it is awesome!

Re: Using the same Arch Linux installation for a decade

#46

Post by loudmax » Tue, Aug 16, 2022, 4:48 PM UTC

The Arch Linux install on my ThinkPad X230 is about twelve years old now. For most of the time it was my primary laptop, until a couple of years ago when I turned it into a sort of home server with built-in KVM and battery backup.

In contrast to my experience running Gentoo or Fedora, I never experienced significant breakage when doing a system update. Having said that, I've always run a fairly minimal desktop environment and I've been conservative with wifi and audio software. So maybe I wasn't pushing it very hard, but still full credit to Arch for having a rock solid foundation.

Re: Using the same Arch Linux installation for a decade

#47

Post by zdragnar » Tue, Aug 16, 2022, 4:48 PM UTC

wing-_-nuts wrote: post #34

I 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…

For me, Manjaro has been a fantastic base on top of Arch to start with- installer, desktop configured for the flavor you pick, and things Just Work out of the box, including the usual suspects like wifi, media keys (speakers, backlight, etc).

My only real complaint was that I wanted to do a fairly extensive change to the sway configs, and tracking down where they put all the config files took a bit of time.

Re: Using the same Arch Linux installation for a decade

#48

Post by xxpor » Tue, Aug 16, 2022, 4:48 PM UTC

wing-_-nuts wrote: post #34

I 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're some Arch-derived distros that are basically just Arch + some choices made for you + an installer, like https://endeavouros.com/

Re: Using the same Arch Linux installation for a decade

#49

Post by 5e92cb50239222b » Tue, Aug 16, 2022, 4:48 PM UTC

wing-_-nuts wrote: post #34

I 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…

I think you misunderstood the point of the distribution. There's no installer because Arch developers have no need of one. They're creating the distribution for themselves, and if you find it useful (I do), that's great. There's no expectation that an "average technically literate joe" is going to use it because he's not in its target group.

Re: Using the same Arch Linux installation for a decade

#50

Post by mastermedo » Tue, Aug 16, 2022, 4:49 PM UTC

I’m in the same boat. Never saw a need to reinstall, there’s been hiccups where after an untimely upgrade the system won’t boot. But it’s a 30min fix every 3-4years.