bye bye arch

lem · 2009-09-01 14:29:09

i installed arch linux about two years ago.
i was really happy with it. installing the whole system was amazingly simple,
and i appreciated the kdemod packages that provided a 'clean' kde enviroment
that is not bloated like in other distros. unfortunately things started to change when
kde4 was released and soon moved to extra replacing kde3 packages.
since then i've been unable to perform a system upgrade (pacman -Syu).
pacman would spawn endless package conflicts and prompt me to upgrade
the whole desktop enviroment and any kde-releated application, which i didn't want.
i wanted to stick to kde3 for little more. i've had a look at the forum where some
too-much-long topic explained how to upgrade, and how not to upgrade by adding
some ignorepkg to pacman. that didn't work for me. so i decided just not to upgrade.
the system eventually broke anyway when trying to upgrade already installed
packages like firefox (and others), because some applications started to demand
for libraries that were upgraded along with firefox which couldn't be found.
i fixed numerous problems of this kind manually.
then installing thunderbird a couple of days ago upgraded some libs and messed my
machine really bad: made kdm crash preventing me from starting kde.
i had to fix this by installing xdm, and still when entering kde, kdesktop crashes.
amarok now experiences periodic crashes. pidgin 2.6.1 wouldn't work,
that's another story but it all sums up--

it's been fun. i can say that arch is been by far the best
distro i ever used and i really appreciated some of its features,
including the extensive documentation. but i will probably move to a distro
that applies a more intelligent repository policy instead of messing with them
in an effort to be a 'cutting edge' distro.

Devastator · 2009-09-01 14:46:23

Well, that's the price we pay to be the "bleeding edge" distro...

Peasantoid · 2009-09-01 14:49:26

I can't help but wonder if this is really just a veiled request for help.

You did ask for advice with your plethora of issues, yes?

Last edited by Peasantoid (2009-09-01 14:49:44)

wonder · 2009-09-01 14:53:37

this is a good example on why you should never mix unsupported repository. this is the primary reason on why you end up with such problems.

Cerebral · 2009-09-01 14:58:26

Well, to be fair, the problem wasn't that he mixed repos. The problem was that he refused to upgrade a large part of his system, while still attempting to upgrade other parts of the system.

A half-up-to-date system will almost always crash and burn.

Garns · 2009-09-01 15:00:52

In short: "I stopped upgrading, but I upgraded single packages and fucked up my system, which is not my fault, but yours!"

Bye, good luck wherever you are going. Maybe, just maybe you should take a look at kdemod-legacy.

bangkok_manouel · 2009-09-01 15:23:07

i had a delicious chef salad for dinner.

lem · 2009-09-01 15:24:34

im not asking for help. i could probably fix these issues but i've grown tired
of fixing things here and there.yes, i stopped upgrading the whole system in favor
of sporadically upgrading single packages: as cerebral says this often leads to
unstable systems. the thing is i didn't find any simple way to perform a system upgrade
after the repository changes metioned before. i added the kdemod-legacy repository
but pacman would prompt me to upgrade everything i didn't want to anyway.
this is where i think the KISS philosophy of this distro has failed.
btw i only used the standard repos:
core extra community, and some aur package installed
which served me very well and never caused any trouble.
i did never use the testing repo.

Last edited by lem (2009-09-01 15:25:02)

Anikom15 · 2009-09-01 15:31:43

You could have compiled kde3 yourself and all dependencies in a "nursery" environment, while continuing to upgrade, would require some skill though. Which, judging by your post, you lack. Why didn't you just ask for help?

whaevr · 2009-09-01 16:56:03

Anikom15 wrote:

Why didn't you just ask for help?

That is the million dollar question isn't it?

You mentioned you searched the forums, decided the process was too hard and gave up; posting a help topic would probably have been a good idea.

Anyway, if you have left arch by now, you'll be back. They always come back.

Last edited by whaevr (2009-09-01 16:58:34)

nanosleep · 2009-09-01 17:01:18

but i will probably move to a distro that applies a more intelligent repository policy

Hate to play the part of the non-helpful, asshole community member.. but since it seems you've already made up your mind: please don't blame arch for your own idiocy.

If you aren't comfortable managing your system in the way we do, then switching to something like ubuntu is indeed the right choice for you.

gen2 · 2009-09-01 17:04:06

Its something I contend with all the time.

On my desktop its fine. But I run a few servers which after several monghts of not updating packages causes a nice long list of things to do after a pacman -Syu.

Once method could be so checkout a certain version of svn repo and then use abs to update your system.

But what I think the OP really wants is forks of the package repo binaries hence one can reconfigure their pacman to use that fork and be assured that all the packages work nicely together.

kensai · 2009-09-01 17:04:40

bangkok_manouel wrote:

i had a delicious chef salad for dinner.

OMG, what an interesting bit of information. I had a mixed pork ribs and chicken sandwich for dinner. You know, and I always think of how stable and great Arch Linux is even when I'm eating.

Guys, there is a good bye thread, please, use that thread.

.:B:. · 2009-09-01 17:13:30

We all had a rant - some a bit cockier than others. The OP made up his mind, there's nothing of value to be added to this topic.

Arch Linux

#1 2009-09-01 14:29:09

bye bye arch

#2 2009-09-01 14:46:23

Re: bye bye arch

#3 2009-09-01 14:49:26

Re: bye bye arch

#4 2009-09-01 14:53:37

Re: bye bye arch

#5 2009-09-01 14:58:26

Re: bye bye arch

#6 2009-09-01 15:00:52

Re: bye bye arch

#7 2009-09-01 15:23:07

Re: bye bye arch

#8 2009-09-01 15:24:34

Re: bye bye arch

#9 2009-09-01 15:31:43

Re: bye bye arch

#10 2009-09-01 16:56:03

Re: bye bye arch

#11 2009-09-01 17:01:18

Re: bye bye arch

#12 2009-09-01 17:04:06

Re: bye bye arch

#13 2009-09-01 17:04:40

Re: bye bye arch

#14 2009-09-01 17:13:30

Re: bye bye arch

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