Long term support

awi · 2011-11-15 20:19:58

Hi,

first let me say that I like ArchLinux. I like the packet management, the understandable boot scripts and so on. It is one of the leanest distros around. And I understand the concept of "rolling release" (at least I hope so ;-)).

I tried to use ArchLinux for our industrial PCs. Unfortunately we cannot keep all of these machine at the bleeding edge of releases. We need some "stability" also known as "long term support".

For example we have installed ArchLinux 2009.08 on some machines, but when we want to install additional packages now, the repos doesn't have the necessary package versions available. For a "rolling release" that's fine.

So I'm wondering how I could get this "stability" with ArchLinux? Maybe ArchLinux is wrong for this requirements? Maybe I have to maintain my own repo (which I would do just to get the benefits of ArchLlinux packet management)?

Best Regards
Andreas

Pierre · 2011-11-15 21:08:37

If you need to keep package versions no matter what and just want security updates Arch is most likely the wrong tool here.

Of course you can base you own stable distro on Arch and maintain all packages yourself. But don't underestimate the work to accomplish this. The older your software gets the harder it will be to maintain them and backport security fixes.

If security is not a big issue for you (e.g. your machines have no critical data and are offline) you could just sync the whole repo at a certain time, add you own tools based on this and freeze it for some time. But once you might want to update to more recent version and will need to deal with all the problems manually.

nomilieu · 2011-11-15 21:29:09

Honestly, Arch Linux might not be the right tool for you if you really can't afford the possibility of breaking something during package updates.

Realistically, I don't recall ever having any problems except:
(a) A kernel update once broke my wireless connectivity. Lacking a convenient backup (or desire to patch the bugged code line), I just grabbed the next kernel package from [testing] for an easy fix.
(b) Catalyst tends to occasionally crap out on an xorg-server update.

There's also ArchServer, which would be exactly what you need, but it seems to have had trouble really getting of the ground.

Last edited by nomilieu (2011-11-16 13:57:00)

tomk · 2011-11-15 22:35:49

awi wrote:

we have installed ArchLinux 2009.08 on some machines

FYI 2009.08 is an installer version, not an Arch version. As you noted, Arch uses a rolling release system, so the date given to the installer quickly becomes irrelevant once the system is in use.

awi wrote:

when we want to install additional packages now, the repos doesn't have the necessary package versions available.

Those of use who use Arch as it should be used would disagree with that - the necessary package versions are the ones that are installed when you execute pacman -Syu.

All of which is another way of saying that Arch is not a good fit for the requirements you described above.

/dev/zero · 2011-11-15 22:42:25

Debian Netinst works for me. Install it, install what you want on top of it, walk away and forget about it.

.:B:. · 2011-11-15 22:55:55

There is http://www.archserver.org/, however, the last update seems to be from august. Either way, there's no official support, and Arch is entirely rolling release.

I agree with /dev/zero - Debian is a safe bet, and you can get support. It's a major distro, after all.

fsckd · 2011-11-16 01:23:04

Debian also backports security fixes, something a frozen Arch doesn't have.

bwat47 · 2011-11-16 04:49:18

TBH it sounds like you should be using debian. As mentioned above you can get a lean debian starting system with the net install.

Arch Linux

#1 2011-11-15 20:19:58

Long term support

#2 2011-11-15 21:08:37

Re: Long term support

#3 2011-11-15 21:29:09

Re: Long term support

#4 2011-11-15 22:35:49

Re: Long term support

#5 2011-11-15 22:42:25

Re: Long term support

#6 2011-11-15 22:55:55

Re: Long term support

#7 2011-11-16 01:23:04

Re: Long term support

#8 2011-11-16 04:49:18

Re: Long term support

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