[Solved]Rolling Releases (All distros) questions & comments.

gpatrick · 2016-09-22 04:20:30

Rolling Releases (All distros) questions & comments. I have search for the answers but couldn't find a clear cut answers. I know that some Arch users have tried a lot of Distro, I don't think I am ready for Arch no offense meant. I just have some rolling release questions. I know there is Arch, Opensuse tumbleweed, Manjaro Linux and Pclinuxos. My concern, is how often are updates downloaded everyday, weekly or every month? How much data is download during those updates? Can you choose when to update your rolling release or is it automatic? Is it possible to roll-back without doing an image restore and block the update that may have cause a problem? I did read PClinuxos is a slower rolling release updating system. I can't remember which rolling release allows you to block updates that might give you a problem with your system.

I currently use Linux Mint 18 xfce & dual boot with Windows 7 sp1.

One Arch question, if you don't mind answering. I know you are suppose to find this out yourself. Is there a Graphic installer for Arch yet?

Thank you in advance for this information.

Last edited by gpatrick (2016-10-03 02:51:08)

ewaller · 2016-09-22 04:29:42

Welcome to Arch Linux.

You missed the penultimate distribution -- Gentoo. Regardless, plan on spending some time doing maintenance on a bi-weekly basis. Count on several megabytes/month. Arch updates when you direct it; same with Gentoo. Don't upgrade any distribution if you cannot afford some down time. You can roll back things on a package by package basis -- but you can break things.

From a practical point of view, I update about once a week and never have issues. Yes, never.

There is no, and will (probably) never exist a graphic installer for Arch. Why in $DEITY's name would anyone want a GUI installer for Arch -- or Gentoo?

jasonwryan · 2016-09-22 04:32:18

Updates hit the mirrors daily, you can chose when you install them, but you shouldn't leave it for any length of time. Small, frequent updates are better than large ones.

The data depends on what sort of packages you have installed: Gnome updates will be larger than openbox ones.

You can roll back from your cache, but this is a remedial action, not an ongoing strategy: partial upgrades are unsupported.

There is no graphical installer for Arch.

Moving to NC...

marius-arc · 2016-09-22 11:59:41

jasonwryan wrote:

You can roll back from your cache, but this is a remedial action, not an ongoing strategy: partial upgrades are unsupported.
There is no graphical installer for Arch.

Moving to NC...

Slight hijack - is there a wiki page on how to roll back/downgrade? I've seen others say they've downgraded while troubleshooting, and I'd also like to know how to do this.

V1del · 2016-09-22 12:03:39

Why are you asking this question? If you got far enough to ask yourself if there is a wiki page on downgrading packages you could've checked the wiki if there was a page on downgrading and lo- and behold: https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Do … g_packages

gpatrick · 2016-09-22 14:28:45

ewaller

The simple answer is I just like the graphic installer. Yes, I know I could probably get arch to install, but I don't think it will work do to proprietary drivers. I was just wanting to get an idea on how rolling releases work. I want to decided whether to stick with a non-rolling release or go to a rolling release. Just for info. I have tried a lot of distro, some worked, some didn't with my system.

ewaller · 2016-09-22 14:59:56

gpatrick wrote:

The simple answer is I just like the graphic installer.

Fair enough.

I hope you find the distribution you like -- even if it isn't arch
What drives are we talking about? Perhaps there exists a solution.

Alad · 2016-09-22 15:00:59

gpatrick wrote:

The simple answer is I just like the graphic installer. Yes, I know I could probably get arch to install, but I don't think it will work do to proprietary drivers.

Proprietary drivers like what? I can't see how the two are related in any way.

For your other questions:

https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Ar … tributions
https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Fr … _questions

Last edited by Alad (2016-09-22 15:03:20)

ngoonee · 2016-09-22 15:03:28

ewaller wrote:

From a practical point of view, I update about once a week ...

Slacker!

I find daily updates (or even multiple times, normally in the morning before the kids get up and in the evening after work) more stable for me. You get maybe 6-7 packages at once (unless there's a rebuild) and its easy to pinpoint the source of the problem.

gpatrick · 2016-09-22 18:21:34

Alad

One particular driver I have an issue with is my realtek Ethernet network card during the install of some Linux distros. The other issue is the Intel HD graphics driver. Depending on which Operating system or distro I was using it either had a blinking issue or didn't recognize resolution. Not all distros or operating system had these issues. I was going to try Opensuse Tumbleweed again but I am not so sure after reading about how often Rolling releases updates work. I am the type that does full image backups at least once a week. So, I may wait on the Newer Opensuse leap version that comes out in November 2016. With a non rolling release unless I am wrong, it seems it is easier to block updates that may cause an issue.

Edited post for clarification.

Last edited by gpatrick (2016-09-22 21:50:21)

Alad · 2016-09-30 23:26:24

The Intel HD issues are because the Intel drivers are awful in general (and this is not a daring claim - just look at the fiascos regarding newer CPU models, or the amassing bugs on their bug tracker). I don't know about your Realtek card - but the network configuration wiki probably has a section about it should there be an issue.

TheChickenMan · 2016-09-30 23:53:34

I know there is Arch, Opensuse tumbleweed, Manjaro Linux and Pclinuxos.

Antergos is also pretty nice. It's close to Arch, sharing much of the same software, but with an installer and "pretty" gnome desktop.

My concern, is how often are updates downloaded everyday, weekly or every month?

Packages are added to the repositories whenever they're done. That usually means several times per day.

How much data is download during those updates?

I average about 10 updated packages or about 64MB per day.

Can you choose when to update your rolling release or is it automatic?

It's recommended to update reasonably often with rolling releases, at least weekly or monthly at the longest. I do every day. In Arch, nothing is done for you automatically unless you script it yourself. Other distributions, your milage may vary.

Is it possible to roll-back without doing an image restore and block the update that may have cause a problem?

Of course. If there's an issue with a package version you just go to your pacman cache folder where old versions are kept and tell pacman to install manually the older version. If this has been deleted there is a repository for old versions which can be used. Much of this can be made simpler with a helper script like "downgrade" you can install. Note that most distributions do more automatically but do not offer such {easy simple} ways of fixing problems.

I can't remember which rolling release allows you to block updates that might give you a problem with your system.

You can do this with Arch by editing your /etc/pacman.conf file. Be aware however that non-full upgrades are unsupported and often ill advised. Use this at your own risk.

gpatrick · 2016-10-03 00:41:36

I am trying Antergos now. Maybe once I get used to how pacman terminal works I can eventually try arch. My issue since I multiple boot, I set my partitions up differently. I would have a harder time during the install phase. I have used a command/terminal install a long time ago but it took me a log while to figure that out. I think it was red hat six that you got a cd from a computer magazine.

@TheChickenMan about blocking updates. For example with Antergos, I did unchecked use this device below for boot installation during install. I wanted to use the Linux Mint grub2 boot manager and be able to use grub customizer. Now when a grub update and/or a memtest comes in for Antergos--I would block those items.

One thing I was a little surprised on is Antergos & Manjaro is them not using a root account but using sudo. I know there is whole debate which is better sudo or root.

I think I understand the difference in a rolling release or least it is my view,

Rolling release is updated every day or every other day, you can update that day or you can install every week or every month or not at all and you don't usually get any notice about any updates coming. Rolling release can be more updated or can be outdated.

Non rolling release is updated at various times and you are notified there are updates available you can update that then or you can install every week or every month and it keeps reminding you. Its slower at getting new release versions even slower if you are using LTS version.

Last edited by gpatrick (2016-10-03 00:44:12)

frank604 · 2016-10-03 02:10:46

Arch gives you plain vanilla. Antergos/manjaro and other derivatives of Arch do various post-installation setup like getting visudo setup for your user account. What debate are you even talking about in regards to sudo vs root?

Regardless of distro, you can easily run a script in Linux to notify the user of a package update.

You are more than welcome to use whichever distro you would like but I am surprised why you would not google the questions on the OP. I'm sure there is much more background information out there that would be a much better source (IMHO).

If a certain distro enabled all your hardware to work out of the box, you can see what their setup is. What modules are loaded. What config files they have. Etc etc and then apply that to any other distro. It's like a car with no AC vs a car with AC. Why not just install the AC instead of buying a new car? Hope that analogy worked out.

gpatrick · 2016-10-03 02:50:11

frank604 I am a tester of sorts. I tested a lot distros but some didn't work with my system. Actually, I did search google for my questions but what I a found was not clear cut. For some reason, I guess the best way to describe is I had a form of writer's block. All of sudden a light bulb went off and I understood how a rolling release actually works. What was throwing me off is there was no auto update check done for most if not all Arch based distro and Opensuse tumbleweed. Another thing that was throwing me for a loop is Pclinuxos. Pclinuxos I would guess it to be a semi-rolling release somewhere in the middle. I also understand a rolling release is not as stable.

circleface · 2016-10-03 02:53:55

Another good thing about rolling releases is that they never become obsolete. You can install something like Ubuntu, but then in time (still 18 months?) it will be outdated and you will have to upgrade everything at once. With rolling release, assuming you update frequently, it is much easier to track down a problem and fix it because only 10 or so packages will be installed at the time.

Arch Linux

#1 2016-09-22 04:20:30

[Solved]Rolling Releases (All distros) questions & comments.

#2 2016-09-22 04:29:42

Re: [Solved]Rolling Releases (All distros) questions & comments.

#3 2016-09-22 04:32:18

Re: [Solved]Rolling Releases (All distros) questions & comments.

#4 2016-09-22 11:59:41

Re: [Solved]Rolling Releases (All distros) questions & comments.

#5 2016-09-22 12:03:39

Re: [Solved]Rolling Releases (All distros) questions & comments.

#6 2016-09-22 14:28:45

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#7 2016-09-22 14:59:56

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#8 2016-09-22 15:00:59

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#9 2016-09-22 15:03:28

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#10 2016-09-22 18:21:34

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#11 2016-09-30 23:26:24

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#12 2016-09-30 23:53:34

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#13 2016-10-03 00:41:36

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#14 2016-10-03 02:10:46

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#15 2016-10-03 02:50:11

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#16 2016-10-03 02:53:55

Re: [Solved]Rolling Releases (All distros) questions & comments.

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