Open question to developers and advanced users

mdv · 2006-07-05 16:12:57

Hi guys,
I have been recently experiencing trouble after most upgrades. Last update made it impossible for me to hibernate, former upgrade rendered my KDE unusable.

Is there a solution that would prevent an Average Archlinux User who does not want to be a tester from trouble after every upgrade? Any suggestions?

Regards,
mdv

cactus · 2006-07-05 16:57:07

mdv. Not many developers actively read the forums. I think only two or three of them do.

As for suggestions, I don't have any...

tomk · 2006-07-05 17:49:38

The only suggestion I would have is to read Arch news thoroughly, and wait for 2-3 days whenever a large upgrade is released. While you're waiting, scan the forum and mailing list for problems that other users may encounter.

mdv · 2006-07-05 18:07:14

I could have avoided the KDE break but I seem to be the only guy having problems with hibernate-script. I now have to downgrade to kernel26beyond-2.6.16 to make it work.

cactus · 2006-07-05 18:38:10

you might have better luck trying the mailing list. I know more devs read that than the forums..

mdv · 2006-07-05 18:44:48

I do not want to be the only complaining bastard ;-), arch is a great distro, think I'll just read more before upgrades.

soloport · 2006-07-05 20:21:09

Sorry to report: Arch on laptop; KDE works; Suspend works; 'pacman -Suy' daily; No breakage for 8+ months. Check your BIOS settings? Wish I could be of more help.

mdv · 2006-07-05 20:55:41

I just rolled down to kernel26beyond-2.6.16 and it (hibernate) works as it should. I have no idea why it does not work with the new kernel.

benplaut · 2006-07-06 01:51:37

in general, don't update all that often

bampowwack · 2006-07-07 04:27:35

I have to agree. If your system is running fine there should be no need to upgrade to often.

Try adding:
"IgnorePkg = kernel26 alsa udev"
And whatever 3rd party gfx pkg to your pacman.conf, once you have your system running the way you like it.

Works for me, to much grief with some of the package maintainers over the years.

bogomipz · 2006-07-07 17:35:14

I have to disagree. If you seldom pacman -Syu, it will only make the upgrades bigger, with more things to deal with at the same time.

Even if you wait half a year between upgrades, you could still hit a testing->current move for instance. Also, if you skip versions of a package, less people will have tried your exact upgrade path.

It's better to do many small upgrades, but wait a while when big changes are announced.

Ignoring updates of certain packages, like bampowwack suggestes, could be a good idea, especially the kernel which involves rebuilding the initial ram disk (four of them, actually!!) and possibly some proprietary driver interfaces. Just keep in mind that some of the most significant changes with the biggest impact on the system tend to happen in stuff related to booting, so don't lag too much with those packages either.

test1000 · 2006-07-07 20:25:28

bah. pull the cord. problem solved

phrakture · 2006-07-07 22:00:05

Personally, I don't have many stability problems. However, I do not use any of the packages you speak of. I don't use KDE, nor hibernate (no need, one of these days I *should* try it, though).

I'm more than willing to give you a hand (assuming I have the time), if you'd let us know as much detail about the problems as you can.

I think it's important to use the bug tracker in situations like this. Abuse it if you want, that's what it's for. Problems with hibernate? Post as much detail as you can in the bug tracker (after a check of the forums).

On a side note, you may want to reach out to iphitus for problems with the beyond kernel. It *is* a custom patchset, you know. That means it might not always be the stable-est thing on the block.

mdv · 2006-07-07 22:51:30

The problem with KDE was caused by bad synchronization of mirrors, so part of my system was compiled against new libraries and the other part with the old ones.

The problem with hibernate: I cannot help right now because I have only one laptop and it's my production system so I cannot play with 2.6.17-beyond and give you dmesg or logs. But I'll tell you what the problem looked like. After

# hibernate

the system was going to hibernate as if nothing was wrong, but in the very moment when it should poweroff it wouldn't. When I downgraded to 2.6.16-beyond it goes smoothly as earlier.

I can't remember of any other problem caused by updating but I am pretty sure I've had other trouble as well.

Thanks for your interest. Arch community is really great.

Arch Linux

#1 2006-07-05 16:12:57

Open question to developers and advanced users

#2 2006-07-05 16:57:07

Re: Open question to developers and advanced users

#3 2006-07-05 17:49:38

Re: Open question to developers and advanced users

#4 2006-07-05 18:07:14

Re: Open question to developers and advanced users

#5 2006-07-05 18:38:10

Re: Open question to developers and advanced users

#6 2006-07-05 18:44:48

Re: Open question to developers and advanced users

#7 2006-07-05 20:21:09

Re: Open question to developers and advanced users

#8 2006-07-05 20:55:41

Re: Open question to developers and advanced users

#9 2006-07-06 01:51:37

Re: Open question to developers and advanced users

#10 2006-07-07 04:27:35

Re: Open question to developers and advanced users

#11 2006-07-07 17:35:14

Re: Open question to developers and advanced users

#12 2006-07-07 20:25:28

Re: Open question to developers and advanced users

#13 2006-07-07 22:00:05

Re: Open question to developers and advanced users

#14 2006-07-07 22:51:30

Re: Open question to developers and advanced users

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