Few questions before switching to arch

astronic · 2007-07-16 21:02:33

Dear Forum!

I am thinking of switching to archlinux, however before I do, I still have some questions.

1) How does arch's "rolling release" approach handle big incompatible rev bumps of libraries or gcc? I have been using Gentoo (a source based distro with rolling releases) for years and in such cases a rebuild of all affected packages was required (in case of the gcc3 to gcc4 transition, a rebuild of the whole system). To my understanding in such a case with arch an updated version of all affected binary packages must be released simultaneously to the library/gcc update. Is this properly coordinated or do things break?

2) How mature is arch for x86_64 regarding package selection and 32bit compatibility? Are 32bit versions of important libs like GTK2 or Qt available as an arch package?

3) Can I install 32bit closed source software like Adobe Reader, Google Earth and Adobe Flash using pacman and get automatic updates? Or do I have to pull some "force architecture" stunt that breaks automatic updates or install the software on arch64 by hand?

4) Can I install (for example by using a special repository) things that are legally problematic in some countries, like MP3 support, 64-bit-WMW codecs, DeCSS etc. via pacman and receive automatic updates for them?

5) Quite frankly: How good is package QA?

Sorry for not looking up the availability of 64bit packages myself, but as it seems the web interface of the package database doesn't show me the architectures for which a package is available.

Thanks in advance!

Regards,
Stefan

chaosgeisterchen · 2007-07-16 21:12:19

ad 1)

I have never experienced inconveniences concering the binaries and gcc. After updating gcc, the packages, which were (probably) built against an older version of gcc continued working without a problem. So nothing of a hassle here.

ad 2 & 3)

I would still suggest to use i686, the advantages of x86_64 are outperformed by the inconveniences. Arch is very streamlined. If you go 64 bit, you are supposed to let go of all 32bit-only apps, as they do not support the architecture you run natively.

ad 3 & 4)

CSS and legally problematic software has never been a problematic issue concerning Arch. Just install it and enjoy bleeding edge quality packages.

ad 5)

The package quality is good, but sometimes there's some delay in releases - but I do not know if I understood your question correctly.

tom5760 · 2007-07-16 21:13:43

3 + 4.) Yes you can! A quck 'pacman -S codecs acroread flashplugin' will get you that stuff, and have auto updates. For google earth, there is a package in the AUR[1]. Arch's user repository.

5.) Q/A I think is really good. Important packages such as the kernel and X11 are in the testing repository right now, so the bugs can get worked out.

I'm not 100% sure on 1 and 2 though. If you decide to try Arch, have fun!

[1] http://aur.archlinux.org/

jb · 2007-07-17 20:44:29

1.) Rebuilds like that are very rare... gcc3->gcc4 is the only instance that I know of. If I remember correctly, they got all of the packages ready in testing, and once it looked like everything was working, they moved them all to current+extra at once, and asked people to hold off while the mirror were updating.

I waited a week to be safe, but from my end it was just a 'pacman -Syu' and reboot.

Edit: part2,
The devs do something similar for kernel 2.6.n -> 2.6.n+1 releases (Also the python 2.4 -> 2.5). If you check out the testing tree right now, you'll see they're getting all of the kernel drivers/modules ready for 2.6.22. Once they consider that set usable, they'll move it to current.

Last edited by jb (2007-07-17 20:49:13)

astronic · 2007-07-18 18:14:53

chaosgeisterchen wrote:

I would still suggest to use i686, the advantages of x86_64 are outperformed by the inconveniences. Arch is very streamlined. If you go 64 bit, you are supposed to let go of all 32bit-only apps, as they do not support the architecture you run natively.

x86-64 is perfectly able to run 32bit-x86 software natively (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Long_mode), I have been doing it for years. However, to run a 32bit application of course all libraries it depends on must also be installed as 32bit. This is why on a typical x86-64 system, important libraries are installed twice: Once in 64bit, once in 32bit.

Thank you for your answer!

Regards,
Stefan

astronic · 2007-07-18 18:38:03

Thank you all for your answer, I am downloading Arch Linux right now to evaluate it in a virtual machine first.

Two other questions have come to my mind, though.

1) Do arch packages have cryptographic signatures to verify that nobody has e. g. hacked a mirror and messed with them?

2) Are there tools to remove unneeded dependencies? For example, if I install application A that pulls dependencies C and D and now decide to remove A again, how can I automatically get rid of C and D? Or asked differently: Is there an arch equivalent for "emerge -av depclean" on Gentoo or "debfoster" on Debian?

Thanks again!

Regards,
Stefan

SiD · 2007-07-18 18:41:35

1) I don't know

2) pacman -Rs <package A> should do that

Cerebral · 2007-07-18 18:42:34

astronic wrote:

1) Do arch packages have cryptographic signatures to verify that nobody has e. g. hacked a mirror and messed with them?

No - it's something that's been talked about, but not yet put into any kind of implementation.

astronic wrote:

2) Are there tools to remove unneeded dependencies? For example, if I install application A that pulls dependencies C and D and now decide to remove A again, how can I automatically get rid of C and D? Or asked differently: Is there an arch equivalent for "emerge -av depclean" on Gentoo or "debfoster" on Debian?

Pacman will handle this quite nicely - when you remove package A, run the command

pacman -Rc A

(or maybe -Rs. I keep forgetting which of the two does which - in any case the functionality is there) and that will recursively remove dependencies that A installed, provided no other package on your system depends on them.

Last edited by Cerebral (2007-07-18 18:43:33)

Misfit138 · 2007-07-18 19:35:58

pacman -Rs

Arch Linux

#1 2007-07-16 21:02:33

Few questions before switching to arch

#2 2007-07-16 21:12:19

Re: Few questions before switching to arch

#3 2007-07-16 21:13:43

Re: Few questions before switching to arch

#4 2007-07-17 20:44:29

Re: Few questions before switching to arch

#5 2007-07-18 18:14:53

Re: Few questions before switching to arch

#6 2007-07-18 18:38:03

Re: Few questions before switching to arch

#7 2007-07-18 18:41:35

Re: Few questions before switching to arch

#8 2007-07-18 18:42:34

Re: Few questions before switching to arch

#9 2007-07-18 19:35:58

Re: Few questions before switching to arch

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