How long have you been without a reinstall?

GogglesGuy · 2008-07-20 14:54:16

uhmm never.... this is my first line in pacman.log... I think I'm missing a couple:

[03/28/05 19:24] installed lftp (3.0.13-1)
[03/28/05 19:24] installed netkit-ftp (0.17-3)
[03/28/05 19:25] installed bftpd (1.0.24-2)
[03/28/05 19:27] installed libjpeg (6b-3)

jimmy512 · 2008-07-22 10:28:33

I usually trash my install every few weeks, so a reinstall normally happens if I can't fix it, or just cant be bothered.

I also have a seperate partition mounted at /var/cache/pacman/pkg, which I do not format at reinstalls, to avoid having to take loads of time re-downloading all those massive packages, like kde and openoffice - this is really useful, and means I can do a full reinstall in about 20 minutes.

I also keep my home partition seperate, though usually delete all the . folders, so I can reset everything.

onearm · 2008-08-03 06:45:56

Never reinstalled since I bought a new pc, around december 2006 if I'm right, and not going to do until I can celebrate its two years

Limoto · 2008-08-03 12:28:26

[08/20/06 09:06] synchronizing package lists
[08/20/06 09:06] synchronizing package lists
[08/20/06 09:07] warning: no /var/cache/pacman/pkg cache exists.  creating...

It's my first installation of Arch. I'm still using it and it works nice and really not going to reinstall it

serrghi · 2008-08-04 11:33:11

with windows i had to reinstall now and then, and with ubuntu i had to do the same. with archlinux ive only had to reinstall one time, and thats because my harddrive broke down. Been using arch since september 07.

Oxyd · 2008-08-04 12:08:07

[2008-01-10 06:33] synchronizing package lists

I had to reinstall Arch once because I FUBAR'd my root partition. But as long as your hardware endures, I'm pretty sure you can go for ages without reinstall.

darose · 2008-08-04 17:26:38

Yup. I've probably had 5-6 Arch boxes over the years, and I've never had to "reinstall" even once. On occasion I'll have some issues with a package upgrade, but a quick trip to the Arch forums or mailing lists usually gives me the solution. Hell - worst case scenario is you downgrade the package(s) that caused a problem. (Or absolute worst case: boot into the Arch Installation/SystemRescueCD/Knoppix LiveCD and fix whatever got borked.)

Seriously - the lack of need for a "reinstall" or "upgrade to a new version" in Arch is such a reality that I scratch my head in disbelief every time I hear of some poor Ubuntu or Fedora user posting about something that got broken during their last upgrade. It's kinda like watching someone doing something completely primitive and inefficient and thinking "people still DO that?!?!?!". No joke!

quetzyg · 2008-08-04 18:02:15

darose wrote:

It's kinda like watching someone doing something completely primitive and inefficient and thinking "people still DO that?!?!?!". No joke!

I understand you perfectly!

kclive18 · 2008-08-04 18:38:35

I had arch on my laptop since may on reiserfs, but reiserfs is not that great on a 4200rpm hard disk. So I had to reinstall clean yesterday and switch to JFS, which is much better. In addition, I used to use GNOME on the laptop until I discovered the true power of XFCE about a month ago , so I had all these leftover files/pkgs from uninstalling such a big mess (GNOME, that is). Runs great so far, and I've learned a lot about the ins and outs of linux through doing this reinstall.

yama · 2008-08-04 19:12:02

i started using Arch a little before i registered here. So i have only used it for a little over 4months now. first installed it on the misses 6years old comp, and i reinstalled there two times. Once because i had it on for so long (without reboot) i completly forgot my password (both root and login ), once cause i totally fucked it up.

Now i have bought a new comp so the old one is not in use at the moment. Now that the old one is retired the former Ubuntu / WinXP dualboot has become 100% Arch Powered. The last month i have reinstalled it once. It was cause GDM crashed. The new one was sent back two days after i got it since it arrived ready for beeing returned (Motherboard was fucked). Took it as a sign the machine was tired of MS and wiped it clean (so for the first time since i bought it, its now free for a MS OS).

here is the three first lines in pacman.log
[2008-07-26 12:42] installed filesystem (2008.07-1)
[2008-07-26 12:42] installed pcre (7.7-2)
[2008-07-26 12:42] installed grep (2.5.3-3)

Atleast i win the award for shortest Arch install so far in the thread :cool:

So basically i have reinstalled it a few times but only once cause of something i didnt cause (atleast i dont think i didnt).

So now that i am starting to get, atleast a little, experience in the world of GNU/Linux i hope its a loooong time till i need a reinstall.

Last edited by yama (2008-08-04 19:14:30)

ProgDan · 2008-08-04 21:29:21

I have never had to reinstall ArchLinux, still using my first installation from November 18 2007 (of course updated ;-) )

ahioros · 2008-08-04 23:24:36

I never reinstall my ArchLinux distro since July 2005 ... but, a clone my hd (with archlinux of course ;-)) when i upgrade my pc...

olujicz · 2008-08-04 23:52:54

[2008-04-02 13:35] synchronizing package lists

The day when I install ArchLinux for the first time

[vEX] · 2008-08-05 11:07:32

1. Install Arch Linux.
2. ...
3. Profit!

(I've never done a re-install and I sure hope I won't need too.)

Last edited by [vEX] (2008-08-05 11:08:02)

cbart387 · 2008-08-06 02:23:32

darose wrote:

...scratch my head in disbelief every time I hear of some poor Ubuntu or Fedora user posting about something that got broken during their last upgrad It's kinda like watching someone doing something completely primitive and inefficient and thinking "people still DO that?!?!?!". No joke!

That's why I chose Arch, as a former Ubuntu/Fedora user. It's the first distro (BSD or Linux) that I've found that has the right mix of (a) rolling release (b) simple/elegant (c) great package management. Debian almost fits the bill, but Arch's design seems more elegant to me. More like a properly designed piece of software then a software hack. (Not bashing Debian. I do have it installed as well on my machine. Just stating my preference)

Nicky726 · 2008-08-07 06:27:14

[2008-02-07 20:42] synchronizing package lists

I never reinstalled Arch since its installation on the computer. Thinking of which I have now 6 month anniversary.

nh · 2008-08-07 22:22:45

I installed Arch a couple of weeks ago, and it has been fine ever since! I will reply again this time next year...

glad · 2008-08-07 22:34:11

Since my install of Arch in 2005 I must say that it has been quite a few times, that cause I'll never got my wireless card working so I kept on installing windows, and then going back to arch to try more, then failed and so on..

Before that I tried many other distros, like Ubuntu, Gentoo and Slackware but I didn't fell in love with one of them, until I first tried Arch. Everything was so easy, I didn't have to look trough many diffrent configuration utilities just to change my timezone, or remove any bloatware, everything was perfect expect that wireless card.

But when I got wired internet connection I made my switch completly and haven't looked back once. But in total I guess I have reinstalled arch 10 times or something, but not once after I got that wired connection :-)

crouse · 2008-08-08 02:12:33

Here are a few of mine..... my oldest is from 2006, when I first started playing with Arch

[21:08:45 crouse]$ head /var/log/pacman.log
[08/18/06 12:51] synchronizing package lists

[crouse@VistaCrusher ~]$ head /var/log/pacman.log
[2007-12-06 22:51] synchronizing package lists

[root@VistaCrusher5 ~]# head /var/log/pacman.log
[2008-01-14 17:39] synchronizing package lists

[crouse@VistaCrusher1 ~]$ head /var/log/pacman.log
[2008-07-17 19:57] synchronizing package lists

proc · 2008-08-11 09:41:28

My first and only installation on this machine: 17 April 2006
I've installed Arch on my laptop, my girlfriend pc, some PCs and other three PCs in the company where I work without a single reinstall.

When I was in Paris I haven't updated some machines for 7-8 months (during the modular xorg transition), as soon as I went back and after about 700-800 MB of download everything was up to date without much fuss.

schivmeister · 2008-08-15 07:13:41

14 months w/o a reinstall. Frankly, I was looking at something like 14 years (if hardware can last that long) but....tough luck

Arch Linux

#26 2008-07-20 14:54:16

Re: How long have you been without a reinstall?

#27 2008-07-22 10:28:33

Re: How long have you been without a reinstall?

#28 2008-08-03 06:45:56

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#29 2008-08-03 12:28:26

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#30 2008-08-04 11:33:11

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#31 2008-08-04 12:08:07

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#32 2008-08-04 17:26:38

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#33 2008-08-04 18:02:15

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#34 2008-08-04 18:38:35

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#35 2008-08-04 19:12:02

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#36 2008-08-04 21:29:21

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#37 2008-08-04 23:24:36

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#38 2008-08-04 23:52:54

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#39 2008-08-05 11:07:32

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#40 2008-08-06 02:23:32

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#41 2008-08-07 06:27:14

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#42 2008-08-07 22:22:45

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#43 2008-08-07 22:34:11

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#44 2008-08-08 02:12:33

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#45 2008-08-11 09:41:28

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#46 2008-08-15 07:13:41

Re: How long have you been without a reinstall?

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