Linux

56538 readers

607 users here now

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Linux is a family of open source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991 by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged in a Linux distribution (or distro for short).

Distributions include the Linux kernel and supporting system software and libraries, many of which are provided by the GNU Project. Many Linux distributions use the word "Linux" in their name, but the Free Software Foundation uses the name GNU/Linux to emphasize the importance of GNU software, causing some controversy.

Rules

Posts must be relevant to operating systems running the Linux kernel. GNU/Linux or otherwise.
No misinformation
No NSFW content
No hate speech, bigotry, etc

Related Communities

Community icon by Alpár-Etele Méder, licensed under CC BY 3.0

founded 6 years ago

MODERATORS

AgreeableLandscape@lemmy.ml

nooter692@lemmy.ml

MarcellusDrum@lemmy.ml

cypherpunks@lemmy.ml

cyclohexane@lemmy.ml

d3Xt3r@lemmy.nz

321

Realizing Arch isn't for me after updating broke VLC (self.linux)

submitted 6 days ago by makeitwonderful to c/linux@lemmy.ml

288 comments fedilink hide all child comments

I realized my VLC was broke some point in the week after updating Arch. I spend time troubleshooting then find a forum post with replies from an Arch moderator saying they knew it would happen and it's my fault for not wanting to read through pages of changelogs. Another mod post says they won't announce that on the RSS feed either. I thought I was doing good by following the RSS but I guess that's not enough.

I've been happily using Arch for 5 years but after reading those posts I've decided to look for a different distro. Does anyone have recommendations for the closest I can get to Arch but with a different attitude around updating?

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments

[–] oo1@lemmings.world 3 points 6 days ago (3 children)

Would a flatpak would survive this update? I do use arch on some computers but with several flatpaks for some applications that I feel will be safer - but i don't really know.

Maybe i just update and see what happens.

[–] Ricaz@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 points 6 days ago (2 children)

The whole point of the update is to avoid the silly Windows-like mentality of flatpack. It splits the package up so you can choose what you want instead of installing a bunch of crap you won't ever use. If OP had been awake while doing a full upgrade on his bleeding edge system, he would have noticed.

[–] oo1@lemmings.world 1 points 5 days ago (1 children)

Surely that can be OPs choice.

If a user has a large number of programmes they might not want to hand hold updates of all of them each time.

If they choose only the handful they want from arch repo or aur then they might have a quicker update and find it easier to stay awake.

I'd think it should be up to them if they want to trade off bloat vs the burden of an update.

I find, especially for AUR stuff the update can become vexatious.

[–] Ricaz@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 points 5 days ago

Of course it's his choice, it's his system.

The general advice is that handpicking updates from main repos is a big no-no. There are only a couple of reasons you would ever need that, like updating archlinux-keyring on a very outdated system.

Even on my 13 year old install with many thousands of packages, it's not hard to spot if anything is out of the ordinary when doing huge upgrades. You should pay attention.

That being said, I often just do pacman -Syu --noconfirm && poweroff these days. It's so rare that anything breaks and I can very easily fix it if it does.