[arch-general] Arch Linux Release Question

[Isaac Dupree]

On 04/10/10 01:36, Joe(theWordy)Philbrook wrote:
>> if you don't mind running old versions of software... which I do...
>
> I take it that you don't feel that "pacman -Syu" or if applicable
> something like "yaourt -Syu –aur" Will bring your Arch system as fully
> up to date as installing the latest Ubuntu release, followed by an
> apt-get dist-upgrade would???

Oh, I meant that... um... you missed the rest of the quote. I was saying 
that people who don't mind running old versions of software can use 
Ubuntu Long-Term-Support releases or Debian Stable (or late-cycle 
Testing) or the like.  Then those people only have to upgrade once every 
few years.  Which is less frequent than 6 months.  Thus, they get one 
advantage of rolling-release systems (namely, not having to upgrade 
every six months!).  At the expense of using two-or-three-year-old 
software a lot.

> I'll agree that there's good stuff in the other wiki(s). But the Arch
> wiki impressed me with how it approaches how-to instructions with
> regard to helping users who really don't have a clue yet, work their
> way through it.

I agree!  I guess.  I learned Linux around five or six years ago by 
installing Gentoo based on its wiki instructions.  There is no realistic 
way for me to compare that to my Arch experience.  Installing Ubuntu 
first would've been easier but I would've not come to understand nearly 
as quickly how my system really "works".  (And so I've been able to 
witness HAL coming and going (affecting X configuration file formats), 
and D-Bus becoming nigh on mandatory, and other neat stuff (sort of 
a.k.a. bloat! -- of course it has purposes).)


> I guess I've always tried to use cli methods because I've never been
> comfortable attempting major upgrades while depending on the X server.

Oh, I agree that upgrading from CLI feels much safer!  In fact, once 
upon a time an Xubuntu GUI-based upgrade broke X and had to be fixed 
from the console.  It's nice to know that there is at least a 
semi-supported way to do it...

> Incidentally Isaac, if you've got the spare partition to do a 'parallel' fresh
> install, you could still do an upgrade without risking the existing installation...
>
> 1) Duplicate current installation on the separate partition.
> 2) edit target fstab to reflect it's new location.
> 3) add an appropriate entry to grub
> 4) assuming the cloned installation works properly, you can upgrade one,
>     while keeping the the other untouched...

ooh! clever! Possibly even worth it in some cases.

-Isaac