[arch-general] coping with damaging updates

[Brendan Long]

On 2011-10-27 8:24 PM, Mick wrote:
> On Thu, 27 Oct 2011 11:24:13 -0500
> Leonid Isaev <lisaev at umail.iu.edu> wrote:
>
>> On (10/27/11 17:49), Mick wrote:
>> -~> Following yet another update that has disabled user control of USB
>> -~> sticks, cameras, etc. and blocked user from shutting down from the
>> -~> desktop (in my case xfce4), I am at the end of my tether.
>> -~> 
>> -~> Is there some way to be fore-warned of these updates coming
>> online and -~> avoid them or be ready with clear info on how to
>> repair the damage they -~> are set to create.
>> -~> 
>> -~> mick
>>
>> OK, which update you are talking about?
> I'm not sure, I usually run pacman -Syu about 3 weeks apart and there
> are usually many updates to apply.
That's part of your problem right there -- Updates go much more smoothly
if you apply them in small pieces. The people running [testing] aren't
going to wait 3 weeks between running updates, so you shouldn't either.

I do updates every time I get home, which means:

  * I get them in small pieces, so if something broke, it's obvious what
    was the cause
  * It's easy to read any install messages (generally if something is
    going to break, the install message will tell you what to do to
    avoid it)
  * If something big is changing, I'll get the arch announce message
    that same day (much easier to remember today's announcements than
    this month's announcements)