TLDR Does "install once, update forever" still apply considering the deep changes coming to Solus? (referencing the transition to EFL / SOL package manager / replacement of GTK apps)

I've had Solus installed since August 15, 2017 with Budgie 3.0. I remember this date because I pride myself on being a Solus user and was pumped to roll with it for good once I discovered it. Four long years in and my Solus install is still perfectly stable. Aside from Vivaldi codecs briefly breaking once with an update a few months ago, I have not had one issue or reasons to reinstall.
I know there are no concrete plans or roadmaps as of yet, I'd just like more of an idea of what we can expect from the future of Solus. I GREATLY value the stability of Solus on my system in its current state (especially having learned to love eopkg) so to hear that much of it is getting yanked out and replaced with new things is just so scary to me. I frequently browse and search the forums but noone else seems to be as paranoid I am about the changes coming, even the creators! 😛 I do understand and agree with the decisions made. I just want some peace of mind that my system will make it through the significant and deeply-rooted changes that are coming.

AFAIK, Those changes will come as an update. Not all at once I think and not in the upcoming 4 months, there's no ETA, so it's hard to predict wen we will see changes on budgie migrating to EFL. Regarding to the Software Center, it will be rewrite(from zero I think, and remember EFL) fixing known issues, implementing flatpak and snaps and for the upcoming sol package manager, it will be replacing eopkg and will conserve all the goods of eopkg, it's like an enhancement in my opinion.
Right know I think they are experimenting with EFL or will, and the transition smooth as every mayor update in the past.
Thinking about apps, I've never used an EFL based DE so... I can't say anything about, but if there's something that it's necessary, it will be added to the repo or will be made by the dev-team.

    Adding: from now and the time EFL-Budgie comes, there's plenty of room to wait and see how things develop.
    I'm just hopeful that the transition goes right.

    nolan I'm confident with any decisions made relating to the Software Center / package manager..even through the changes since 3.0 the update process has been so seamless that terminal probably wasn't even required the whole time. Every other distro for me has repo management issues when updating or upgrading (besides vanilla Arch) in fact Fedora's DNF / RPM Fusion stuff nuking my install during an upgrade a couple years ago swore me off point release for good. But I trust Solus to handle most directly package-related stuff.
    My concern is definitely EFL. I just don't see how something like a new DE / toolkit etc etc is NOT going to require a fresh installation (or at least deep intervention) muchless handled via Software Center. I can handle my way around terminal but knowing massive changes are coming leaves me feeling helpless in terms of long term reliability.. Knowing that much of what keeps this system stable is about to be yanked from its core and rebuilt is just so scary to me. I mean I have no special love for GTK it's just that this system was configured and used for years using these apps, there's so many things to consider and so many things than can go wrong...

      No, Budgie 11 is not going to require a fresh install. Yes, Budgie and its related components will be rewritten and while yes, the intent is to have applications like the Software Center written in EFL as well, it should be noted that by that time, we'll already have our own theming across GTK and EFL. While applications won't necessarily look identical side-by-side when comparing an EFL-based application and one written in GTK, the obvious goal is to get them as close to it as possible.

      Before this move, many of the default applications will be changed on the ISOs (not on your systems), whether to those written by members of our community, ourselves, or third-party developers. This move will be to reduce the disruption from libraries like libadwaita and once we are closer to the release of Budgie 11 (no ETA) then I imagine there will be further default changes as well.

      Folks aren't concerned about this because we have a history of rolling out changes, under-the-hood or otherwise, rather seamlessly.

      Knowing that much of what keeps this system stable is about to be yanked from its core and rebuilt is just so scary to me.

      Not really sure why. Are you concerned about the likes of pipewire + wireplumber eventually replacing pulseaudio? Wayland compositors replacing xorg-server? Rewrites of our tooling, package manager, etc.?

      Things being stagnant is not necessarily what keeps it stable. GTK is not part of Solus' core. GTK-based applications aren't even part of Solus' core. All of our tooling, optimizations, curated rolling release model, and so forth is Solus' core. It just happens that Budgie, Software Center, and our Hardware Driver utility are written in GTK. If this was a move from say Qt to EFL, or GTK to Qt, then it'd be the same story.

      I just don't see how something like a new DE / toolkit etc etc is NOT going to require a fresh installation

      That isn't how that rollouts like this work though. A new DE is rolled out in the form of a budgie-desktop update. Any runtime dependencies like a new Control Center, or for example our existing budgie-desktop-view package, are added as rundeps and get automatically pulled in on updates. Nothing about that requires changes on the user's side, and we have tooling like usysconf, plus any supplemental tooling we develop for the move from 10 to 11, that can automatically trigger during that specific package transaction. None of that is difficult and none of it requires a reinstall.

      so many things than can go wrong

      Which isn't a concern the end user needs to have. Folks didn't get concerned when we were moving from Budgie 8 to 10, that went fine for them. I don't expect it to be any different from 10 to 11.

        JoshStrobl This is the most reassuring thing I've read all year, seriously thank you so much for your time and excusing my paranoid mumbo jumbo. I feel much more confident looking forward to Solus' future.