Updating - Do you recommend doing things the Arch way?

cynical13

I'm coming over from Manjaro, where they recommend updating your system the Arch way, which, as far as I can tell, involves reading the blog posts and checking the forums before updating your machines to avoid unintended breakage.

Is that the best practices recommended for Solus as well, or is that overkill? I did a cursory search through the forums and I did see that there some issues with updating, but I didn't see quite the same kind of update notifications.

One of the things that drew me to Solus was that it seems like things are a little easier for the user. There's no AUR, so I have to worry a little less about what packages I install, and a lot of security and breakage issues are still on the user. But I wondered if there's the same mindset here for general usage.

Thank you in advance! I'm looking forward to getting to know Solus better. So far I like the simplicity and Budgie is great, even on my old laptop hardware.

PS. I apologize if this is going over old ground.

Staudey

In general it should be save to update as long as you use the stable, i.e. default, repository. Every now and again there are things that need user attention, e.g. the Godot engine update a while back, but mostly those things only concern a subset of users, who would notice the change anyway. The repository switch back in the day was also announced on social media and the website, but if I recall correctly it required no intervention on the part of the user. Updates will be held back if there are problems or more testing is needed (as is the case right now with the GNOME stack update, hence no updates last Friday)

Of course it can't hurt to check the website/forum/IRC from time to time to get informed about recent and upcoming changes, but I don't think it's strictly necessary for the average user.

cynical13

Thank you for the quick response!

That was mostly my impression, but I didn't realize that here was a preferred method for updating Manjaro until some time after I started to use it.

Part of the reason I was interested in moving over to Solus was to get away from potential issues with the AUR. I like the curated software repository while still being a rolling release.

kyrios

There is usually a sync every Fridays, exceptionally there might be extra sync, but that's not very common. There is nothing special to check before updating, you could eventually wait a day or two before doing the weekly update: if something really serious should occurs, people would certainly make some noise on the forums.

There are very few breakages on Solus (never say never), but if something should occurs, you can rollback the updates or boot on the previous kernel.

fishyman65712

I checked my Official Joined Date to forums which is March 1 watched from the sidelines for a couple weeks.
I have just let the Solus Install set it's own default settings and left it alone, it does it's own default update notifications that I have just click yes install to all of them.
I don't tweak or adjust anything from Solus Default and have never had an issue with anything.
Now the Laptop and Desktop that I have fiddled with, both have crashed on multiple occasions.
The laptop install I leave alone runs just as great as it did the evening I installed Solus.

cynical13

fishyman65712 What kind of tweaking were you doing? I'm assuming this is more than changing the icons, wallpaper, and mouse pointer...

fishyman65712

cynical13 - - - - reading and watching videos of Linux Super Users they called themselves of how to tweak and add what experts called "The Best 10 things / or First 5 things To Do" as a new user to a fresh install of ever linux distro.

Well figured I was as new to it as the come, being as I had never even seen a computer running any Linux.
All I did was screw everything up, soon as I left everything alone began the success.

Finding Linux to be alot like an Airplane I have no idea how to make those better either, and it's best if I just leave it to the experts.

brent

I recommend doing it the-I-have-no-idea-what-the-name-is-for-the-way-i-do-it: sudo eopkg up.
Don't need to see software center at all. I trust solus and update everything.

cynical13

brent and here I've been using sudo eopkg upgrade like a chump. I could save myself five keystrokes each time. That adds up!

cynical13

fishyman65712 Gotcha! I've bricked my fair share of systems by tinkering too much. Lately I've had more wandering eyes and distro hopped, trying to find a good fit.

Justin

Solus tests its packages. That's all you need to know. 😃

cynical13

Justin That's what Manjaro says too, but they still recommend research before updating. But I appreciate the answer! It makes me feel better about switching over to Solus. Have to see if I can get time to do my desktop by the weekend.

Max_The_Bear

cynical13 The big difference between the Solus rolling approach and Manjaro rolling approach is that Solus Focuses on stability, and Manjaro Focuses on the bleeding edge. Solus has a much smaller repository than Manjaro, and the packages it does have aren't necessarily always quite as up to date as Manjaro's. However, This means that Solus updates are very safe because stability is effectively ensured before every update. It's not like the Solus devs have to test the quadrillian packages in the AUR to truly ensure stable updates for all users like the Manjaro boys and gals would have to do. I've been running Solus since last summer, and the only issue with updates that I have had were either caused by me (I messed up my partitions due to my noobyness at the time), or were caused by KDE (I use the kde test iso nowadays), and wouldn't affect most normal users using the Gnome, Mate, or Budgie versions. It's also important to remember that Solus' community is really very welcoming (in my experience). So, in the odd chance you do run into a problem with an update you won't have too much trouble finding help here on the forums, or even over on the Reddit page.

Fatih19

Mr. Strobl said that they're going to take away the capability to manually select which package to upgrade in the future package manager, so I guess not.

Justin

Fatih19 Incorrect. Please don't spread mis-information. The ability will be there, what will likely be removed is the differentiation between security, core and normal packages.

dbarron

And to address the issue of a smaller repository (as has been stated many times), I've never found anything I wanted that I couldn't get, I've never even had to request a package. Just because that are twenty million packages in AUR, and Solus has only 500 (I'm pulling numbers out of...the air...yes the air), doesn't mean that the average person doesn't find everything that they need out of the 500 we DO have.

Max_The_Bear

dbarron I completely agree with you about this. The only thing I've ever really had to go looking for were drivers for my old usb wifi adapter.

cynical13 You are correct about this, however Manjaro repository is actually just a slightly slower updating version of the Arch repositories which they then apply their own layer of testing to. I am getting off topic a bit now though I suppose. The point is you really shouldn't ever have to worry about updating in Solus. Cheers buddy 😃

brent

dbarron Just because that are twenty million packages in AUR, and Solus has only 500 (I'm pulling numbers out of...the air...yes the air), doesn't mean that the average person doesn't find everything that they need out of the 500 we DO have.
That's how I feel. Many get here, want package X,Y, and Z, threaten to leave over it sometimes, and find repo very limiting. I agree with you: it's the opposite of limiting. I enjoy the offerings. And the trust factor between devs&community goes a long way.

cynical13

Manjaro actually has it's own repository, like Solus. It's only responsible for those packages. It takes no responsibility for packages from the AUR and doesn't recommend that new users necessarily download AUR packages.

Thanks for the responses everyone!

Fatih19

Justin He said that he'll be disabling in the future package manager, which is sol. He did said that it will remain available in eopkg, but that's the present package manager. Or was I incorrect in reading his statement?

kyrios

Fatih19 He said that he'll be disabling in the future package manager, which is sol. He did said that it will remain available in eopkg, but that's the present package manager. Or was I incorrect in reading his statement?

@JoshStrobl never said that, you're mixing things or you didn't really understood what you read. Software Center (UI) is a thing, package manager (a.k.a. eopkg (now) / sol (future)) is another thing.

Here is the original discussion.