How often do you upgrade?

bendib · 08-10-2010, 03:07 PM

I yum update frequently. Didn't used to. Fedora can be a little funky about it when it comes to things like Apache, but usually it goes just fine.

EDIT: And now I see that this is an Arch forum. I need to look where I click. :-)

TheStarLion · 08-11-2010, 04:23 AM

If you use an AUR integrater, some of them have options to handle that. The one I use is Packer, and it manages nicely with 'packer -Syu --auronly --devel'
Which checks for updates to AUR packages only, upgrades them, and re-makes any -git -hg -svn -bzr and so on packages or any others known to use them.

BeaverusIV · 08-12-2010, 02:41 PM

Thanks for that, I currently use yaourt and do yaourt -Syu --aur, but it just complains about how my packages are newer than aur ones...

TheStarLion · 08-12-2010, 03:06 PM

I tried yaourt for a time, but I didn't get along with it as well as I do packer.
I guess when you get down to it though it's a matter of taste really. I don't use packer for installing packages, I still do it the 'old' way, downloading the PKGBUILD and other needed files and running makepkg, then pacman -U, packer's there strictly for updates.

BeaverusIV · 08-15-2010, 03:25 PM

I'll have to try it out sometime

I was of the opinion that yaourt was the only one, I was wrong obviously

TheStarLion · 08-15-2010, 09:37 PM

http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/AUR_Helpers
I'm not sure how up to date it is, but it does give a fairly long list of options, and a comparison at the end.

carlosinfl · 08-22-2010, 03:15 AM

I don't know why but I always run a Syy && Syu at the same time. I don't know why I do this but I recall reading somewhere on the Wiki that it's recommended.

Code:

[carlos@bishop /]$ sudo pacman -Syy && sudo pacman -Syu
Password: 
:: Synchronizing package databases...
 core                               35.5K  139.8K/s 00:00:00 [################################] 100%
 extra                             460.3K  538.1K/s 00:00:01 [################################] 100%
 community                         381.3K  429.9K/s 00:00:01 [################################] 100%
:: Synchronizing package databases...
 core is up to date
 extra is up to date
 community is up to date
:: Starting full system upgrade...
 there is nothing to do

Does anyone know if this is wrong or does it not matter?

Mr. Alex · 08-22-2010, 06:00 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by xri

How often do you run pacman -Syu ?

I want to upgrade once in a year before the New Year celebration. Why? 'Cause it's kinda cool to get tons of new programs' versions as a present. Am I strange?

cantab · 08-22-2010, 06:00 AM

It seems unneccessary. Just run pacman -Syyu.
The double y forces getting the databases even if they don't appear to be newer. It's only really needed if you change mirrors, but I guess you could use it all the time.

Bratmon · 08-22-2010, 08:25 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by carlosinfl

I don't know why but I always run a Syy && Syu at the same time. I don't know why I do this but I recall reading somewhere on the Wiki that it's recommended.

Code:

[carlos@bishop /]$ sudo pacman -Syy && sudo pacman -Syu
Password: 
:: Synchronizing package databases...
 core                               35.5K  139.8K/s 00:00:00 [################################] 100%
 extra                             460.3K  538.1K/s 00:00:01 [################################] 100%
 community                         381.3K  429.9K/s 00:00:01 [################################] 100%
:: Synchronizing package databases...
 core is up to date
 extra is up to date
 community is up to date
:: Starting full system upgrade...
 there is nothing to do

Does anyone know if this is wrong or does it not matter?

It doesn't matter. It might take longer than necessary, as you update your package list even if it doesn't need it, but it won't break anything by itself.

carlosinfl · 08-22-2010, 09:20 AM

So ideally if I don't change mirrors / repositories, I shouldn't have to run 'Syy' & only run the 'Syu'.

Meson · 09-08-2010, 09:48 PM

I upgrade all the time. At least a few times a day. The more you upgrade the easier it is to troubleshoot if something breaks. Also, if you wait TOO long, you could have problems.

TheStarLion · 09-09-2010, 09:13 AM

I've had to cut back of late actually, due to the internet I'm temporarily using costing me a bit too much. I leave it to once a week, and every other week I run through AUR packages.
On the other hand, aside yet another attempt, and subsequent bad run in with, KDE4.x I've had no breakage at all on my laptop.
I like Arch. Out of all of them, only Slackware comes close to doing all that Arch does.

dugan · 09-20-2010, 01:12 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by xri

How often do you run pacman -Syu ?
How frequently does your system break after an upgrade (if ever)?
If your system has broken after an upgrade, what was the issue (xorg crashing, kernel panic, etc...)?

I installed Arch yesterday, ran pacman -Syu right after the install, and it broke then. It upgraded to a 2.3.35 kernel. Turns out that the rt73usb driver that supports my wifi dongle is broken in 2.3.35 kernels.

I ended up building a 2.3.33.4 kernel and an nvidia driver to go with it.

Meson · 09-20-2010, 10:42 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dugan

I installed Arch yesterday, ran pacman -Syu right after the install, and it broke then. It upgraded to a 2.3.35 kernel. Turns out that the rt73usb driver that supports my wifi dongle is broken in 2.3.35 kernels.

I ended up building a 2.3.33.4 kernel and an nvidia driver to go with it.

I don't know if this will help, but there's a compat-wireless package which is good for some older nics.