Hazards of a rolling distro

For those who are scared by the pacnew merging process or terminal shy, take it from me, a lot of the comparing and merging process can be done with graphical tools instead of terminal.

I'm not ashamed to admit to using GUI exclusively for this. If you're using KDE Plasma, it's pretty easy.

  1. choose a graphical file comparison application you are comfortable with. I use Meld no matter what DE I'm running because I'm so used to it, yes even in Plasma (pls don't turn this thread into a which program is better thread)
  2. open both the original conf and the conf.pacnew file for comparison in Meld (or whatever program you prefer)
  3. examine the pacnew file to see where it differs from original conf file. Use common sense to assess each difference to see you should move each pacnew difference over to the conf file or to ignore it. In the case of the current pacman.conf merge, the devs here have already posted and pinned a post to tell you which changes to move over (or to confirm already exist from the orig conf file).
    So instead of blindly copying over the whole pacnew file to replace the orig conf file on your system (this will wipe out the chaotic-aur repo entry, Colours and ILoveCandy since of course vanilla pacman6 configuration won't have these lines!), you just assess, pick and choose certain lines from pacnew file and move them over to orig conf file in Meld
  4. once you are happy with how the amended pacman.conf file looks in Meld, I "SELECT ALL" and copy the text in pacman.conf from Meld. Then I open /etc/pacman.conf in KATE, "SELECT ALL" the text in Kate and PASTE the text copied from Meld.
  5. Then click on SAVE in KATE. You will be asked for your user password since you are seeking to amend a file in root system. Enter password and it's all done. Close Meld, and discard all the changes you made there. I keep my comparison and merging work separate and without elevated privileges, from the final saving of the changes.

All done without touching command line. It can be learned. Once you have got more comfortable with things, who knows, you may decide just to do the whole thing in terminal.

3 Likes

Hello,

I've been running Garuda since some 4 months ago and already encountered some system problems such as when plymouth didn't allow system booting and now pacman. I have used several distros throughout the past 15 years and so far Garuda is the one I have booted more enthusiastically than any other before, followed Sabayon , Mint Cinnamon, Confusion (old distro), puppy, etc. Nevertheless, GAruda is al so the one I have to keep my fingers crossed each time I boot.

Ok, so you did share a good piece of advice there, I absolutely agree on your statement. So here comes the question:
Does Garuda have a Stable and Static Distro?
I wish I had more time to tinker but just don't...
Thanks in advance

1 Like

Distros based on Arch are ROLLING. No stable/static version.

4 Likes

If you have no faith things break as you are willing it to.

Also pacman did not break anything 3rd party apps broke, nothing to do with Arch or Garuda.
Simply if you get a puncture is the car manufacturer to blame or if the new sound system in your house fail do you blame the builder?

1 Like

Hi, thanks for your quick answer.

I decided to do some homework and did it all, including installing paru
This is my output when trying to upgradenow...

                     .%;888:8898898:              simba@simba-gl553vd
                   x;XxXB%89b8:b8%b88:            -------------------
                .8Xxd                8X:.         OS: Garuda Linux x86_64
              .8Xx;                    8x:.       Kernel: 5.12.9-zen1-1-zen
            .tt8x          .d            x88;     Uptime: 0 mins
         .@8x8;          .db:              xx@;
       ,tSXX°          .bbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbB8x@;  Packages: 1695 (pacman)
     .SXxx            bBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBbSBX8;  Shell: fish
   ,888S                                     pd!  Resolution: 3840x1080
  8X88/                                       q   Terminal: Alacritty
  GBB.
   x%88        d888@8@X@X@X88X@@XX@@X@8@X.        CPU: Intel i5-7300HQ (4) @ 3.5GHz
     dxXd    dB8b8b8B8B08bB88b998888b88x.         Memory: 2375MiB / 11854MiB (20%)
      dxx8o                      .@@;.
        dx88                   .t@x.
          d:SS@8ba89aa67a853Sxxad.
            .d988999889889899dd.

⏎
 ╭─simba@simba in ~
 ╰─λ paru -Syu
[sudo] password for simba:
:: Synchronising package databases...
 core is up to date
 extra is up to date
 chaotic-aur                    1088,6 KiB   393 KiB/s 00:03 [################################] 100%
 community is up to date
 multilib is up to date
:: Starting full system upgrade...
:: Replace libcanberra-pulse with extra/libcanberra? [Y/n] y
resolving dependencies...
looking for conflicting packages...

Packages (35) alsa-lib-1.2.5-2  alsa-plugins-1:1.2.5-2  alsa-topology-conf-1.2.5-1  alsa-ucm-conf-1.2.5-1  at-spi2-core-2.40.2-1
              blender-17:2.93.0-2  calibre-5.20.0-1  elfutils-0.185-1  evolution-data-server-3.40.2-1  fzf-0.27.2-1  gnome-boxes-40.2-1
              gnome-maps-40.2-1  krita-4.4.3-4  latte-dock-git-0.9.91.r57.g45825996-1  lib32-libelf-0.185-1  lib32-ocl-icd-2.3.0-1
              libcanberra-0.30+2+gc0620e4-4  libcanberra-pulse-0.30+2+gc0620e4-3 [removal]  libelf-0.185-1  libogg-1.3.5-1  libqmi-1.28.6-1
              librsvg-2:2.50.7-1  obs-studio-27.0.0-1  ocl-icd-2.3.0-1  opencolorio-2.0.1-2  opencolorio1-1.1.1-3  openimageio-2.2.15.1-1
              osinfo-db-20210531-1  pulseaudio-alsa-1:1.2.5-2  qt5-declarative-5.15.2+kde+r28-1  timeshift-20.11.1+3+g08d0e59-4
              vte-common-0.64.2-1  vte3-0.64.2-1  whoogle-git-0.5.3_r378.g0be639a-1  wine-6.10-1

Total Installed Size:  1256,04 MiB
Net Upgrade Size:        12,88 MiB

:: Proceed with installation? [Y/n] y
(34/34) checking keys in keyring                                                       [##################################################] 100%
(34/34) checking package integrity                                                     [##################################################] 100%
(34/34) loading package files                                                          [##################################################] 100%
(34/34) checking for file conflicts                                                    [##################################################] 100%
(35/35) checking available disk space                                                  [##################################################] 100%
:: Running pre-transaction hooks...
(1/1) Creating Timeshift snapshot before upgrade...
E: ts: Failed to get partition list.
E: System disk not found!
Unable to run timeshift-autosnap! Please close Timeshift and try again. Script will now exit...
error: command failed to execute correctly
error: failed to commit transaction (failed to run transaction hooks)
Errors occurred, no packages were upgraded.

 ╭─simba@simba in ~ took 21s
[🔴] ×

Timeshift issues?
This also occurred after the merging pacman.conf files..

Shall I just reinstall a new image for the sake of saving everyone's time?
Oh, and why are my drives often so active? you'd think I'm running m$...
Oh, and:

                     .%;888:8898898:              simba@simba-gl553vd
                   x;XxXB%89b8:b8%b88:            -------------------
                .8Xxd                8X:.         OS: Garuda Linux x86_64
              .8Xx;                    8x:.       Kernel: 5.12.9-zen1-1-zen
            .tt8x          .d            x88;     Uptime: 13 mins
         .@8x8;          .db:              xx@;
       ,tSXX°          .bbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbB8x@;  Packages: 1695 (pacman)
     .SXxx            bBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBbSBX8;  Shell: fish
   ,888S                                     pd!  Resolution: 3840x1080
  8X88/                                       q   Terminal: Alacritty
  GBB.
   x%88        d888@8@X@X@X88X@@XX@@X@8@X.        CPU: Intel i5-7300HQ (4) @ 3.5GHz
     dxXd    dB8b8b8B8B08bB88b998888b88x.         Memory: 4102MiB / 11854MiB (34%)
      dxx8o                      .@@;.
        dx88                   .t@x.
          d:SS@8ba89aa67a853Sxxad.
            .d988999889889899dd.


 ╭─simba@simba in ~
 ╰─λ nxi -Fxxxza
fish: Unknown command: nxi

 ╭─simba@simba in ~ took 816ms
[🔍] × inxi -Fxxxza
System:    Kernel: 5.12.9-zen1-1-zen x86_64 bits: 64 compiler: gcc v: 11.1.0
           parameters: BOOT_IMAGE=/@/boot/vmlinuz-linux-zen
           root=UUID=978b8561-cbda-4bb9-957f-69e6086630e4 rw rootflags=subvol=@ splash
           rd.udev.log_priority=3 vt.global_cursor_default=0 systemd.unified_cgroup_hierarchy=1
           resume=UUID=61a3efc5-3e32-4889-b0e9-448fffbb2b30 loglevel=3
           Desktop: KDE Plasma 5.21.5 tk: Qt 5.15.2 info: latte-dock wm: kwin_x11 vt: 1 dm: SDDM
           Distro: Garuda Linux base: Arch Linux
Machine:   Type: Laptop System: ASUSTeK product: GL553VD v: 1.0 serial: <filter>
           Mobo: ASUSTeK model: GL553VD v: 1.0 serial: <filter> UEFI: American Megatrends
           v: GL553VD.308 date: 04/29/2019
Battery:   ID-1: BAT0 charge: 33.0 Wh (97.6%) condition: 33.8/48.2 Wh (70.0%) volts: 16.2
           min: 14.4 model: Simplo SDI ICR18650 type: Li-ion serial: <filter> status: Unknown
           cycles: 33
CPU:       Info: Quad Core model: Intel Core i5-7300HQ bits: 64 type: MCP arch: Kaby Lake
           family: 6 model-id: 9E (158) stepping: 9 microcode: DE cache: L2: 6 MiB
           flags: avx avx2 lm nx pae sse sse2 sse3 sse4_1 sse4_2 ssse3 vmx bogomips: 19999
           Speed: 3499 MHz min/max: 800/3500 MHz Core speeds (MHz): 1: 3499 2: 2730 3: 3269
           4: 3267
           Vulnerabilities: Type: itlb_multihit status: KVM: VMX disabled
           Type: l1tf mitigation: PTE Inversion; VMX: conditional cache flushes, SMT disabled
           Type: mds mitigation: Clear CPU buffers; SMT disabled
           Type: meltdown mitigation: PTI
           Type: spec_store_bypass
           mitigation: Speculative Store Bypass disabled via prctl and seccomp
           Type: spectre_v1 mitigation: usercopy/swapgs barriers and __user pointer sanitization
           Type: spectre_v2 mitigation: Full generic retpoline, IBPB: conditional, IBRS_FW,
           STIBP: disabled, RSB filling
           Type: srbds mitigation: Microcode
           Type: tsx_async_abort status: Not affected
Graphics:  Device-1: Intel HD Graphics 630 vendor: ASUSTeK driver: i915 v: kernel
           bus-ID: 00:02.0 chip-ID: 8086:591b class-ID: 0300
           Device-2: NVIDIA GP107M [GeForce GTX 1050 Mobile] vendor: ASUSTeK driver: nvidia
           v: 465.31 alternate: nouveau,nvidia_drm bus-ID: 01:00.0 chip-ID: 10de:1c8d
           class-ID: 0302
           Device-3: Realtek USB2.0 HD UVC WebCam type: USB driver: uvcvideo bus-ID: 1-6:3
           chip-ID: 0bda:57f5 class-ID: 0e02 serial: <filter>
           Display: x11 server: X.Org 1.20.11 compositor: kwin_x11 driver: loaded: modesetting
           display-ID: :0 screens: 1
           Screen-1: 0 s-res: 3840x1080 s-dpi: 96 s-size: 1016x285mm (40.0x11.2")
           s-diag: 1055mm (41.5")
           Monitor-1: eDP-1 res: 1920x1080 hz: 60 dpi: 142 size: 344x193mm (13.5x7.6")
           diag: 394mm (15.5")
           Monitor-2: HDMI-1 res: 1920x1080 hz: 60 dpi: 82 size: 597x336mm (23.5x13.2")
           diag: 685mm (27")
           OpenGL: renderer: Mesa Intel HD Graphics 630 (KBL GT2) v: 4.6 Mesa 21.1.1
           direct render: Yes
Audio:     Device-1: Intel CM238 HD Audio vendor: ASUSTeK driver: snd_hda_intel v: kernel
           bus-ID: 00:1f.3 chip-ID: 8086:a171 class-ID: 0403
           Sound Server-1: ALSA v: k5.12.9-zen1-1-zen running: yes
           Sound Server-2: JACK v: 0.125.0 running: no
           Sound Server-3: PulseAudio v: 14.2 running: yes
           Sound Server-4: PipeWire v: 0.3.29 running: yes
Network:   Device-1: Intel Wireless 7265 driver: iwlwifi v: kernel port: e000 bus-ID: 02:00.0
           chip-ID: 8086:095a class-ID: 0280
           IF: wlp2s0 state: up mac: <filter>
           Device-2: Realtek RTL8111/8168/8411 PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet vendor: ASUSTeK
           driver: r8169 v: kernel port: d000 bus-ID: 03:00.0 chip-ID: 10ec:8168 class-ID: 0200
           IF: enp3s0 state: down mac: <filter>
Bluetooth: Device-1: Intel Bluetooth wireless interface type: USB driver: btusb v: 0.8
           bus-ID: 1-8:5 chip-ID: 8087:0a2a class-ID: e001
           Report: bt-adapter ID: hci0 rfk-id: 1 state: up address: <filter>
Drives:    Local Storage: total: 2.16 TiB used: 1.25 TiB (57.9%)
           ID-1: /dev/mmcblk0 maj-min: 179:0 model: ED2S5 size: 119.38 GiB block-size:
           physical: 512 B logical: 512 B rotation: SSD serial: <filter> scheme: MBR
           SMART Message: Unknown smartctl error. Unable to generate data.
           SMART Message: Unable to run smartctl. Root privileges required.
           ID-2: /dev/sda maj-min: 8:0 vendor: Samsung model: SSD 850 EVO 250GB size: 232.89 GiB
           block-size: physical: 512 B logical: 512 B speed: 6.0 Gb/s rotation: SSD
           serial: <filter> rev: 1B6Q scheme: GPT
           ID-3: /dev/sdb maj-min: 8:16 vendor: Seagate model: ST2000LM007-1R8174 size: 1.82 TiB
           block-size: physical: 4096 B logical: 512 B speed: 6.0 Gb/s rotation: 5400 rpm
           serial: <filter> rev: SBK2 scheme: MBR
Partition: ID-1: / raw-size: 219.9 GiB size: 219.9 GiB (100.00%) used: 57.2 GiB (26.0%)
           fs: btrfs dev: /dev/sda2 maj-min: 8:2
           ID-2: /boot/efi raw-size: 256 MiB size: 252 MiB (98.46%) used: 546 KiB (0.2%)
           fs: vfat dev: /dev/sda1 maj-min: 8:1
           ID-3: /home raw-size: 219.9 GiB size: 219.9 GiB (100.00%) used: 57.2 GiB (26.0%)
           fs: btrfs dev: /dev/sda2 maj-min: 8:2
           ID-4: /var/log raw-size: 219.9 GiB size: 219.9 GiB (100.00%) used: 57.2 GiB (26.0%)
           fs: btrfs dev: /dev/sda2 maj-min: 8:2
           ID-5: /var/tmp raw-size: 219.9 GiB size: 219.9 GiB (100.00%) used: 57.2 GiB (26.0%)
           fs: btrfs dev: /dev/sda2 maj-min: 8:2
Swap:      Kernel: swappiness: 10 (default 60) cache-pressure: 75 (default 100)
           ID-1: swap-1 type: partition size: 12.73 GiB used: 0 KiB (0.0%) priority: -2
           dev: /dev/sda3 maj-min: 8:3
           ID-2: swap-2 type: zram size: 2.89 GiB used: 371.2 MiB (12.5%) priority: 32767
           dev: /dev/zram0
           ID-3: swap-3 type: zram size: 2.89 GiB used: 377.4 MiB (12.7%) priority: 32767
           dev: /dev/zram1
           ID-4: swap-4 type: zram size: 2.89 GiB used: 371.4 MiB (12.5%) priority: 32767
           dev: /dev/zram2
           ID-5: swap-5 type: zram size: 2.89 GiB used: 363.7 MiB (12.3%) priority: 32767
           dev: /dev/zram3
Sensors:   System Temperatures: cpu: 61.0 C mobo: N/A
           Fan Speeds (RPM): cpu: 3200
Info:      Processes: 245 Uptime: 13m wakeups: 1 Memory: 11.58 GiB used: 4.54 GiB (39.2%)
           Init: systemd v: 248 tool: systemctl Compilers: gcc: 11.1.0 clang: 11.1.0 Packages:
           pacman: 1695 lib: 405 Shell: fish v: 3.2.2 running-in: alacritty inxi: 3.3.04

 ╭─simba@simba in ~ took 7s
 ╰─λ

Yes 7s...

Thanks in advance

1 Like

Try this and see

1 Like

So you wasted your time and other users time by not reading posts on the forum

2 Likes
 ╭─simba@simba in ~ took 7s
 ╰─λ sudo SKIP_AUTOSNAP=1 pacman -Syu
[sudo] password for simba:
:: Synchronising package databases...
 core is up to date
 extra is up to date
 chaotic-aur is up to date
 community is up to date
 multilib is up to date
:: Starting full system upgrade...
:: Replace libcanberra-pulse with extra/libcanberra? [Y/n] y
resolving dependencies...
looking for conflicting packages...

Packages (35) alsa-lib-1.2.5-2  alsa-plugins-1:1.2.5-2  alsa-topology-conf-1.2.5-1
              alsa-ucm-conf-1.2.5-1  at-spi2-core-2.40.2-1  blender-17:2.93.0-2  calibre-5.20.0-1
              elfutils-0.185-1  evolution-data-server-3.40.2-1  fzf-0.27.2-1  gnome-boxes-40.2-1
              gnome-maps-40.2-1  krita-4.4.3-4  latte-dock-git-0.9.91.r57.g45825996-1
              lib32-libelf-0.185-1  lib32-ocl-icd-2.3.0-1  libcanberra-0.30+2+gc0620e4-4
              libcanberra-pulse-0.30+2+gc0620e4-3 [removal]  libelf-0.185-1  libogg-1.3.5-1
              libqmi-1.28.6-1  librsvg-2:2.50.7-1  obs-studio-27.0.0-1  ocl-icd-2.3.0-1
              opencolorio-2.0.1-2  opencolorio1-1.1.1-3  openimageio-2.2.15.1-1
              osinfo-db-20210531-1  pulseaudio-alsa-1:1.2.5-2  qt5-declarative-5.15.2+kde+r28-1
              timeshift-20.11.1+3+g08d0e59-4  vte-common-0.64.2-1  vte3-0.64.2-1
              whoogle-git-0.5.3_r378.g0be639a-1  wine-6.10-1

Total Installed Size:  1256,04 MiB
Net Upgrade Size:        12,88 MiB

:: Proceed with installation? [Y/n] y
(34/34) checking keys in keyring                             [################################] 100%
(34/34) checking package integrity                           [################################] 100%
(34/34) loading package files                                [################################] 100%
(34/34) checking for file conflicts                          [################################] 100%
(35/35) checking available disk space                        [################################] 100%
:: Running pre-transaction hooks...
(1/1) Creating Timeshift snapshot before upgrade...
==> skipping timeshift-autosnap due SKIP_AUTOSNAP environment variable being set.
:: Processing package changes...
(1/1) removing libcanberra-pulse                             [################################] 100%
( 1/34) upgrading alsa-topology-conf                         [################################] 100%
( 2/34) upgrading alsa-ucm-conf                              [################################] 100%
( 3/34) upgrading alsa-lib                                   [################################] 100%
WARNING: Non-backwards compatible changes to ALSA require restarting of audio engines (e.g. pulseaudio or pipewire) using it.
( 4/34) upgrading alsa-plugins                               [################################] 100%
( 5/34) upgrading at-spi2-core                               [################################] 100%
( 6/34) upgrading libelf                                     [################################] 100%
( 7/34) installing opencolorio                               [################################] 100%
Optional dependencies for opencolorio
    python: python bindings [installed]
( 8/34) upgrading openimageio                                [################################] 100%
( 9/34) upgrading librsvg                                    [################################] 100%
(10/34) upgrading libogg                                     [################################] 100%
(11/34) upgrading elfutils                                   [################################] 100%
(12/34) upgrading blender                                    [################################] 100%
(13/34) upgrading qt5-declarative                            [################################] 100%
(14/34) upgrading calibre                                    [################################] 100%
(15/34) upgrading libcanberra                                [################################] 100%
(16/34) upgrading evolution-data-server                      [################################] 100%
(17/34) upgrading fzf                                        [################################] 100%
(18/34) upgrading osinfo-db                                  [################################] 100%
(19/34) upgrading vte-common                                 [################################] 100%
(20/34) upgrading vte3                                       [################################] 100%
(21/34) upgrading gnome-boxes                                [################################] 100%
(22/34) upgrading gnome-maps                                 [################################] 100%
(23/34) upgrading opencolorio1                               [################################] 100%
(24/34) upgrading krita                                      [################################] 100%
(25/34) upgrading latte-dock-git                             [################################] 100%
(26/34) upgrading lib32-libelf                               [################################] 100%
(27/34) upgrading lib32-ocl-icd                              [################################] 100%
(28/34) upgrading libqmi                                     [################################] 100%
(29/34) upgrading obs-studio                                 [################################] 100%
New optional dependencies for obs-studio
    pipewire: obs-plugins [installed]
    sndio: obs-plugins
    v4l2loopback-dkms: virtual camera support
(30/34) upgrading ocl-icd                                    [################################] 100%
(31/34) upgrading pulseaudio-alsa                            [################################] 100%
(32/34) upgrading timeshift                                  [################################] 100%
(33/34) upgrading whoogle-git                                                    [##############################################] 100%
Restarted Whoogle systemd service.
(34/34) upgrading wine                                                           [##############################################] 100%
:: Running post-transaction hooks...
( 1/17) Syncing all file systems...
( 2/17) Registering binary formats...
( 3/17) Reloading system manager configuration...
( 4/17) Arming ConditionNeedsUpdate...
( 5/17) Updating fontconfig cache...
( 6/17) Updating 32-bit fontconfig cache...
( 7/17) Foreign/AUR package notification
popcorntime-ru-bin 0.4.5-2
stacer-bin 1.1.0-3
whatsdesk-bin 0.3.5-2
( 8/17) Probing GDK-Pixbuf loader modules...
( 9/17) Compiling GSettings XML schema files...
(10/17) Updating icon theme caches...
(11/17) Orphaned package notification...
fish-systemd-git r9.6b55727-1
gdl 3.34.0-2
gtkspell3 3.0.10-2
libjpeg6-turbo 1.5.3-2
libxp 1.0.3-4
meld 3.20.3-1
mlt 7.0.1-1
ncurses5-compat-libs 6.2-1
xorg-fonts-100dpi 1.0.3-7
xorg-fonts-75dpi 1.0.3-7
(12/17) Checking for .pacnew and .pacsave files...
.pac* files found:
/etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist.pacnew
/etc/plymouth/plymouthd.conf.pacnew
/etc/systemd/system.conf.pacnew
/etc/systemd/user.conf.pacnew
Please check and merge
(13/17) Updating pkgfile database...
(14/17) Checking which packages need to be rebuilt
(15/17) Updating the desktop file MIME type cache...
(16/17) Updating the MIME type database...
(17/17) Syncing all file systems...

 ╭─simba@simba in ~ took 57s
 ╰─λ

Success??

1 Like

Hey Hey Hey.
Once I made a mistake and used a wrong term.
Isn't this hijacking? :blush::wink::grinning_face_with_smiling_eyes::joy:

3 Likes

I don't get it... :sweat_smile:

1 Like

I did, honest. As I said I already did my homework... :)... I believe... :sweat_smile:

1 Like

what don't you get?

1 Like

I believe the autosnap issue should be posted in the autosnap thread.

3 Likes