Linux Mint really needs to solve updating issues.
Posted: Sat Oct 06, 2012 10:03 pm
Perhaps this is just the nature of the beast (and if so well somebody, someday should look at fixing it) but for a newcomer to Linux I have found the process of updating the OS and software included to be nightmarish to say the least. No other operating system I have ever used has ever had the issues of updating either the OS or software within it as much as the versions of Linux I have tried. I'd have to say that my normal attempts at updating the OS and such (normal as in not doing anything considered very advanced) has been the cause of about 13-14 system crashes and god knows how many hours of debugging and searching for answers on the web. In Windows or OSX you simple accept the download and install of updates and away it goes till complete. The only time there are issues is when either their server is temporarily down or your internet connection goes down. Even so I never encountered complete system crash merely by trying to update as I have with Linux Mint.
The second there is a "failed to fetch" notice tells me something is very wrong and yet it doesn't take much searching on the we to see that this is a common issue. You are notified of updates, you choose to download and install and some do and some don't and you never really know why unless you are prepared to scour through numerous webpages detailing various possibly solutions. Why would you be notified of an available update if it is unavailable? It is either available or it's not there should be no "well it kinda...sorta...maybe is...if your lucky." These errors pop up whether using Update Manager, Synaptic or the Terminal. Sometimes downloads work better in the Terminal and yet why? What's the point of any GUI downloader/updater program if they are not reliable? How hard is it to build a stable way to keep your Linux OS up to date? Why are items obviously being installed if they end up breaking the OS because it didn't get a dependent package?
Currently on my 2nd install of Linux Mint 13 KDE after trying 6 installs of Cinnamon and 1 of XFCE. I am most probably going to have to reinstall KDE a third time as my system having failed to download and install the 4.9 KDE desktop update completely and correctly has screwed up my OS so now any attempt to download anything will, after a few minutes, completely lock up my system forcing a hard reboot to restore. I can't even download the packages I need to correct whatever mess the attempt of KDE update created. I won't even mention the trouble I had trying to get Additional Drivers to download at all, that's a whole other painful story.
For an OS heralded as stable I have to say I find it to be very temperamental at best. I wouldn't expect anyone to choose Linux over any other OS if by doing so they can't even properly update the OS and software in it without going through all kinds of hell. Windows doesn't have these updating issues nor does OSX. KDE for me is perhaps my favorite desktop environment, if I could only get it working with the latest stable updates. Seriously the whole process of updating in Linux needs to be stabilized and functioning as close to perfect as possible. Afterall it is via updating that the OS hopefully becomes more stable in all areas and respects.
The second there is a "failed to fetch" notice tells me something is very wrong and yet it doesn't take much searching on the we to see that this is a common issue. You are notified of updates, you choose to download and install and some do and some don't and you never really know why unless you are prepared to scour through numerous webpages detailing various possibly solutions. Why would you be notified of an available update if it is unavailable? It is either available or it's not there should be no "well it kinda...sorta...maybe is...if your lucky." These errors pop up whether using Update Manager, Synaptic or the Terminal. Sometimes downloads work better in the Terminal and yet why? What's the point of any GUI downloader/updater program if they are not reliable? How hard is it to build a stable way to keep your Linux OS up to date? Why are items obviously being installed if they end up breaking the OS because it didn't get a dependent package?
Currently on my 2nd install of Linux Mint 13 KDE after trying 6 installs of Cinnamon and 1 of XFCE. I am most probably going to have to reinstall KDE a third time as my system having failed to download and install the 4.9 KDE desktop update completely and correctly has screwed up my OS so now any attempt to download anything will, after a few minutes, completely lock up my system forcing a hard reboot to restore. I can't even download the packages I need to correct whatever mess the attempt of KDE update created. I won't even mention the trouble I had trying to get Additional Drivers to download at all, that's a whole other painful story.
For an OS heralded as stable I have to say I find it to be very temperamental at best. I wouldn't expect anyone to choose Linux over any other OS if by doing so they can't even properly update the OS and software in it without going through all kinds of hell. Windows doesn't have these updating issues nor does OSX. KDE for me is perhaps my favorite desktop environment, if I could only get it working with the latest stable updates. Seriously the whole process of updating in Linux needs to be stabilized and functioning as close to perfect as possible. Afterall it is via updating that the OS hopefully becomes more stable in all areas and respects.