Drawbacks of a Rolling Release?

[proxima_centauri]

Even in archlinux, there is the testing repository:

Part of its purpose is to hold package updates that have the potential to cause system breakage, either by being part of the [core] set of packages, or by being critical in other ways.

New packages go into [testing] if:
they are expected to break something on update and need to be tested first
they require other packages to be rebuilt. In this case, all packages that need to be rebuilt are put into [testing] first and when all rebuilds are done, they are moved back to the other repositories.

[linuxviolin]

And what? Rolling releases have already broke and they will break again... even Arch or PCLinuxOS or Sidux. It's their design. But it's true many of not-rolling-distros break also, but this is another problem.

P.S.= Exploder, you can not use your time for all the time reporting bugs, crashes etc Can we *really* use our computers or we must go to the bugs hunting rather? (sorry if I am a little ironic ) These problems should be corrected before to go to the end user.

[exploder]

I have had hundreds of updates to PCLinuxOS with no breakage.

Edit: 65 updates today alone.

[linuxviolin]

I have had hundreds of updates to PCLinuxOS with no breakage.

Edit: 65 updates today alone.

Er, nobody said they break all the time...

[AndrewH]

Er, nobody said they break all the time...

You seemed to be implying it: "Rolling releases have already broke and they will break again... It's their design."

[linuxviolin]

You seemed to be implying it

Well, just say there were breakages and there will be probably others is not say they break *always*, I guess. It's just a fact. But yes, rollings releases provide the new versions to the users when they are there, so even with some tests, you can have breakages. It's their design but it's also why people use/like them: having the last version in/but accepting possible breakages sometimes.

It's not my cup of tea, sorry.

[deleted]

And what? Rolling releases have already broke and they will break again... even Arch or PCLinuxOS or Sidux. It's their design. But it's true many of not-rolling-distros break also, but this is another problem.

P.S.= Exploder, you can not use your time for all the time reporting bugs, crashes etc Can we *really* use our computers or we must go to the bugs hunting rather? (sorry if I am a little ironic ) These problems should be corrected before to go to the end user.

After riding the sidux express for about 6 years, if the rolling release broke, they put a warning message on the website as well as a workaround. They were usually on top things pretty quickly. Just don't as about smxi
-Hinto

[linuxviolin]

After riding the sidux express for about 6 years, if the rolling release broke, they put a warning message on the website as well as a workaround. They were usually on top things pretty quickly. Just don't as about smxi

Yes. So, this shows well there are problems and you must be attentive, and to read well the site and the forums... Not exactly the definition of a really stable distro...

Thanks for having illustrated well my point.

[deleted]

Not really...
MS has the same thing.
My point is that (at least) sidux developers are diligent and as as soon as a problem is found, they get it fixed (or have a workaround) almost immediately. For other distros, you might have to wait 6 months (or more) for a fix. BTW.. Debian (the org not the distro) releases all security fixes on SID, not testing or stable.

-Hinto

[linuxviolin]

OK yes, if you want but as I already said elsewhere there are very few really good distros, if some... Many are crap, problematic, for hobbyist or other things like you prefer name them but really stable and for *real work* and also in the enterprise etc, you have few choice. But even so, I don't think this kind of product is the better/good model...

So, your argument change nothing to what I said. At least for me.

[deleted]

I'm not arguing anything....
I was in Debian Potato when usb stick really came on the scene. I had a choice of learning all the guts to manually set up Potato to automatically mount the stick or use a newer distro. I chose to move to a newer distro.

The same for my quad core CPU, older distros couldn't understand the clocking, etc in it (they were fine with dual core). I had to build a new kernel (which can be problematic with other apps if kernel APIs change).
-Hinto

[linuxviolin]

The same for my quad core CPU, older distros couldn't understand the clocking, etc in it (they were fine with dual core). I had to build a new kernel (which can be problematic with other apps if kernel APIs change).

Humm have you tried with Red Hat, or one of its clones (CentOS or Scientific)?

[deleted]

Those distros were even older at the time (~ 1 year ago). Any kernel later (newer) than 2.6.27 seemed to work fine. If you update the kernel in a "released" distro, you run the risk of breaking your entire system. Presumably with a rolling release yo have the latest software and kernel.
-Hinto

[linuxviolin]

Those distro were even older at the time (~ 1 year ago). Any kernel older than 2.6.27 seemed to work fine. If you update the kernel in a "released" distro, you run the risk of breaking your entire system. Presumably with a rolling release yo have the latest software and kernel.
-Hinto

Well, maybe. I have updated the kernel many times in several different computers and in several distros (Debian Testing, CentOS, Fedora, Frugalware, Parsix, Pardus, to name some) without no problem, never... except in Ubuntu! Looking for the error...

[deleted]

I mentioned "risk", not you will.

[linuxviolin]

I mentioned "risk", not you will.

Oh OK, sorry, my bad. But you risk also and even more in rolling release, even if developers fix the problems relatively quickly. But as you want the last versions of the apps, you and other are ready to accept some occasional/possibly frequent breakages. It's your choice, good, but not for me.

[deleted]

I ran for 6 years on one install and a rolling release of sidux.
I was down 2 times.
1) When Debian single sourced 32 and 64 bit code. I back leveled a package (2 minute fix)
2) Xorg moved to 7 I just had to run vesa for a week. (2 minute xorg.conf change)
Both solutions were on the website.

I used this in a production development environment where I code C, Java, Flex in a heterogeneous intranet (nfs, afs, samba)
...And at the time it (sidux) was the only distro that understood my 64-bit hardware out of the box.
-Hinto

[linuxviolin]

Perfect, if you are happy with it!

[deleted]

Not sure what you mean "if I'm happy with it". I have one-stop shopping with sid, just like I do with Mint (or Debian) using the debian repositories. No hunting down packages or having to figure out dependencies. To me, my experience with Debian, Mint, and sidux are all about the same. No one distro was more or less stable than the other. It's like I have blue, green, and red shirts. Some days I wear red, some days blue or green. Some years I have more red than blue (or green), so then by default I'll pick red more often. All wear the same, perform the same.
If I find a red shirt missing a button one day, I'll switch to the green and sew the button back on the red when I get a chance. (just like fixing a kernel, etc)
-Hinto

[linuxviolin]

Not sure what you mean "if I'm happy with it".

Nothing special. Just what I said, simply. Don't seek more, it's not ironic or other. You have/had a good experience with them, you like them, very good for you. That's all.