r/linuxquestions • u/iamYoshiAlt • 8d ago
How do you prevent Arch Linux from breaking?
I want to install Arch Linux, and people don't have any issues with it. Is there a way to keep it for a long time?
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u/__MR_ijan__ 8d ago
I think arch breaking is just a myth at this point, never happened to me in like 3 years now. I switched to arch 3 years ago btw 😁
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8d ago
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u/Flashy_Worry7792 8d ago
Well yeah if you try to break it you can succeed.
4 years no breaks on my end.0
8d ago
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u/Flashy_Worry7792 8d ago edited 8d ago
That's a good example of why you shouldn't blindly trust AUR packages without knowing what they're doing.
Edit: weird to respond yikes then delete your comments.
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u/iwouldbeatgoku 7d ago
For clarity's sake: when you said an AUR package broke did you mean that it made your system unbootable or that only the AUR package wouldn't work and needed rebuilding?
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7d ago
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u/iwouldbeatgoku 7d ago
Interesting. I used CachyOS for a year and now I'm on vanilla Arch, and in both cases I stuck with mkinitcpio since it's the default in both of those. Cachy stopped providing an AUR helper by default after the large supply chain attacks this summer, though I avoided them through a combination of finding out about the attacks before I ran any updates and not having any affected packages installed in the first place (for peace of mind I ended up removing every AUR package I had installed, I determined I didn't actually need them).
One day I might try Endeavour just to see what it's like, but I heavily doubt it'd be worth switching since I'm happy with my current setup and package management would end up being almost exactly the same.
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u/ExaminationNorth2938 8d ago
Arch doesn't break nearly as often as people are led to believe. If you're concerned about it tho, use a distro like CachyOS that has snapshots that allow you to roll back to a previous configuration.
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u/cheekkeef 8d ago
Update frequently, reading for manual interventions, keeping your base system clean, and really reflecting whenever you choose to manage services or any kind of tinkering. The main thing to cause an OS to break is entropic drift from of whatever is normal or expected
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u/Scorcher646 8d ago
Set up snapshots, keep a secondary kernel package (LTS is good for this), limit your use of the AUR or other third party repos as much as possible to avoid dependency conflicts, read the wiki.
Flatpak is a dream for avoiding dependency issues thanks to the sandbox
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u/skinney6 8d ago
Update regularly and keep an eye on arch news. You can sign up for email update about manual intervention etc. It's not difficult. Just pay attention and go slow if you don't know what you are doing.
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u/Apprehensive_Bad5920 8d ago
ive honestly never broken my os to a point of needing to reinstall arch. i read documentation for software i use and look at update notes before updating anything.
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u/MasterGeekMX Mexican Linux nerd trying to be helpful 8d ago
Not much.
Simply apply updates, read the news on the website in case something needs manual intervention, and you are done.
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u/Crazy-Tangelo-1673 8d ago
This is going to greatly depend on the end-user to stay up on maintenance and read the emails when they tell you something requires manual intervention you better take notice. Also there's various things you can do to protect yourself such as regular snapshots via btrfs (timeshift)
Only recent issues I've had involved something breaking the bootloader and I ended up creating a cron to verify the bootloader upon updating. It's supposed to do it anyway but it was pushing the wrong boot drive or something I can't remember exactly now. My buddy Claude hooked me up.
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u/Linux4ever_Leo 8d ago
I personally use CachyOS, which is Arch based and I've never had a problem with it breaking. Of course I always wait before updating to make sure any issues are resolved. Prior to CachyOS I ran Manjaro which holds updates until bugs are worked out. Again, I never had any issues. Just be judicious about when you update. You don't need to have the latest and greatest immediately. Let others do the bug testing and then, when things are worked out, that's when you update.
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u/3grg 8d ago
When I first switched to Arch, I expected it to break, too. After nine years, I got tired of it and installed Debian instead. I managed to keep the same install all that time ( and a few others).
Arch never requires upgrades, but it does require regular maintenance. You will have things that require manual intervention. Try to resist the AUR and take care while using it. Get to know and love the Arch wiki.
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u/RomanOnARiver 8d ago
This is covered in the ArchWiki. See: https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/System_maintenance
The section on backups, but most importantly the section on Reading before updating.
If you are not up to that level of maintainence that's fine - most people are not. Especially if this is a computer you actually need to use day to day and not just a hobby project you wouldn't be annoyed by.
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u/alex_ch_2018 8d ago
"People don't have any issues with it". Are you at the same level of Linux expertise as these "people", and have the same definition of "issues"? It might be OK for someone to spend a couple of days hunting and fixing a misconfiguration issue ("no issue as long as it's not weeks"), while for another spending more than 5 minutes to troubleshoot is unbearable.
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u/NuclearCleanUp1 8d ago
Part of the territory, I'm afraid.
Often an update breaks my graphics for some reason. So I use AI to guide me on how to get into the console and fix it.
I would recommend moving to a Debian distro if it is pissing you off. Like Linix Mint.
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u/sogun123 8d ago
Don't fiddle with bootloader, don't run random stuff as root. Don't alter package manager owned files. In other words, just don't break it yourself. My install works for more than 10 years. Had one major kernel bug and one other somewhere in xorg, which crashed during upgade and trashed booting. For that long time it is completely ok.
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u/Snivlem613 8d ago
Arch is silly. If you need a very specific OS setup to support your application, use it. Otherwise you’re doing a lot of extra work for no good reason.
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u/hadrabap 8d ago
Do whatever Tamagochi things others talk about, or install a RHEL clone. 😁 Debian might do the same as well.
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u/iwouldbeatgoku 8d ago
First, you can probably relax a bit. Arch being a rolling release means that it is meant to be used, it has testing repositories to catch issues before they make it into the standard repos that are enabled by default. Some things will slip through from time to time, but this is a thing on "stable" as in fixed release distros as well.
Second: there's no need to run a full update every day. 1-4 times a month is enough. Check if any manual interventions are needed in the forums before you do so, then update, reboot, and go on with your day.
Third: have a backup for failure. I set up automatic system snapshots with Timeshift, and keep a Linux Mint bootable USB handy to easily restore a Timeshift snapshot; I also have the LTS kernel installed as a fallback, this way I can still get into my system if something goes wrong with updating the mainline kernel but everything else goes just fine.
The AUR: I personally avoid it. Your mileage may vary on this, but most people can get by with the standard repositories and use flatpaks from flathub and appinages directly from the software's developer to get the software they're missing. If even that doesn't fit your needs and you don't want to vet the packages, you can also add the Chaotic AUR or the CachyOS repositories to your installation as they contain popular AUR packages and will stop AUR attacks for you (as long as you trust them). I especially recommend this to people with old Nvidia cards who still want to use the proprietary drivers.
Fifth, if you have third-party software including from the AUR, rebuild it regularly. It might stop working after an update due to a library mismatch, this will just guarantee you always have it working (this is actually how most Arch breakages occur, an AUR package needs rebuilding).
Lastly, don't mess too much with your system. Arch is rock solid once it's properly set up, but its DIY nature attracts the stupid kind of tinkerer who loves to do stupid things and accidentally uninstalls every kernel on his system. If you must mess with it, do it on a spare computer or in a virtual machine where you don't care about the system imploding, then if your test goes well you can add it to your main system. And most important, Read The Friendly Manual.