I am kind of new to Linux. I started with nobara and got comfortable with the overall feel of Linux. Then a few weeks ago I switched over to cashyos, to try something new.

But what I wonder all the time: How often should I update my system? With Windows there were some updates happening in the background about every week and it was not necessary nor possible to manage them in detail.

But now on Linux I get update notification sometimes twice a day. I am also aware, that cashyos is doing roling updates. As I understand it, this means they are pushing them without much delay for testing. Is this a reason to wait a little before applying new updates so bugs can be fixed? But when I wait, arent there always new updates coming in? Also those Bugfixes would also be updates that I would then delay.

How are you handling it? And how are your experiences?

  • Leon@pawb.socialEnglish
    1·
    2 months ago

    I’m unsure how much testing is done on Cachy. I’m on Tumbleweed, which is a rolling release with a focus on stability.

    There isn’t much point in waiting to apply updates because new builds roll in fairly frequently. It’s not always the same packages of course, but most rolling release distros are on the bleeding edge, it’s kind of the point.

    I update a couple of times a month. Around every 7-14 days. You want to avoid letting it go for too long, because as changes accumulate the risks of more complicated conflicts and breakages arising increase.

  • who@feddit.orgEnglish
    1·
    2 months ago

    How are you handling it?

    I handle it by not using a rolling distro. I get security updates, but I’m not interrupted every time a new version of something becomes available. I do the periodic release upgrades on my own terms: when I have time.

    And how are your experiences?

    Wonderful. My system is very low maintenance, which means I have more time to get work done or play games.

  • rtxn@lemmy.worldEnglish
    1·
    2 months ago

    Rolling release doesn’t mean that no testing is done. All updated packages are tested by maintainers before being released into the official repository. A rolling release simply means that there are no individually marked OS versions and you always get the latest packages.

    In contrast, take Debian for example. It uses a point release system with major named versions (e.g. Debian 13 “Trixie”), minor point releases (e.g. 13.1), and security and bugfix patches between those. New feature updates are released only between point releases, and breaking changes are only introduced between major versions. This allows the maintainers to practice a greater amount of care in testing that the packages work well together, but also means that new features are always held back to some extent. This does not happen in a rolling release system. All upstream changes are pulled, tested, and released, regardless of whether a breaking change is introduced.

    By its nature, a rolling release distribution will require a greater amount of maintenance. If a package update requires manual intervention, it will be published on archlinux.org. For as long as I’ve been a Linux user, I’ve only seen one package update that made systems temporarily unbootable, and I was saved from that by being a Manjaro user at the time.

    But, to answer the question, I usually update my home and work PCs (both Arch) about once every week or two, or as required by a new software or important security update.

    • thisbenzingring@lemmy.todayEnglish
      1·
      2 months ago

      With my arch experience, there has been a few big deal manual interventions but nothing that has bricked my install. At the worst, you boot to a terminal so you can fix it.

      It usually goes like this for me:

      update, oh bother… probably time to reboot

      BAM

      OMG WTF

      open www.archlinux.org on my phone

      oh geez, ok…

      tinker tinker reboot

      its back to normal! w0ot

      I will say that I have had to learn that I need to pay attention when a new kernel is released, because I somehow get it before the video driver is also updated, it will be broken after reboot