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Linux is a family of open source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991 by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged in a Linux distribution (or distro for short).
Distributions include the Linux kernel and supporting system software and libraries, many of which are provided by the GNU Project. Many Linux distributions use the word "Linux" in their name, but the Free Software Foundation uses the name GNU/Linux to emphasize the importance of GNU software, causing some controversy.
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In general, I would like to note that a rolling distribution does not necessarily always have to offer the latest packages as soon as possible. Rolling primarily only means that updates are offered gradually via the same package sources.
But this is just a general remark. :-)
The Arch narrative is changing! We're witnessing a historical moment!
It does seem a bit slower than it used to, but it also seems more stable than it used to and I don't think that's a coincidence. These days I also see the occasional package pulled when it introduces issues which is not something I recall happening in earlier years. I think it's great, personally.
I use old packages, btw
Worth noting that Arch just migrated to GitLab and changed its repo structure, while also deprecating Python 2.
I'd imagine that took some folks some time
Then again, they were the first ones to make "python" be python 3.
I use old packages, btw
I usually don't mind when most packages get behind, but the one I always notice is GNOME. It's been taking longer than I would generally expect for Arch to ship a new major update for GNOME. Fedora seems to have more up-to-date packages in most areas and ships them vanilla like Arch, as well as coming with a host of other sane defaults, so I've been thinking of making the switch...soon.
IIRC it's because they wait for the X.1 release of GNOME before actually updating
Oh, I didn't know that! All I've ever seen when this question gets asked in the BBS is "it'll be done when it's done :)" which is fair enough. If they're waiting for the .1 release as an indicator of stability, then that explains why it feels like a while.
OpenSUSE Tumbleweed is really good at keeping up with the latest packages while remaining really stable. Despite recieving gigabytes of updates since February when I first installed it I had a far better experience compared to the "stable" Ubuntu I was using before.
All right, enough of this debian bashing, this isn't 2007 anymore, they're actually using up-to-date packages and kernels, you'll need to find someone else to kick around now.
I ... liked... arch for a while, but they broke a few times (library dependency failure, think it was expat) and I'm not in this just for smug.
Gentoo did the same, but probably going back to them as a hybrid distro, debian as the base, gentoo as the lxc working distro with some DE apps.
Have a ton of cores, gentoo should be fun.
Slackware-current has a newer KDE than Debian sid at the moment.
It happens.
Arch will end up like Gentoo.
Could you expand on this a little bit for me? I’m interested, never used gentoo, how did it ‘end up?’
Yeah I thought gentoo was still going strong.
Those are packages that lot of other packages rely on and so as a result just needs more testing. Sometimes Arch is faster, sometimes other distros are faster. This is relatively normal.
Wasn’t Python being behind the reason GNOME 44 took a little while to come out? It does seem like things move a little slower than they used to. Might be a good thing for stability in the long run. Think people need to be reminded that Arch is community run too. So updates might lag behind compared to these distros with big corporations behind them.
I believe I read there was only one package maintainer for Gnome on Arch, which is why the release took longer. We have to remember it's often just regular people, or in that case, person, who maintains this stuff for free or very little. And just because upstream made a release doesn't mean it's a simple drop-in to our distro of choice.
To add to this, all of the packages mentioned have a -git version in the AUR. The people who really need the absolute newest version can always install these packages. The rest of the people (those who prefer stability) can continue using a slightly older, but well-tested versions of these programs.
Yeah but I want the latest stable lol, only way to get that is build from source.
No what you want is unstable Arch which you can freely do by changing the repos, but your user experience will be fraught with pain and issues. You can move to Debian and do the same by running their unstable branches, same results though, most likely a broken system.
Both will get you the newest releases.