What exactly is the point of rolling release? My pc (well, the cpu) is 15 years old, I dont need bleeding edge updates. Or is it for security ?

  • Strit@lemmy.linuxuserspace.show
    9·
    12 hours ago

    I use a rolling release for mainly 3 reasons.

    1. Faster access to new (shiny) software/applications. Flatpak and the like could solve this for LTS distros.
    2. Security updates come faster and smoother.
    3. Less chance of an update breaking things. Lots of small and frequent updates, instead of rare and large update packs/stacks.
    • nous@programming.devEnglish
      51·
      8 hours ago

      Less chance of an update breaking things. Lots of small and frequent updates, instead of rare and large update packs/stacks.

      I would say a rolling distro update has a higher chance of it breaking something. Each one might bring in a new major version of something that has breaking changes in it. But that breakage is typically easier to fix and less of a problem.

      Point release distros tend to bundle up all their breakages between major versions so breaks loads of things at once. And that IMO can be more of a hassle then dealing with them one at a time as they come out.

      I tended to find I needed to reinstall point release distros instead of upgrading them as it was less hassle. Which is still more disruptive then fixing small issues over time as the crop up.

      • Strit@lemmy.linuxuserspace.show
        1·
        8 hours ago

        Good point. Yes. Small breakage means it’s easier to fix. Although, the years I’ve run my rolling release system, I’ve had it break maybe one of two times. Easily fixed. Both of those was because there was a change that needed a manual intervention, which I did not read about until after, so those were my own fault.