D.E. Upgrades suggestion

Yes, true in this case. But I think topic is meant in a general way.

Keep in mind that next LTS release is 5.30 (or whatever the version will be then), so I’d like to see melting faces of people waiting 2 years for new Plasma. :smiley:

Yes, but then, with all due respect, there will always be end users that will always want the latest and greatest even when what they already have is quite “sufficent”. It’s sort of an “itch” in a manner of speaking, perhaps…? :wink:

Let make a meta package for KDE LTS then if this is the goal. In my opinion, a Rolling Release distro rolls. I’m pretty sure at least half of you here already said it to others, so here I am, install Ubuntu if you want a fixed release :nerd_face:

Certainly.

I’ve done so.

I’ve said that before.

I’ve also always recommended an LTS kernel. Just like Plasma 5.24 is LTS.

Exactly what I was talking about.

I tried to keep it general and applicable to everything and -one. But that’s not going to happen, it seems. I specifically mentioned Plasma 5.24 and 5.25 as examples, because that is where we stand.

Just LTS makes sense to keep longer than the standard one. Just like the kernels.

If you go with the logic of it should always be the latest, for example like Arch AFAIK, LTS kernels should also not be supported past the next version.

Manjaro is advocated as a curated rolling release, so what works best first and then the rest.

That’s why I suggested make it a choice. If you want the latest-and-greatest, then by all means go for it. But know it comes with risks and you are on your own. (Exactly like what happened with the, I think it was 4.x kernel versions being discontinued, and then coming back due to popular demand. But with a warning.) While the rest of us can either switch to the new one to test and keep it if we like it, or go back to 5.24 is it doesn’t work for us.

I especially because, AFAIK Plasma is quite a popular D.E. (No, I have no stats to back that up.)

I know Manjaro doesn’t make KDE, Gnome, Xfce, Cinnamon, Mate, or any of the D.E.'s. I was referring to Manjaro’s developers, Implementing KDE for Manjaro.

Don’t get me wrong, I love Manjaro, and I’m sticking to it. It was just a suggestion.


@moderators it seems this topic opened a can of worms, so feel free to close it if you want to. I just don’t know if I should participate any longer as it was never my intention to ruffle feathers, only make a suggestion.

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THIS :point_up_2::100:

Well, I can understand that even with a curated rolling release, it could be difficult to draw the line. But yes, in that regard, I myself fully support offering people a choice on whether to adopt the Latest & Greatest™ or whether to stay with something that is being maintained as an LTS.

Two caveats, though…:

  1. I am not a Manjaro developer or packager — I am but a lowly, lowly cook moderator. :stuck_out_tongue:
  2. I don’t know whether something like what you suggest — and what I am in support of — would be feasible for the Manjaro developers/packagers. So we could just be chasing unicorns here… :thinking:
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Hehe, well cooks keep the people fed, which is important.

I know you’re not a developer, and neither am I.

Myself also not. However, it is an LTS, so logic would say the it should be fine. Or doable.

However, if this is not the case, I’d feel better of facts and reasons are given, not insults to my reasoning.

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“Install Ubuntu if you want a fixed release”…how…dismissive! :-1:

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Or, a five-legged mouton… :wink: But a life without a dream or two isn’t life is it…? :smirk:

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I use Manjaro unstable repositories so I’ve been using 5.25 for awhile now and so far it has been rather stable and usable for me but I also don’t have much of any user-generated themes and such (the typical things that cause issues). Perhaps Manjaro could go from having have two branches of KDE, to having three, something like this: kde-unstable, kde-LTS, kde-current
(but I don’t know if they have the staff/volunteers to support all of this?)

Anyway, I think a simple warning/suggestion is all that would needed, so something like this:

warning: KDE/Plasma 5.25 is now available.
Would you like to upgrade or remain on the LTS version. 
Please be aware that upon upgrade some breakage of user-generated customizations may occur.

Would you like to upgrade Y/N
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Great guys. You provided notification message. Now provide all the other work necessary to maintain all the packages, branches, etc. :smiley:

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But keeping the LTS release around isn’t just a matter of not updating those packages. It means maintaining two complete sets of packages for almost the entire ecosystem. Basically Manjaro would need it’s own PKGBUILDs for all those packages and have to maintain and build the packages. Even if the KDE packages themselves aren’t getting updated, they still need to be rebuilt as the other packages around them change.

Not saying it should or shouldn’t be done, just pointing out that it is a decent amount of work for the team.

Technically almost everything is possible, but just quickly thinking about it, I don’t see how it would work. You can’t have packages from 5.24 and 5.25 in the same repository, unless you rename them all and make sure to adjust each package to have proper renamed dependencies.

But then, what about packages having dependencies on KDE (or whatever DE, thread started with that so I’m going with it), how would the package manager decide which version of the DE to take the dependency from?

I think the comparison with LTS kernels is irrelevant. OK it is LTS, same word, but it is not the same thing. Each kernel is independent, now that’s another story with the DE and its hundred packages (made up number).

As you wish.