Hello, I daily drive Manjaro Linux and I really like it. I know that Manjaro updates are few weeks delayed than Arch’s updates but I want to know which distro receives updates sooner, Manjaro or Fedora? I know that Arch receives updates faster than Fedora but does the few weeks update delay of Manjaro push it behind Fedora? I used to think that Manjaro receives updates sooner than Fedora but RPMFusion already has NVIDIA 555.58 driver in stable branch but Manjaro still doesn’t (Arch Linux also already has it). Or is it such that Manjaro receives updates sooner than Fedora 90% of the time and Fedora receives updates sooner than Manjaro 10% of the time?
I know that whether Manjaro or Fedora will receive update of a package sooner depends on whether the package is a kernel, driver or user application as both distros might have different policies for different kinds of packages. But still I want to know as a general rule whether Manjaro receives updates faster or Fedora, and how often Fedora receives updates sooner than Manjaro. If I want to use a distro which receives updates sooner which one should I use between Manjaro and Fedora? Wanting to hear from people who are acquainted with both Manjaro and Fedora.
I have used both Fedora and Manjaro and in the case of applications, Fedora updates are faster. Especially considering some common applications require adding custom repositories on Fedora, these packages update fastest. I can’t speak for system packages though as I never paid much attention to them but there are a lot more updates for system packages so one would infer they ship faster.
All of which makes sense since Fedora is upstream for many common distributions.
A particular release of Fedora will be receiving updates very often, but the question to ask is, what sort of updates. Since it is a fixed release distro, albeit with a migration path to the next release that works pretty well, it won’t really be receiving updates to base/core packages. So you will get security updates [eg to kernel], and updates to user-facing packages that are still built to be compatible to the core packages.
But if Fedora 39 is running on Gnome 45 [as an example], you are not going to get an update to Gnome 46 at all in Fedora 39. When you finally trigger the upgrade to Fedora 40 [or if you do a fresh install of F40], then you will see Gnome 46.
I’ve been upgrading my Fedora install through many years, from version 21 to 39. I’m always one release behind, to give them some time to sort out any bugs and for the gnome shell extensions I use to be upgraded for the Gnome release that I’m on. Thus I will only upgrade my install to version 40 when 41 is released.
On the other hand, Manjaro is a rolling release, so everything will be getting upgraded all the time, even core packages and major desktop environment upgrades.
It’s just that in Manjaro Stable, the upgrades are curated - it’s held back for a while while most instabilities are sorted out, then every 3 to 8 weeks a whole wave of updates are released in one go when they turn on the tap.
It’s not about AUR and not only about Nvidia drivers. I don’t actually need the nvidia 555.58 drivers, I am fine with the current one in Manjaro and I used the driver update just as an example. What I want to know is whether as a general rule of thumb all normal packages in the main repository of the distro such as firefox, python, cinnamon desktop etc. gets updated sooner in Manjaro or Fedora?
I don’t use AUR as there isn’t any app that I need that isn’t available in Manjaro repos or as a flatpak. I won’t use AUR to receive updates sooner for nvidia driver or anything else that exists in the official Manjaro repos. If I use Manjaro I will only use the Manjaro stable repos (not the unstable or testing repos) and flatpaks and if I had to use Fedora I would use Fedora + RPMFusion repos (as RPMFusion isn’t equivalent to AUR and is much safer). If I use one of these two setups which one will give me updates for things like python, compilers, development libraries, cinnamon desktop and apps etc. faster?
And for stability I am okay with the level of stability both Manjaro and Fedora provides. So no matter which one receives updates faster I will use that distro and won’t be reluctant to use that thinking this distro receives updates faster than the other one so this distro has a higher chance of being less stable than the other distro.
It is known widely as a general rule that Arch receives updates faster than Fedora and for that reason I used to think that it is also widely known that Manjaro receives updates sooner than Fedora, but after reading the comments here I am getting that in case of Manjaro that general rule isn’t widely known to be true? It isn’t widely known to be true that Manjaro receives updates sooner than Fedora. Am I getting it right? Or is it still widely accepted that Manjaro receives updates sooner than Fedora with few exceptions?
Unstable branch is synced several times daily from Arch stable
$ mbn info linux69-nvidia -q
Branch : unstable
Name : linux69-nvidia
Version : 555.58.02-2
Repository : extra
Build Date : Sat 06 Jul 2024 07:17:29
Packager : Manjaro Build Server <build@manjaro.org>
Branch : testing
Name : linux69-nvidia
Version : 555.58.02-2
Repository : extra
Build Date : Sat 06 Jul 2024 07:17:29
Packager : Manjaro Build Server <build@manjaro.org>
Branch : stable
Name : linux69-nvidia
Version : 550.90.07-8
Repository : extra
Build Date : Wed 19 Jun 2024 20:34:25
Packager : Manjaro Build Server <build@manjaro.org>
There is no widely known rule to how one bleeding edge distro is updated compared to another.
There is distributions which are known to be edge distributions - but updates to the system is not a competion - such competition is bad for end-users.
Arch Linux
EndeavourOS
Manjaro
Fedora
You should also take into account the Manjaro Linux branch feature.
stable <- testing <- unstable <- arch linux
If you want to look at the chain of command with the responsibility for buiilding system critical packages, you will find that Manjaro has a way shorter chain of command than Arch Linux - because the team is smaller and it has a smaller userbase than e.g. Fedora or Arch Linux.
This means that Manjaro unstable sometimes is ahead of Arch stable branch.
My advise to you - having to ask the question - do not base your choice on such a fragile parameter.
Base on the overall stablility - again speaking as a long time (late 2016) Manjaro user - if frequent rolling updates is a key parameter - Manjaro unstable branch is where you want to be.
If you want the fastest possible updates to a bleeding edge distribution - use Arch Linux or if you are the lazy type - use EndeavourOS.
If you want to play slightly more safe - use Manjaro Linux - on unstable branch.
I cannot speak for Fedora - I never got used to their package manager…
The comparison is invalid because Fedora is a point-release distribution and Manjaro is a curated rolling-release distribution. This means — as has been explained already — that Fedora only receives updates intended to fix bugs and security hazards, while in Manjaro, individual components may receive actual version bumps — upgrades, rather than updates.
Furthermore, a number of packages — including but not limited to firefox and chromium — are being fast-tracked for security reasons, so they receive more frequent updates than most of the other packages.
As explained here-above, it’s a non sequitur, because one is a point release and the other is a rolling release.
Furthermore, I really don’t see how or why the small difference between each respective distribution’s frequency of receiving updates would be such an important distinction that you need to hammer the question as frantically as you are doing.
It’s a non-issue, and if it really matters to you this much, I would advise you to install Arch or use the Unstable branch of Manjaro. Just don’t come crying then if and when it breaks. We’d still help you in that case, of course — because we’re such nice people — but considering that it’ll have been your own choice to go there, we will then insist that you’d bring your own box of paper tissues.
— but considering that it’ll have been your own choice to go there, we will then insist that you’d bring your own box of paper tissues. 