Hey Guys,
Just read a full breakdown on Gnome-40, sounds like a pretty big update:
I know Manjaro Developers usually delay new packages / updates for stability, so do we have an ETA on when we might get these updates? April / May timeframe?
Thanks,
Asif
If you are brave and not afraid messing your system you can try gnome-desktop-git – it’s beta of Gnome 40 
You’re a big late on the party. There has been Gnome 40 testing isos from Manjaro since months ago.
Now, here are the latest news about the official upgrade :
And as you know, it will take some time in Unstable, Testing when it will be deemed more stable, then Stable branch finally.
I won’t except it too soon in Stable branch, save for extension dependencies by ex.
haha, not this time. I actually just got my system up and running again (forced to do a fresh install a few weeks ago). So, I’ll be patient with this one.
The most noticable change is in Activities window. Other changes are minor and poor.
Yes, just 700 minor and poor commits. With only 43000 net lines changed.
Hi, and you must take in consideration that a lot of extensions are not working any more (Dash to dock, to panel…) They need more time to be updated.
Any idea which packages specifically not to upgrade for the desktop to stay on 3.38?
Apps can be updated to v40 for all I care. Just not Gnome Shell.
I have an update for gnome-desktop to 40 and I fear it’s Gnome Shell. I want to delay that update as long as I can.
This will probably be it, yeah. And ofcourse the gnome-shell package.
Is there a way to hold specific packages upgrade in Manjaro?
Otherwise
Yes. You can hold packages back. But partial upgrades, which is what you are going to attempt, is not supported in Arch/Manjaro, so if something breaks on your system, it’s up to you to fix it.
To ignore a package update, you can edit the IgnorePkg = line in /etc/pacman.conf to include the package names of the packages you want to ignore updates from.
Again, I want to stress, that you are on your own, when you do this!
Thanks. I am aware this is risky but it’s worth it.
On Gnome I have 20 extensions to make it decent. I strongly prefer to wait for the most essential of them to be compatible with v40 before upgrading. Or it will disrupt my entire workflow.
I will also wait for a new extension to bypass the session startup in the overview, I have no interest to start in the overview when no activities have been started, it’s yet another extra step for me (Gnome keeps getting in the way). I’ll want to get on the desktop instead, as before.
So, yeah, holding Gnome 40.
Have you considered another DE, where you don’t have to have 20 extensions, just to make it usable for you? 
Your whole workflow will be interrupted anyway, as that is the main change Gnome developers did. Most likely also most of your extensions won’t be ported, as they might not be logical anymore on Gnome 40. Best thing is to get the latest Fedora ISO and give it a spin on your end.
Wow, are you sure Gnome is the DE for you?
Thanks for your recommendations.
I’ve considered other DEs, yes. I use Budgie/Gnome 50/50. I still need Gnome for now, and I don’t intend to change that in the short term.
I might boot back into Ubuntu (sticking to 3.38) if I really face dependency hell with holding these few packages on Manjaro, at least until the extension situation wrt v40 is sorted out.
And Fedora is the exact opposite of my philosophy. So I’d rather stick to Manjaro.
But let’s not digress too much. i don’t want to hijack the topic. 
I will start by downgrading 2 levels from the unstable to the stable branch, this should already delay it somewhat.
For me Gnome is unusable without Dash to panel and Arch menu so I guess it’s gonna be a long wait. Doesn’t matter a lot though as I only have it on a separate partition for testing. Would take a lot to pull me away from KDE.
Yeah, I’m pretty amazed that in 2021 a Gnome version would ever be formally released without making sure that Dash to Dock or Panel is ready to go as well considering how critical an extension it is for what I am guessing is a majority of the Gnome ecosystem. Especially when they’ve been trumpeting better coordination with extension developers as a feature of Gnome 40:
Gnome: “We’re doing much better coordination with extension devs than the past…”
Community: "Great! So “Dash to” is ready to go?
Gnome: “No.”
Oh well. The inevitable extension breakage is absolutely the most painful part of using what is otherwise an excellent DE. The laptop gestures in Wayland are really excellent and essential.
I just pushed out Gnome 40 to our unstable branch. I’ll test now some developer ISOs to see if our default Manjaro setup broke …
Thanks philm.
Does it means that Gnome 40 will be available in the stable branch in one or two weeks rather than three or four weeks ?
What about the existing extensions (for 3.38) ? Are they compatible or not ? Must we wait for an update of the extensions for Gnome 40 ?