We have a lot of comments regarding Plasma 6.2. Those who want to continue 6.1 Plasma series can get matching packages for the 2024-11-30 Stable Update from here: Release plasma-6.1.5-1 · manjaro/plasma-6.1 · GitHub
You can use tools like GitHub - cassava/repoctl: Make it easy to manage your local Arch Linux repository. or create a local repo out of the packages: Create Personal Arch Linux Package Repository via GitHub Pages - sainnhe's blog
I would like to do this for my Netflix laptop. I remember I did this once before. I seem to recall some trick to it? I did already update kernels and WINE already. I don’t suppose that would matter, right?
I installed repoctl. Looks pretty straightforward.
OTOH: I found this entry in pacman.conf from before:
#[plasma]
#Server=file:///var/cache/pacman/plasma
#SigLevel = Optional TrustAll
I may use that.
I think the most people would prefer, that our stable branch keep delaying Plasma 6.2. That introduces a good amount of new bugs to our Plasma desktop.
@Kobold why do you think I delayed 6.1 and 6.2 series? 6.0 was kinda OK but back then people preferred 5.27. This is not new that whenever a new Plasma release is out that it is coming with new features. Until those mature you might have problems. Also X11 is not the main focus for KDE developers anymore. Having a black screen in X11 is now a common thing. There is a reason why the new default since 6.1 is wayland. However, we can’t hold a version forever. Even for this 6.1.5 rebuild I already had to backport some fixes to kpipewire and discover, so they build with newer dependencies.
Be my guest to adopt Plasma much earlier and help to report bugs next time. Testing and Unstable branch are your best friend in that regard.
I can create the repo also on github so it will be easier in the end.
Im glad that you did and you not a KDE developer.
I just wrote that most people (me included) prefer to stay on a older version, as long the new version is buggy (thats all, its not your fault).
Besides Kubuntu, i know no other distro (specially in Arch Tree) which delayed the buggy KDE Desktop versions like Manjaro did in the past.
This was also one of my reason to recommended Manjaro to others, in the past.
This sounds very experimental use case or not? How ever, if we doing this rollbacks on our own, its like to go with the system in a unsupported state or not? Thats why i responded here in this Topic.
I dont think the KDE bugs wont get fixed faster anyways.
KDE Neon user would probably report them anyways.
And im actually prefer to delay buggy releases, i don’t own a system which i can only use for bug hunting and do experimental testing stuff.
But thanks.
6.1.5 wasn’t bug-free either. And 6.2.5 will also be not fully bug-free. When you use X11, you are mostly on your own as their focus is purely on Wayland now. Also the effort to backport stuff to older release series might be harder these days.
When you look at XFCE, they focused to port their given software to a new toolstack like GTK4 and then they tried to add Wayland support to their desktop environment. There are no new features planned at all. Just getting what already works to the next tech stack. And they take their time needed. When there are some fixes or improvements, they backport them to the current stable releases.
Plasma and other KDE software is more feature addition in each release. A .0 release most likely will have some regressions and the first point release tries to solve as many regressions they can within one week. Second point release tries the same and all the others have a wider release cycle.
However, as soon as the first stable release hits the repositories, most of the developers already moving on to the next feature release cycle of Plasma. So the fixing and polishing is more or less done with a much smaller team it seems.
The latest GNOME releases felt a little less feature oriented and more stabilized. Might be due to the more corporate structure that team might have …
Was there a pool or something? Is there some info about issues that are common and cause the Plasma updates to be withheld?
I’m on unstable, and I cannot complain on Plasma. Yeah, there were some minor issues, some new bugs in new options, but in overall, nothing breaking.
There are some that do have serious issues, but it needs to be established if those are individual or general problems. Individual ones don’t provide any reasons to withhold Plasma updates.
From my side, the latest Plasma and framework updates fixed many small issues and now the situation is very stable, so I’m not sure what the whole thing is about.
I’m running:
Operating System: Manjaro Linux
KDE Plasma Version: 6.2.4
KDE Frameworks Version: 6.8.0
Qt Version: 6.8.1
Kernel Version: 6.12.1-4-MANJARO (64-bit)
Graphics Platform: Wayland
Processors: 16 × AMD Ryzen 7 7840HS w/ Radeon 780M Graphics
Memory: 30.6 GiB of RAM
Graphics Processor: AMD Radeon 780M
Manufacturer: TUXEDO
Product Name: TUXEDO Sirius 16 Gen1
NOT RECOMMENDING THIS BUT…
I did finally get a version of 6.2 Plasma running by adding an ignore command to pacman.conf Specifically:
IgnoreGroup = kf6
This ignores updating frameworks. The desktop is fully functional but I have no widgets or wallpaper. That is why I do not recommend it.
Weird and honestly I don’t understand why you have to and would go to such lengths to get it working.
I’m daily driving unstable and every Plasma version from the day it hit the repositories since >5 years and never had to resort to such extremes.
No pool, but you can see in the annoucement area that the known issues list is growing.
Most bugs can evaded with workarounds, some are minor.
My AMD Laptop with Wayland runs almost fine. While my nvidia PC with X11 facing new little annoying problems with the newest Plasma 6.2 version.
Nothing serious yet, but they are there.
I am trying a different approach now. To just update all but the desktop environment I tried putting these three ignore group lines in my pacman.conf file. To proceed from there…
IgnoreGroup = plasma
IgnoreGroup = kf6
IgnoreGroup = qt6
Note plasma needs qt6 for its apps.The problem group is in frameworks. The kf6. Ah ha!
With all of frameworks held back (kf6) I get a complete desktop. Adding even a few packages in frameworks can result in no wallpaper and no wallpaper widgets. Adding more can break the desktop all together. But which packages?