Thank you for comment. The quoted part directly scares me again in a way I don’t want to try it😁 I don’t want to set up Raid or two kernels😁
But otherwise, it doesn’t sound to bad. Thank you for reminding me of timeshift, I actually use that on btrfs as well and saved my system with it once.
Thanks to everybody so far for answering.
While cynical13 and MyDaisyBates directly calmed me down, andreas85 and Matinanjaro directly scared me again and reminded me why I actually ask myself if I need Manjaro
But together with btrfs and timeshift, I might give it a ago😅
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That’s the spirit. forgive me if I scared you. you will love the journey.
I usually don’t have any issues, but sometimes it happens mostly on unstable branch, my main coding laptop runs stable branch, I dont have any OS backup system, I only backup my work, you only need a kernel LTS is better, for visual Studio Code I use snap format, as the repos package is missing functionality and it break a few times, that does not mean that all the repos software suffers from those issues.
I fallow some simple rules, do not update before a presentation, do not update when you need to do critical work, just in case something happens, as I also don’t want to debug OS issues when I am working, and most importantly don’t do modifications in the vannila system as in (monkey patching) as most do.
No one can decide for you, you have to use it a few months and decide if is the right tool for your use case.
And you might have issues with nvidia cards when drivers are updated, but if you use open source driver you should be ok here, amd or intel there is no issues.
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RAID10 is easy with btrfs (not like it used to be )
This is not needed. But it gives additional safety.
- Just do a
sudo btrfs add device ..., and you are in RAID-mode
You can find good Information about Btrfs in the wiki
2 kernels are easy to use with Manjaro.
This is not needed. But it gives additional safety.
You can easily switch kernels from one boot to another.
- Just do a
sudo mhwd-kernel -i linux61and you have added a LTS kernel to your system
Please install 2 kernels (one of them LTS)
Haha, my no RAID was actually just because I only have one internal disk and don’t want to change my hardware setup.
But thank you for the link about the duo-kernel, I will have a look for that, maybe thats a think to actually consider.
Thank you for your help 
Arch has two wikis that might help going forward:
Do some reading at distowatch.
I also got started with Manjaro on a VM. Go though the update process: read the announcement (at least the first post), change your mirror-pool, refresh your local repository, update. Try pacman. Try pamac. Make sure your current tools and procedures work. Learn to ask good questions, including using the discourse forum software, and ask them
If you are set on a rolling release, and like a reasonable configured base system that still empowers the user, Manjaro will deliver at this time. I’ve been using Manjaro for a couple of years. Historically, the stable-updates have been coming once a month. There is no set schedule (so set your own) and you NEED to stay current.
The other must resource is reading at least the Stable Update via this forum or rss:
I think it comes down to the development enviornment you require and your specific hardware.
I moved from a fixed release distro running sysVinit/Upstart and KDE4 to Manjaro systemd and Xfce. Technically, knock-on-wood, we have had no issues, after the initital install and our own customizations.
The Manjaro Team and the folks on this forum have been very generous with their time and knowledge.
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I have been using Manjaro unstable branch since 2016 (I have survived 2 instances of forum gone haywire) and I haven’t experienced any downtime that I did not cause myself.
I have written a couple of mini guides
- [root tip] [How To] Avoid common pitfalls as developer
- [root tip] [How To] Update Manjaro the smart way
- [Need-To-Know] About Manjaro and AUR
That aside
- keep your system simple
- be picky about the filesystem you choose - stability over features (btrfs e.g. requires regular maintenance)
- be sure your custom theme
- if any - is maintained especially when using KDE and Gnome
My current workstation http://ix.io/4jFi
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Indeed, if the development environment can be a separate environment/container/virtual/CI-CD managed solution the workstation/OS/DE etc you work on becomes a far less critical part of your work. if this is not possible then it is all about what kind of risk is acceptable.
Setting yourself up with a independent system/environment/solution that provides a stable development & workflow sound like a way to go to me. And to minimize risk to the workflow this solution should preferably depend on as less ’ stuff’ (eg a workstation) as possible. However I’m not a programmer/developer (do work with a few) and this is just me thinking a bit further then your actual question.
I’m on testing branch and Gnome edition, feels like stable to me.
But: No snap/flatpak and minimal AUR usage
Read the #announcements before updating and the links in the post above.
Hey people,
Thank you for your answers and the helpful links!
I do have two questions about that
- you are talking about different branches. Is it right that I am always on the stable one anyway if I downloaded Manjaro Gnome from here Manjaro Downloads and did not deliberately change anything about that?
Maybe saying “I am a developer” was a bit too much. I am a developer, but this is my private computer and I only do private python and java projects, so there is nothing requiring fancy extra stuff like specific C+±compilers etc.
- People keep talking about “read the announcements”. It might be a bit naive to ask this, but as it seems to me, all of the detailed announcements warning about specific things which can break are extremely useless if I don’t have an overview about the hundreds of packages I have installed?
Isn’t it a much better approach to don’t care about the announcements, use btrfs+timeshift and backup regularly and just boot into yesterdays timeshift if an update goes wrong?
I have the weird feeling that it otherwise becomes a very intense work to foresee the one situation where something will go wrong
Anyway: I have installed Manjaro in a virtual box some days ago and played around with it, learned about the package manager (I installed trizen after some recommendations) and I think it looks nice.
I will give it a try
Thank you so much for all the helpful comments!
Yes
No (that is ignorant, but not safe) 
Read the update-thread !
- Most things are explained in detail
- Other things you can search in the forum
- If you have to do something, the thread will say so clearly
Wait until the thread has posts from at least 1 day
A rollback will help short time. But you will have to update !
And you will have to face the problem then ! 
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No, you don’t need to know every single package installed in the system. Read the announcement post about current known issues, or task to do for this specific update if you’re in XXX case, things like that.
No it is not a better approach to YOLO the updates, if in the end you have to restore system, look for what was wrong, try to fix it, and so on, you just waste time. Read the first two posts of the announcements, update the system. Simple as that. Now if you don’t modify your system from what a default system is, I guess you could just update the system and you should be good, it’s not like each update requires user intervention, but a rolling release does require maintenance anyway so… if your goal is to just use the system and forget about everything, a rolling release distribution is not the good choice as everything is rolling all the time, some application may need some attention at some point, that’s just how it is.
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That sounds about alright folks
Thank you so much
Because it is the choosen format for the release notes.
I look at the announcement’s first 2 posts by philm, and then glance at what type of problems or questions folks might have and the poll. The second post contains “Known issues and solutions”. This isn’t meant to create anxiety, but rather gain knowledge. There is transparency. We can all be in the know and prevent potential problems on our systems. There aren’t a lot, sometimes none, and they may be very specific. Those few minutes, may save hours.
It is a very quick glance, but I
- may have the same hardware, or
- many people are experiencing the same issue, or
- a particular package/program (system or application) may have been removed from the Manjaro’s repo, or
- some action outside the normal package manager might be required, that sort of thing.
By us users reading the announcment, we are saving the Manjaro Team time ,
This is no different than reading the archlinux front page news or linux mint’s install instructions or release notes. But it is a rolling release and is going to happen more often.
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It’s great to see I’m not the only one with the mentality that the OS should “get out of the way”.
I’ve been using Manjaro for a few years. It’s not perfect (you’ll need to fix things every once in a while), but the problems really crop up if you procrastinate with the updates. Otherwise, in my experience it’s more stable than Ubuntu and just about anything else I’ve tried in the linux space.
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Since I also hate it when something interrupts my work, and therefore also tested different distributions, it boils down to the following for me:
- Updates only at the end of the day’s work, when you want to shut down the system. I save all results to USB anyway; in my job that works. I also use laptops set up in parallel (nothing special), so it can always go on.
- Timeshift is helpful. I haven’t had to use it yet, by the way.
- I avoid changing the default settings; only very little.
- After updates (at the end of the day): reboot to test.
Something can happen with really all systems, whether Windows, Ubuntu, etc., let’s not kid ourselves. I have had problems with some. I get along well with Manjaro. Very stable.
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I’'m a bit late to the party, but Ubuntu usually has multiple kernels, depending on how often you flush them, at least 3.
Sure it’s not quite the same as Manjaro, where you have the option of installing an LTS Kernel (usually the default) plus some other Kernel, like a an experimental or a real time kernel.
On Linux Mint you can actually install additional kernels in a manner similar to Manjaro.
It’s not a big deal, and it is your choice.
As for stability, I got told off for posting about how stable my systems (multiple computers running Manjaro) are after each update… and i use my KDE install for development.
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This is the best system in the world, I am very grateful to the creators and everyone who supports it.KDE is an excellent shell that develops perfectly, it is already a whole multimedia center. Stability and convenience at a premium, for everything else there is Timeshift)
“Fear of doing something stupid” is normal.
Tutorial:
- Set up Snapshots (hourly is nice)
- Set up Backups (up to you - minimum daily refresh)
You don’t always have to build yourself - the AUR takes care of a lot of it. You can also check your pkgfiles before executing any build.
For sure, Manjaro gives you a lot. Over the years you pick up a lot of little tricks - and switching from Debian means there’s gonna be more (like not being able to run dpkg to get HDDTEMP working with conky…).
I do like KDE, but for stability I’d say try out XFCE, but if you’re comfortable with Gnome that might be a little bit too lean on features.
Basic system is very stable for me - barring the odd snapshot rewind - and I much prefer a regular rolling update to the huge delay and annual distribution upgrades.
BTRFS is sweet for snapshots for sure.
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I have the same OS install since 7,5 year. This should tell you how stable Manjaro can be if maintained right. It doesn’t require a lot of your time either.
Basically, you need to have backup of your system (timeshift) on an external drive plus backup of your home files (grsync).
Most serious issues that you may come across happening are rare, but mostly have solution on this forum. Just read the Announcement section. Usually you need to downgrade some package or roll-back (with backup) your system and wait a few more days to get a fix and apply the update again.
You need to also know how chrooting on Manjaro works, so you could do some fixes when system is not launching at all.
Have at least two kernels. This is a must. In 7,5 years this saved me only 2 times, so it’s extremely rare, but still can happen. It’s a good precaution that costs only some extra space.
To get the newest stuff and have better AUR compatibility, I use testing branch. I recommend switching to it after a year or two, when you know your system and how Manajro works well. If some AUR packages misbehave, you can always fall back to snaps or flatpacks.
Do a maintenance once in a while (once for two months is enough):
- check your pacnew files for config updates, I use for it pacnew-chaser (AUR) with Meld to overview the changes and merge new lines of configs
- remove orphaned files or mark them as installed directly if necessary (pamac will show you which packages are orphaned)
- check your AUR packages and see if some previous repor packages didn’t move to AUR, if they did, it’s safe to assume you should remove them.
Additionally, create a test, default user, so when you encounter some troubles, you could check if it happens on default user as well, or not. It will tell you if the issue is with configs or not.
That’s about all in a nutshell.
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