It’s just someone’s idea of best practice.
There’s no real reason to update just to install something (unless there’s a newer version, in which case you’ll get a 404 error).
I have literally never updated just to install (unless I got a 404), in 17yrs+ of using Arch and Manjaro.
EDIT:
Took me a while to find this link.
Considering the audience we’re playing to, said “best practice” is the recommended approach. 
But then again, there’s also no real reason not to. You never know whether there might be an updated package coming down the pike.
Actually there is, especially for newbies.
Each update brings a chance of breakage, so they should be done when the admin has time to fix things and take care of .pacnews (including the research). I’m not trying to convince them to do it any particular way - I’m saying they should be able to make that decision themselves.
When we imply that anything else can break things - it’s misleading and people have broken their system at inconvenient times because they believed that was the only proper way to install something so then had to fix their system before they could complete their work - when all they had to do was install what they wanted and get on with their work.
If the package has been updated then they make a decision.
I realise you already know the reasons (and everything else I’ve said), but to be clear the reasons for the always update advice are:
Fair enough, but people should know their options so they can make the appropriate choice for them.
I have install linux70 rc1
So far no issues
[demo@Manjaro ~]$ inxi -Fazy
System:
Kernel: 7.0.0-rc1-1-MANJARO arch: x86_64 bits: 64 compiler: gcc v: 15.2.1
clocksource: tsc avail: acpi_pm
parameters: BOOT_IMAGE=/boot/vmlinuz-7.0-x86_64
root=UUID=45ca132d-4a37-4dc3-afa0-be2e80d6a4a2 rw quiet
udev.log_priority=3 libata.noacpi=1 kvm.enable_virt_at_load=0
Desktop: KDE Plasma v: 6.6.1 tk: Qt v: N/A info: frameworks v: 6.23.0
wm: kwin_wayland with: cairo-dock tools: xscreensaver,xscreensaver-systemd
vt: 2 dm: N/A Distro: Manjaro base: Arch Linux
Machine:
Type: Convertible System: HP product: HP Spectre x360 Convertible 15-df1xxx
v: N/A serial: <superuser required> Chassis: type: 31
serial: <superuser required>
Mobo: HP model: 863F v: 54.24 serial: <superuser required>
part-nu: 7UT64UA#ABA uuid: <superuser required> Firmware: UEFI vendor: AMI
v: F.32 date: 12/08/2023
Battery:
ID-1: BAT0 charge: 87.1 Wh (100%) condition: 87.1/87.1 Wh (100%) volts: 12.88
min: 11.55 model: HP Primary type: Li-ion serial: <filter> charging:
status: full cycles: 64
CPU:
Info: model: Intel Core i7-10510U bits: 64 type: MT MCP
arch: Comet/Whiskey Lake note: check gen: core 10 level: v3 note: check
built: 2018 process: Intel 14nm family: 6 model-id: 0x8E (142)
stepping: 0xC (12) microcode: 0x100
Topology: cpus: 1x dies: 1 clusters: 4 cores: 4 threads: 8 tpc: 2
smt: enabled cache: L1: 256 KiB desc: d-4x32 KiB; i-4x32 KiB L2: 1024 KiB
desc: 4x256 KiB L3: 8 MiB desc: 1x8 MiB
Speed (MHz): avg: 400 min/max: 400/1800 scaling: driver: intel_pstate
governor: performance cores: 1: 400 2: 400 3: 400 4: 400 5: 400 6: 400 7: 400
8: 400 bogomips: 36799
Flags-basic: avx avx2 ht lm nx pae sse sse2 sse3 sse4_1 sse4_2 ssse3 vmx
Vulnerabilities:
Type: gather_data_sampling mitigation: Microcode
Type: ghostwrite status: Not affected
Type: indirect_target_selection mitigation: Aligned branch/return thunks
Type: itlb_multihit status: KVM: VMX disabled
Type: l1tf status: Not affected
Type: mds status: Not affected
Type: meltdown status: Not affected
Type: mmio_stale_data mitigation: Clear CPU buffers; SMT vulnerable
Type: old_microcode status: Not affected
Type: reg_file_data_sampling status: Not affected
Type: retbleed mitigation: Enhanced IBRS
Type: spec_rstack_overflow status: Not affected
Type: spec_store_bypass mitigation: Speculative Store Bypass disabled via
prctl
Type: spectre_v1 mitigation: usercopy/swapgs barriers and __user pointer
sanitization
Type: spectre_v2 mitigation: Enhanced / Automatic IBRS; IBPB: conditional;
PBRSB-eIBRS: SW sequence; BHI: SW loop, KVM: SW loop
Type: srbds mitigation: Microcode
Type: tsa status: Not affected
Type: tsx_async_abort status: Not affected
Type: vmscape mitigation: IBPB before exit to userspace
Graphics:
Device-1: Intel CometLake-U GT2 [UHD Graphics] vendor: Hewlett-Packard
driver: i915 v: kernel arch: Gen-9.5 process: Intel 14nm built: 2016-20
ports: active: eDP-1 empty: DP-1,DP-2 bus-ID: 00:02.0 chip-ID: 8086:9b41
class-ID: 0300
Device-2: NVIDIA GP108M [GeForce MX250] vendor: Hewlett-Packard driver: N/A
alternate: nouveau non-free: 550-580.xx+ status: current (as of 2025-11;
EOL~2026-12-xx) arch: Pascal code: GP10x process: TSMC 16nm
built: 2016-2021 pcie: gen: 3 speed: 8 GT/s lanes: 4 bus-ID: 3b:00.0
chip-ID: 10de:1d13 class-ID: 0302
Device-3: Chicony HP Wide Vision FHD Camera driver: uvcvideo type: USB
rev: 2.0 speed: 480 Mb/s lanes: 1 mode: 2.0 bus-ID: 1-5:3 chip-ID: 04f2:b67b
class-ID: 0e02 serial: <filter>
Display: wayland server: X.org v: 1.21.1.21 with: Xwayland v: 24.1.9
compositor: kwin_wayland driver: X: loaded: modesetting,nvidia dri: iris
gpu: i915 display-ID: 0
Monitor-1: eDP-1 model: AU Optronics 0x30eb built: 2017 res:
mode: 3840x2160 hz: 60 scale: 170% (1.7) to: 2259x1271 dpi: 284 gamma: 1.2
size: 344x193mm (13.54x7.6") diag: 394mm (15.5") ratio: 16:9
modes: 3840x2160
API: EGL v: 1.5 hw: drv: intel iris platforms: device: 0 drv: iris
device: 1 drv: swrast gbm: drv: iris surfaceless: drv: iris wayland:
drv: iris x11: drv: iris
API: OpenGL v: 4.6 compat-v: 4.5 vendor: intel mesa v: 26.0.1-arch1.1
glx-v: 1.4 direct-render: yes renderer: Mesa Intel UHD Graphics (CML GT2)
device-ID: 8086:9b41 memory: 14.89 GiB unified: yes display-ID: :0.0
API: Vulkan v: 1.4.341 layers: 9 device: 0 type: integrated-gpu name: Intel
UHD Graphics (CML GT2) driver: mesa intel v: 26.0.1-arch1.1
device-ID: 8086:9b41 surfaces: N/A
Info: Tools: api: clinfo, eglinfo, glxinfo, vulkaninfo
de: kscreen-console,kscreen-doctor gpu: nvidia-settings,nvidia-smi
wl: wayland-info x11: xdpyinfo, xprop, xrandr
Audio:
Device-1: Intel Comet Lake PCH-LP cAVS vendor: Hewlett-Packard
driver: sof-audio-pci-intel-cnl alternate: snd_soc_avs,
snd_sof_pci_intel_cnl, snd_hda_intel bus-ID: 00:1f.3 chip-ID: 8086:02c8
class-ID: 0401
API: ALSA v: k7.0.0-rc1-1-MANJARO status: kernel-api with: aoss
type: oss-emulator tools: alsactl,alsamixer,amixer
Server-1: sndiod v: N/A status: off tools: aucat,midicat,sndioctl
Server-2: JACK v: 1.9.22 status: off tools: N/A
Server-3: PipeWire v: 1.4.10 status: active with: 1: pipewire-pulse
status: active 2: wireplumber status: active tools: pactl,pw-cat,pw-cli,wpctl
Network:
Device-1: Intel Comet Lake PCH-LP CNVi WiFi driver: iwlwifi v: kernel
bus-ID: 00:14.3 chip-ID: 8086:02f0 class-ID: 0280
IF: wlan0 state: up mac: <filter>
Info: services: NetworkManager, systemd-timesyncd, wpa_supplicant
Bluetooth:
Device-1: Realtek Bluetooth Radio driver: btusb v: 0.8 type: USB rev: 1.1
speed: 12 Mb/s lanes: 1 mode: 1.1 bus-ID: 1-1:2 chip-ID: 0bda:8771
class-ID: e001 serial: <filter>
Report: btmgmt ID: hci0 rfk-id: 1 state: up address: N/A
Drives:
Local Storage: total: 931.51 GiB used: 334.82 GiB (35.9%)
SMART Message: Unable to run smartctl. Root privileges required.
ID-1: /dev/nvme0n1 maj-min: 259:0 vendor: Samsung
model: SSD 970 EVO Plus 1TB size: 931.51 GiB block-size: physical: 512 B
logical: 512 B speed: 31.6 Gb/s lanes: 4 tech: SSD serial: <filter>
fw-rev: 2B2QEXM7 temp: 44.9 C scheme: GPT
Partition:
ID-1: / raw-size: 163 GiB size: 160.13 GiB (98.24%) used: 77.96 GiB (48.7%)
fs: ext4 dev: /dev/nvme0n1p11 maj-min: 259:11
ID-2: /boot/efi raw-size: 499 MiB size: 498 MiB (99.80%)
used: 207.3 MiB (41.6%) fs: vfat dev: /dev/nvme0n1p2 maj-min: 259:2
ID-3: /home raw-size: 310 GiB size: 304.07 GiB (98.09%)
used: 256.66 GiB (84.4%) fs: ext4 dev: /dev/nvme0n1p8 maj-min: 259:8
Swap:
Kernel: swappiness: 10 (default 60) cache-pressure: 100 (default) zswap: yes
compressor: zstd max-pool: 20%
ID-1: swap-1 type: partition size: 16 GiB used: 0 KiB (0.0%) priority: -1
dev: /dev/nvme0n1p13 maj-min: 259:13
Sensors:
System Temperatures: cpu: 50.0 C pch: 48.0 C mobo: N/A
Fan Speeds (rpm): N/A
Info:
Memory: total: 16 GiB note: est. available: 15.25 GiB used: 5.26 GiB (34.5%)
Processes: 325 Power: uptime: 2m states: freeze,mem,disk suspend: s2idle
wakeups: 0 hibernate: platform avail: shutdown, reboot, suspend, test_resume
image: 6.05 GiB services: org_kde_powerdevil,upowerd Init: systemd v: 259
default: graphical tool: systemctl
Packages: pm: pacman pkgs: 2099 libs: 446 tools: pamac,trizen,yay
pm: flatpak pkgs: 0 Compilers: clang: 21.1.8 gcc: 15.2.1 Shell: Bash v: 5.3.9
running-in: alacritty inxi: 3.3.40
My RAID wasn’t able to be mounted at boot with mdadm 4.5-1, but 4.5-2 is on the way:
Edit: Should be in the mirrors now.
FYI there’s an nftables kernel bug in 6.19.4 (and likely 6.18.14) which causes kernel oops. Seems like Manjaro defaults to legacy iptables, but could cause issues for some.
6.19.5 and 6.18.15 published yesterday.
Yes, can confirm this here, and that it’s resolved by 6.19.5-1.
Workaround:
systemd.unit=rescue.targetsystemctl disable nftables.servicepacman -Syu in rescue shell to upgrade kernel)Can also confirm that mdadm 4.5-2 resolves the RAID issue. Luckily for me, the system was not booting off RAID, but rather mounting RAID user data volumes. Thus, the workaround was to comment out the appropriate /etc/fstab lines, then boot & upgrade mdadm to 4.5-2.
For rescuing bootable RAID, booting into an alternate Linux dual boot install or LiveCD/USB would allow assembling the array, chroot-ing into the volume, and then upgrading mdadm via pacman (and probably also sudo mkinitcpio -P to update mdadm inside initramfs or UKI)
Finally, there is also a separate userspace nft rule loading issue. Rules adding multiple non-mutually exclusive (overlapping) IP address ranges to be merged into a single set fail to load. This is a regression, as this was working before, and is commonly done (e.g. by aur/nftables-geoip-db or similar GeoIP sets). The fix for this is here, but is not yet cherry-picked into Arch Linux PKGBUILD. 
Watching that one, as it blocks GeoIP firewall rules and other complex IP sets from working.