Yesterday I re-installed Manjaro Gnome (230213 iso) & I found several system updates/fixes that are not present in the rolling. Why is this?
For example: The iso has a complete & consistent Manjaro Green applied (even for login) but the rolling has the Gradience app which is only a partial fix.
The system prefs has a functional ‘applications’ panel, which has been blank for as long as I can remember in rolling.
Are these things that would eventually be added to a later rolling? or should we expect to re-install to get these kinds of upgrade?
As long as you keep your system updated, there is no need to reinstall. Since if you’re updated, you have the latest available version of the package in the Repositories. Hence the available features might also be slightly different.
The version on the ISO is simply to make it easier to keep track of things.
So simply keep updated, and you’ll have all the latest-and-greatest.
Updates will not override the new defaults. Your user will not be modified by updates, if there are new themes or configuration they will not apply automagically.
wow that’s very enlightening, thanks. I had no idea about /etc/skel
~ so it seems ive been missing out on a lot of features since 2022 Dec when Sikaris came out.
Its quite difficult to keep on top of though, as it requires you to know what all the .config files are & which ones you prefer to override & what you may be inadvertently overriding.
But I have been fully up-to-date! This was the purpose of my post. I am up to date will the latest rolling, but the features are different in the ISO.
I checked the Sikaris release notes & I have never seen some of those new features despite having applied every Stable update up til yesterday, when I did a fresh install & discovered them.
The release notes for Sikaris say “Additionally we managed to get our green branding back. Therefore we created some Gnome packages we tagged with Maia. This includes accent colours, colouring on the login screen, folder clours and Qt theming.”
How could my current system not qualify for ‘colouring the login screen’ update?
I’m not aware of any way a user can change a setting to alter that.
It seems that its very easy for a user to fall foul of this situation unless they are very pro-active to discover what they should get vs what they actually get.
Its new info for me, so i probably need to digest it for a while. Im starting to get confused ~ but Thanks for the help.
Right now it seems almost easier to do a fresh install than try to navigate the complexity.
If it’s system-wide then it has been saved to a .pacnew file and should be merged to be used. And you have to check for, and merge if there are any .pacnew files after every update. Those changes are likely part of that. If not:
It is yes. But that’s true for all Linux distributions. Albeit to varying degrees. Linux requires you to be willing to get your hands dirty and keep an open so that you learn.
When a user updates his/her Manjaro system - only distribution wide settings may be changed.
This mean files which are residing in the /usr folder tree and what is stored in /etc/skel subfolder tree.
ISO theming will almost never be applied unless you install from that ISO.
If e.g. you are using the default Breath theme - then any updates to the breath theme will reflect on the running system.
Another example is the Manjaro config for the zsh shell - this is also a distribution wide and changes will be reflected.
Even if you do not alter theming but simply uses the system - any change in packages which may have been added/altered/removed with the ISO will not be installed during system maintenance.
Manjaro updates NEVER - ever touch the user’s home and therefore any ISO theming must be applied manually using the available theming packages in the repo - or the user may - at their own choice - copy the content of /etc/skel to their home - thus overwriting whichever customization they have made.
One method to get a view of the changes which may have been applied to configs you can - after an update - create a new user to get an idea of what has changed.
Unless you are a very confident user - you should take proper precautions - e.g. backing up your profile before applying a system default.
Our Gnome-Settings package most changes things to the skel folder, which is only used with a new user creation: Commits · master · Profiles & Settings / manjaro-gnome-settings · GitLab Some of those changes get applied globally. @Yochanan may be so kind to write a guide on how to apply changes of a new release to existing installs.
Just adding further details as this topic has popped up again.
In my OP at the top I mentioned system prefs (now) has a functional ‘applications’ panel, which has been blank for as long as I can remember in rolling.
This issue was mentioned on the forums in 2022 May, after Gnome42 & it was later explained to be an Arch bug that requires you install the malcontent package to fix it.
Unfortunately, I hadn’t seen that info, so my system has been without the apps panel ever since. It didn’t seem that important & I assumed it would eventually be fixed in an update.
malcontent is provided with the newer 2023 ISO, but seems like it hasn’t been in the rolling updates.
Obviously, some things may slip through or maybe there is another reason. Im just mentioning it because this sort of disparity is very difficult for less capable/proactive users to fix themselves.
It leads me to the feeling that, inevitably, a user of my level will need to reinstall the system with each new ISO
Some people seem to side with the view that you need to accept Manjaro is rolling & needs added maintenance effort, but others say its a well-curated rolling that does that for you. I sense a struggle of wills befitting a great superhero movie!
This is just my observation & maybe it is useful, or not.
so that you learn.