No, not at all. Manjaro is a curated rolling-release distribution, which means that every time you update the system, you will be on the very latest release.
The .iso images are only snapshots and are meant to make the process of installing and updating a little faster by offering you an installer image that’s already fully up to date. But once you install the system, there is never any need to reinstall.
I myself have never had to reinstall my system ever since I installed it late in April 2019. All I do is faithfully keep my system updated.
Well, late April 2019 to early September 2022 — you do the math.
This is the whole point of rolling-release systems. You install the system once and you keep it updated, as opposed to fixed-point distributions like Ubuntu or proprietary operating systems like Microsoft Windows and Apple macOS.
I didn’t. Late April 2019 was when I bought a new computer (without an operating system installed) and when I switched to Manjaro — I’ve been exclusively running GNU/Linux for well over 20 years already, on both servers and workstations.
My previous computer was a refurbished machine of which the power supply and the onboard GPU were dying, and it was crashing all the time. On that machine, I was running PCLinuxOS, which is also a rolling-release distribution, but the problems were not with the operating system; it was the old and beaten-up hardware in that box.
So, I bought a new shop-built computer and then I went looking for a suitable distribution, and that’s when I discovered Manjaro. It was love at first sight, and I’m still as happy with it as I was back then.
In theory, as long as Manjaro exists. Or your hardware dies or becomes obsolete.
Manjaro vs Ubuntu at distrowatch. Scroll though the page. Notice the Release Model, etc. You can also search by release model, to see other distributions.
There was an interesting topic, “9 years with Manjaro”. Users were describing how long since their initial Manjaro install. Some of the times: 9 years, 3.5, 6 years.
Now that’s is interesting, 9 yrs on a single install , that would be impossible with windows for sure xD
I kid you not, on my gaming laptop I always have to reinstall windows like each 3-4 yrs , especially cuz win 10 gets bugged and now there’s win11 to install since win10 will end the lts(update suport) next year(leaving computers vulnerable)…
Definitely review the document that @maycne.sonahoz linked to. Reading the Stable Update Announcement should be done with every update, at least the first post, usually written by @philm.
It is important to note, that a normal update will not update/replace a kernel that has hit its’ EOL (End Of Life). You need to know which kernel you are running (uname -a), inspect the announcement, and install a new kernel. To list installed: mhwd-kernel -li. For other options see: mhwd-kernel -h. I usually stick with a LT (Long Term) kernel. They are listed at kernel.org.
And also look at the kernel releases click on link - this will answer when your kernel 5.15 hits EOL.
Like posts above, you can have multiple kernels installed. When you boot, you can select the kernel. You may need to hit ESC (assumes UEFI) to display the GRUB menu (bootloader).
Check out this Manjaro wiki page: Manjaro Kernels - Manjaro. Searching this forum is also helpful. Checkout the Contributions > Tutorials section.
I use the command line. But yes, there is a GUI, Manjaro Settings Manager. You should be able to get to it directly or there is an item in your Desktop’s Settings. Manjaro is working on improving the MSM. My desktop is XFCE, so I can’t say for sure about GNOME.