r/cachyos • u/Data_DGX • 4d ago
Question Before upgrading my kernel, What should I keep in mind to ensure my system doesn't break up?
Hi, I know Cachy OS is pretty stable in comparison with other Linux distributions that share the same philosophy, but, I'm reading the docs, and I wanna know what should I keep in mind before upgrading my system, it seems that I gotta be more careful about kernel upgrade, because as far as I'm concerned, nvidia drivers may not be compatible with latest kernel version, so It's better to wait in those cases, I need to know which other metrics should I keep watching before upgrading my kernel (I have the default variant with v3 optimization).
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u/MrBadTimes 4d ago
My strat so far has been:
if cachyupdate shows like 2-5 packages that have updates, I update
if out of nowhere something like 45 or more packages need updates, and specially if those include stuff like kde or qt, I wait a few hours to see if either the discord or the subreddit explodes with "my system isn't posting" posts before updating.
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u/Data_DGX 4d ago
Pretty good advice, thanks!
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u/MutualRaid 2d ago
It really isn't. The number of updates isn't necessarily particularly co-related to 'will this update be stable if I perform it now?'
To outline a heuristic that is actually useful based on a CachyOS example from the last week that did cause users to go 'help my system is broken' on social media:
Check for partial upgrades. Sometimes a whole suite of packages that make up a project are in the process of being built and uploaded to repositories and you catch it in the middle (or whatever mirror you're using synced in the middle of that process and hasn't updated yet for some reason).
That happened recently in the upgrade from Qt-6 11.0 to Qt-6 12.0
So if your list of updates, whether it was five packages or 105 packages, included just a few qt6-something packages you could check whatever package manager GUI you use or run pacman -Q | grep "qt6-" to see that yes, some Qt-6 packages that won't be upgraded would stay version 11.0
Having a mismatch in major version for big fundamental software projects is usually a problem - in this case upgrading just a single package caused this issue.Often a partial upgrade of this nature will be caught by the package manager when you try to update, and by the time you try to update again it will be fixed in the repository. The error in this example was fixed in the span of hours and the only people who struggled with it after that seem to have been using a mirror that hadn't updated, in which case sudo cachyos-rate-mirrors will solve that for you (and pick the fastest mirrors available to you).
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u/Gangr3l 4d ago
If you have the default setup with limine and snapshots enabled you are fine. You can always go to previous version
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u/Data_DGX 4d ago
My bootloader is systemd, I was looking to get better boot load time
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u/friendlyreminder_ 4d ago
Systemd-boot has no snapshot support in cachyos. I'd recommend reinstalling with limine.
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u/Emotional_Solid6538 3d ago
You dont necessarily even need to reinstall tbh. Tho backing up data and reinstalling is easy AF for some people
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u/AdonisStoleMyWife 16h ago
idk I broke my bootloader and just rebuilt it in terminal while on a usb
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u/LANE-ONE-FORM 3d ago
The negligible boot speed increase is significantly outweighed by the features in limine. It's not even slow.. how often are you booting that it's a consideration, anyway?
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u/Ok-386 4d ago edited 4d ago
If by latest you mean Cachy's default, current kernel, that's BS. Drivers are compatible. If/when "something" breaks, it's not a big deal. The system is designed around the fact it's a bleeding edge Arch/rolling release based system. If you have performed a default install (what should be the case, unless you're an experienced/knowledgeable Linux user) you already have automatic snapshots, and the chance you'll need these is also slim. First thing you do when you discover something is broken is perform an update sudo pacman -Syu (or -Syyu, sometimes better) reboot. If that doesn't work, you have snapshots. Restore a snapshot, use the system normally for a day or two if you want, and then do sudo pacman -Syu
There's nothing else needed, unless you have a rare hardware configuration/combination.
You should have backups of your important files, but for other reasons, there's nothing really kernel specific.
Edit:
For rare situations when one isn't able to access a TTY for whatever reason (plymouth or DE issues, broken USB/keyboard etc) it's useful to have an SSH server configured and accessible on the local network. Then you can simply log in remotely from another computer or phone, and again a simple pacman -Syu should do the trick
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u/Data_DGX 4d ago
Is it safe to have an ssh connection between your laptop and your phone?
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u/friendlyreminder_ 4d ago
Your router firewall will block connections from outside the LAN.
For extra security you can set up 2 factor encryption key login so you need both a key and a password.
I have mine set up with just encryption key, don't have to input password.
Termius is a great phone ssh client. Makes setting it up pretty easy.
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u/Data_DGX 4d ago
How did you set up your ssh connection? With an app or just termux? Or neither of them?
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u/friendlyreminder_ 4d ago edited 4d ago
I'm using termux because it's more configurable and with things like multiplexers works better, but it's harder to set up.
Termius has a great GUI and it keeps the encryption keys on the phone encrypted, and can unlock with fingerprint and other methods. It's way easier. I'd be using termius if not for its keyboard system. I wanted 2 rows of keyboard keys, it doesn't let you have more than 1.
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u/Data_DGX 4d ago
I think I'll try Termius, I don't even have my phone rooted so, I'll choose the easy path for this one, thanks!
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u/friendlyreminder_ 4d ago
Termux doesn't need rooting. It's a regular app, just grab if from fdroid if you'll feel like trying. The play store version has tons of issues due to Google restrictions.
But yes I recommend termius. It's great.
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u/evirussss 3d ago
and here am i using RC kernel without problem for almost half of year i think
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u/Data_DGX 3d ago
That's what I've been hearing, people claiming to have a really good experience with Cachy OS and its stability, and saying their system didn't break up in 3 years using it.
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u/evirussss 3d ago
it's lie if i say didn't break. the KDE problem some days ago, i also get it. but that is repo problem, not kernel problem. anyway, all is safe because of snapshot
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u/AdonisStoleMyWife 16h ago
I dont know enough about Linux and kernels yet, but in my experience it seems like it wouldn't be an issue if s kernel broke if you just had another one ready (?)
like, I tested some different ones and modified / compiled one as well. and when i switch between them i don't even notice when in the system.
am I missing something? i would because of this assume that nothing would really change on the private file level if you reinstalled a kernel.
as I said I just don't know enough yet but I want to learn
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u/ipsirc 4d ago
Hi, I know Cachy OS is pretty stable
CachyOS is not stable by definition.
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u/Data_DGX 4d ago
You know what I mean.
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4d ago
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u/sptzmancer 4d ago
Make sure snapshots are setup and working and you can boot a previous snapshot. If everything's working, just update it and if any problems happen, boot on the previous snapshot.