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Linux is a family of open source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991 by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged in a Linux distribution (or distro for short).

Distributions include the Linux kernel and supporting system software and libraries, many of which are provided by the GNU Project. Many Linux distributions use the word "Linux" in their name, but the Free Software Foundation uses the name GNU/Linux to emphasize the importance of GNU software, causing some controversy.

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Did we kill Linux's killer feature? (lemdro.id)

submitted 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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A few years ago we were able to upgrade everything (OS and Apps) using a single command. I remember this was something we boasted about when talking to Windows and Mac fans. It was such an amazing feature. Something that users of proprietary systems hadn't even heard about. We had this on desktops before things like Apple's App Store and Play Store were a thing.

We can no longer do that thanks to Flatpaks and Snaps as well as AppImages.

Recently i upgraded my Fedora system. I few days later i found out i was runnig some older apps since they were Flatpaks (i had completely forgotten how I installed bitwarden for instance.)

Do you miss the old system too?

Is it possible to bring back that experience? A unified, reliable CLI solution to make sure EVERYTHING is up to date?

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[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

For arch Linux, there's Topgrade. All there, in just one command. All. There. Official repos, AUR, even firmware upgrades.

Here's my alias to update the whole system. It includes fetching the fastest mirrors, topgrade, and cleaning the update's packages cache. Tailor it to your own needs.

alias update='sudo fetchmirrors -q -s 5 -v -c PT && yes | topgrade -c -y --no-retry --disable gem --disable vim --disable emacs --disable gem --disable sdkman --disable rustup --disable cargo --disable remotes && sudo paccache -rk 0'

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

Fully agreed with the usefulness of topgrade.

Topgrade is not just for archlinux but will happily upgrade Debian-/RedHat-Derivatives, Gentoo, Void, some BSDs and I think even Mac and Windows, though I'm not sure how those work.

The link you provided also goes to the unmaintained original version, while there is a community fork here: https://github.com/topgrade-rs/topgrade which sees more development (but is also looking for maintainers!)

I'm also using topgrade and it is wonderful to upgrade the system dependencies but even the content of unrelated package managers such as pipx, vim, zsh plugin-managers, cargo programs, R packages, npm/yarn packages, and importantly for this thread flatpaks and snaps with one command. It really is lovely.