FS#74608 - Upgrade package list organisation
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Details
Arch Linux has more updates more frequently than most
mainstream distros, once of the reasons I use it for many
years. But it also mean that a weekly update can easily pull
close to 100 packages, which makes it really hard to see
what's being updated (with all the low-level libraries and
dependencies mixed in).
Quite often, the kernel and video drivers are updated, which means a reboot is warranted for long term stability. Sometimes, they aren't, and I can continue running the machine as is. However, because the package list is bundled in alphabetical order and mixed high level stuff with low level libraries and dependencies, I always spend some time looking through the package list, looking for things like `linux` and `nvidia`. Because `lib*` and `lin(ux)` are often close to each other, it's often a pain to find it, so I usually only update the packages when I'm turning it off anyway. For work, I have to use Ubuntu, and its update manager does something that helps me know what high-level packages are being updated and if I need a reboot or not after the upgrade. Pacman could have a similar functionality without being bloated like Ubuntu's "package manager". For example, there could be a display option that groups packages that were installed directly (or by the core meta-packages) from their dependencies (lib*, python-*, etc), and could also either list separately or colour differently packages that require reboots (linux and drivers that are compiled into the kernel, like nvidia). |
This task depends upon
For example: `checkupdates | grep --file=~/important-packages-list.txt` would allow you to filter the list of available updates based on the patterns listed in ~/important-packages-list.txt.
Since `checkupdates` doesn't update your sync databases, you can get a curated list of packages that need updated, and make the decision to avoid a full update without falling into a partial update situation all at the same time.