Upgrade & Migration Notes

Most updates are zero-touch. These patterns cover the exceptions.

Long-idle machine waking up

Months-old systems need staged care (bigger delta = more care):

# 1. snapshot current state first
sudo timeshift --create --comments "pre-revival"

# 2. refresh keyring material BEFORE full sync
sudo pacman -Sy archlinux-keyring 2>/dev/null; sudo pacman-key --refresh-keys

# 3. then the world
sudo pacman -Syyu

Signature errors mid-way? Re-run step 2, retry — documented in Repositories & Mirrors.

Kernel major-jump etiquette

  • NVIDIA users: driver module rebuilds via hook — if boot lands black-screened, previous kernel lives in GRUB Advanced menu (Kernel Management)

  • VirtualBox users: sudo vboxreload post-update or guest modules sulk

  • LTS-safety-net reminder: installing linux-lts BEFORE trouble is cheaper than after (same page)

Bootloader-touching updates

grub package updates regenerate configs via hook; custom /etc/default/grub edits persist. After ANY grub update, sanity-check menu next reboot contains: default entry, Advanced submenu, (dual-boot) Windows, Recovery entries.

.pacnew handling habit

Config-template collisions accumulate silently otherwise:

pacman -Qkk 2>/dev/null | grep -c pacnew   # how many pending?
sudo pacdiff                                # merge interactively (vimdiff mode available)

Migrating FROM other distros

  • From vanilla Arch: keep your dotfiles; expect repos/keyring/Timeshift/recovery differences (AcreetionOS System Philosophy) — don’t import old mirrorlist/keyring hacks

  • From Ubuntu-likes: apt muscle-memory map → Pacman Cheat Sheet

  • Home-directory data: plain file copy is fine; avoid copying ~/.config wholesale between DE generations

When notes aren’t enough

Known Issues & Workarounds first, community channels second, bug report with journal third (Reporting Bugs Well).