The transition from Gnome 45 to 46 was ok, except for some extensions with no update for the new version. The Dash to dock is the most important for me, but I guess I can wait. On the other hand, transition from Plasma 5 to 6 was a total disaster. Plasma was completely gone, leaving behind something else. However, a clean install corrected the problem. A rolling back would not have been a good solution, as it would have brought Plasma 5 back, and all subsequent updates would refer to Plasma 6. I don’t know what could be done other than a clean install. Do you have some tips and tricks for major changes? How can we define major changes? A new GUI variant is certainly one.
The transition to Plasma 6 had a specific problem, see:
https://lists.opensuse.org/archives/list/factory@lists.opensuse.org/thread/6HXTCY4A5PCLBO3K2OHRR4M25X4SRNXZ/
Hiccups with extensions in Gnome are expected and TW cannot do much about that (other than delaying publication of the new major Gnome release, which is contrary to the TW philosophy).
See the numerous recent threads about the Plasma transition for means to limit disasters with major updates.
By reading the forum you could have seen that the Plasma upgrade was not a disaster in general. It was only a disaster for some ppl who did the upgrade in a GUI, and/or ignored the many hints regarding this topic.
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Yup, that time I dind’t know how to do it other that in GUI. From now on I do it in CLI session. I also remember: transition to GNOME 46 was in CLI session, after our discution (thanks 
). Maybe that’s why GNOME was ok and Plasma not.
But your answer can also suggest a possible solution:
- a rollback to Plasma 5
- performing upate in CLI session
After all, we have rollbacks in TW, and we should use it. Can be a good idea for the future?
Sure, I went with the upgrade to Gnome 46 when it hit the repos and, after some tinkering, rolled back to the previous version, because the extensions I absolutely need to work didn’t load properly. The next morning, I had some time to look into the issues in a VM and once everything worked okay for me, I performed the upgrade on the host once more. So, snapshots are definitely a way to counter problems on major updates.
Btw. Dash-to-Dock extension works just fine. I had to install it from git, though. If you don’t want to have all the devel-dependencies in your main system, only because you install an extension from git here and there, then I suggest doing that in a VM and then copy over the extension to your host.
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- Maintain a schedule of offline backups with a plan on how to restore them.
- If using btrfs, study up on how to properly back it out and make notes (I can’t keep such complexity in my head). If using ext4, rsync is your friend (it’s been my friend for decades).
- Have a bootable online backup OS. In my case this is a delayed/earlier version of the current OS. Having an extra SSD or NVME on board is quite a cheap option these days.
- Don’t be the first penguin to jump in the water, or at least be prepared for what might happen. I waited until Saturday before duping to KDE6. Because various things had been fixed by then, I was able to do the dup in a GUI with no issues.
- If using the nvidia proprietary driver, hang back on major kernel version bumps, or be ready to back out should the driver not be compatible.
- Consider using zypper locking to lock down the kernel and GPU driver until you are ready to deal with changes to either. (Outside of major desktop version bumps, they seem to me to be the two greatest sources of hassles.)
- Browse the titles of the mailing users@lists.opensuse.org and factory@lists.opensuse.org and be watchful for anything that might also affect your system.
- Only do the dup when there is ample time to deal with the fallout in a relaxed manner.
The main fear I had with KDE6 was that although I could backout the OS, I might not be able to decide on whether this was necessary for a few days, and by then KDE6 would have changed config files in my home directory. My plan for that was to compare/retrieve all or some of ~/.config/ and ~/.local/ from online or offline backups of home (which are separate and more comprehensive than backups of the OS).
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I have a separate /home partition and also a 2GTb cloud, so I can do backups online. I the past I used DejaDup for backup. I think Yast can do this job like DejaDup. Locking up kernel is a very good choice. I didn’t know I can do this. Browsing the lists can be tricky for an inexperienced user like me, but it’s a good advice.
YaST can certainly not do backups by itself. And I haven’t found a module in YaST to configure any backup package.
There was a posting somewhere on this forum (or maybe the mailing list) that suggested:
# zypper al kernel-de*
This locks the kernel with a wildcard lock, which will prevent any kernel-de* from being added or removed automatically. Results can be checked with:
# zypper ll
Attempting a update with
# zypper in kernel-default kernel-source kernel-default-devel
will report the lock exists and offer options to either: 1-remove the lock and install the latest available kernel-default, or; 2-skip installing kernel-default. By choosing to “remove” the lock, because of the wildcard in the lock, zypper will in fact ignore the existence of the lock, not remove it, and proceed with installing a kernel-default. Neat trick.
I sometimes also keep a particularly trusted kernels by editing /etc/zypp/zypp.conf and changing mutiversion.kernels:
multiversion.kernels = 6.5.8-1,latest,latest-1,running
This above will keep 6.5.8-1 and include it in the grub boot options (as well as latest,latest-1,running).
If using the Nvidia driver, it might be necessary to ensure the kernel and GPU match. If either makes a major version jump, you may be forced to do both or at least keep reasonably in step.
A smart lock! Great! This also informs me if they are major updates for the kernel.
Specified lock has been succesfully added.
Done
> How to deal with major changes and total disaster in Tumbleweed?
Well, first you look at it, then scream, pull out some hair, then start looking for answers, maybe post here for some help.
You’re Welcome.
I understand. And after that?
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